Volume 24 (1872) (424 pages)

70 SCIENTIFIC PRESS. [February 3, 1872. Artesian Wells. Why they are so Called—How They are Made— Experiments tn Chicago. Artesian wells areso named from the ancient province of Artris, in France, where natural overflowing wells were found. Itis only about eighty years ago that much attention was paid to sinking them by means of machinery. In 1841, after eight years work, a well was sunk at Grenella, near Paris, 1,800 feet deep, which was then considered a great triumph of art. Spangler and Mars, who have sunk nearly all the wells in Chicago, bored 2,900 feet at Columbus, Ohio, before they struck a good supply of water. The deepest well in the world is at the sugar refinery in St. Louis, but there is so much mineral in the water that it is only used for flushing the floors. This wellis considerable over 3,000 feet deep. ‘The first artesian well sunk in Chicago was the one on Chicago Avenue, at the stone quarry. This was bored under the direct supervision of unseen spirits (?). They directed the doings for the purpose of getting oil. When it would not yield oil they bored deeper for a brine spring, but were content at last to put up with a good yield of passably good fresh water, that is said to bave improved in quality in the last few years. There are now more than twenty in and about the city. Our reporter visited one of these, now being bored at the corner of Franklin and Monroe streets, aud gained the following information in conversation with the foreman of Spangler & Mars, who have taken the contract. _ Reporter.—I want to learn how to make an artesian well, Can you tell me? Foreman.—Oh yes; very easily. We muet haye power, so we have this strong derrick and steam engine. This derrick has been used a good many times before. We hitch a traveling crank to a beam fastened to the axle of the driving wheel of the engine, which will give us about 45 down strokes a minute. To the other end of this beam we fasten the drill, which works in a swivel, so that the drill can be turned around easily. This is the drill, as you see, about 2 feet long, 4% inches wide and 2 inches thick, and looks like a very blunt chisel. This drill works up and down in the hole it makee, crushing the rock under it. When the drill gets down about thirty feet we screw on another one of these long poles, thirty-six feet long, and keep it working. Reporter.—But the hole gets clogged up with dirt doesn’t it ? Foreman.—Not so fast as you might think. We change the drill now—as we are going through limestone—once every three hours, in order to put in a sharp tool. The drill has made 8,100 strokes in tbat time, and we get about a pailful of sand. Reporter.—How do you get the sand out of the hole? Foreman.— With this sand pump. You seo it is just like an old-fashioned wooden pump, with a valve in the bottom. We work this up and down, and the downward plunge opens the valve and allows the sand and water to be forced into the tube, and the upward movement closes the valve so that in a short time the hole is entirely cleaned out, and all the sand is forced into the tube. The pump is then drawn up and emptied. Reporter.—How fast do you go down? Foreman.—About eight feet every 12 hours through this limestone, makiug six teen feet a day, as we work day and night, But when we come to the hard white sandetone like the stone used for making grindstones, we make much less headway, as the drill has to be taken out every twenty! minutes, frequently, and a new one put in its place. Youcan see how even the limestone wears the iron, as this drill is polished smooth, and looks as if it was zine instead of iron. Reporter.—What kind of horingsdo you find here in Chicago? 4 Foreman.—The first 100 feet is blue clay, and then comes 450 feet of limestone, followed by 250 feet of shale, a kind of: soapstone, which is porous and allows a passage for water. Reporter.—It must have been in that strata that Kimball struck water. Foreman.—Prohably, as his well is only about 619 feet deep. Well, as I wassaying, below the shale we come to80 feet of sandetone, and then 200 feet of limestoneagain, with 25 feet of sbale below, in which most of the water about Chicago has been found; and below this shale we fiud sandstone as far aeany borings have heenmade. These are rough figures, that vary a good deal in different wells, butthey give the average retty well. a Renorter—How do you keep the bore perpendicular? 7 Foreman.—The dropping is of course as true as a plumb, butif any hard or round stone should turn the drill at all, that tendency is corrected by the ‘‘slide” in the first pole. ‘This slide is thirty feet above the drill, and is the same size as the hole. The first joint is the working one. It weighs about niue hundred pounds, and its weight is sufficient, by the’ incessant pounding and turning which the man at the top gives it, to pulverize the hardest stone. Ifall the poles acted as one working joint it would jar them dreadfully, but this slide, about two feet long, allows the drill to rebound, when if strikes the hard rock, and takes a great strain off the poles. We are on our tenth pole now, having gone down three hundred and twenty feet. Reporter.