The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-04-21

That, at Least, is What Men Skilled in
Geology say-Tslk About Moving the
Hole to the Hill is Again Renewed and
Has some Opposition-speciaI Meeting
VIII Probably be Called.
The drill at the well is running again.
Yesterday it was down over 116O feet
and when they go 100 feet more it is
said that work will cease and some
thing else will be done.
Last Saturday the drill struck anoth-
er underground lake of water Of such
force that it was feared work would
have 10 be suspended all together but
yesterday morning the workmen found
a means Of shutting off the water eff
fectively and work, as stated, was re-
sumed.
When a depth of 1850 feet is reached
and nothing struck ii is said that IL
will be unseless to go any farther.
Biologists say that nothing OF advan-
tage can be found al greater depth
than 300 feet below the level OF the sea
Why this is the case was not definitely
learned by a reported for the Eagle
but it seems TO be a pretty well estab-
lished fact among those who have made
a study of the subject. They will be
800 feet below the level Of the sea today,
but they will go fifty feet better for
good measure so as to be sure that they
will not overlook anything. The theo-
ry is. as applied to this section, that the
greatest likelihood of coal is 100 feet
above the level of the sea or 300 feet
below. AS stated in the Eagle here
tofore coal was found about 100 feet
above the level of the sea but in uncer-
tain quantities. 1t may have been a
vein ten inches thick or three feet.
There is no means of knowing as the
drill bored Az feet without an exami-
nation and the men did not know any,
thing about il until the bucket was
pulled up. The claim was made that
the coal was ground so fine that the
quantity was very uncertain but an
estimate was made based on the pro-
portion of coal to the other substance
pulled up and the men thought the vein
was about two feet.
AS the drill is in the last 100 feet in
terest in the well is increasing and the
proceedings of today and tomorrow will
be watched With keen attention. The
men at the we'll claim that the indica-
tons are very good, but, of course, be-
Ing SO near Inc llIDIL lUey Will not
stake their reputation too much. They
look wise and are perfectly willing to
wait.
What will be done when the 1850 feet
depth is reached is yet matter Of
some uncertainty. A great many peo-
pie are advocating the proposition
made some time ago of going out in the
hill somewhere and sink a new hole. II
this is done the drill will go down with
in 100 feet of the measure at which the
coal was struck in the present well and
then a core drill will be used to find out
how deep the vein is. While great
many people want the well moved out
on the hill a great many more want the
drill to go down deeper in this well
and there are quite a few who are adj
vocating stop prospecting altogether
and use the money for some other pur-
pose. No accurate figures have been
got but it is estimated that the present
will has cost about $4,000, including cas-
ing and material
1t is not al all unlikely that a special
meeting Of the city council will be call
ed later in the week to determine what
further action will be taken in case
nothing is found. If such a meeting is
called the citizens and taxpayers will
probably be invited to give the council
some suggestions.