The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-11-22
WISCONSIN'S MYSTERIOUS
WELLS.

They Blow Up Air Like So Many
Pumps-A Glazier Bed the Cause.
Here and there on a portion of Sank
| prairie there is a curious phenomenon
known as the blowing wells" The
wells are continually forcing great vol
umes of air upward or, like some huge
monster, are drawing into the interior
of the earth no small amount of the
zephyrs as they come and go. The OPP
orators who have excavated great holes
into the sand and gravel. as well as the
husbandmen upon whose farms the
wells are found, seem to be mystified
as to the causes which surround this
unusual freak of nature. The blowing
wells are so peculiar that sources of
water supply with such unusual char
acteristics are not believed to exist
elsewhere on the continent.
The matter has created considerable
discussion in the neighborhood of the
wells, and City Engineer Kirchoffer of
Baraboo, determined to investigate the
causes which produce the remarkable
effects.
The prairie is just south of the Bara-
boo range of quartZite bluffs and just
west of the Wisconsin river as it flows
to the southwest. From the river the
level, treeless tract of land extends to
the west until it's identity Is lost in the
ascending hills along the Boney creek
valley. Strange to say, the walls are
located in the sands of the terminal
moraine of the Green bay lobe of the
great glacier which wrought havoc
with the topography of the greater por-
ton of Wisconsin some ten thousand
years ago. The advance Of the ice was
not beyond where the wells are located,
and when the frozen moraine melted
and perhaps established itself farther
to the north there was a great quantity
of sand left in the northeastern portion
of the prairie. For miles beyond the
moraine there was carried with the
flowing water a great amount of fine
soil, on which there are now many
prosperous farmers, for this has proved
to be one of the garden spots. During
recent years 1t has been found necessa-
ry to go deeper into the earth for water
on this terminal moraine, and this has
brought about the existence of the
blowing wells.
The phenomena exhibited at these
various wells is quite unusual. On the
farm of Steuber Brothers the water in
the well often looks as If greatly agi-
tated, not unlike kettle of the liquid
when being boiled. Often a draft can
be felt at the surface when the wind is
being forced outward and when Ian
tern is lowered it flickers as if in a
strong breeze, and sometimes Is extin-
suished.
One of the interesting and natural
characteristics of these wells Is that
during extreme cold weather it Is al
most impossible to prevent the pipes
from freezing. AT certain times the
cold air rushing into the wells congeas
the water on the inside of the perpen-
dicular pipe, be it iron or wood, In
some instances the pipes have been
frozen solid for sixty feet below the
surface of the earth. In other in
stances, when these wells were dug dur
ing severe cold weather, the earth
would be found frozen on the bottom
and sides, even at a depth of fifty or
more feet
In some instances, in order to prevent
freezing, the pumps have been provi-
ded with an iron pipe extending to the
bottom, with earth thrown in until the
lower valve Is reached, which is only
few feet below the surface. In other