—How much water do you expect a 454-ineh bore will yield? Foreman.—That will depend on the pressure. Prohably four hundred or five hundred gallons a minute, enough, at any rate, to flood a floor or a roof in a minute ortwo. The Bank of England can flood their floors and roof in two minutes, hut I believe they have no artesian well. Reporter.—What hindrances do you find in horing? Foreman. — Caving in is one of the worst. When we etrike a quicksand we must put a tube down the size of the bore, to prevent the sand from clogging the drill. The well at the Chicago Alcohol Works has hothered us some by caving in; and then, we frequently meet with boulders, asin the well at Humboldt Park. These are very hard and very trying on the tools. The breaking of the tools is another serious hindrance. Sometimes we break a drill every week, and then there is great delay in getting the broken tools out, Why, it took fifteen months to get the broken tools out of the deep well at Paris; but they manage these things much better here in America. We are not often delayed long in getting outthese oldstumps. Reporter.—Pulling teeth witb nine pair of forceps a quarter of a milelong must he ticklish husiuess. Toreman.—Yes; but we do it after we learn the trade well. Reporter.—-How much does it cost to sink a well. Foreman.—About $4 a foot for the first 800 feet, and fifty cents a foot advance for every fifty feet below that. Reporter.—Does it pay to sink wells? Foreman.—In distilleries, where they pay $2,000 a year for water, a well that costsfrom $4,000 to$6,000 pays for itself in two orthree years. Even the deepest wells pay fortbemselves. The one at Lincoln Park is the deepest one in the city, being 1,555 feet deep, and yet it will pay foritselt by saving hydrant water for private consumers. Reporter.— You must make them muc cheaper than they used to do, a Foreman,—Yes. At first they only used seven-feet poles, but Malot, in the deep Paris well, used twenty-seven feet poles, while we uee, as you see, thirty-six feet ones. Then we can get forty-five to fifty strokes per minute with poles, while the most we could get with cables was fortyone strokes. It takes a Yankee, anyway, to find out how to do things cheaply. We are puttiug down wells cheaper, perhaps, considering everything, than any one else in tbe world, and manage to make our living, at least hy it—Chieago Mail. Post Orriczr Caancres.—The following changes in the Pacifie States and Territories, for the week ending January 6tb, 1872, have been announced: Postmasters appointed—Julian, San Diego County, Cal. Harvey W. Harver. Warm Springs, Deer Lodge County Montana, E. Gerard; Springville, Jefferson County, Montana, John Bayliss; Cacharas, Huerfano County, Colorado, John F’. Read. Name und site of Barvett’s Mill, El Paso County, Colorado, changed to Southwater, on the Denver and RioGrande Railroad, and Pierce Walliban appointed Postmaster. Caurorsia Fruir in Bosron.—Tbe first shipment of California pears ever made to this city direct, came to the market this week over the Pacific Railroad, consisting of 400 boxes, each box containing three pecks, of those large, luscious pears for which the Golden Stateis so celebrated for raising. Tbey were shipped from Sacramento by C. W. Reed, and arrived in splendid condition. The freight bill was $700, and the fruit wasconsigned to Hilland, Smith & Co., and attracts tbe attention of all who pass by their stall.— Boston Bulletin, Jan. 6th. Singular Explosions. A correspondent of the Scientific American, writing from Norwalk, Ohio, furnisbes that paper with the following particulars of a somewhat remarkable explosion: “I was about to temper a common reamer, by plunging it into sulphuric acid. The moment the heated steel came in contact with the acid, an explosion took place, throwing the acid in all directions, accompanied by 2 report equal to that made hy a wellloaded shot-gun. The acid was thrown agaiust the ceiling, about 16 feet high, and over my clothing, face, and left arm, causing very painful sores, and threatening me with loss of sight. The vessel containing the acid was a wide-mouthed crockery jar, and there was about two gallons of acid iu it at the time. The jar was not broken, but the reamer was blown away from me, and was found much sprung or twisted. I have used this acid very frequently, and have seen many others use it for tempering purposes; but this is the first instance, that I have ever heard of, of an explosion oceurring. Indeed, the same lot of acid was afterwards used for tempering, without any indication of a blow up. I send you this imperfect description of the occurrence, hoping that some of your correspondents will explain the mystery. So many persons ate using tbis acid for tempering