TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 207 



THE TOPEKA COAL HOLE. 



By B. B. SMYTH. 



I am indebted to Col. Wm. Tweeddale for the use of the blue print from 

 which the following measurements and section were taken, also for much of 

 the data connected with the digging of the well. 



In 1886 a contract was made between the city of Topeka and the American 

 Diamond Rock-Boring Company of New York, for the digging of a well 2,000 

 feet deep, the company to receive, when the well should be completed, a stipu- 

 lated sum therefor. Payments as the work progressed were agreed upon, 

 and some payments were made by the city, which were withheld from the 

 company by its bondsmen, who were not assured that the well would ever be 

 completed, and who were liable to the city for the amount paid in case the 

 well should not be completed. 



The work was done mostly during the summer of 1886, though owing to 

 inadequate machinery, the work progressed under many difficulties, and 

 various accidents interfered with its progress. 



The apparatus used was a diamond drill. The first casing, 4i/^ inches in 

 diameter, was put down through surface soil, sand and gravel to clay, a depth 

 of 821/4 feet. Boring was then done with the drill through the strata indicated 

 below. After passing the surface soil, the diameter of the well was 3V2 

 inches to a depth of 260 feet; 3 inches to a depth of 500 feet, and 2i/2 inches 

 the remainder of the distance. 



On one or two occasions the point, with considerable of the coupling rods, 

 was lost in the well, could not be pulled out, and the boring resumed from a 

 point near the top of the broken rods, necessitating a redigging of portions 

 of the well. This was probably owing to defiection, in both instances, placing 

 the lower portions of the two borings at some distance apart, as they un- 

 doubtedly deflected in different directions. 



On one occasion when the steam was discovered to be too high, the engi- 

 neer passed from the drill to the engine house to open the door of the furnace; 

 but, before reaching it, steam from the boiler passing through a small aper- 

 ture into the fire-box, blew open the door and blew into his face, injuring 

 him so that he died in two days, and blew down two apple-trees, eight inches 

 in diameter, at distances of 30 and 45 feet. The force of the escaping steam 

 against the ground was so great as to move the boiler endwise toward the 

 north. On reaching a distance of 150 feet from the engine house, the forward 

 end of the boiler became elevated, and the force of the escaping steam raised it 

 past the front gable of a house that stood near the street and carried it over 

 the tops of some young trees about 30 feet high and 300 feet to the north. 

 Here the force of the steam became spent and the boiler fell down on the 

 ground, after breaking some of the branches at the tops of the trees, showing 

 its course through the grove. The steam had all escaped through a four- 

 inch aperture into the fire-box, and the force of the escaping steam suddenly 

 let loose against the ground raised the boiler from its foundations and sent 

 it up like a rocket to a height of fully 30 feet above the ground. 



On another occasion, the tower took fire, impeding the progress of the work 

 for some time. 



After two or three years, efforts were renewed to sink the well still lower; 



