The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1916-04-27
ing for the city the casing was fur
nished and delivered at the we'll.

illalleu anu uellVeTeQ at uno well.
"The city of Pierre has since pur-
chased we'll rig and drilled a we'll
themselves, the actual cost of which
is nearly twice as much as the city
ever paid for the same size wells.
A smaller we'll than the state we'll,
drilled two years before, at the Pierre
Indian school by the United States
government. only one mile from the
capitol, cost S 900 more than the
state we'll.
81 have a stenographic report
which shows that Mr.. Egan in his
Sioux Falls speech claims that we
drilled this we'll in week. AS mat
ter of fact, it took at least two weeks
to set up the rig, and about twenty
weeks to drill the we'll, but Mr.
Egan's statement regarding this is
about as near correct as those he
makes on other matters.
state Well Profitable.
THE we'll was drilled at the cap
itol for the purpose of securing wa
ter, also gas for heat and light. The
drilling of the we'll was good bust
ress proposition for the state. The
gas secured from this we'll since its
completion has been worth many
times the cost of the we'll The extra
supply of gas not needed at the state
capitol building for heat or light has
in the mean time been sold to the
city of Pierre for domestic consum-
ption at 25 cents per 1000 feet. The
proceeds from the sale of gas to the
city has brought into the state treas
nry $S,102.29 prior to February 1,
1916. The income from the sale of
gas sold to the city is almost equal
to the total cost of the we'll.
"ln his speech at MITCHELL Mr..
Egan said that r. o. Richards OF
Huron who is also a candidate for
governor, requested his as follows,
presumably over the telephone.)
"'Be sure to tell your audience that
| put down two wells here within
three years and they cost S3.O5 per
foot
EITHER Mr. Richards was not tell
ing the truth. or Mr.. Egan was mis-
quoting him. MIR. Richards has never
had we'll as large as the state capi-
tol we'll drilled at any time, nor has
he had any wells drilled in the last
three years. But our firm drilled two
small wells for him about six years
ago, the cost of each being abou,
$500. 1t is possible that Mr.. Richards
was referring to some primary law
and not to artesian wells when he
talked to Mr.. Egan.
Law Not Violated.
lot {l,r
charge made by Mr. Egan and Mr.
Richards that this we'll was drilled in
violation of the law LAS a matter OF
fact. the appropriation available for
this we'll was made by the 1907 leg
islature. This was two years before
II became member of the legisla-
ture. The we'll at the state capitol was
not constructed under any specific
law, but under the general power and
authority of the state capitol com
mission. This commission was au-
thorized by the legislature of 1905
four years after | become member
"My political enemies have tried
at two different sessions of the leg.
islature to get some member to in
troduce resolution directing the at
torney general to bring action for the
recovery of this money, but the,
could not find a single member out
of the 149. who was willing to do it
Even the Democrats refused to have
anything to do with it.
"Mr. Egan claims that the we'll;
drilled for the state were unneces
sarv and says in regard to the wei
at the state university at Vermilion
that "God has been running his
Missouri river and they had plent,
of water" (stenographic report. A.
a matter of fact, it is four miles from
the university to the Missouri rivel
or was when l lived there-quitt
a long distance for 600 students tt
go for water. especially i'll the win
ter, and a bucket brigade would no
be good fire protection for half mil
lion dollars worth of state property
every we'll we have drilled for th
state has been on competitive bids
where we have saved the state con
siderable money. OF course, the stat
could get other we'll drillers to d
this work, but it would cost more
The contract for the state capitol wei
Twas let to us at a public bidding, tn
proposed work having been adver