filler.] IMPORTANCE OF ACCURATE WELL RECORDS. 19 
volume, permanency, and quality of the supply, become of great 
importance, for on them depend the uses to which it may be put. 
Upon the head, for instance, depends the height to which the water 
will rise, thus determining whether or not pumping, with it- attend- 
ant expense for outfit, fuel, and labor, will be necessary, while the 
obtaining of water in sufficient volume, or of a certain quality, may. as 
has been pointed out above, determine the ability of a manufacturer 
to cope with competitors, or even the very existence of an industry in 
a given locality. The probability of success can. in many instances, 
be foretold in advance where records in surrounding regions are 
available. The importance of this knowledge has been long appre- 
ciated by those interested in obtaining supplies for industrial pur- 
poses or for the boiler- of manufacturing establishments or railroad 
locomotives. 
Wells have for many years been of great importance a- a source 
of water for irrigation at many points in the West, and recently they 
have been extensively utilized in the cultivation of rice in Louisiana 
and other State- of the Gulf and Atlantic coastal plain-. In such 
regions the information and record- afforded by the pioneer well- as 
to the depth and cost of wells, quantity and quality of water, etc., 
have likewise proved of much value. 
Another important class of people benefited are those interested in 
the development of mineral water- for bathing, sanitariums, and 
resorts, or for the purposes of bottling for table or medicinal uses. 
The depths, quantity, composition, and temperature are all most sat- 
isfactorily afforded by records supplemented by the analyses which 
are usually made soon after the well i- completed and which, like the 
records, are often soon lost. 
Records of adjacent wells may. in cases, be of great benefit, especially 
to owners in furnishing a check on statements as to the occurrence of 
water horizons, depth to rock, amount of casing, total depth of well, 
etc.. all of which are sometimes misstated when contracts have been 
let for a specified sum per foot or which have been inaccurately 
reported because of failure to keep proper records. They also afford 
a basis of comparison as to conditions with more successful or less 
successful wells of the locality, and frequently give a clue to the 
cause of failure or of variations from the normal wells. 
In many regions the surface wells gradually fail because of the 
deforesting of the land or its drainage by ditches, and it may become 
necessary to sink deep into the rock for a permanent supply. All 
rocks do not yield water, while in some yielding abundant supplies 
the water carries too much mineral matter for ordinary use. It i- in 
such regions that records, affording a basis tor predicting results, are 
of special value. 
