The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-07-17
STATE MAKES A BET.
Wagers $4,000 on Securing Water for
Parsons Asylum.


The state of Kansas agreed this
morning to gamble a little with Bailey
& Waugh, a southern Kansas drilling
| hrn, on the possibility of getting a well
OF good drinking water at the Parsons
hospital for the insane.
The state of Kansas bets Bailey &
Waugh $1,000 that they can't dig a well
at Parsons which will furnish 1900 gar
ions OF good water an hour. If Bailey
& Waugh can deliver the we'll, they will
get the $500. If they can't they get
nothing for their labor
Such are the terms of a contract en-
tered into this morning at the offices
OF the state board of control. OF course
there is nothing said about its being
bet in the official records-but it is
bet. Just like MANY other business
ventures made upon contingent fees.
At the present time there is not any,
thing at Parsons in the way of drink
ing water except surface water. No
one has cared to take the chance of
drilling a deep well in the hope of get
ting plenty of good water. The state
has decided to take this chance. Bailey
& Waugh is a firm which has made d
speciality of drilling deep wells in searct.
of water. They have drilled number
of such wells down near Joplin and Col
umbus, and they believe that the geo.
logical formations at Parsons are ex-
actly the same. They expect to find
water in just the same relative geologi-
cal strata that they did al Joplin, which
is known to the trade as the Mis-
sisslppi limestone
The Mississippi limestone seems to
be about the bottom of the world for
this particular section. Drillers find
many interesting things as they do
down into the earth. in eastern Kansas
until they hit the Mississippi lime
stone, which is very hard and rebel
lious, and takes the edge off from
drilling tools at an alarming rate. And
they can drill and drill into Mississippi
limestone until they are tired, and it
is always the same. But Bailey &
Waugh found that by drilling to a
certain place in the Mississippi lime
stone they cut into a vein of very
good fresh water. This was true of
the region about Joplin. and they
think 1t is also true of Parsons. They
are willing to gamble on the prospect
little, anyway, and drill the we'll for
nothing If they fail to deliver the we'll.
1t is about 500 feet to the MISSISSIPPI
pi limestone at Parsons. and the drill
lers expect to have to go from 200 to
400 feet into this hard, f1inty rock to
reach the stream of water. The hole
will be ten inches in diameter at the
top, and it will be cased 8 inches wide
down to the Mississippi limestone.
Then the hole will be only inches
wide, with 6-inch casing.
1t is necessary to ease out" the salt
water which is encountered in going
down to the limestone. When the drill
ers strike the stream of fresh water
down in the bowels of the earth, they
expect it to come up to within about 100
feet of thu top of the we'll. Then deep
pump will be put in to take it the rest
of the Way r.sl-z~-
Bailey & Waugh are, playing for much
bigger stakes than $500. however. 1t
is certain that if Kansas can tap the
undiscovered stream of fresh water with
it's well, there will be many other wells
drilled at once. = The Katy railroad will
want several, and other big water users
will have their own wells. The city itself
may decide to get its water from deep
wells. >=e,s esr--
At present it is costing the state about
$500 a year for water for the Parsons
hospital If it can get a well of its own,
it will saves the cost of the we'll in five
or six years.