steel, that any dauger attending its use should be pointed out and understood. The lucky escape I had, from heing made blind for life, prompts me to ask you to call attention to this point in your widely circulated und eagerly read colums.” The editor of the Scientific American thinks the explosion was caused by the generation of hydrogen during the oxidization of some metallic fragments introduced into the tempering pot through accident or design. This gas mixed in the proper proportions with the air ahove the acid would form a violently explosive mixture. Another Singular Explosion. The N. ¥. Standard of Jan. 18th, gives the following somewhat singular occurrence in which a man’s head was hlown off by the exploeion of a beer-barrel : Yesterday morning, a man named Gillrain, employed at the Long Island brewery, took one of the empty beer-barrels for the purpose of cleansing it. Hot water and lime were put in the barrel, it was then stopped, and submitted to a vigorous shaking. While this process was in operation, gas generated iu the barrel, and it exploded with great force. The head of the harrel struck Gillrain in the head, and took his head off, killing him instantly. John Quinn, who was near, or aiding Gillrain at the time, was blown about 12 feet and knocked insensihle, His injuries are not of a fatal character. One of the beams in the brewery was nearly cut in two by the head of the barrel after it had taken the head of Gillrain off. The Brunswick Mill. The Carson Register of the 21st instant, givee the following descriptive details concerning this magnificent new 56-stamp mill, situated on Carson river, just below Empire, beside the track of the Virginia and Truckee railroad: It started into operation on Saturday last, in tbe presence of quite an assemblage of interested spectators, mill-men and others. Every piece of machinery in that vast labyrinth of moving iron, wood, leather, etc., worked like the mechanism of a clock, smooth and almost noiseless. Fifty-six 850-pound stamps were driven up to 88 drops per minnte with scarcely a jarof the floors and witbout the slighest vibration of the batteries, Tbe whole machinery is driven hy water—abou#@1,000 cubic feet of water passing through two turbine wheels each minute. One of the turhines is a Lind and the other a Lefelle wheel, each being 48 inchesin diameter. These two little wheels, the water having 25 feet fall, give 380 horse power, tbe whole of which may be and is commuuicated to the macbinery by a single helt 42 inchesin width. The 56 stamps are partitioned off into 5 and 4stamp batteries, and the battery hlocks or bed are set into the solid bed-rock of the hill. The crushing capacity of the mill is from 150 to 165 tons of orein 24 hours. There are 26 improved Horn pans, each 5 feet in diameter, with an aggregate capacity of 2 tons ; 13 settlers, each 8% feet in diameter, and four wooden agitators,each 10 feet indiameter. The dump, built under the railroad track so that the ore falls from the cars directly intoit, will hold 1,200 tous. From this the ore is let down through strong gates raised by iron cogs to the hatteries, where there is an immense patent rock crusher. In front of the main building is situated two immense boilers for heating water for the pans, and inside is a little donkey pump for hoisting water to the top of the building or for flooding it almost instantly in case of fire. In the rear are the retails. The tail-race is covered with a double floor, forming a foundation for two large reservoirs for tailings. The force of gravity conducts everything from the ore cars at the top and rear of the building to the agitators far below and thence to the tailing reservoirs. Artesian Wells of San Jose, Epitrors Press:—It is to be regretted that the artesian well system, or rather the system of subterranean lakes of our valleys has not attracted more attention from scientific men. A mistaken notion widely prevails among agriculturists as to the effects of artesian wells upon the surface soils. Many contend that frequent borings have a tendency to dry up the land everywhere, except in the immediate vicinity of the wells. That this idea is erroneous will be readily seen upon a fair statement of the facts. Taking this valley as a criteriou, we have indubitable proof that the water supply is in subterranean lakes, or basins, hermetically roofed over with a lid of hhard-pan, so compact and homogenous that even water cannot penetrate it from above or below. This underground basin has a sort of corrugated conformation— or, more plainly, its hed is full of solid ridges and hillocks which cause the water to remain in beds and channels at various depths from the surface. This accounts for the remarkable difference in the depths at which water is reached in borings in the vicinity of each other. Almost anywhere on the eastern and northeastern side of this city, water can he made to flow abundantly by boring from 45 to 60 feet, while in