The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-27
OVER 1900 FEET NOW.
THE ARTEsIAN WELL NEARLY A
THIRD OF A NILE DEEP.

The Drills Working in a Stratum of
White Clay With No Signs of Rock
Below-Some OF the Strata Like
Phosphate But Too Deep for Prospect
ors to Work 1.-THE Progress OF the
Other Artesian Wells in the City.
Plenty Of Theories to be Proved or
DisDroved.
Slow progress was made in drilling in the
deep artesian well on the Springfield planta-
ton last week, as the clay in which the
drills have been working has been even
more vexatious to Contractor Joyce than
the hard flint. The well has now reached
an approximate depth Of 1910 feet.
During the past week the drill passed
through the stratum of green clay, and
when work was suspended Saturday after
noon for the week the drill was in a stratum
OF white clay, which worked somewhat
better than the gresn clay, but not much
better progress was made in it. The green
clay stratum was between Is and 20 feet in
thickness. and as this clayey formation is not
met at such a great depth in other locali-
Ties, any attempt to approximate the prob
able thickness of the stratum of this white
clay must be by conjectural estimate.
NO SURE SIGNS OF ROCK.
1t is supposed, however, that the stratum
| viii not vary much in thickness from the
green formation everything it, and that
| water bearing rock may be reached after
| passing through the clay. The chances
| are just as good to strike flint. Some of
| this clay has the appearance of phosphate,
but no one familiar with phosphate deposits
has examined the drillings Phosphate
| formations are found at varying depths in
the Charleston wells.
The well in the parade at the De Soto
hotel has been sunk to depth of 325 feet,
and water was obtained Saturday after
noon, but not i'll sufficient quantity as the
Water-bearing rock has been penetrated but
shallow depth. Mr.. Baker said last night
that it is contemplated to drill down 100
| feet DEEPER making the well 1875 feet in
depth, and no doubt is entertained that a
good flow will be secured. The De Soto we'll
is inches in diameter.
THE GoRRIE ICE CoMPANY's WELL.
The Gorre Ice Manufacturing Company
sunk the casing in its main we'll last week
to depth of 200 feet. The company is
| deeply interested in the experiment which
the city is soon to make Of deepening six of
| the wells at the water works to depth of
1000 feet. The managers of the Gorrie
| company are not inclined to believe that
water-bearing rock is met with in this
section after passing below 400 feet, but
they argue that if Contractor Joyce's view
is correct. when the deepened wells at the
water works strike this lower stratum of
water-bearing rock it will help the four
wells at the ice works, as it will restore in
some measure the flow and pressure which
have been diminished by the wells at the
water works
The artesan water in the first well at the
Gorrle Ice factory, before the water works
wells were put down, raised 80 feet above
the surface, and the natural flow Of the
well supplied the factory without pumping,
but since the water works wells have been
put down it diminished the pressure so that
the water did not rise within 30 feet of its
former hight, and it is said that the deep
we'll on the Springfield plantation caused
the water to drop back another five feet.
THEORIES ABOUT THE WATER SOURCE
To the theory Of the Gorrie folks, Mr..
II. p Smart and others think that the
greater diameter of the deep well on the
Springfield plantation accounts for its re-
markable flow, and that no water-bearinR
rock lies below 400 feet. Contra ctor joyce
says that he knows he struck a thick
stratum of water-bearing rock between
800 and 1000 feet, because the flow of
water was more than doubled. In further
proof he says that when the drill was work
ing in the lower ter-bearing stratum he
did not have to use his pump, as the pressure
and the current brought out the sediment
as rapidly as the drill cut it loose. Had
there not been current and pressure the
sediment would have continued to accumu-
late under the drill, and would have had to
be pumped out, as was done after passing
through the first water-bearing stratum,
and as he has had to pump ever since leav-
ing the deeper stratum of water-bearing
rock. In further proof he cites this fact:
THE CAPACITY FIGURED OUT.
1t is claimed that there are pumped from
the twenty-three wells at the water works
1000, 900 gallons of water daily, although
this is doubted by some of those who have
had experience with artesian wells But
admitting that 100000 gallons are pumped
daily, this Is an average of nearly 304 400
gallons per day for each well. The average
diameter of the wells is about 6 4 inches, as
twenty Of them are 6-iuch wells, one a finch
well, and the other two are 10-inch wells
The square of a SiX-lnch well is thlrty-six
square inches, and the square of the deep
artesian we'll on the Springfield plantation
is IA square inches, so that the daily flow
of the latter well, if all its water comes from
the same water-bearing strata which supply
the wells at the works, would be only four
times that of the average water works we'll
or 1,2l7,600 gallons.
THE BIG WELLS FLOW.
Accurate and scientific measurement with
the weir, made by Supt Manning, City
Engineer Winn and DIR. Stone, show that
the well is flowing at the rate of $500 600
gallons, or double that of which might be
expected of it proportionately if its supply
were drawn from the same stratum as that
Of the wells at the water works.
The superintendent of the water works
and the council committee on water are
well satisfied that the deeper stratum of
water-bearing rock will be met with by
deepening the wells, and it is the theory of
the Gorrie Ice Company that all the artes-
ian wells in the city will have their flow IN
creased if the experiment in deepening wells
is a successful one
Almost a Blockade,