The Dickinson press., 1890-02-08
SOME WONDERFUL WELLS.
A TRIO THAT PRESENTS EXTRA
ORDINARY FEATURES.

Roarers. blowers and Gusl,ers-Wclls from
Which tho Wind whistles. and One Pos.
sesslns Remarkable Electrical Proper.
ties.
Today's excursion among wonders and
marvels shall be taken beneath the sur
face of the earth, in a description of the
location and character of "wonderful
wells"
The old time well, with its long
sweep" and single rope and bucket at
tached. or the more modern windlass,
with its labor saving device of two buck
cts attached to a single rope, wound
around q cylinder in such a manner as
to let ono bucket down while the other
n is coming up, the same that was
known to and so graphically described
by the author of the "Old Oaken Bucket"
or ven the present wooden or iron pump,
with its manifold attachments, are com
mon objects in every small city and in
the rural districts. It is not these, but
others dug on similar plans, which it is
proposed to describe under the above
caption.
A BRITISH FREAK.
One of the most remarkable of the
many wells, which the reader will be
willing to dub as "wonderful" before he
has finished this dissertation, is on the
edge of the Bridlington harbor, in York
shire, England. This we'll was dug in
the early part of the present century and
was first described in a paper read by
DR.. Storer to the Royal society. The bot
tom of the Bridlington harbor is COM
posed of a gravelly, porous clay. In bor-
ing the well this stratum was penetrated
and bored through its entire depth and
into a bed of other and more solid clay
below. A copper lining was provided
and the sides of the well properly Sc
cured. When the first tide arose after
the we'll was finished it flowed to within
fifty inches of the mouth of the boring.
This was nothing singular within itself,
it having regularly so flowed during the
four weeks that work on the we'll was
progressing; the well itself furnished the
free show. Before the tide had reached
within thirty yards of the well the water
began flowing from the mouth and by
the time it had reached its maximum
height, was gushing out in torrents.
The water from the we'll was perfectly
fresh, although the sea water flowed to
within less than five feet Of its mouth.
AS the tide recedcs the fountain gushes
with less and less impetus until at last it
disappears from view in the c~avernous
depths of the well, only to reappear and
form a perfect fountain when the next
tide flows.
THE SIERRA BLANCA ROARER.
An American wonder, similar in many
respects to Johnny Bulls Yorkshire mar
vel, and which vas fully described in
the columns of the old Republican some
three years ago, is the Sierra Blanca
magnetic well on the Texas and Pacific
railroad, in Ell Paso county, Texas. The
well was drilled ON the artesian plan in
the spring and summer of 1884. Some
little water vas obtained and prospects
were bright until adepth of over 600 feet
had been reached, when the tools sud-
denly dropped into a cavern; the bottom
had in reality "fallen out" and they were
treated to q rush of cool-not water,
but air. Correspondents by twos, by
singles, by dozens and by scores visit
ed it and telegraphed the results of
their observations to tho leading papers
of the land. One of these, in speaking
of the similarity of the ebb and flow of
air to the same phenomena as exhibited
in ocean tides, says:
"From 1915 a. m. to 1915 p. m. a cur
rent of air rushes out of the pipe with a
sound resembling the noise made by a
locomotive blowing off steam, and so
loud that it can be heard for forty or
fifty yards. At 1915 p. m. the overflow
of air ceases and a strong suction sets in
which lasts for the next twelve hours,
this ebb and flow continuing day after
day, and it has been observed by horse
men that whenever they get in the neigh
borhood of this well strong magnetic
forces are felt and sparks given off if
the horses name is touched"
THREW STONES.
Mr.. Peter Taylor, of Sarnia, Ontario,
was more fortunate than the Texas Pa
ciic in getting something tangible from
his roaring well, which was sunk some
years since in the suburbs of the city
above mentioned. The well, which had
been drilled to a depth of about $50 feet
before it developed abnormal propensi-
ties, was situated some 300 yards south
of his house, which is one of the largest
and finest in Sarnia.
As soon as the cavity had been pene-
trated the rush of air, which, by the
way, was expelled with much greater
force than that from the Sierra Blanca
we'll, was accompanied by millions of
pebbles and bushels of sticky yellow clay,
the pebbles varying in size from about
the bigness Of a hickory nut up to some
which were almost as large as a mans
head, the latter weighing from eight to
fifteen pounds. That these stones were
expelled with great force may be guessed
from the fact that they were thrown hun
dreds of feet high, many of them going
entirely over the Taylor residence, which,
as above mentioned, stood 300 yards
north of the well.
During the time Of this remarkable
display there was a constant, ever in
creasing roar issuing from tho bowels Of
the earth through the well, the small
ness of which seemed slowly to check the
pent up forces i'll the subterranean boiler
and save the whole town from a coating
of clay and bombardment of rocks. Il
was about 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon
when the first premonition of coming
trouble was noticed in gurgling sounds
proceeding from the we'll, and for abou'
an hour and a half, or until 6 p. M.
Taylor's home made geyser was the won
der of all that part of Canada able to ge
within hearing or to catch a glimpse o.
the cone shaped column of mud, stone
and water that were being shot into tn
boreal atmosphere.-John w. Wright i,
81. Louis Republic.
= Wonderful Echoes
Every one is familiar with the phenom
ena of echoes. In q cave in the Pan
theon the guide, by striking the flap o