914 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



^ BY A .1 .ROOT.— i^^^'M 



When the poor and needy seek water, and 

 there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I 

 tlie Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will 

 not forsalse them. I will open rivers in hisih places, 

 and fountains in 1he midst of the valleys; I will 

 make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry 

 land springs of water. -ISA. 41:17, 18. 



While at the bee-keepers' convention at St. 

 Joseph, the following letter was handed to me. 



Friend Root:—! see by Gleanings you are coming 

 from Kansas City to Lebanon, on a bicycle. We 

 are on or near your I'oute. You will come through 

 Clinton. It is on your way, and you will want to 

 see its artesian wells— three of them; then come 

 southwest out .)f Clinton by the standpipe. and 

 across the wooden-covered bridge over Grand 

 River, and on across the prairie; then across the 

 Deepwater bridge. Stop at the first house on the 

 road west of the Dunkard cliurch. It Is eight miles 

 south of Clinton. We are not extensive bee-keep- 

 ers, but have a few stands, and some honey and 

 milk. We shall be very glad indeed to have you 

 come, and shall feel disapi)ointed if you don't. Mr. 

 Bonham lives across the street from the standpipe. 

 He is a Ijee-keeper and nurseryman. Come and see 

 ns. any how. You can not miss the road. 



Deepwater, Mo., Sept. 10. J. A. Stevenson. 



Of course, I accepted the invitation for the 

 sake of seeing the artesian wells, even if for 

 nothing else; but imagine ray disgust on dis- 

 covering, as I neared Clinton, that the letter I 

 was depending on to guide me had been sent by 

 express with my heavy suit of clothesl I re- 

 membered about Clinton and the wells, and 

 also that my friend lived at Deepwater, near 

 Clinton: but I could not. for the life of me, re- 

 call the name. I thought, however, that I 

 should be able to hunt him up. When a few 

 miles from the city of Clinton, along the bank 

 of a beautiful river I saw some large hickory- 

 nuts, even right out in the road, where it 

 wound along through the woods. In fact, 

 there were so many of them that I had to 

 dodge them with my wheel ; and some of them, 

 even when they were shelled out, were nearly 

 as large as hen's eggs. I finally stopped, gath- 

 ered my hands full, and sat down on a log to 

 see if those great big fellows were as good as 

 the thin shellbark hiekorynuts of Ohio. I 

 should say they were every bit as good, except 

 that they have a little more of the flavor of 

 blackwalnuts. It made me think of the time 

 when we used to have hiekorynuts and cider, 

 away back forty or fifty years ago. Then I be- 

 gan thinking how I should relish some sort of 

 tart fruit with the nuts. Perhaps it was this 

 thought that caused me to look about, and up 

 over my head. Sure enough, there were wild 

 fox grapes hanging so near that, with a very 

 little pulling on the vine, I got them down 

 within my reach. And then I had a " picnic " 

 indeed on nuts and grapes. A few minutes 

 later a nutting-party came in a large wagon, 

 from the city. I scraped acquaintance, and 

 told them where I had seen some beautiful 

 large nuts shaken down by the wind. These 

 friends assured me that I could easily find the 

 artesian wells, for one of them was close by 

 my road as I would come into the city. The 

 city stands on quite a little elevation, and this 

 first artesian well is on a flat by the side of the 

 river. An iron pipe, pretty nearly as large as 

 a stove-pipe, reaches three or four feet above 

 the surface of the ground. From this pipe 

 comes a beautiful little circular waterfall, 

 making a crystal vase, such as I have before 

 described, except that, in this case, the volume 



of water is so great that the crystal sheet is; 

 nearly an inch through. The water is caught 

 in a circular reservoir, and then passes off in 

 quite a good-sized stream along the side of the 

 road, and down to the river; in fact, it has 

 spread in some places so as to make quite a 

 quagmire; and I think the citizens of Clinton 

 should be able to send a man with a spade, so 

 as to let this water off without making mud- 

 holes where it is not wanted. The water is, I 

 should judge, nearly soft, and of that same 

 crystal clearness that comes from most artesian 

 wells. I had been so long drinking bad muddy 

 water from imperfect wells or pond-holes along 

 my way that I greatly relished the change. 



I was told, however, by different people, that 

 the largest and finest artesian well was at the 

 other end of the city. It was much like the 

 first, except that the water is carried up per- 

 haps ten or twelve feet high. I presume it 

 usually forms a most beautiful waterfall; but 

 the wind blew so much the day I was there, it 

 was scattered a good deal out of its appropri- 

 ate reservoir. 



Below I give you a cut showing a faint 

 glimpse of the great hotel, and the flowing well 

 at the foot of the broad staircase leading to it. , 



ARTESIAN WELL AT ('T,INT()N. MO.. FI/OWINO A MIL- 

 LION OF GALLONS OF WATEK PEK I).4Y. 



The volume of waterisso great that it forms a 

 pretty little artificial lake— a lake large enough, 

 indeed, to contain a little steamer for pleasure- 

 parties, and quite spacious buildings have been 

 put up for bathing and other purposes. I clip 

 the following from a descriptive circular: 



We have here an artesian well flowuig one million 

 gallons every day, of white sulphur water, which 

 glislens ill the warm sunlight like a tear framed in 

 a smile, and which is eiiual in health-i'estoring and 

 health giving jiroperties to any sulphui' water in 

 the world. This well feeds a beautiful lake which 

 affords fine botding- and bathing, and which is well 

 stocked with game tisli. 



The water from this largest well is impregnat- 

 ed with sulphur to such an extent that it shows 

 the white milky filaments (so often seen in sul- 

 phursprings)adheringtothestonesand gravel in 

 the bottom of the stream where it goes out into 

 the lake. The sulphur is too strong to make it 

 agreeable to drink ; but, like other waters of 

 this class, it has quite a reputation for its me- 

 dicinal qualities. The third well is much like 

 the second one described, only smaller in vol- 

 ume, and this is used for the citv waterworks. 



Mr. M. L. Bonham and Mr. H. P. Faris, the 

 latter being the gentleman who originated the 

 idea of boring at Clinton, Mo., have kindly 

 furnished me the following additional facts as 

 below, in regard to their famous artesian wells: 



THE FAMOUS WHITE-SULFHI' K AKTESIaN WELL AT 

 CLINTON, HENKY CO., MO. 



This is one of the most wonderful wells in the 

 world, and was the result of drilling commenced by 

 a local companv in seaich of gas or oil. July **, 

 1887, at the depth of 335 feet a slight How of sulpluii' 



