Harper's New Monthly Magazine: No. XVI.—September, 1851—Vol. III.Various
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine: No. XVI.—September, 1851—Vol. III.
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
THE PROCESS, OR APPLICATION.--The Shears and Windlass being erected, a
short pole is suspended in the couter (A); a movable handle affixed to
the pole at a convenient height from the ground, a short auger screwed
into the lower end of the pole, which is then lowered till the point of
the auger rests upon the ground, at the precise point where the
prospective fountain is to flow. One man attends to the windlass, and
one labors at the handle of the auger, walking round, with the sun, and
after marking the spot by an insertion of six inches, pours in, if the
nature of the soil requires, a bucket of water to render the borings
adhesive, so that they will turn with the auger and come up in it when
it is withdrawn. The first few feet is usually done with an extra-sized
auger, or the smaller hole reamed out to a size sufficiently large to
insert a bored log (like a pump-log), the calibre of which will admit
the passage of the common auger, and other instruments used in boring
the well; this log is forced down by driving till its lower end is
secure in the rock, or such strata as will not crumble or cave. As the
auger becomes full, it is withdrawn, cleaned, and again inserted. After
such depth is reached, that the water lying upon the first impermeable
strata flows into the bore, the auger will not always bring up its
"chips," the pump is then put down alternately with the auger, and by
being forced to the bottom of the bore brings out the residuum. As the
hole deepens, other poles are added; the joints being thus rendered
necessary, another of the uses of the hollow log becomes apparent. Two
iron spikes projecting from its squared end, serve to keep the "_yoke_,"
or couter, from turning round; and the shank, below the screw and nut,
of the sunken pole, being square and fitting the slot in the yoke, the
whole is retained stationary, while the succeeding pole is screwed on,
in descending, or unscrewed in ascending, so that in "putting down" or
in "taking out" there is a pause at every joint, a pole added, or set
aside, and a new hold taken by the yoke (of which there are necessarily
two).
[Illustration]
In this manner pole after pole is added, until the auger or drill is
forced through some strata which confines, or _holds down_ the fluid,
and a fountain of "Adam's ale" is opened, which flows on and on, neither
diminished by the droughts of summer nor swollen by the rains of winter.
These delightful wells are becoming common in the eastern parts of this
State, as also in our sister State, Alabama. Without doubt, the same
thing may be done advantageously in many parts of the United States,
hitherto badly supplied with water, either for useful or ornamental
purposes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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