Evening star., 1897-01-04
WATERS BENEATH US
Arsssiaa Wells in the District # Colum-
tt
bio.
The Chance OF Getting Water Ia i3et.
"a
ter In the Eastern Pnrt os
washiaetea.

Mr.. N. H. Darton Of The United States
geological survey has completed his report
on artesfan well prospects, in the Atlantic
coastal plain region. and It. win be published
in few days. Mr.. Darton devotes a chap.
ter to the artesian well prospects in the
District of Columbia in which he SAYS.
THE District of Columbia extends across
the zone in which crystalline rocks emerge
from beneath the coastal plain depos;ts.
and rise into the Piedmont plateau to the
west. The contact line crosses the Poto.
mac river at Washington. passes through
the western portion Of the city, and to the
northward extends along the east side Of
Rock creek valley. The formati that lies
on the crystalline rocks is the Potomac.
which consists mainly OF water-bearine
sands and gravels below and of clay and
fine sands above. The formation of the
basal beds has in all thickness of about
700 feet. and outcrops in belt from seven
to eight miles wide. which extends to the
eastward high up the slopes on the east
side OF Anacostfa river. In these stones #
Is surmounted by younger formations. con-
sistfng of succession of thin western
edges of the dark, sandy clays of the Sey-
ern formation. the impure mari of the pa
munkey. the gray clays of the ChesaDea ke
and the grayes of the LAFAYETTE Wash
ington is situated on a series of broad low
terraces cut in the Potomac sands and
clays across the edge of this forma tiop or
the crystalline rocks.
This series Of terraces, and it's extension
along all the lower land of the District. is
capped by from twenty TO twenty-five feet
Of gravelly sands and loams of the Col,,no
bia formations. The Potomac formation ia
the only member in the District that con-
tains underground waters of any import
ahce, tor the water In the Columbia and
origin" "' ioee
Mr. Darton mentions the following wells
IN tne District, their depth and capacity:
minute: lexington power house. 15O feet
% gallons per minute; ice works, 18th and
+ streets. 100 feet, many gallons per min
ute; ice works. 18th and streets, 80 feet
~ gallons per minute: ice works. 18th and
streets, $40 feet. Is gallons per minute;
metropolitan power house. .sDS feet 20 gal
Ions per minute: st. Elizabeth Asylum, 20
small wells, 240 to $50 feet, 100 gallons per
minute In all; two six-inch wells, $50 and
$50 feet TO gallons per minute each: Ana
costa, 10 feet. many gallons per minute;
Heurich's brewery. 10th and M streets. 300
feet, gallons per minute; storage ware
house. 18th and NJ streets 81 feet, 40 gal
Ions per minute: the Cairo, @ and 10th
streets. 70 feet. Is gallons per minute; Mt.
We Vernon. 9th street and New York avenue
1sS feet. 40 gallons per minute: 312 Penn
sylvania avenue, 93 feet. many gallons per
minute; Lafayette Square Opera House. 70
feet, III gallons per minute; Riggs House.
oos feet. none: 18th street. near M street
northwest. 81 feet, manX gallons per min
ute; Palais Royal, 81 fseto 35 gallons per
minute: Brightwood, A1 fleet, 70 gallons
per minute; J. P. ClarksG Conduit road 100
Somerset Heights, 60 feetr!2O gallons per
minute: Bethesda Park f6i sfeet, 10 gallons
per minute; Good Hope Hin. $50 feet, un-
finished; hotel at Northi Eakoma, PSI feet,
~ gallons per minute:sN National Brewery,
14th and d streets southeast. $40 feet, 40
gallons per minute; Washington Brewery
4th and F streets northeast, 300 feet, Is
gallons per minute: Washington Brewery
4th and F streets northeast, 275 feet, 100
gallons per minute; Highland station, 96
feet many gallons per minute; gas works.
18th street southeast. 2a9 feet.
Pure Water atTsts EIizabeth's.
OF these wells the report says that 1.-The
group which supplies watea for st. Eliza
beth's are perhaps the most important in
the District. for their output Is large and
the water is very spnre. The wells are
situated on the banks of the Anacostia
RIVER. only few feet above tide level The
frs: well was sunk In 1883 to a depth of
go feet, and eighteen half-inch wells were
soon after sunk, which yielded 10000 gal
Ions day. Then some two-inch wells were
added and for nearly twelve years the sup
ply Was 10000 gallons a day. Two six
inch wells, fifty feet apart, were recently
sunk to $50 and $50 feet. respectively and
they supply 10000 gallons day. The
deeper wells draw from q bed of sand and
gravel, which extends from $50 to AGO feet,
and lie on crystalline rocks.
The deeper-seated underground waters
have been tapped by sufficiently large
number of wells in the District TO demon-
strate the almost general extension of wa
ter-bearing beds in the basal and lower bed
of the Potomac formation. and there is Of
ten fair prospect for finding waters in
crystalline rocks. The wells that did not
find a SatlSfactOrV n tba
Lasai Potomac beds are the ice works, at
depth of 800 feet, and al the Mount Ver-
non Apartment House, at rs feei. Dn the
other hand, the 81. L.iZabeth, Metropolitan
railroad power house, .'iilas Royal, Eek
ington. Washington brewery and National
Capital brewery wells obtain large supplies
from that horizon. In surface outcrops the
basal Potomac beds are usually coarse
SANDS and gravels, which are filed with
water. but in some teE instances there are
local areas in which there is clay matrix,
or even quite pure cii! extending down to
the crystalline floor. This latter was found
TO be the af The Noun. Vernon Apart
ment House, whi!e at the ralais Royal,
three squares sou Invest. the basal beGs
were. coarse sands and .,ravels, containing
much water.
I'm the 3S0-foot well ar the, ice works
coarse basal beds were found. but they con-
tain no large supply of water, which leads
to the conclusion that the waters are in
part choked up by Il local area OF clay ad-
not influence the wells at the brewer!es
near by.
These considerations must everywhere
qualify a Judgment as to the prospects for
basal Potomac waters at any given point
in the eastern portion of the District, but
tie general Ircspects are SO good that 1
should never hesitate to"sink wells to these
basal beds, particularly as there is always
good chance also cf finding water in over
lying beds, as at the ice works. AS to wa
lers in the cryst aliEe rocks, 1 can make no
prediction from present knowledge. They
composed belts IN the rocks, OF which the
extent and course are difficult to determine
anc impossible to prediet without many I'D
ditional data
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