The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1919-08-23

order to drill, oscillations must be
induced in the cable. such as those
set up by attaching a light weight to
a suspended rubber band A slight
oscillation properly induced by the
finger at the upper end of the rub
Der band will produce a very large
oscillation of the weight attached
to its lower end. In some such way
as this the skilled driller produces
oscillations in the drill bit, which
throw the sharp beveled edge of the
drill on to the rock with high We
lIocity. The only mean that the
driller has of knowing the behavior
of the drill is the general behavior
of the machinery and the slight i'm
pulses or tremors in the cable,
which he detects by his hand alone.
The information obtained from
drill holes carried to great depths
is of exceptional economic and sci
entific importance. Although the
wells drilled by the Hope Natural
Gas company and the Peoples Nat
ural Gas company have not yet
reached the goal sought depth
of 5000 feet-they have, neverthe-
less come within 421 feet of the
goal, and incidentally they have es-
tablished the fact that no valuable
deposits of oil exist in the immedi-
ate vicinity of the wells at depths
somewhat greater than 1000 feet.
The materials and the conditions
in the interior of the earth have
long been a favorite subject of spec
ulation among scientific men.\ Ac-
cording t. the modern mathematical
theory of the propagation of earth
quake waves through the earth the
outer rocky shell of the. earth,
which is about two and one-half
times as heavy as water, extends
to a depth of less than 1000 miles.
Inside of this shell is some ma
%terial, probably metallic, which is
more than five times as heavy as
water. Estimates of the tempera-
ture at the center of this nucleus
range from 5000 to 100000 degrees
f.. but these figures have little or
no value, for mathematician have
not yet found the law of the ,distri-
button of temperature from the IT.
face to the center of the earth. The
temperature evidently increases with
the depth, a fact again confirmed
by an elaborate series OF observa-
lions of temperature made in each
of the three deep wells, the Geary,
the Golf, and the Lake, by G.. r.
Van Orstrand, Of the United States
geological survey, department of the
interior.
The temperature was 1875 F. in
the Geary we'll at a depth of 61Oo
feet, 1898 F. in the Golf we'll at
a depth Of 1910 feet, and 1856 F.
in the Lake we'll at a depth of 1900.
feet. The observation at a depth OF
$500 feet in the Lake we'll was
made at the deepest point yet
reached by any observer.
The source of the enormous guam
tity of heat stored in the interior
of the earth is not known. Some
writer's think this heat is due to
the di~sintegratiOn of radium in the
rocks. others think that the earth is
a cooling globe, radiating heat de-
veloped during condensation from
the original nebula, and others
think that it is due to various
causes. such as radioactivity, chemi-
cal reactions, impacts from me-
iteorites, or condensation from nebu-
lous material.
The strata of lime, slate, and sand
penetrated by these deep wells were
originally sediments deposited from
ocean water. A bed of ocean water
was actually found in the Geary
we'll at a depth of $3.50 feet. DR..
/, C. White, state geologist of West
Virginia, with whom the United
States geological survey Is cooper
ating in these Investigations, is of
the opinion that this water is a fos-
sill ocean, imprisoned since mid
Paleozoic time. Interesting evil
Edence in regard to the geologic his
tory of the formations was obtained
by Charles Butts. of the United
States geological survey. who iden-
Titled a number of fossils from
depths of 1887 to 1855 feet in the
Goff we'll. The material from the
Lake we'll has not yet been fully e%>