Water Supply and Drainage 



231 



The ordinary farmhouse, as you will remember, sits on a side hill toward the 

 road, with the barn in the rear and on higher ground. This is the usual formula, 

 although it may be reversed, much to its credit and safety. It does not follow, 

 however, that the 

 general slope of the 

 land follows in any 

 way the impervi- 

 ous under stratum, 

 although it has that 

 tendency. It may, 

 on the contrary, 

 pitch in exactly the 

 opposite direction; 

 the earth's strata do 

 queer things. It is 

 for these reasons 

 that it is advisable to 

 make some definite 

 investigations as to 

 the general charac- 

 ter and geological 

 conditions of the 

 proposed building 

 plot. Besides dig- 

 ging and levelling, it 

 is possible to get 

 much aid from the 

 Government geolog- 

 ical charts, if any of 

 the locality in ques- 

 t i o n exist.* Of 

 course these do not 

 cover the entire 



country by any means, but rather that portion which is old in formation or 

 interesting from a geological point of view. On general principles, it is best 

 that the well be located on as high ground as is possible and the cesspool on 

 the lowest. 



The common open well, excavated by digging, originated back in remote 

 antiquity. Some of these old examples are most remarkable, extending to great 

 depths, often through solid rock, with winding pathways descending spirally to 

 the water level. Often these pathways are of sufficient width to admit of the 

 passage of a donkey or a horse. Joseph's Well, at Cairo, Egypt, is 297 feet deep. 



In most localities water can be easily obtained within a fairly reasonable dis- 

 tance of the surface. Ordinarily the depth at which a water-bearing stratum 

 may be reached does not exceed 20 or 30 feet. In case of the wells being dug on 



* These sheets can be procured from the Director of the United States Geological Survey, Washington, D. C. 



A rustic well house at Newburgh, N. Y. 



