Miscellaneous Papers. 151 



entirely different. In sinking these wells a common seven-inch 

 post auger was used for boring down to the gravel, which was found 

 at a depth of from twenty-five to thirty feet. On striking the 

 gravel a casing of five-inch gas pipe was put in the well. This 

 casing was then sunk to solid rock by bailing the gravel from un- 

 der or within it, in the following manner: Through a pulley at 

 the top of a tripod derrick a rope is strung, with one end attached 

 to a bailer. This bailer is similar to the sand buckets used by well 

 drillers, having a valve at the bottom. In addition to this it has a 

 plunger that works up and down inside the bucket, creating a suc- 

 tion through the valve in the bottom, so that by pulling a few 

 times on the rope a quantity of gravel is drawn into the bailer. It 

 is then pulled to the surface and dumped. The casing settles 

 down as the gravel is taken from under it, until it rests on solid 

 rock or shale. When all the gravel was removed from inside of the 

 casing a four-inch sheet-iron casing, with a four-foot expanded 

 metal screen on the bottom, was let down in the well, and the out- 

 side casing was pulled by means of a block and tackle. 



For determining the velocity and direction of the flow, four 

 wells were drilled in the following manner: One in the center of a 

 circle having a radius of six feet; then three other wells were put 

 down three feet apart on the circumference of this circle, in the 

 direction from the center well in which the current was supposed 

 to pass. Salt was then placed in the center well. Samples of 

 water were taken every hour, or oftener, from the other wells and 

 tested for chlorine. When an increase of chlorine was observed in 

 the water from one of the wells, it was known to have passed a dis- 

 tance of six feet, and the location of the well in which the chlorine 

 first appeared gave the direction of the flow. 



It was learned through these test wells that the water-bearing 

 gravel bed of the Neosho river valley were about two and one-half 

 miles wide and averaged about six feet in thickness; also that the 

 flow was toward the southeast at an average rate of twelve feet per 

 day. In general, the gravel at the top of the bed was filled with 

 mud or clay; a few feet lower the interstices were more open and filled 

 with water. In many places sand having the properties of quick- 

 sand was encountered for several feet, but coarse gravel was in- 

 variably found overlying the rock or shale at the bottom. 



After determining that the quantity and quality of the water 

 was satisfactory for supply for the city, there remained the neces- 

 sary problem of collecting the water from a wide area and deliver- 

 ing it to an accessible point near the pumping station. After the 



