The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-29
srAncHrNo Yop poWxn.

08A8SA1M0 IOk HOW& &&.
 As the supply of wood. dimlnishes and there Is limit to the production of coal. the question of fillins the ever increas- ing demand for power and heat becomes interesting. Since the discovery of cheap and simple plans Of producing serviceabic electric force by use of the almost un- limited water power of the earth. the question of motive power has been rt- lieved of much of It's difficultles. but there are places and eireumstsnccs wn<re ciectricity is net available. and even with that difficulty settled the matter of ob- taining heat is stili of interest.
 Lately we notice that one Professor Hailock has evolved and made public an altogether novel plan for obtaining hcat and power from the earth in continuous and Inexhsustihle quantity, and without any expense except the cost of building and maintaining the machine ry and other fixtures. His scheme is thus outlined:
 Suppose two holes were bored directly into the earth 1s,000 feet deep and say fifty feet apart According to- the measurements l made in the Pittsburk we'll At the bottom there would be a temperature of more than 24D slerrees--- far above the hoiIins point of water. Now, if very heavy charges of dynamite or some other powerful explosive were to be lowered to the bottom of each hole and exploded Simultaneously, and tho process repeated many times. 1 believe the two holes might have a sufliccnt eon- nection established. The rock would be cracked and Assured in all directions, as in dccp oil wells when they are shot; and if only one avenue were opened between the holes 1t would Je enough.
 fact that hot water drawn from we'll near Boise City. Idaho. Is now used to heat a dwelling. and he thinks that in almost any part of the great Yellowstone Valley the hot watch could be procured at much less depth than 12.ooo feet. It Is also noted that water which had leaked or seeped into a deep we'll near Pitts- burg. Pa, was too hot when first drawn out to bear the naked hand in. These and other instances are cited to show that &e d SShhoih oSPth WdtSt VIII bt HrdtS0 to the steam-pr producing point and will remain so without change. Having qcct- ed his method of preparing the wells. we take thls further comment of the learned professor:
 ''The shattering of the rock around the base of the holes would turn the sur rounding area into an immense water heater. The water poured down one hole in the earth would circulate through ell the cracks and Assures. the temperature of which would be over 24o degrees. and in it's passage 1t would be heated and turned to steam. which would pass through the second hole to the earth's surface. The pressure of such a volume of steam would be enormous: for aside from tho initial velocity. Of the steam. the descending column of cold water would exert a pressure of at least 5.000 pounds to the square inch, which would drive up through the second hole every thing movable The problem is therefore a mechanical one. and the chief difficuity would be the connecting of the holes at the bottom. This accomplished. the water heater would operate itseif and a source of power be established that would surpass anything now in use.
 One of the deepest wells known is near Pittsburg. and the owners of 1t propose to keep on "until some remarkable demon stration of pent-up heat Is experienced" we are told, and it. may be possible that they will experience something not bargaincd for. but that Is to be risked.
 The entire scheme of Professor Hallock vx.nx fnr ft1l nr ahi0rArtnul a but is any one prepared to say that it is impossible? Looking back over all the inventions and achievements of the past century can we safely predict that any thing Is impossible? Of course there must be certain limits beyond which human effort canot go but no one yet knows where that limit Is or when ib will be reached. To the unsclentific mind of one hundred years ago the idea of drawing immense trains of carriages over the country by the use of steam was looked on as absurd. Fifty years ago ry throughout the country would be driven, and cars be propelled, by elec- tricity would have been regarded as a wild dreamers. Yet all these things have come to pass within a single lifetime. and it may be that many now living will live to see a continuous volume of heat and power coming up from hole in the ground. No human being can know the limit of human power and invention.
 -se~s 'a
 Speaking in reference to the Southern tour of the Republican Colgressmen,