The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-03-25

as the ChoctaW Article ana OF a finei
Qualify Than the Weir City-FOur Hun
dred Feet of Salt Water is Still Causing
TroubIe-lt is Not Unlikely That the
Operations VIII be Transferred to the
Hill.
Coal was struck in the city well at
noon yesterday, exactly 1175 feet below
y the surface of the ground.
Mr. Madison was working a the time
and he noticed that the drill went down
very easy at the depth of about a screw
which Isl according to the statement OF
the men at the well, about four or four
and one half fee>.
Mr.. Madison thought he had struck
soapstone again and hence paid very
little attention TO the matter until he
went to empty out the bucket He then
oundnotonly unmistakable evidence OF
coal but the genuine article itself. Most
of it had been pulverized so fine with
the drill that there was hardly any
means of telling the proportion OF the
coal TO the foreign substance brought
UP with it. At the city building, how
ever, the stuff was estimated a about
two fifths of the depth Of the soft STRAIT
Um and hence the superstition is that the
actual vein of coal is two feet thick
A reporter for the Eagle called al the
works and examined the thing for him
self. Particles of coal still chung to the
bucket and the sun having dried it il
stood out in full relief glistening in the
sun light. The men at the well say that
st was impossible to have the hole salt
~ l..
that the coal taken up was altogether
different from that which is offered TO-
sale in the city It looks something like
the Choctaw coal but not in every res
pect. It is much finer in its grain than
the Weir City or Usage coal and the
indications show that it is entirely bet
Ter Not only that but it was under
stratum of rock usually found over
bed Of coal and the cuttings showed pyr-
ties of iron which is said to be a sure
indication of the neig1lborhood exist
Rnce of the genuine black diamond.
The only question now to be taken into
consideration is whether the coal would
pay to mine. Is it thick enough? If il
Is thick enough can a shaft be profitably
sunk through 400 feet of salt water?
The water is the main trouble Pre-
vious TO striking TIE stratum Of coal the
drill opened up another vein of water
with such a strong flow that $500
pounds weight Of iron will have to be
added to the drill and the supposition Is
that il will have to be cased with iron
The city has Sill about 100 feet Of cas-
ing but the hole is so narrow that the
ether casing will have to be pulled up
and the hole trimmed so as to admit cas-
ing to the lower depths of the hole.
Now that the city has tangible evil
dence of the existence of a good qEGtry
of coal they are thinking about aban-
doning the valley and transferring oper-
atoms TO the hill. What they want to
go TO the hill for to sink a new hole al
great expense is a matter which bothers
the tax payers. They thing that City
Engineer Jackson and his colleagues
should know enough to know how much
coal is in the vein just struck without
having to sink new hole at the eX-
pense of a couple Of thousand of dollars
TO find out. Something ought to be done
10 find out how much coal is in the we'll
and what the chances are to work il
before going to the expense.
The idea of Mr.. Jackson is to ascer-
tain scientifically the depth of this vein
of coal from a certain point in the hill.
then to drill down towards it and when
depth is reached adjacent to the bed.
10 insert core drill and pull out the
forma tons whole instead of pulverized
BY this means they can find out the
exact thickness of the coal vein as well
as its quality.
Up to date the well has cost about half
of the $4,000 voted for prospecting.
About $1,000 Of this is for piping. casing
and ropes and the balance is for labor
Mr.. Jackson thinks the plant can now be
moved to the hill for about 5000. The
object in going to the hill is TO avoid
water. The entire valley seems to be
impregnated with strong undercurrents
of water which are not supposed to exist
in the hill. There is 400 feet of actual
salt water in the valley and the current
IS so strong that il is thought that il
would be impossible to sink shaft
through it.
TO C RE COLD IN ONE DAY
Take laxative Bromo Quinine Tablets. All