kept below that at the sides, and when sufficiently advanced the ma- 

 terial from immediately under the wall was removed. This was 

 done with considerable care and uniformity, and as the excavation 



progressed the wall slowly and quietly settled down. This process 

 was continually repeated until the Avail was lowered forty-one feet, 

 when frost suspended operations last season. At the same time that 

 the excavation was going on within the well the masons were at work 

 carrying up the wall. The iron rods were extended within this wall 

 to its top, but their size was reduced to one and one-fourth inches 

 diameter. The brick w^all had a battu towards the centre of half an 

 inch per foot. The object of this was to prevent the wall from bind- 

 ing or getting wedged by the pressure of the earth. The result was 

 as anticipated. The wall regularly and uniformly settled as the exca- 

 vation was made. 



The work was resumed last spring, and progressed satisfactorily un- 

 til the bottom of the curb was about three feet below the water-sur- 

 face, when it was found to be impossible to make the excavation 

 under the curb uniformly. The curb did not settle evenly, and cracks 

 were produced in the wall, also an unequal pressure from the material 

 on the outside was thrown on the wall, which produced an eccentricity 

 of about two feet in the diameter of the well. This wall was allowed 

 to remain in the position last indicated. Another curb similarly con_ 

 stituted of timber, brick and iron was constructed, the interior diame- 

 ter being thirty-five feet, the walls two feet thick, and the height ten 

 feet, besides the cutting edge, which is of wood, and projects below 

 the main wall one foot. This curb or wall was lowered in a manner 

 similar to the first, until its top was one foot below the surface of 

 the water, giving a depth of twelve feet of water in the well. Work 

 was suspended at this point, as the depth of water obtained was con- 

 sidered sufficient. 



The method of making the excavation under water was somewhat 

 novel and entirely successful, reducing the expense of that portion of 

 the work very materially. A cylinder twenty inches diameter, and 

 forty inches long, with a closed top, was made of three-eighths inch 

 boiler iron. The whole was made air-tight except the bottom, which 

 was left entirely open. In the top were two valves opening upward. 



The lower edges of the cylinder were made thin and sharp. At- 

 tached to the top was a timber or stem six inches square, and eighteen 

 feet long, and at the top of this a suitable attachment was made for a 



