COLLAPSE OF RECENT BEDS AT STAUNTON 45 



was filled from this new source through channels connected up by 

 the well. As a result the clay and superficial beds over the lime- 

 stone crevice leading to this newly filled reservoir were softened 

 and weakened. As a consequence of this softening collapse resulted 

 when the ioo-gallon pump was started and the buoyant support of 

 the water removed. The detailed evidence on which this explan- 

 ation rests is best stated in Mr. Yost's words. In a letter to the 

 writer December 12, 1910, Mr. Yost says: 



"He (Mr. Smith, owner of ice-plant well) states that at 125 feet he 

 struck a stream of 5 gallons per minute, and the water rose in his well 

 to within 24 feet of the surface. He then drilled down to 793 feet where a 

 15 inch crevice was encountered and a stream. He continued his drilling 

 to 801 feet. The water rose to within 15 feet of the surface, or 9 feet higher 

 than it had been before. The pump with the apparatus with which he 

 drilled would only lift about 35 gallons. He installed another pump of 

 between 50 and 65 gallon capacity, and with this, in 36 hours, reduced the 

 water to 59 feet from the surface. For one month, pending the arrival 

 of his new pump, the water was undisturbed and again rose to within 15 

 feet of the surface. The new pump had a capacity of 100 gallons. This 

 was operated for 108 hours and reduced the water in the well to 100 feet 

 from the surface. The first water drawn with the new pump was murky 

 and continued so until the evening before the " cave-in, ' ' when it became 

 clear. The next morning, when he noticed it, it was muddy, and about 

 9 o'clock, the first cave-in occurred. He was ordered to stop pumping 

 and did so. Two days later, he tried to pump, but could not. A 

 month later, the Superintendent of City Water undertook to clear out the 

 well. He lowered a f inch pipe to the 800 foot level and turned the city 

 water (pressure about 70 pounds) into it. The discharge into the pipe 

 was 3 gallons per minute. At the same time, Smith operated his pump 

 and drew out about 8 gallons per minute — the 5 gallons from the 125 feet 

 opening plus the inflow of the city water. Apparently, the well at the 

 800 foot level was closed. 



Smith then tried by the aid of air pressure and the pressure of the city 

 water to open his well, but failed. 



This record of the Smith well tends, in my mind, to substantiate the 

 theory outlined in my letter to you on Monday. (That the stream 

 encountered by Smith at the 800 foot level was diverted into the crevice 

 under the Todd house). It shows that Smith never had 100 gallons as 

 supposed. What has bothered me, heretofore, has been to account for 

 the supposed one hundred gallons from the well, when the flow from the 

 Todd hole was scarcely one-third of that quantity. This explains it. 

 The stream he struck at the 800 foot level could not have been more than 

 35 or 40 gallons. For more than a month after he struck this stream it 

 probably emptied into the Todd hole. Thence it rose in the adjacent 

 cavity and gradually saturated the roof to within 15 feet of the surface. 



