The Alaska daily empire., 1919-08-29
DEEPEST WELLS IN WORLD .s.-. AND LESSONS THEY TEACH

6,700 feet the strata penetrated are 1 alternately lime" and "slate," and rom 6,700 feet to the bottom, 7,24s
 'eet, they are sand" and lime" in crspersed with about GO feet of rock 1 salt The second deep we'll was 1 lrilled by the Hope Natural Ga Company on the farm of M O. Golf about 8 miles northeast of Clarks burg, in northern West Virginia Its mouth is 1,164 feet above sea level The we'll begins 200 feet below the level of the Pittsburgh coal and penetrates the usual oil-bearing and gas-bearing sands, the lowest being he Bayard, which lies at depth )f 2,210 feet. The strata in the re nainder of the well are alternately lime" and slate" The third deep | we'll, the J. H. Lake, of the Hope Natural Gas Company, is about 8 niles southeast of Fairmont, w Va t is about 20 miles north of the Golf veil and about 60 miles south of the ieary well. The mouth of the well s about 1900 feet above sea level The Bayard sand. the lowest of the gas sands, was found in this we'll at 6 lepth of 2,050 feet The remaining strata are alternately Time" slate" md sand"
 Four Deepest Wells In the World. Named in order of depth, the four 1 deepest wells in the world are the l Lake. 7,579 feet; the Golf, 1886; a we'll at Czuchow, Germany, 7,348;
 md the Geary, 7,248. The two deep
 est wells in the world are therefore he Lake and the Golf, the Lake sur. 1 passing the German we'll by the large margin of 231 feet In comparison
 with these great depths, other depths
 reasched by wells or mines sunk in he crust of the earth are rather in significant The deepest mine in the
 world is shaft No. of the Tamarack
 mine, in Houghton County, Mich,
 which has reached a depth of 5,20c
 Feet. Other shafts of the Tamarack I Company and of the Calumet 6
 .Hecla mine, in the Lake Superior | region. reach depths between 4,00e md 5000 feet Three shafts in the
 Prizbram silver mines, in Austria I have reached depths of about 3,30Q
 feet. The Victoria quartz mine, at
 Bendigo, Australia, is 4.300 feet deep | 4 number of shafts in the Transvaal
 gold region of South Africa have been 1 ,unk to depths of about 4,000 feet. | Limits to Depths of Mines and Wells. The depth to which mining shaft | can be sunk is limited by the heat | of the rocks, as the temperature at | l depth of a mile in nearly all parts | of the earth is so high that workmen cannot live in 1t, even with ventiia- tion. The depths to which well 6 | inches in diameter can be drilled seems to depend chiefly on skill in drilling and strength of cable. The cable itself Is heavy, and besides carrying it's own weight and the weight of a drill, which weighs one ! or two tons, it must bear strains pro iuced by vertical movements of the drill, which may be so great as to
 break at any moment. so that the
 drill and a part of the cable may be lodged in the well in such a way that they cannot be removed. Exceptional skill is required, therefore. in operat ing the ponderous machinery used in drilling a well. The drill, which is column of steel about 5 inches in diameter and 4 or 50 feet long. bev- eled to a v-shape edge at the lower and, is attached to one end of the cable, and at some other point, deter
 mined by the driller, the cable is at tached to a long beam which is oper ated in the same manner as the walk. ing beam of a steamboat. Merely
 to lift the drill swing of the end of the walking beam and to let 1t dror repeatedly would do no drilling. In order to drill. oscillations must be induced in the cable, such as those
 set up by attaching light weight to suspended rubber band. A slight
 oscillation properly induced by the finger at the upper end of the rubber band will produce very large os- cillation of the weight attached to l its lower end. In some such way