The record-union., 1899-08-12

4
feet upon even surface waters at such
a distance, and that there is assuredly
no deep underground connection be-
| tween the wells and the rivers.
| WHAT COULD BE DONE.
One experienced man in that neigh
borhood who has had a great deal to
do with wells, deep driven and other
wise, and is possessed of high intelli-
gence, but who does not wish to be-
| come entangled in the water debate,
said to the Record Union" representa-
tive: For 1900 could sink a shaft
and dynamite out a Subterranean
chamber, and by devices now employed
remove the sand, which is now easily
done, and furnish supply of from
100000 to 100000 gallons, every way
| fit for domestic uses"
! He added: .'It is all dependent upon
the size of the subterranean reservoir
created. That is a mater of easy cal
culation. If a chamber is excavated
say sixty feet in diameter and twenty
| feet deep, it is merely matter OF fig
ures to determine it's holding capacity,
and it will fill and be kept full If
were to carry a well down, however,
to the point of excavation and ten feet
in diameter instead of two feet or SO,
| it will be seen that the amount of water
that might be taken from the reservoir
would be a matter of several millions
of gallons, and to sink such shaft
| is by no means a difficult or a costly
| task
| THE HUMPHREY WELLS.
| Very near to the Stephens place is the
orchard and farm of A. B. Humphrey
| On his place are several driven wells,
but only the largest claimed our at
tention. 1t must be noted, however,
that Mr.. Humphrey was asked con-
corning his knowledge of the stephens
subterranean water supply. He pur-
chased his place after Mr.. Stephens had
sunk his wells, and Mr.. Humphrey on
buying made careful study of the
Stephens well system and familiarized
himself with all it's details, measure
ments and capacity.
He said that the statements noted by
the Record Union" representative con-
| corning that system We're correct ana
| that the information gathered was as
we have written from such notes. On
| the basis of his knowledge of the
Stephens wells Mr.. Humphrey proceed
ed to develop water upon his place. He
has had eminent success in that way
Taking his largest well as an eX-
ample it is to be said that he sank
shaft from the surface seven feet in
width and fifteen feet deep to the sur
! face water line and eleven feet below
| it, in all twenty-six feet. From that
point he drove a 16-inch shaft twenty
eight feet when he struck three feet of
sand and water, which was chambered
by the outtake of sand, and an immense
| pile of it testified to the size OF
the reservoir. Proceeding eighty feet
deeper with his shaft he came to a
strata of sand twelve feet deep and
fine water supply.
The sand has been chambered out at
that point, until there is a large and
ample reservoir over twelve feet deep
and running back on each side from
fifty to sixty feet-so far back that it
has ceased to cave; as Mr.. Humphrey
expresses it, there is a regular lake
down there"
The eighty feet traversed before
reaching the lower water supply was
through extremely hard clay and hard
pan. When the lower reach was at
tanned, conditions were much as found
|
depth Mr. Humphrey found there was
4 strong pressure, an artesian pres
sure, forcing the water up the shaft
and yielding an abundant supply of
water of a superior quality and unaf-
fected by any surface strata of water.
The we'll is practically exhaustless. 1t
| is, as he says, merely matter of
power applied.
A SPLENDID SUPPLY.
His we'll, which as stated, has shaft
of but sixteen inches diameter, yields
now 1000 gallons a minute with no di-
munition, though it may be run steadily
all day long. This 1900 gallons rep
resents then 10000 gallons an hour, or
nearly 100000 gallons for ten hours,
or 100000 gallons day. 1t is to be
noted that when the pumps are started
on the Humphrey well that it falls off
presently sixteen feet. This represents
! the head" spoken of by we'll users.
When the pumps cease it regains it's
| head" But beyond the sixteen feet
| the we'll never sinks.
| The 900 gallon capacity mentioned
! does not represent the full capacity of
| the Humphrey well, but only the ca
| pacity of the pump he now has in it.
Early in the next year he will apply
pump actuated as is the present one by
electric motor, which he is confident
will deliver on the surface $500. gallons
| minute, or 80, 900 an hour, or at the
rate of 100000 gallons a day.
Here, then, is a we'll, the owner of
which is confident that it will yield
alone one-third, by the hour rate, the
whole amount which Mr.. Stillman says
is necessary for an experiment to test
capacity to supply Sacramento
COMMON SENSE CONCLUSIONS.
These are the newspaper investiga-
tons" of one forenoon in a very linn
tied district. What then may not an
investigating committee accomplish
backed by municipal authority?
Do not these simple facts suggest to
the fair minded that whatever may be
the outcome of the present water agi-
tation, the east side supply source
should have something more than con-
lecture, and chatter about geological
formation, and broken strata, surface
water perco1ation, drainage of the
surface, etc?
Do not the facts here set forth war
rant the fair-minded in concluding that
there is more in the subterranean wat
err supply of the east side than geolo-
gists may have discovered or dreamed
of, since not one Of them have made
any examination of the country re-
ferred to for very many years, and not
then with view of determining the
sources and quantity or the quality of
the vast body of living water that is
beneath the sixty and seventy feet Of
hardpan and clay in the bowels of the