The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-04-27
Board Of Fire Underwriters, and adopted


the water service. by substituting iron
pipe where wooden pipe is in use, and an
additional supply main leading from the
pumping station to the mains this side of
me river; also the removal or discontir-
uance Of hydrants from their present 10
cation iwhere they are Of no benefit and
placing water pressure gauge in the Of
flee OF the fire marshal. where informa-
ton and record could be had OF the
pressure give: during fires.
Respectfully submitted.
A. G. WALDEN, Fire Marshal
REPORT OF PROSPECT WELL.
The city engineer reported as follows
with reference to the prospect well
That, 100, is quite interesting, and
should be read by every tax payer IN the
city:
Honorable Mayor and City Council:
Gentlemen:-After the proposition car
ried TO vote $4,000 to prospect for coal
within the corporate limits Of the city of
Wichita, submitted specifications which
were approved by the council.
The next step taken was 10 advertise
for bids under the specifications. Ad-
vertisemen.s were inserted in the Rail-
way News Engineering Age, and Amer
lean Contractor. AS a result of these ad-
vertisemen,s we obtained bids from
prominent we'll drlllers located in all Sec
propositions to contract are now on file
IN NY Office, ard were duly submitted
TO TIE committee for their approval or
rejection.
Most al OF the bidders asked more mo-
ney for a well 1000 feet deep than was
voted. and all were conditional. After
much correspondence bidders no one
would take contract to dig we'll 1000
feet for specified sum, or in case Of fail
ure, ge. no money. They one and all
claimed the risk was TOO great. This
correspondence was carried on for some
time before the bonds were sold, and the
people were clanor,ng for the beginning
Of the work. Finally, after many useless
attempts to let contract outright, as
the mayor, members OF the committee.
and all members of the council as well
as myself favored and were anxious 10
90, Mr.. Austin, coming well recommend
ed by corporations for whom he had been
working, submitted a proposition TO fur
n;sh the plant and work by the day. This
was considered by the committee and a
contract entered into, submitted TO the
council and ratified.
Mr. Austin began the drilling Novenl-
Der Is, 1895, and had considerable diff
Guilty in getting down the first 100 feet,
r. @bo - ,ar
found m the quick sand and gravel.
The first casting used was wooden
pipe sixteen inches in diameter This
proved to be no good and the same size
cast iron pipe had 10 be substituted in
stead. After the first 100 feet had been
drilled and the water shut out progress
was rapid until at a depth of $50 feet
a rush OF water was encountered and
caving began; then it became necessary
to insert the next largest size OF casting.
which was ten inches in diameter.
After this casing was inserted and wa
ter and soft material shut off, progress
was again good until the next flow of
water, when the same course had TO be
pursued as from the beginning. for you
must bear in mind that every time
smaller size casting is inserted. it must
be from the top down and reach the bot
tom OF the we'll TO be of any avail in
shutting off water and material passed
through that is caving in.
About this time there was great deal
Of dissatisfaction owing to the slow pro-
gress. and 1 asked Mr.. Austin 10 dis
charge his foreman on the night shift.
and Mr. Madison, known to be an eX-
pert driller from Neodesha, was en-
ployed. and work progressed some bet
ter. but the same difficulty was encoun-
tered at short intervals until a depth of
l,150 feet was reached, and all went well
until at a depth of 1906 feet while drill
ing in sand rock another rush of water
came in, whether from a bad joint in the
PIPE or bottom could not be determined,
but 1 am inclined to think from bad
Joint. The pressure at this depth being
equal to $40 pounds to the square inch.
This being the case and the diameter OF
the well only about four inches. it was
impossible to get string of tools of suf-
fc!ent weight TO do any drilling.
II was at this point that tools yere let
Town to the bottom of the well. Mr..
Madison called for a bulldog spear TO
-emove this last string of castings 10
see IL the hole could not be reamed a,
ne bottom, and in case the water was
coming in from the bottom TO let casing
'urther down. This bulldog spear was
furnished and inserted in cas-
ng. Some where on the way down
where casing had bulged in or a bad
oine, caused it to become crooked; the
spear stopped and in attempting 10 re-
move II the spear caught fast as II was
Intended TO do and could not be gotten
VT without separating casing al this !
ONT, which was not desirable Mr.. |
Madison after working several days TO
emove the spear determined to cut the !
able al the top Of tools AMI let the spear |
md small string of tools go 10 the bot /
ON rather than separate casing where /
he spear had caught, fearing that II this /
we're done the we'll would cave in and |
over up the remaining joints of casing. 4
% that same would have 10 be drilled /
UT. as was a joint previous Conse- /,
Iuently cable was cut and spear and |
ools went 10 the bottom and have not /
let been removed.
II was the opinion Of Mr.. Madison that |
. would be very easy matter to remove /
hese tools. AMI for that reason he con-
ented. in connection with Mr.. Austin.
o take a contract after 1 shut them
own.
II has never been my misfortune before
D have charge of any public work that
,as 50 entirely unsatisfactory from the
tar. until work was stopped. and posi-
ly may have made some unjust crit;-
SINS and said unkind words 20 the con-
FACTORS. II so. / am very sorry for l..