History of Sanitation

4 HISTORY OF SANITATION for centuries. Travelers speak of wells drilled by Chinese, centuries ago, to a depth of 1,500 feet. In the valley of the Nile are many famous wells. Joseph’s Well* at Cairo, near the Pyramids, is perhaps the most famous of Well at the Rancho Chack ancient wells. It is excavated in solid rock to a depth of 297 feet and consists of two stories or lifts. The upper shaft is 18 by 24 feet and 165 feet deep; the lower shaft is 9 by 15 feet and reaches to a further depth of 132 feet. Water is raised in two lifts by means of buckets on endless chains, those for the lower level being operated by mules in a chamber at the bottom of the upper shaft, to which access is had by means of a spiral stairway winding about the well. In America, the use of wells as a means of water supply is of great an- tiquity, dating back to pre-historic races. In the United States, along the valley of the Mississippi, artificially walled wells have been found that are believed to have been built by a race of people who * Evobank's Hydraulics.