The Alaska daily empire., 1919-08-29

Us lnlS the Sklll1ull dflller produces oscillations in the drill bit, which hrow the sharp beveled edge of the frill on to the rock with high vel ,city The only means that the drill er has of knowing the behavior of the drill is the general behavior of he machinery at the slight impurses IT tremors in the cable, which he detects by his hand alone.
 Deep Drilling Is Instructive.
 The information obtained from drill holes carried to great depths is of exceptional economic and scientific importance. Although the wells lrilled by the Hope Natural Gas Go. md the Peoples Natural Gas Go. lave not yet reached the goal sought "a depth of 5000 feet-they have, nevertheless, come within 421 feet of the goal, and incidentally they have established the fact that no val lable deposits of oil exists in the i'm mediate vicinity of the wells at depths somewhat greater than 7,DOO feet.
 Whats in the Interior of the Earth7
 The materials aid :he conditions in he interior of the earth have long been a favorable subject of specula ion among scientific men. Accord 'ng to modern mathematical theory ,f the propagation of earthquake waves through the earth the outer "ocky shell of the earth, which is lbout two and one-half times as heavy as water. extends to a depth If 1000 miles, Inside of this shell s some material, probably metallic, which is more than five times as heavy as water. Estimates of the temperature at the center of this nucleus range from 5000 degrees to 'SG,0O0 degrees Fahrenheit. but these figures have little or no value, for nathematicians have not yet found he law of the distribution of temper 1ture from the surface to the center ,f the earth. The temperature evil lently increases with the depth. a 'act again confirmed by an elaborate series of observations of temperature made in each of the three deep wells, he Geary, the Golf, and the Lake. by C. E.. Van Orstrand, of the United States Geological Survey, Department If the Interior. In each of these wells the temperature at depth of 100 feet is about 55 degrees Fahren ieit and gradually rises with increase in depth. reaching 1420 degrees Fahrenheit in the Geary we'll at a iepth of 6.10O feet, 1898 degrees Fahrenheit in the Goff we'll at a depth If 7.320 feet. and 1886 degrees Fahr- enheit in the Lake well at a depth of 7.5O0 feet. The observation at a depth of 7,500 feet in the Lake well was made at the deepest point yet reached by any observer.
 :. Unexplained Enormous Heat.
 The source of the enormous quan- tity of heat stored in the interior of the earth is not known. Some writ. CTS think this heat is due to the dis integration of radium in the rocks. others think that the earth is cool ing globe, radiating heat developed during condensation from the origina! nebula, and others think that 1t is due to various causes, such as radio activity, chemical reactions, impacts from meteorites, or. condensation from nebulous material.
 Some Interesting Results Of Deep
 Drilling.
 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 f und in the ';eary we'll at depth of 6.260 feet. D. I. C. White, State geologist of West vir- ginia, with whom the United States Geological Survey is cooperating in