Ashburner. ] 132 {Sept. 21, 
from the well was about 250 lbs. to the square inch. It is possible that the 
accumulated pressure at the time that the larger water columns are thrown 
up may be as high as 250 lbs.; but the constant pressure of the gas if unob- 
structed by the water would probably not be more than 50 Ibs. 
The action of the Wilcox well is nothing novel, but the observations are 
interesting and valuable from the fact that a complete record and history of 
the well have been preserved, and the accompanying facts add much to 
what has been recorded of similar wells. 
As early as 1833*, Dr. 8. P. Hildreth, ina paper on the ‘‘Saliferous 
Rock Formation in the Valley of the Ohio”’ says: ‘‘In many wells, salt 
water and inflammable gas rise in company with a steady uniform flow. 
In others, the gas rises at intervals of ten or twelve hours, or perhaps as 
many days, in vast quantity, and with overwhelming force, throwing the 
water from the well to the height of fifty to one hundred feet in the air, 
and again retiring within the bowels of the earth to acquire fresh power 
for a new effort. This phenomenon is called ‘blowing,’ and is very trou- 
blesome and vexatious to the manufacturer.’ 
A well drilled by Peter Neff, Esq., near Kenyon College, in Knox Co., 
Ohio, presented similar features to the Wilcox well. Ata depth of 600 feet 
gas was struck which threw out of the well at intervals of one minute, a col- 
umn of water to a height of 120 feet. ‘‘The derrick set over this well 
has a height of 60 feet. In winter it becomes encased in ice, and forms a 
huge translucent chimney, through which, at regular intervals of one min- 
ute, a mingled current of gas and water rushes to twice its height. By cut- 
ting through this chimney at the base and igniting the gas in a paroxysm, 
it affords a magnificent spectacle—a fountain of water and fire which 
brilliantly illuminates the ice chimney.”’ 
Many of the persons who have visited the Wilcox well during the sum- 
mer have made a comparison of heights with geysers of the Geyser Basin, 
and I have been repeatedly referred to for information in regard to the 
latter. 
The following table, compiled from Dr. Hayden’s report of the U. S. 
Geological Survey, 1871, gives some figures of the geysers along the Fire 
Hole River, in Wyoming Territory. 
Name. Height. | Diameter. | Time. | Observer. 
Grint ae 200 feet. | 6 feet. | 20 minutes. | Dr. Hayden. 
Giantess 140% *< | On ah _  3dhours. | N. P. Langford. 
Ce eof cs | 90 to 200 ft. | | 3 hrs. 30 min. | Lieut. Doane (1870) 
Be frei | 140 feet: || Le een, «| Dr. Hayden. 
Giantess...| 250 << | 6to15in.| 20 minutes. | ‘“ “ 
Beehive vol, 219)... | 18 «“ | «6 « 
*See American Journal of Science, July, 1833, quoted in Early and Latter 
History of Petroleum, by J. T. Henry. 