the heatt of the town the same result cannot be effected witbout penetrating from 250 to 500 feet deep. The reason is obvious. The water lies in independent channels hetween theridges and hillocks of impenetrable hard-pan. If this be true, there is little danger of the flow of water from the wells in our part of tbe valley depleting the supply of those in another locality. In penetrating to his hidden reservoir, the auger almost invariahly passes through the ordinary alluvial sub-deposits of soil, gravel, sand and boulders, until it reachee the ever present stratum of tougb clay, or ‘‘ hardpan.” If the well horer has heen eo fortunate as to escape a ridge or hillock, the moment he perforates the clay stratum of gravel, old logs and other pluyial preserves, the water will instantly rise— eometimes with incredible force. Now, in this operation three or four points are quite apparent. In the first place, the ‘different depths at which the water is reached, indicates that each channel or water bed is separate and distinct from its neighbors. Secondly. The water beds, no matter how great their distance from the surface, invariably contain drift-wood, and even large logs in a perfect state of preservation, which proves that tbey have, since their deposition, been excluded from atmospheric action. Thirdly. The supply of water is'always obtained in every locality, the moment we pierce through the air-tight lid of hardpan, thns proving that the entire system of water channels, or water beds are hermetically sealed under a common coyering of tough clay. If it be true that this universal clay stratum is air-tight and water-proof, how in the name of good sense can tapping it and letting the pent-up water flow to the eurface, cause the land to become dry in the vicinity ? If the suhterranean beds and channels are distinctive and independent of each otber, as they douhtless are, how can boring wells on one side of the valley effect those on the other side? The idea is absurd and the sooner we can get to the surface all the water we can fron below, the better it will he for the land and the people. B, F. 9, San Jose, Jan. 20th, 1872. Txt supply of India-ruhber is eaid to be inexhaustible. Each tree can be tapped for twenty successive years, and yields on an average three tablespoonfuls aday; 43,000 of these trees have heen connted ona tract of land thirty miles long by eight wide. Tue amount of raiufall in Shasta for the seasou, up to uoou ou the 5th of January, was 50.14 iuches.

70 SCIENTIFIC PRESS. [February 3, 1872. Artesian Wells. Why they are so Called—How They are Made— Experiments tn Chicago. Artesian wells areso named from the ancient province of Artris, in France, where natural overflowing wells were found. Itis only about eighty years ago that much attention was paid to sinking them by means of machinery. In 1841, after eight years work, a well was sunk at Grenella, near Paris, 1,800 feet deep, which was then considered a great triumph of art. Spangler and Mars, who have sunk nearly all the wells in Chicago, bored 2,900 feet at Columbus, Ohio, before they struck a good supply of water. The deepest well in the world is at the sugar refinery in St. Louis, but there is so much mineral in the water that it is only used for flushing the floors. This wellis considerable over 3,000 feet deep. ‘The first artesian well sunk in Chicago was the one on Chicago Avenue, at the stone quarry. This was bored under the direct supervision of unseen spirits (?). They directed the doings for the purpose of getting oil. When it would not yield oil they bored deeper for a brine spring, but were content at last to put up with a good yield of passably good fresh water, that is said to bave improved in quality in the last few years. There are now more than twenty in and about the city. Our reporter visited one of these, now being bored at the corner of Franklin and Monroe streets, aud gained the following information in conversation with the foreman of Spangler & Mars, who have taken the contract. _ Reporter.—I want to learn how to make an artesian well, Can you tell me? Foreman.—Oh yes; very easily. We muet haye power, so we have this strong derrick and steam engine. This derrick has been used a good many times before. We hitch a traveling crank to a beam fastened to the axle of the driving wheel of the engine, which will give us about 45 down strokes a minute. To the other end of this beam we fasten the drill, which works in a swivel, so that the drill can be turned around easily. This is the drill, as you see, about 2 feet long, 4% inches wide and 2 inches thick, and looks like a very blunt chisel. This drill works up and down in the hole it makee, crushing the rock under it. When the drill gets down about thirty feet we screw on another one of these long poles, thirty-six feet long, and keep it working. Reporter.—But the hole gets clogged up with dirt doesn’t it ? Foreman.