292 



It is proposed to obtain a supply of water for the park use, or at 

 least a partial supply, from a well. This well has been located on 

 the south side of Lookout Hill, near the lake, and work was com- 

 menced upon it late in the season. It is to be fifty feet inside 

 diameter at the bottom, and forty -five at the top. The walls are to 

 be of brick, two feet thick, and bound together vertically by bolts 

 extending from the bottom to the top, at distances of about four feet 

 apart, measured on the circumference of the circle. After a careful 

 consideration of various methods for sinking the well, it was decided 

 to build the wall, and then to excavate the material from within, 

 trusting to the weight of the wall to force it down. Sixteen feet in 

 height of the wall was laid securely bolted together, before the exca- 

 vation was commenced. A derrick with a boom fifty-five in length 

 was set up near the well, so that the sweep of the boom commanded 

 the interior of it. Iron buckets containing fourteen cubic feet each 

 were obtained, and a six-horse power hoisting engine purchased. 

 With these appliances the excavation was commenced, and carried 

 on with slight interruption until the work was suspended on account 

 of the frost. 



No difficulty was experienced in the lowering of the wall. All 

 that was necessary was to excavate the material from beneath it, and 

 it was carried down by its own weight. Great care was necessary 

 in lowering to keep the excavation under the walls at the same level, 

 so that the wall should settle uniformly. The wall was lowered 

 forty-one feet before the work was suspended, and upon excavating 

 in the center ten feet deeper, water was reached, at an elevation of 

 fourteen feet above tide level, and fifty-one feet from the surface of 

 the ground. Mr. L. Y. Schermerhorn, division engineer, gave the 

 work his careful attention, and to his good judgment and intelligent 

 supervision the success of the work, thus far, is in a great measure 

 due. 



SKATING. 



As before stated, the lake was partially filled with water in No- 

 vember. Early in December, much earlier than usual, ice formed, 

 and up to the present time has been in good condition for skating. 

 The Union Pond Patent Ice Planers have been used for planing the 

 ice, and, so far as my observation extends, these planers, with the 

 accompanying snow cleaners, are the most efficient implements for 

 the care of ice that have as yet been invented. Cuttings of any 

 required depth can be taken, limited only by the propelling power, 

 and the surface is left nearly as smooth as new frozen ice. 



