WINDMILLS AND PUMPS. 391 



fuel to a minimum. A four-inch centrifugal pump, 

 with a gasoline engine of two and one-half net horse- 

 power, will raise 9,000 gallons of water an hour 

 twenty -five feet vertically, and it can be operated 

 twenty-four hours a day, or less, as desired. 



Pumping from Quicksand. — It is easy and eco- 

 nomical to secure a supply of water by means of pumps 

 placed along the banks of our ordinary prairie streams. 

 A well can be sumped to give a moderate amount of 

 water at comparatively small expense, but an attempt 

 to pump enough water to cover 300 acres or so a day 

 would be undertaking a very difficult task. A trough, 

 or long well, seems to be quite feasible, and would be 

 practical if it could be secured to a sufficient depth; 

 but it is quite difficult to dig a well in the quicksand 

 over five or six feet deep made in this shape. There 

 are, however, three different kinds of wells which can 

 be placed in quicksands. The most substantial and 

 costly is the sinking of a rock wall. This is a very 

 expensive job. The next best is a circular well of 

 sufficient diameter to give a required amount of water, 

 which may be termed an open brick wall. It should 

 be built of vitrified brick, with the back filled with 

 gravel. No cement or mortar whatever is needed, but 

 an opening of from one- fourth to one-half inch should 

 be left between the ends of the bricks. This space 

 will allow the water at all stages to come in through 

 the sides of the wall, as well as up from the bottom. 

 In sinking a solid rock wall all water is necessarily 

 shut out from the sides, leaving only the bottom from 

 which water can come in. 



If a well can be secured with four feet of lift with 