—Not so fast as you might think. We change the drill now—as we are going through limestone—once every three hours, in order to put in a sharp tool. The drill has made 8,100 strokes in tbat time, and we get about a pailful of sand. Reporter.—How do you get the sand out of the hole? Foreman.— With this sand pump. You seo it is just like an old-fashioned wooden pump, with a valve in the bottom. We work this up and down, and the downward plunge opens the valve and allows the sand and water to be forced into the tube, and the upward movement closes the valve so that in a short time the hole is entirely cleaned out, and all the sand is forced into the tube. The pump is then drawn up and emptied. Reporter.—How fast do you go down? Foreman.—About eight feet every 12 hours through this limestone, makiug six teen feet a day, as we work day and night, But when we come to the hard white sandetone like the stone used for making grindstones, we make much less headway, as the drill has to be taken out every twenty! minutes, frequently, and a new one put in its place. Youcan see how even the limestone wears the iron, as this drill is polished smooth, and looks as if it was zine instead of iron. Reporter.—What kind of horingsdo you find here in Chicago? 4 Foreman.—The first 100 feet is blue clay, and then comes 450 feet of limestone, followed by 250 feet of shale, a kind of: soapstone, which is porous and allows a passage for water. Reporter.—It must have been in that strata that Kimball struck water. Foreman.—Prohably, as his well is only about 619 feet deep. Well, as I wassaying, below the shale we come to80 feet of sandetone, and then 200 feet of limestoneagain, with 25 feet of sbale below, in which most of the water about Chicago has been found; and below this shale we fiud sandstone as far aeany borings have heenmade. These are rough figures, that vary a good deal in different wells, butthey give the average retty well. a Renorter—How do you keep the bore perpendicular? 7 Foreman.—The dropping is of course as true as a plumb, butif any hard or round stone should turn the drill at all, that tendency is corrected by the ‘‘slide” in the first pole. ‘This slide is thirty feet above the drill, and is the same size as the hole. The first joint is the working one. It weighs about niue hundred pounds, and its weight is sufficient, by the’ incessant pounding and turning which the man at the top gives it, to pulverize the hardest stone. Ifall the poles acted as one working joint it would jar them dreadfully, but this slide, about two feet long, allows the drill to rebound, when if strikes the hard rock, and takes a great strain off the poles. We are on our tenth pole now, having gone down three hundred and twenty feet. Reporter.—How much water do you expect a 454-ineh bore will yield? Foreman.—That will depend on the pressure. Prohably four hundred or five hundred gallons a minute, enough, at any rate, to flood a floor or a roof in a minute ortwo. The Bank of England can flood their floors and roof in two minutes, hut I believe they have no artesian well. Reporter.—What hindrances do you find in horing? Foreman. — Caving in is one of the worst. When we etrike a quicksand we must put a tube down the size of the bore, to prevent the sand from clogging the drill. The well at the Chicago Alcohol Works has hothered us some by caving in; and then, we frequently meet with boulders, asin the well at Humboldt Park. These are very hard and very trying on the tools. The breaking of the tools is another serious hindrance. Sometimes we break a drill every week, and then there is great delay in getting the broken tools out, Why, it took fifteen months to get the broken tools out of the deep well at Paris; but they manage these things much better here in America. We are not often delayed long in getting outthese oldstumps. Reporter.—Pulling teeth witb nine pair of forceps a quarter of a milelong must he ticklish husiuess. Toreman.—Yes; but we do it after we learn the trade well. Reporter.—-How much does it cost to sink a well. Foreman.—About $4 a foot for the first 800 feet, and fifty cents a foot advance for every fifty feet below that. Reporter.—Does it pay to sink wells? Foreman.—In distilleries, where they pay $2,000 a year for water, a well that costsfrom $4,000 to$6,000 pays for itself in two orthree years. Even the deepest wells pay fortbemselves. The one at Lincoln Park is the deepest one in the city, being 1,555 feet deep, and yet it will pay foritselt by saving hydrant water for private consumers. Reporter.— You must make them muc cheaper than they used to do, a Foreman,—Yes. At first they only used seven-feet poles, but Malot, in the deep Paris well, used twenty-seven feet poles, while we uee, as you see, thirty-six feet ones. Then we can get forty-five to fifty strokes per minute with poles, while the most we could get with cables was fortyone strokes. It takes a Yankee, anyway, to find out how to do things cheaply. We are puttiug down wells cheaper, perhaps, considering everything, than any one else in tbe world, and manage to make our living, at least hy it—Chieago Mail. Post Orriczr Caancres.—The following changes in the Pacifie States and Territories, for the week ending January 6tb, 1872, have been announced: Postmasters appointed—Julian, San Diego County, Cal. Harvey W. Harver. Warm Springs, Deer Lodge County Montana, E. Gerard; Springville, Jefferson County, Montana, John Bayliss; Cacharas, Huerfano County, Colorado, John F’. Read. Name und site of Barvett’s Mill, El Paso County, Colorado, changed to Southwater, on the Denver and RioGrande Railroad, and Pierce Walliban appointed Postmaster. Caurorsia Fruir in Bosron.—Tbe first shipment of California pears ever

