CHAPTER XIV. 



DEEP WELLS. 



Types of Deep Wells. The preceding types of wells have 

 all been of comparatively simple forms requiring relatively little 

 in the way of apparatus for their sinking. In many instances 

 they can be sunk without special difficulty by the farmer himself 

 or by local drillers. 



Types of deep wells and conditions to which they are adapted. 



Type of well. 



Description. 



Conditions to which well is best adapted. 



Standard drilled. 



Diamond-drill hole. 



Wells sunk by calyx and 

 steel-shot methods. 



Wells sunk by hydraulic 

 process. 



Wells sunk by hydraulic 

 rotary process. 



California or stovepipe. 



Sunk by percussion of heavy drill, I J to 

 12 inches or more in diameter, lifted 

 and dropped from portable rig or der- 

 rick by horse or steam power. Cased 

 with iron pipe in soft materials; usu- 

 ally not cased in rock. Drillings re- 

 moved by long bucket with valve in 

 bottom. 



Sunk by rotating hollow bit, usually 

 i J to 4 inches in diameter, with rim 

 fitted with black diamonds. Pene- 

 trates by abrasion due to rotation. 

 Drillings removed by water forced 

 down drill and up along outside of 

 rods. 



Sunk by rotation of notched steel shoe, 

 or by chilled steel shot used in con- 

 nection with a rotating plain shoe of 

 soft iron. Rods by which power is 

 transmitted are hollow and permit 

 the dropping of the shot and the en- 

 trance of water, which brings up the 

 cuttings as with the diamond drill. 



Sunk by lifting and dropping drill in hole 

 full of water. Penetrates by percus- 

 sion. Water and cuttings are forced 

 into hollow rod on down stroke, being 

 retained by valve. Diameter simi- 

 lar to standard drilled wells. 



Sunk by rotating steel shoe, as in calyx 

 method, but with the difference that 

 whole pipe is turned and water is 

 forced down pipe and up outside in- 

 stead of through rods. Steel shot 

 also sometimes used. 



Overlapping sheet -steel casings, 4 

 inches or more in diameter, forced 

 downwards by hydraulic jacks and 

 finally perforated by a special appa- 

 ratus at water strata. Drillings arc 

 removed by a long sand-bucket with 

 valve. 



Can be used to advantage in all but the 

 softest materials, but is particularly 

 adapted to rock work, especially at 

 great depths, being cheaper and quicker 

 than other methods of drilling in rock. 



Not adapted to water wells because of 

 great cost. Used where cores of mate- 

 rials penetrated are required, or where 

 hole is sunk at an angle with the ver- 

 tical. 



Adapted to vertical work in hard rocks 

 where cores are required. Cheaper 

 but slower than diamond-drill 

 method, and more expensive than 

 standard drilled holes. Is success- 

 fully used as an adjunct to hydraulic 

 rotary process. 



Adapted to cjays and other unconsoli- 

 dated deposits and to soft rocks where 

 depths are moderate and the use of a 

 heavy drill is not required. 



Adapted to rapid work at considerable 

 depths in materi 

 but having occasi 



depths in materials prevailingly soft, 

 occasional hard layers. 



Adapted to soft materials extending to 

 considerable depths and having sev- 

 eral water strata capable of utiliza- 

 tion. 



The deep wells, on the other hand, generally require elaborate 

 outfits, with trained men for their operation. Complicated prob- 

 lems, far beyond the ability of the ordinary farmer to handle, are 



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