266 Proceedings 



272d Meeting, February 6, 1905. 



Thirteen members and visitors present. 



President Hall in the chair. 



Program : An informal talk on Recent Experiments with 

 Homing Pigeons wa^ given by Mr. Fred M. May, Secretary 

 of the Minnesota section of the National Federation of Hom- 

 ing Pigeon Fanciers. Mr. May showed two of his homing 

 pigeons, describing their training, races, records of speed,, 

 manner of starting and landing. 



Deep wells as a source of water for ]\linneapolis, by 

 Professor N. H. Winchell. 



[abstract] 



The author showed an outline map of the city on which were in- 

 dicated the location and the depth of over sixty of the deep wells of 

 the city, some of them being truly artesian. These included only 

 those which are less than 450 ft. in depth, the deeper wells being ex- 

 cluded from the showing because of the greater mineralization of the 

 water from the deeper strata. He stated that the water from th^ 

 shallower wells is wholesome, clear, and has about the hardness of 

 the water in the river, and hence is suitable for all domestic uses and 

 for steam making. This source of water for cit^ supply has been dis- 

 credited because of the fact that numerous (perhaps the majority of) 

 deep wells in the city are so deep that they derive their water from 

 the lower strata, from 600 ft. to 800 ft., or 900 ft. below the surface. 

 These waters incrust the boilers with a very troublesome scale and this 

 scale sometimes has been known to choke the supply pipes. This 

 trouble would be obviated or much reduced, by use of the shallower 

 wells. 



He also showed a map of the state on which were roughly ex- 

 pressed the limits of the water basins of the Jordan and the St. Peter 

 sandstones which lie below Minneapolis and supply the shallower 

 wells of the city. If one-tenth of their cubic contents may be assumed 

 to be filled by water, the author stated that the gallons in the. St. 

 Peter basin amount to 4,054,110,793,200 and the water in the Jordan 

 sandstone, about 400 ft. below the surface, amounts to 18,919,196,078,- 

 220 gallons.' These subterranean basins are kept full by the streams 

 and all surface drainage that cross their outcrop at points distant from 

 the city at higher positions, including the Mississippi and nearly all 

 its northern tributaries. The Mississippi itself is the surplus overflow 

 and is less constant, as a source for the city, than the subterranean 

 reservoirs. Water from these basins rises nearly to the surface 

 throughout the city, and in low places it overflows in artesian style. 



The author maintained that this source for city water should be 

 used instead of an expensive plant for filtering the river water. 



(This paper is incorporated in a more extended article on the 



