Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-09-13

me deepest hole in the world is
pelng dug just outside of Pittsburg.
under the direction of Prof. William
Hallock, of Columbia college, and in
due time he expects to prove that the
interior of the earth is vast furnace,
capable of furnishing an inexhaustible
supply of steam.
Already the hole has been bored to
vast depth, and it is expected that a
depth of 10000 feet will soon be
reached, or, approxima tely, two miles
Inc second deepest hole in the world
is the Schaladaback salt we'll, near
Lelpslc, which has a depth of $40 feet
A well recently sunk near Wheeling,
W. Va, has depth of $500 feet, and
the Sperenberg salt well, near Berlin,
has a depth of 4,170 feet In eastern
Sllesla boring has been going on for
some time in well which will be
sunk to depth of $500 feet, but the
Pittsburg hole easily leads them all.
When the boring of the latter place
was first begun it was merely for COM
mercial purposes, and both gas and oil
were struck in paying quantities few
feet below the surface The company
owning the plant, however, at the So
licitation Of Prof Hallock, was induced
to carry on a series of temperature in
Vnctioa+innc ond he
the work has been under the sole d.
reetion of the college professor.
There is comparatively little expense
attached to the work, as the gas found
near the surface is used to operate the
powerful engines which do the drill
ing. There is some outlay of course,
the main expense being the wages of
the necessary workmen, but when the
hole is completed the company ex-
poets to have a bonanza that will en-
dure as long as the world lasts.
Prof. Hallock was induced to try
the experiment of finding natural
steam by the knowledge of the proven
fact that the earth grows steadily
hotter the deeper it is penetrated.
From the progress already made it is
believed that the temperature of the
earth is sufficiently hot at about $500
feet below the surface to convert water
into steam. In other words, it is be-
lieved that the temperature at this
point is PIP degrees.
AT 10000 feet. the proposed depth of
the we'll, the temperature is figured to
be 22S degrees. IL, however, these es-
Inmates are not realized, the drill will
be kept working until the truth or
falsity of Prof. Hallock's theory is
proven beyond peTadventure.
If natural steam is not encountered
Prof. Hallock believes that the walls of
the well will be SO hot that cold water
can be pumped down and pumped up
again in the, form of steam. The eco
nomic value of such a discovery is
birth of the natural power of the flu
ture, and in the long run cheaper than
any yet discovered, not excepting the
power obtained by the Harvesting. of
Niagara.
The observations taken show that
the temperature increases in an aver
age one degree for each 60 feet. In GER
tain stages of the work the increase
has been greater and in others less
than that. At 1900 feet the tempera-
ture was SO degrees, and at $500 feet
1876 degrees, az increase of 81 degrees
for 400 feet.
In the early stages of the boring the
increase of the temperature was not as
great as that when the well became
deeper, and now a sudden change is
looked for by Prof Hallock at any mo-
ment, which may bring the steam
point much nearer than was originally
expected.
The heat Of the interior OF the earth
is shown to be almost uniform by the
temperature observations in wells
widely separated. In the Sperenberg
salt well, near Berlin, the temperature
is ITO degrees at depth of 4,170 feet,
while the Wheeling, w. Va, well, at
depth of 1920 feet shows tempera-
ture of 1855 degrees, and the Pitts
burg well shows ITO degrees at 1850
feet.
In the Sehaladaback salt well, near
Leipsic, the temperature at $40 feet is
1855 degrees, and in the Pittsburg
well at $500 feet the temperature is
1856 degrees, showing that the salt well
is slightly warmer than the well in the
oil country, but the difference is too
slight to be material.
Prof. Hallock expects the deep hole
to develop some new geologic condi-
lions of evea greater economic value
than the discovery Of natural steam
but as these hopes are largely specuia-
tive he refuses to say anything until
there is some basis for their realiza-
tion.
1t will be possible, when the well Is
completed, to study the formation Oh
the interior of the earth more compre-
hensively than has yet been do2e, and
a. fcfs for rev dis