The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-06-03
WHERE PURE WATER IS.
City Has a Num-
Der Of Artesian
Wells.
LATEST IN THE WELDON BUILDING.
Driven Over Four Hundred Feet
and a Pure Supply of the
Crystal Fluid Secured.

AS TO urlnKlnE wafer, the o~cCupauts u
the Weldon Building Will fare better dur
ing the summer than most OF their CO.
laborers in this bad-water cursed city.
While the average citizen will attempt
to Stake his thirst with nauseous doses
of Passaic soup those fortunate indi-
viduals who toll within the pigeon-hols
like apartments of the biggest and busiest
brain mart in the city will regale them
selves with draughts OF the native, pure,
pellucld and sparkling aqua pura drawn
from A shaft through solid rock, four hun
bred feet below the surface of terra
firma.
AS to purity il i'll be something like
unto that which gushed forth from the
rod-smitten rock to quench the thirst OF
the weary and doubling IsraeliteS In the
Biblical story of old.
For months past the process of boring
an 8-inch shaft through soil and rock has
been going on near the rear OF the We'll
don building. The boring for the first
forty feet was comparatively an easy
task, as nothing but strata OF soif were
encountered. Then the borers struck a
snag in the shape of solid rock. Bore,
bore, bore! Fifty fsetl No sign of water!
Fifty feet more and still no sign of the
crystal fluid. And still another fifty, and
another. and anotnerl The mighty steam
driven drill kept turning and driving.
But the faces of the engineers and the
estates attorney, Mr.. James Palmer, be-
gan 10 assume a dubious expression.
Contractor Conlin, however, insisted that
there were waters under the EARTH Mr..
Palmer knew that, but he began Go calcu-
late as to the possibility OF that parricu-
lar layer of rock reaching somewhere in
fh1 Ai~hHnrha Of fpForinr NChIf,n IF
was decided to keep on boring. Before
the next fifty feet was reached, the
hearts Of the artesian borers were mad
glad by the evidence that they had at
last stIuck-oil? Oh, no. There was
nothing greasy about that fluid. 1t was
pure, crystal water.
GETTING AT q WATER.
Then began the work of sinking 125
feet of 81 nch brass tubing. upon the
end of which was screwed what is known
as a working barrel, a brass tube 80 feet
long with a 81 inch bore driven by a
sucker rod driver. This, while keeping
the water down from around the outside
of the 80 inch tube. assists also in the
pumping of the water through the tube
from the point of sea level.
What is known as q Davidson 81 Co.'S
deep well pump has been erected just
above the shaft. It is worked by steam
from the steam apparatus OF the building.
The water will be forced to a tank on the
top of the building and from there dis
tributed throughout The building through
the same pipes through which aG present
flows the murky and germ-Iaden stream
of Passaic water.
Attorney Palmer declares that In addi-
ton to the advantage of a pure water
supply for the building the estate will
save money IN excessive water rents.
Tie supply will be available within a few
days.
This is by no means the only artesian
well in Jersey City. There is one at the
Sugar House, one at the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company's meadow shops and
one near Lorillard's tobacco factory. Mr..
James McIlhenny is also having one
driven in the vicinity of his smoking and
pork-packing es~tablishniea5 at Grand
street aud Johnston avenue. An S-inch hole
of IT'S feet throughsand and white and
blue ROCK has been made, but the pure
waters below have not yet been ned.
The drill pierced through 125 feeto r m ore
of sand before rock was reached. On
through a twenty-five foot strata, of
which rock the drill pierced, and is now
boring through a layer of blue rock. Mr..
Mcllhennv had one of these wells driven
about three years ago.. Water was
reached at a depth of 100 feet, but recently
SO much sand comes up with the water as
to render it useless for Mr.. Mc1lhenuy's
purposes. He dces't use that kind Of
sugar in the cure of his hams.
GOSPE INSPIRATION.
The artesian idea appears to have
caught on to the minds of Jersey City
people. One minister of tho Gospel has
drawn therefrom inspiration for a SER
mon upon the subject. AS this subject
Is attracting considerable attention just
at this time a few bits Of information
relative to artesian wells in general as
culled from various authorities may not
prove uninteresting.
''The American Encyclopaedia defines
them as small holes sunk in the earth
through which currents of water, struck
at great depths, rise toward the surface
and sometimes flow over; SO named from
the province of Artois in France, in
which they nave for a Iona time been in
use. Water thus pressed mp must nave
its sourse in some more elevated lands
and be confined in the strata of rock
through which 1t das percolated. Water,
finds Its way down into the aarth by hoW-
ing into crevices and chaems OF the rocks,
and by percolating through the porous
strata. In a region Of lime and stone
rocks it hollows out for itself its bed
by dissolving the lime stone, and even in
this way produces great caves"
The Encyclopedia Britannica cites q
number of noted arJeStau wells. Two of