54 EDWARD M. SHEPARD 



Here we find the anomalous condition of a great artesian basin 

 where the wells flow in a circle surrounding the center, but rise to 

 the surface only on the low ridges within this circle. The constant 

 and vast seepage along fault lines and low places, accomplished by 

 springs to be later described, keeps down the stronger artesian pres- 

 sure which is seen on the outer borders of the area. 1 



Sand brought up in wells. — Messrs. W. G. Lanhan and W. C. 

 Davis, engineers for the Memphis Water Co., state that of 141 wells 

 that have been sunk in Memphis nearly all flow when they are not 

 pumped, and that the altitude to which the water rises, when not 

 pumped, is 218 feet above Biloxi, Miss. These gentlemen both 

 say that there is a continuous flow of fine sand carried up to the sur- 

 face by the water of all these wells from depths varying from 450 to 

 600 feet. A brass strainer, with openings one hundred-and-fiftieth 

 of an inch in width, is placed in the bottom of each well, and this is 

 so rapidly worn by the sand that it has to be replaced in from three 

 to five years. Every precaution is taken to keep this sand from the 

 valves and piston rods of the pumps. The wells are tapped at depths 

 of from 40 to 60 feet, and the water is conveyed by large brick tun- 

 nels 5 feet high to a central reservoir well at the pump station. The 

 sand collects so rapidly in these tunnels that they must occasionally 

 be cleaned out. One tunnel was found nearly filled with sand depos- 

 ited from the water. 



Mr. Henry Moss, of New Madrid, Mo., was connected with the 

 Missouri River Commission some twenty-five years ago, when a 

 series of wells was sunk along the river and on the islands from 

 Lister's Island, 20 miles north of New Madrid, to Fort Pillow, near 

 Osceola, Ark. — a distance of about 90 miles. These wells were 

 bored from 125 to 200 feet deep, and he states that the sand and water 

 would shoot up into the pipes to within 30 feet of the surface, the 

 sand frequently clogging the bottom of the pipe. 



1 The writer is greatly indebted to Mr. W. B. Johnson, of Memphis, Tenn., for 

 various sections and data relating to the wells of this district. He calls attention to 

 the similarity in composition of the waters on the east side of the basin; also to the 

 purity of these waters, which undoubtedly have their source in the Tennessee Moun- 

 tains. These are in striking contrast to the waters on the west side, which are generally 

 saline, and which have their source in the Ozarks. He further states that the La Grange 

 sands at Memphis are 800 feet thick, while at Pine Bluff, Ark., they are only 40 feet. 



