The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1903-10-23


BALL, SOUTH DAKC
interesting Facts About Arteslan Well,
Y ermiliion, s. D., Sept, 90. 1908. Y
Editor OF ArRus-Leader: Dear Sir;
You wrote me nearly two mon tbs apc
asking me some questions concerning
artesian wells. have not hitherto
found favorable opportunity for reply.
I trust you will pardon the delay, and
YET u has been without Its advantages.
have spent much OF the summer
gathering data concerning new wells,
and learning the history ef old wells,
especially such data as may throw
light on the causes OF their decline
and failure. GA. q \
The number OF wells now flowing
must be over 1000 about 300 new
ones are added ina year. Very few,
OF the earliest ones are now flowing.
;Ihe Andoyer we'll is a notable excep-
tion. The first deep one in the state
was atsA berdeen and has been stop
ped several years. 81
Collapse Of the pipe from rusting
and shutting off Of the water from the
pipe by caying are the most common
causes Of stoppage and are most ire
quent In large wells. The latter re-
suit IS more common In some regions
as about Re.Held and north and IS
usually adowed by the running
OF much sand. Where wells run sand
they should be shut of till they run
Clear. Most arteslan water corrodes
the casing more or less. In some
cases iron pipe lasts only two or three
years, more commonly it Will last
nine or ten years, while the Andoyer
well has only had the top length OF
Jipe replaced in twenty years. Other
things being equal the more water
runs through a pipe the sooner It will
be rusted out.
Another cause of failure OF wells is.
subterranean leakage from rustlnRs
through below the surface, or from
faulty construction at. first. Some
wells in Brule county seem to have
failed from this cause.
Wells generally decline in flow and
pressure after running awhile. Wells
sometimes increase soon after con-
struction and asitnally some time
after, from the breaking In OF water
from 3 stronger flow below, but these
also afterward decline. This Isl eS-
pecially true Of large wells. Those at
Aberdeen, Redfeld and Huron may be
referred to as examples. Some esti-
mate that at the first place the decline
inflow and pressure is as great as one
quarter to one-third of the original
amount. The uncertainty arises
from conflicting reports Of the original
flow. Andoyer is said to have had 903
pounds pressure originally now it is 60
pounds, but 1t has not declined more
than pounds In ten years. Redfeld5
shows similar decline though pressures
over 100 pounds are still readily OBJ
tanned. Superintendent Myers OF
that city called my attention to the
fact that the closed pressure tiuctnat-
ed much according to whether the.
well had been running freely for a time.
or had been closed for a few hours.
All these facts are nationally ex-
planned by the very slow movement of
the water in the water bearing rock.
Estimates, experiments and observa-
tions have been made which show
that in coarse sand with agredient or
head, of one foot in a hundred water
moves at the rate Of about one mile.in
a year. When we rene ember that the
Dakota artesian rock is usually very
fine grained and that the gradient
averages only ne.tenth Of a foot per
mile we must believe it moves much
more slowly except where it runs in
crevices as may etimes be the case
Hence large wells deli iver more rapidly
than it can come to them and they
must consequ quently decline even
though the water amile away scarcely
feels the effect Of their rapid dis
charge. Instfis very fact we see hope.
for the country. Its not possible for
the general supply to be quickly at 4
fected by the prodigalitY OF few
ignorantlY conduc ted wells.
Another fact that we should be.
thankful for is that there are several
water strata more or less distinct
from one another, so that II one is