WHY DO SFRI.VGS AXD WELLS OVERFLOW ? 75 



Subterranean waters, seldom if ever influenced by rains ; 3. A class 

 of waters coming from both of these sources. This discussion relates 

 mainly to the second class. But what are the facts as to the flow of 

 water in this class ? Arago says of the well at Grenelle, 1,800 feet 

 deep, " The water to suj^ply it may have come from 40, 80, or 100 

 miles." There is a " large and important spring called Pales's Hole 

 which issues permanently in quantities sufficient to run a mill at Otter- 

 bourne (England). . . . Springs of fresh water often rise even from 

 fissures at the bottom of the sea, and one near Chittagong was 100 

 miles distant from the land." " The artesian well at Tours rose with 

 a jet that sustained a cannon." " Chautauqua Lake rests like a jewel 

 in the crown of a high mountain-ridge. The basin is shallow, with not 

 more than 80 feet of water at the deepest points, and an average depth 

 of about 20 feet. The surrounding hills are low, 100 to 150 feet 

 higher than the water. Viewed from the hills near Jamestown, four 

 miles distant, the lake has the appearance of being lifted up above its 

 shores ; you seem to be looking up to a ' hanging lake,' and you Avonder 

 the M'hole concern does not fall over into some of the valleys close 

 around it. It is a wonder to the unpracticed observer where the water- 

 supply of Chautauqua Lake comes from. The lake nearly fills its own 

 valley. There is not a live stream emptying into it, save one, and that 

 would run through a six-inch pipe. Of course, it is supported like a 

 weary sleeper by the springs in its bed. These must be innumerable 

 to maintain a body of water 20 miles long and two miles wide. Where 

 the water is shallow you can plainly see these springs bubbling up from 

 the bottom of the lake. Their warmth cuts the ice out in large spots 

 in winter at points where they are most numerous. You see floating 

 in the lake tufts 'of water-grass, which have been uprooted from the 

 bottom by these under-currents." — (" New York Semi-\Veekly Trib- 

 xme," August 2, 1878.) 



This lake is on the highest land in the State, west of the Catskill 

 Mountains, and yet it is but a vast overflowing spring from which 

 issues a large mill-stream. To account for this large flow from the top 

 of this elevated region by supposing it to fall from some other higher 

 elevation is absurd, since there is no such higher ground from which 

 it could flow Avithout being exhausted. The whole mountain-region of 

 northern Pennsylvania may be referred to as another good illustration 

 of high springs. At every step the traveler notices abundant streams 

 of the purest water, gushing sometimes from the very tops of moun- 

 tains, and it is in these thickly clustering springs that the great rivers 

 of that wild labyrinth of high ridges and deep valleys find their abun- 

 dant sources. Within sight of the main road which crosses the sum- 

 mit dividing the waters of the Alleghany River from those running 

 into the Genesee is to be seen a cluster of abundant streams which 

 unite and cross the highway — a noisy torrent — rejoicing in being 

 among the head- waters of the latter river, and the brightest product of 



