The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-06-16
FROM HIDDEN FOUNTAINS
OUT OF THE SOLID ROCK COME
THE SPARKLING BLESSINGS.

| ah OFAhhA1NG DL6OolNG0s
| Artesian Water Fed the Healing
Pools of Jerusalem-Wells in the
Great Desert Have Made it Bloom
and Blossom as the Rose-How the
Name Artesien Originated-Some
of the spouters of the World Flow
ing Their Millions OF Gallons Daily
The Well on the Springfield Planta-
ton Stands Third in the List.
AT this time, when the city council is
planning to increase the supply of artesian
water, anything pertaining to the subject is
Of interest. There has been no blowing OF
trumpets over the fact. If indeed it has
been published before, that the artesian we'll
on the Springfield plantation is thought to
be the third largest in flow in the world
A well bored in PasseY, France, in 1860
to depth of 2, 900 feet, flows at the rate of
| 5,660,0O0 gallons per day; the big artesian
gusher at the Ponce de Leon, at st. Angus
tine, Fla, has daily flow of over 4, O00, 600,
and the well on the Springfield plantation
| flows at the rate of 2,500, 900 gallons daily,
| and as it will increase its flow five
| per cent. for every foot the casing is
| cut off, and as it is proposed to cut off about
| five feet of the casing at the top, the flow
|
| daily. Some idea of the immense volume
Of water supplied by this well may be had
when it can be said that two such wells
would supply about 20 per cent. more water
| than the present rwenty-three wells at the
water works are supplying, or, to put it
another way. if the twenty-three wells at the
water works were as prolific as the well on
| the Springfield plantation, they would sup
ply over 1900, 900 gallons daily. The well
on the Springfield plantation was put down
to a greater depth than was necessary, as no
water bearing rock was found below 800
| feet.
| ARTESIAN WELLS ABROAD.
Some of the best flowing artesian wells
are in Europe. One near London, only III
feet deep, yields nearly as much as the we'll
| on the Springfield plantation. A well at
| Woolwich, $50 feet deep, flows 1,400, 900
| gallons daily. The "Bootle WE'LL" put down
! in Liverpool in 1854, flows at the daily rate
| of 100000 gallons. A well drilled at
| Kissengen. Bavaria, in 1850 to depth of
| 1,S7S115 feet, flows 1,077. 200 gallons every
twenty-four hours. An artesian we'll at
| Trafalgar Square, London, 3S4 feet deep,
yields 100000 gallons daily, and another at
| the government works is said to furnish a
much larger yield.
| Artesian water is not as many incor-
rectly suppose, to be found only near the
seacoasts. Wells are being put down in
| Illinois, Iowa, and in most of the western
| states, and on the prairies, where it was
once thought that the land could not be
made habitable. the discovery of artesian
water has solved the problem.
The statement is made that since 1855
| there have been seventy-six flowing wells
| sunk in the desert of Sahara, Africa, yield
| ing over 13,000,0 900 gallons of water daily,
| and around each well an oasis has formed,
| fulfilling the scriptural prophecy that "the
desert shall bloom and blossom as the rose"
INTHE TROPICS.
The blessings of artesian wells to tropical
and semi-tropical countries cannot be
| measured from a sanitary point of view,
| and especially where the contaminated
waters of rivers flowing along through low,
malaria breeding lands, or the brackish
| surface or semi-surface waters on shore
| have been the only supply. These contain
| organic matter, which has been a fruit
full source of disease, and which are being
| abandoned for the pure artesian water
which is constantly filtered until all impuri-
ties have disappeared, and comes up from
the deep and hidden veins clear and spark
| ling and healuh-giving.
! The origin of artesian wells dates back to
| remote antiquity. A writer who has been
making researches in this direction gives
| the following information relative to the
derivation of the word "artesian" and the
early history of artesian wells. He says:
ORIGIN OF THE NAME ARTEsIAN.
"The name is derived from the province
| of Artois, in France, where they have been
long used They were used in China at an
early period, not only as sources of water,
but also of c1mbustible gas and heat One
OF the ancient Chinese proverbs is, dig a
we'll before you are thirsty and the nu-
merous deep wells found there give evidence
of its being fully regarded. Wells were
very numerous in ancient Greece. vi
truvius, Piutarch, Pliny and Herod-
otus make mention of them. Previous to
the time of Appius Claudius C@sl If the
city of Rome received its water supply
chiefly from wells. At Pompeii a very fine
we'll, 1l6 feet in depth, was discovered near
the gate of the Pantheon. Frequent refer
ence is made In sacred writings that
ancient Jerusalem and its neighborhood was
famous for its pools of water" which the
writer thinks were fed by artesian wells.
FLOWING ON FOREVER.
The life of an artesian well cannot be
measured by years. The MORNING NEWS
of last Saturday referred to an artesian
well at Lilliers, Pas-de-C Calais, France,
which is still flowing, although it was bored
in A. d. 1925, or 764 years ago. Violent
commissions of the earth have often opened
subterranean assures through which the
flow of an artesian well has been diverted
and the well ceased to flow at the
|
turbances have in some instances
increased the surface fiow An instance of
the former may be cited in this city. Dur
ing the earthquake which vi sited the South
Atlantic in August, 1856, an artesian well
in the southwestern portion of the city near
Cuyler street ceased to flow, but none other
of the many wells in this city or county
were 80 affected
ARTEsIAN WELLS MULTIPLYING.
Five years ago the artesian wells of this
section could have been counted on ones
fingers, but there is now hardly large
mandatory that does not have one or
more artesian wells of its own; they are dis
tributed throughout the country districts,
and are plentiful on the islands and sub
urban villages of the county.
Three years ago no inconsiderable proper
ton of the population of this city was using
the contaminated waters of surface wells,
many of which were little better than catch
trans for the poisons of sewers, and the rot
ting wood fiber of the pumps and organic
germs of disease poisoned - the waters
whichbIwere used all over the city.
All this has been changed. The
pumps have been dismantled the wells
filed up, and purer water has taken the
place of it. True, there is 20 per cent of
river water furnished now, but in the near