The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-12-10


Work goes me1Tily on at the prospect
well and viii be continued night and
day. An Eagle reporter called at the
well yesterday and found not only the
drill going In the direction Of China, or
some other seaport, but all were in ex-
eeedingly good humor. The casing had
al been united and now nothing was
taft to do but to hammer out the bottom
and clean up THE debris.
The fence around the we'll had the de-
sired effect of saving the shrinkage in
11e coal pile, and the removal Of tools.
After the usual greeting the question
was asked: what are you drilling in at
the present time, and what depth are
you a,t?'
Look at this" said Contractor Au
stin, land give your opinion as to what
kind of rock 1T is. Remember this is
rock and not stone So saying he
gave the reporter a piece Of rock in
which dhera were shining mica or dia-
mOnds. The piece was very hard and
might be taken TO be of a limestone for
nation, but to this opinion the contrac-
tor entered IA protest, alleging that there
was nothing of the limestone formation
about the rock, and TO prove the truth
Of his assertion took up a piece Of the
same rock which had just been brought
from the bottom of the well, and with
his knife cut it as though it was chalk
yes" said the contractor, we have
now reached a very large vein of chalk
rock and when it is first brought from
the ground 1T can [be cut with a common
wood saw, orphaned or sInoothed with
jack plane.
after The rock has been exposed TO
the air it becomes very hard. as you
will see by the specimen held in your
hand. If this rock could be quarried
and the vein proves to the depth /
think it will, there is a fortune for
Wichita in the rock. Say that clay
proves to be as valuable as il is said
TO be, and thu properties of the gypsum
contain the needed nourishment for the
soil as stated by DR.. Hammond in mis-
letter, and then comes this great vein
of chalk rock, what more could a place
desire?
ut Will be no trouble for shaft 10
reach the clay, gypsum or rock. The
miners through the columns of the Ea-
gle have made this task very easy.
have drilled many wells but this one ap-
pears TO show I'D more curioslties and
valuable deposits than any well l have
ever drilled. We have been greatly
bothered but from now on l expect to
do some lively work.
The next stratum that is reached
which Shows tendency to cave we will
lessen the diameter of the drill and in a,
Few minutes push on the work We
could have done this when the crystal
lied gypsum crumbled, but we wanted
TO keep the hole the same size until we
struck a rock which would furnish a
safe roof.
This We have done now. We have
not made any official measurements of !
the well and will probably not do so
before the last of the week. when 1 am
In hopes we will be close to 1000 feet be- /
meath the surface
Everything is moving along in fine /
Shape and we shall be glad to show you /
every development made. You see we |
have a bucket now in which a log of |
each five feet is kept
The finding of the rock at the well |
is ait least $50 feet nearer the surface |
than what my brightest expectations |
were, and while the vein is much heav- |
Ger than was found in the former well. |
sunk some ten years ago, it is $50 feet |
nearer the surface