made to this city direct, came to the market this week over the Pacific Railroad, consisting of 400 boxes, each box containing three pecks, of those large, luscious pears for which the Golden Stateis so celebrated for raising. Tbey were shipped from Sacramento by C. W. Reed, and arrived in splendid condition. The freight bill was $700, and the fruit wasconsigned to Hilland, Smith & Co., and attracts tbe attention of all who pass by their stall.— Boston Bulletin, Jan. 6th. Singular Explosions. A correspondent of the Scientific American, writing from Norwalk, Ohio, furnisbes that paper with the following particulars of a somewhat remarkable explosion: “I was about to temper a common reamer, by plunging it into sulphuric acid. The moment the heated steel came in contact with the acid, an explosion took place, throwing the acid in all directions, accompanied by 2 report equal to that made hy a wellloaded shot-gun. The acid was thrown agaiust the ceiling, about 16 feet high, and over my clothing, face, and left arm, causing very painful sores, and threatening me with loss of sight. The vessel containing the acid was a wide-mouthed crockery jar, and there was about two gallons of acid iu it at the time. The jar was not broken, but the reamer was blown away from me, and was found much sprung or twisted. I have used this acid very frequently, and have seen many others use it for tempering purposes; but this is the first instance, that I have ever heard of, of an explosion oceurring. Indeed, the same lot of acid was afterwards used for tempering, without any indication of a blow up. I send you this imperfect description of the occurrence, hoping that some of your correspondents will explain the mystery. So many persons ate using tbis acid for tempering steel, that any dauger attending its use should be pointed out and understood. The lucky escape I had, from heing made blind for life, prompts me to ask you to call attention to this point in your widely circulated und eagerly read colums.” The editor of the Scientific American thinks the explosion was caused by the generation of hydrogen during the oxidization of some metallic fragments introduced into the tempering pot through accident or design. This gas mixed in the proper proportions with the air ahove the acid would form a violently explosive mixture. Another Singular Explosion. The N. ¥. Standard of Jan. 18th, gives the following somewhat singular occurrence in which a man’s head was hlown off by the exploeion of a beer-barrel : Yesterday morning, a man named Gillrain, employed at the Long Island brewery, took one of the empty beer-barrels for the purpose of cleansing it. Hot water and lime were put in the barrel, it was then stopped, and submitted to a vigorous shaking. While this process was in operation, gas generated iu the barrel, and it exploded with great force. The head of the harrel struck Gillrain in the head, and took his head off, killing him instantly. John Quinn, who was near, or aiding Gillrain at the time, was blown about 12 feet and knocked insensihle, His injuries are not of a fatal character. One of the beams in the brewery was nearly cut in two by the head of the barrel after it had taken the head of Gillrain off. The Brunswick Mill. The Carson Register of the 21st instant, givee the following descriptive details concerning this magnificent new 56-stamp mill, situated on Carson river, just below Empire, beside the track of the Virginia and Truckee railroad: It started into operation on Saturday last, in tbe presence of quite an assemblage of interested spectators, mill-men and others. Every piece of machinery in that vast labyrinth of moving iron, wood, leather, etc., worked like the mechanism of a clock, smooth and almost noiseless. Fifty-six 850-pound stamps were driven up to 88 drops per minnte with scarcely a jarof the floors and witbout the slighest vibration of the batteries, Tbe whole machinery is driven hy water—abou#@1,000 cubic feet of water passing through two turbine wheels each minute. One of the turhines is a Lind and the other a Lefelle wheel, each being 48 inchesin diameter. These two little wheels, the water having 25 feet fall, give 380 horse power, tbe whole of which may be and is commuuicated to the macbinery by a