194 dupont's ARTESIAN WELL AT LOUISVILLE. 



responding diameter to Dupont's well would, according to just 

 and reasonable calculations, furnish about two million gallons 

 in twenty-four hours ; also the elevation of the water above 

 the surface is greater than that of any other artesian well, and 

 it is only exceeded in depth by the St. Louis well, and that to 

 an extent of one hundred and thirteen feet. 



The water comes out with considerable force from the five- 

 inch opening, and a heavy body thrown into the mouth of the 

 well is rejected almost as readily as a piece of pine wood. By 

 an approximate calculation its mechanical force is equal to that 

 of a steam-engine with cylinder ten by eighteen inches, under 

 fifty pounds' pressure, with a speed of fifty-five revolutions per 

 minute, a force rated at about ten-horse power. The top of the 

 well is now closed, and the water conducted about thirty feet 

 to a basin with a large jet d'eau on the center, from which there 

 is a central jet of water forty feet in height, with a large water- 

 pipe, from which the water passes in the form of a sheaf. When 

 the whole force of water is allowed to expend itself on the cen- 

 tral jet, it is projected to the height of from ninety to one 

 hundred feet, settling down to a steady flow of a stream sixty 

 feet high. 



Temperature of the Water.— The water as it flows from the 

 top of the well has a constant temperature of 76J° F., and is 

 not affected either by the heat of summer or the cold of winter. 

 The temperature at the bottom of the well is several degrees 

 higher than this, as ascertained by sinking a Walferdin's regis- 

 tering thermometer to the bottom, which indicated 82 J ° F. 

 Taking as correct data that the point of constant temperature 

 below the surface of Louisville is the same as at Paris — namely, 

 53° F. — at ninety feet below the surface we have an increase 

 of one degree of temperature for every sixty-seven feet below 

 that point. The increase in Paris is one degree for every 

 sixty-one and two tenths feet. The temperature of the water 

 is sufficient for comfortable bathing during most of the year — 

 a circumstance that will be of considerable importance if it 

 ever be turned to the use of baths. The reason of the differ- 

 ence of six degrees between the water at the bottom of the well 

 and at the top is that the iron pipe leading from the surface to 

 the rock passes through a stratum of water sixty feet thick, 

 having a temperature of fifty-seven degrees. 



