Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

INSERTING A 25-LB. BOMB IN A 200-FEET BORE-HOLE. ARTESIAN WELLS, AND HOW THEY ARE BORED. BY WILLIAM H. BOOTH, M.Am.Soc.C.E. FROM time immemorial value has always been placed upon wells. So highly are wells esteemed that even amongst the most barbarous races they are rarely poisoned in the path of an advancing enemy. In torrid climes good water is often unobtainable on the surface. The well, how- ever, dug deeply down into the ground, reaches water which has percolated perhaps many miles horizontally along the strata of the earth from regions, such as hills, that are more favoured with rainfall than are the arid plains. Artesian Wells. All ancient wells known to European civili- zation were formed by digging circular shafts into the earth, and, where necessary, lining them with stone or with bricks, or even with timber. In this country still exist dug wells which are believed to be of Roman construc- tion. The artesian well, which now so often takes the place of the older dug well, is made by boring into the earth a comparatively small hole. This type of well had its origin, so far as we know as regards Europe, in the French