The depth at which artesian water may be found depends entirely upon local conditions. In the Paris basin the water-bearing stratum is usually encountered at a depth exceeding 1,500 feet. The famous well at Grenelle, near Paris, was begun in 1833, and operations were con tinued until 1841 when at a depth of 1,797 feet the water poured out with great force at the rate of 500,000 gallons per day. Another well was sunk near by at Passy, which yielded 5,600,000 gallons daily, the water rising to a height of 54 feet above the mouth. This well was 1,923 feet deep and had the unusual diameter of two feet four inches. A well at Kissingen, Bavaria, furnishes a supply of saline water from a depth of 1,878 feet. Another noted foreign well is that at Schladenbach, near Leipzig, with a depth of 5,735 feet. In the United States there are many notable examples of artesian wells. The first boring of great depth was made at Saint Louis in 1849-54; a flow of 75 gallons per minute was obtained from a depth of 2,200 feet, but the water was so heavily charged with sul phuretted hydrogen and mineral matter as to be unfit for domestic use. Another boring was subsequently made to a depth of 3,843 feet. A well at Louisville, Ky., is 2,086 feet deep and yields 330,000 gallons per day. Among other noteworthy wells are the following: Columbus, 0. (2,775 feet) • Galveston, Tex., (3,071 feet); Charleston, S. C. (1,250 feet); Pittsburgh, Pa. (4,625 feet) ; Chicago (710 feet) • and Edge mont, S. D., where two wells (2,965 feet each) yield flows of l000,000 gallons a day at tem perature of A great many wells have been bored in recent years within the Atlantic Coastal Plain, especially in New Jersey, and many cities have thus obtained supplies of pure water. The temperature of the waters from the
average artesian well is from to F., hut in the case of very deep wells the water often reaches a temperature of from 70° to F. At Charleston, S. C., there is a well the water from which averages F. The cost of sink ing artesian wells varies with the depth and the character of the strata encountered. Up to 500 feet the cost commonly ranges from $1.50 to $3 per foot, but below this limit the cost increases in proportion to the depth. The apparatus used in boring does not differ from that employed in sinking for petroleum. The first artesian borings were probably made by the Chinese. In the upper basin of the Yang-tse-Kiang there are wells 1,500 to 3,000 feet in depth from which brine for salt manufacture is obtained. This industry has been carried on since a very early period and is an illustration of the compara tively advanced state of progress attained by this people long before the western nations had developed the mechanical arts beyond the crude stage. Deep wells have been found also in which are thought to have been the work the ancient Egyptians. A well bored in the year 1126 at Lillcrs, department of Pas-de Calais, France, is still flowing. For informa tion regarding artesian areas in the United States consult bulletins and annual reports of the United States Geological Survey, and of the geological surveys of several States, particularly those of Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri and New Jersey.