Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1906-09-20
UNLIMITED WATER.
RECENT EXPERIMENTS SHOW
SURPRISING RESULTS.
Artesian Water at Moderate Depth in
the Arkansas Valley in Western
Kansas
MEANS MILLIONS TO THE STATE.

Syracuse, Kan, Sept. ia well
drilled in by Edward Parsley, of
Syracuse, on his ranch, a mile
south of Coolidge, on the line
of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa
Fe, in western Kansas, finds ar
tesian water at depth of 240 feet.
This is not new find, for an artesian
we'll has been flowing on E. P. Taylor's
adjoining quarter nearly 20 years.
But better than a new find, the Pars-
ley well, by it's close proximity to the
other well and other evidences, fix
and make certain for all time that far
below the "underfiow" of the Upper
Arkansas Valley, itself so valuable for
irrigation and domestic use, is veri-
table lake of water, which, if tapped,
comes to the surface by natural pres
sure, or which, if necessary, may be
pumped. More than this, it is soft
water, making it useful in locomotive
engines and other steam boilers.
Hard water will make steam, but it
| corrodes the boilers, and so the rail-
way companies, especially, are always
| on the lookout for soft water in semi
arid regions
Indeed, it is the constant search for
soft water by the Atchison, Topeka &
| Santa Fe for use in it's locomotives
and in it's local shops along the line,
and to aid and encourage manufacture
ers and others who must have water
in their business, that has led to Mr..
Parsley's experiment south of Cool
| idge. By many experiments and much
expense the company proved to GER
tainty that the country along its line
in western Kansas overlies a reservoir
of water. The underfow, at a shall
lower depth, was certain and beyond
dispute, but the deep water was an I'M
known quantity until the railway COM
pany demonstrated its existence be-
yond a doubt. Drill holes were put
down by the company along the line
at intervals, and the deep water
| tapped without exception. The latest
wells by the company were bored at
| the foot of Main street, in Syracuse,
and water was found in Dakota sand
stone at a depth of 140 feet. One of
these wells is to be bored deeper, but
for the present it supplies the needs
of the company. 1t is not an artesian
well, but is pumped. Between the
Dakota sandstone and the underf1ow
above it is a deposit of impervious
soapstone, or shale, proving that there
is no connection between the two.
The underfiow is the sunken waters
of the Arkansas, and the other is car
ried from the mountains in the porous
sandstone which underlies this region
at a depth of 100 feet and lower.
In the Parsley we'll the water spout,
ed IS inches above the top of three
inch pipe from a depth of 100 feet
and "a inches from 1876 feet. From
240 feet the water spouted five feet
above the top, and when a section OF
16 feet of pipe was added the water
flowed even out of that. Mr.. Parsley
will experiment with it more to see
exactly how far it will rise in the pipe
and later he will substitute an eight
inch pipe for the three-inch, and the
flow naturally will be increased by the
change. From three-inch pipe in the
well on the Taylor ranch adjoining
the flow is about 40 gallons minute
irrigating 35 acres of orchard and gar
den, in addition to supplying the fam
lily and the livestock. Mr. Parsley's
success has moved the neighbors tt
bore wells. ]. w. Egger, on Section
10, has water to the top of the pipe
at depth of 200 feet, and Paul Rice
Section 20, E. P. Taylor (anothel
WELD, Section 26, and Edward Ross
Section Sc, are drilling with a Ger
tainty of finding flowing water Ovel
the state line, in Colorado, Levi.
Mathews is drilling.
This flow of water even comes t.
the surface in spots without drilling
for it. Strange to say, Hamilton coun
ty, which lies in a region that is la
beled "semi-arid" by geographers anC
biologists, contains perennial springs
This is not the statement of a "lant
agent" or of boomer" but of an I'm
prejudiced observer who has seen the
springs and drunk of their waters
North of the Arkansas river in thi.
vicinity, tributaries of that stream
are seven creeks-Horse and Bis
Sandy in Colorado, and West Bridge
East Bridge, Plum, Syracuse and Sane
in Kansas (Hamilton county,. These
are dry creeks" as the saying is
serving only to carry off storm waters
but two miles from the river and for
distance of three miles further. nu
merous springs break from the little
bluffs within four feet of the grass
roots, and if opened and properl,
cared for the supply from each is suffi
cient for a family. And they are no
in the low-lying fiat of the Arkansa.
Valley, but in the upland. For in
stance, 20 feet higher than the town
site of Syracuse, or a total altitude
of $500 feet, is the Kitchener ranch
where the family has a spring house
for the preservation of milk, butter
and vegetables. The bottom of thi!
spring is not to exceed five feet below
the surface of the ground, and the
flow is sufficient to keep large pont
full to depth of six or eight feet
from which water is taken for live
stock and garden. This is not on the
creek bluff, but 100 feet away from it
and 20 feet lower, in the bed of thu
creek, for a distance of three mile!
! are numerous water holes, full thu
year round At the Kitchener house
and elsewhere along the creek clump.