1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



965 



tually say whether it is up street or down street. 

 I suggested to a friend that my mind was mixed 

 up in the matter, but he corre*,'ted me by saying: 



■• No, Mr. Root, your mind is all right, but it 

 is your fcelimjs that are misleading." 



Now. here is a great truth. Our feelings — or, 

 if you choose, our animal instincts — are often 

 very powerful, but they must not be trusted. 

 Reason and rh/ht should direct and manage 

 feelings, for feelings are only like the dumb 

 brutes around us: they are to be taught and 

 led, and should never be allowed to obtain the 

 mastery. 



THE ARTESIAN WELLS OF SOrTH DAKOTA. 



You know I have been all my life interested 

 in every thing pertaining to wells and springs. 

 Well. I knew there were some wonderful arte- 

 sian wells somewhere in this locality: but it 

 was an agreeable surprise when I learned there 

 were two in Mitchell that supplied the city 

 with water, and IS in the county, in actual 

 operation. Besides this they are now at work 

 on a large one which they hope will run a dyna- 

 mo for their electric-light plant. I became ac- 

 quainted with tiie workmen, and found the boss 

 was present at my talk to the Y. M. C. A., so 

 we were old friends at once. Now. don't think 

 me visionary when I say there really seems to 

 be a sort of connecting link between the revival 

 meetings I have spoken of and these wonderful 

 artesian wells. You know what I said in our 

 last issue about the promise. "If ye abide in 

 me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask 

 what ye »ri"fZ, and it shall be done unto you.'" 

 The wonderful fertility of Dakota's vast acres 

 has only needed water at the right time: but 

 the past has shown that the needed rain is 

 often lacking. Just in the nick of time the dis- 

 covery of these wells came in. Already has 

 over (JO hushels of wheat per acre been obtained 

 by means of irrigation with water from these 

 artesian wells. This 34th of November I am 

 writing in the town of Woonsocket, famous on 

 account of having, at least at one time, the 

 largest artesian well in the world. It is six-inch 

 bore. 72.T feet deep, and gives 4000 gallons per 

 minute. A steam-gauge shows 153 lbs. per 

 square inch, and it will throw a two - inch 

 stream 200 feet high. The force has been esti- 

 mated equal to a 3rK)- horse -power engine. I 

 have just had a real pleasant visit with the 

 proprietor. The town has had a noted well for 

 about two years. Our friend, who owned a 

 steam flouring-mill. offered them SIOOO a year 

 for the use of it for power; but as they refused 

 he put down the well I have described, at his 

 ■own expense, near the mill. It cost him alto- 

 gether about •*.50(X), but the mill is now running 

 night and day, entirely without engineer or 

 fireman, and he will save almost the cost in one 

 year. With natural gas we need an engineer; 

 but this is power direct — yes. dii'ect from the 

 hand of Him who said. "Ye shall ask what ye 

 will, and it shall be done unto you.'" After the 

 water has carried the mill it is just as good 

 for irrigation: in fact, one of the problems has 

 been to get rid of the surplus water. As I write, 

 the boys are shouting and laughing while they 

 skate on a beautiful lake formed by the surplus 

 artesian water. It seems almost ridiculous to 

 think that little water-motor can move the pul- 

 ley that carries the great driving-belt of the 

 ponderous machinery of that grist-mill. 



There are some other wonderful things about 

 Dakota. It is never muddy anywhere. The 

 roads, even off acioss the prairies, after they 

 are just a little traveled become almost as hard 

 as an asphalt pavement. Even when the water 

 from the wells comes over the road, the bottom 

 remains hard and solid. Now. you smile in- 

 credulously when I tell you that the same black 



soil, when plowed, becomes fine and smooth, 

 with just a little harrowing. Much of the 

 plowing is done in the fall, because the ground 

 never packs. It is always too loose, if any 

 thing; it is also never too wet: and I judge 

 they are right in saying that tile drainage is 

 not needed. Wheat is 68 cents: corn, 2.5 cents 

 for tiro tntshels: 28 cents for 70 lbs. of shelled 

 corn. Eggs are, however, 20 cents a dozen. 

 You see this just " fits " poor people. Potatoes 

 are 20 to 25 cents. It looks odd and lonesome to 

 see no forests. The bare ground touches the 

 sky in every direction. There are few if any 

 fruit-trees, except plums, yet small fruits all do 

 finely. With irrigation, and the large amount 

 of sunshine that Dakota has the year round, it 

 should do wonders, and has done wonders al- 

 ready. 



While I write, a lady tells me that, when the 

 town well was first drilled, they had trouble in 

 controlling it. and it came near flooding the 

 town. It was near Chiistmas. and the water 

 kept freezing and piling up until it began to 

 look as if they would all be driven from their 

 homes. Many of the cellars were filled with 

 water. Just think, reader, if you can. of over 

 200 liarrels per minute on a comparatively level 

 country, and no means for it to get awayl You 

 can get a vei-y good idea of one of these wells 

 by looking at the picture I have already refer- 

 red to. The water is too hard for washing, but 

 many of the hotels use it in the rooms. In 

 winter they cut cakes of ice and melt it. and 

 this water is soft enough for any purpose. The 

 mineial seems to separate and flow away by 

 freezing. 



Now, then, I am going to astonish you still 

 more. See this, from a neighboring town, which 

 I clip from a special issue of xhe Dakota Farmer 

 for May, 1891: 



Innumerable fish are tin-own up hi tlie water 

 from the well. These are usually from an inch to 

 two inches in leugtli, having eyes, and, to all ap- 

 pearance, are the same as are found in fresli-water 

 streams. In the pond of water formed t)y the well 

 these tlsh have grown to tie eight or ten Indies long. 

 Witli oi'duiaiy care they tlirive in aquariums; and 

 should any oiie doubt this, by paying tor a fruit-jar 

 and the e.xpifss charges, 1 will send him samples of 

 the hourly installments from 1274 feet below the 

 surface. Where do they come from';' Certainly not 

 from surface water in tliis or any adjoining coun- 

 ties. Possibly from the Missouri near Fort Yates, 

 where large (iuantiiies of water disappear in coarse 

 sand between strata of fossiliferous rock of the Ju- 

 rassic formation. J. W. Parmley. 



Ipswich. Edmonds County. 



W^oonsocket is another nice pleasant Dakota 

 town. How very kind and friendly everybody 

 seemsl and how ready and willing to drop their 

 own work to assist me in hunting up every 

 thing in regard to artesian wells I 



Has the world so changed, or is it myself that 

 is changing? O my dear friend, please believe 

 me when I try to tell you that it is our own 

 selves and not the world that iiecdK changing. 

 When He abides in us, and we in Him. niarvel- 

 ou.s- things shall come to pass. I love this nice 

 pretty room where I am. and I love tliese peo- 

 ple who are trying hard to keep a nice good ho- 

 tel. An ungodly and profane runner said the 

 Dakota towns were full of empty buildings. 

 Well, I have found some of them. They are 

 the buildings that have .s-crec/i.s before the win- 

 dows so you can not look in and -see what they 

 have to "sell, and what they are doing inside. 

 And there is another building that is empty too. 

 It is the one with iro)i har>< across the win- 

 dows—iron bars to keep our boys from getting 

 out— boys reared in this land of liberty! May 

 God be praised for tliese eminy rooms in the 

 I)akota towns I As I go up one street and down 

 the other, large, clean, and clear glass windows 



