68 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
too warm, or because it has not enough air in it. The deeper 
the well, the warmer the water. 
Many of the wells have gone dry—“ been drained by other 
wells,” as people say; but yet how can one well “drain” an- 
other, the mouths of both being on a level with each other? 
The wells whose mouths are at a lower level may take water 
from those farther up the valley; but the theory that the 
water deserts one well, to flow out of another of equal or 
higher elevation, is not sound. There is very little difference 
of elevation, perhaps ten feet, between San José and Alviso; 
and the wells near the latter place throw their water about 
five feet higher above the surface than do those of the former. 
One cause of the failure of the wells may be the filling up of 
the pipes. From many of them great quantities of sand, 
gravel, and stones half a foot in diameter, have been thrown 
up; and if a large stone should happen to lodge crosswise in 
the pipe, other smaller stones and gravel might soon stop it 
up entirely, or break the force of the current so that the water 
could not rise to the top. In many cases the pipe has not 
been driven down to the foundation; and the water, whirling 
round at the bottom of the pipe, has torn away the earth and 
made an excavation, thus preparing the way for a caving in 
of the ground, and filling up of the well. 
It is the general opinion in Santa Clara valley that the arte- 
sian wells have drained away the surface-water, and the soil is 
much drier than it was before the wells were bored. In 1849, 
Dr. Bascom found water west of Santa Clara by digging three 
feet ; and since then he has been going deeper every year, un- 
til now his surface-well is fifty feet deep. In Pellier’s garden, 
at San José, the surface-water was six feet below the surface ’ 
in 1849; now it is fourteen. Ten years ago, there was a con- 
stant stream of water along the Alameda, between Santa Clara 
and San José; but that ditch has been entirely dry for several 
years. A multitude of such observations are mentioned ; yet 
there is no conclusive proof that the artesian wells have taken 
away the surface-water. It seems that the soil began to get 