single helt 42 inchesin width. The 56 stamps are partitioned off into 5 and 4stamp batteries, and the battery hlocks or bed are set into the solid bed-rock of the hill. The crushing capacity of the mill is from 150 to 165 tons of orein 24 hours. There are 26 improved Horn pans, each 5 feet in diameter, with an aggregate capacity of 2 tons ; 13 settlers, each 8% feet in diameter, and four wooden agitators,each 10 feet indiameter. The dump, built under the railroad track so that the ore falls from the cars directly intoit, will hold 1,200 tous. From this the ore is let down through strong gates raised by iron cogs to the hatteries, where there is an immense patent rock crusher. In front of the main building is situated two immense boilers for heating water for the pans, and inside is a little donkey pump for hoisting water to the top of the building or for flooding it almost instantly in case of fire. In the rear are the retails. The tail-race is covered with a double floor, forming a foundation for two large reservoirs for tailings. The force of gravity conducts everything from the ore cars at the top and rear of the building to the agitators far below and thence to the tailing reservoirs. Artesian Wells of San Jose, Epitrors Press:—It is to be regretted that the artesian well system, or rather the system of subterranean lakes of our valleys has not attracted more attention from scientific men. A mistaken notion widely prevails among agriculturists as to the effects of artesian wells upon the surface soils. Many contend that frequent borings have a tendency to dry up the land everywhere, except in the immediate vicinity of the wells. That this idea is erroneous will be readily seen upon a fair statement of the facts. Taking this valley as a criteriou, we have indubitable proof that the water supply is in subterranean lakes, or basins, hermetically roofed over with a lid of hhard-pan, so compact and homogenous that even water cannot penetrate it from above or below. This underground basin has a sort of corrugated conformation— or, more plainly, its hed is full of solid ridges and hillocks which cause the water to remain in beds and channels at various depths from the surface. This accounts for the remarkable difference in the depths at which water is reached in borings in the vicinity of each other. Almost anywhere on the eastern and northeastern side of this city, water can he made to flow abundantly by boring from 45 to 60 feet, while in the heatt of the town the same result cannot be effected witbout penetrating from 250 to 500 feet deep. The reason is obvious. The water lies in independent channels hetween theridges and hillocks of impenetrable hard-pan. If this be true, there is little danger of the flow of water from the wells in our part of tbe valley depleting the supply of those in another locality. In penetrating to his hidden reservoir, the auger almost invariahly passes through the ordinary alluvial sub-deposits of soil, gravel, sand and boulders, until it reachee the ever present stratum of tougb clay, or ‘‘ hardpan.” If the well horer has heen eo fortunate as to escape a ridge or hillock, the moment he perforates the clay stratum of gravel, old logs and other pluyial preserves, the water will instantly rise— eometimes with incredible force. Now, in this operation three or four points are quite apparent. In the first place, the ‘different depths at which the water is reached, indicates that each channel or water bed is separate and distinct from its neighbors. Secondly. The water beds, no matter how great their distance from the surface, invariably contain drift-wood, and even large logs in a perfect state of preservation, which proves that tbey have, since their deposition, been excluded from atmospheric action. Thirdly. The supply of water is'always obtained in every locality, the moment we pierce through the air-tight lid of hardpan, thns proving that the entire system of water channels, or water beds are hermetically sealed under a common coyering of tough clay. If it be true that this universal clay stratum is air-tight and water-proof, how in the name of good sense can tapping it and letting the pent-up water flow to the eurface, cause the land to become dry in the vicinity ? If the suhterranean beds and channels are distinctive and independent of each otber, as they douhtless are, how can boring wells on one side of the valley effect those on the other side? The idea is absurd and the sooner we can get to the surface all the water we can fron below, the better it will he for the land and the people. B, F. 9, San Jose, Jan. 20th, 1872. Txt supply of India-ruhber is eaid to be inexhaustible. Each tree can be tapped for twenty successive years, and yields on an average three tablespoonfuls aday; 43,000 of these trees have heen connted ona tract of land thirty miles long by eight wide. Tue amount of raiufall in Shasta for the seasou, up to uoou ou the 5th of January, was 50.14 iuches.