Artesian Wells

self flowing wells. Named from Artois, France, where deep wells were sunk at an early date. The oldest was sunk in 1126. Although the term is applied in America to any well of great depth, it is applied more correctly only to wells from which a stream of water flows. The water comes from a stratum of sand or gravel exposed to rainfall on higher ground, perhaps a thousand miles away. Water falling on such a stratum, possibly where it is upheaved in a range of mountains, follows it underground, unable to escape upward or downward. When tapped by an artesian well, it rises by reason of pressure toward the level of the highest part of the watersoaked stratum. The flow of the well may be copious at first, owing to an accumulation of imprisoned water, but its permanent flow is dependent on the rainfall or melting snow on the distant outcrop. The more artesian wells in a given locality, the more likely they all are to fall off in supply.

Ancient artesian wells have been found in Egypt. There are artesian wells in Italy, Germany, Spain, the Sahara, and in China. London and Paris are situated over artesian basins. A well near Leipsic, the deepest in the world, goes down 5,735 feet. Many artesian waters are wonderfully pure, others are strongly mineral. The Chinese make salt from the brine of deep wells thousands of years old. A well at St. Louis, 2,200 feet deep, is so charged with a sulphurous odor as to be useless for household purposes. Artesian wells are numerous along the Atlantic coast of the United States, deriving their waters, doubtless, from the Appalachians. One of the most noted of these at Charleston, South Carolina, is 1,250 feet deep. A well at Louisville, Kentucky, over 2,000 feet deep, yields 10,000 barrels of water daily. In the Great Plains from North Dakota to Texas are the greatest artesian regions known. The wells derive their water, no doubt, from rainfall on the western highlands. In many locations in South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Montana, and Texas, the flow is sufficient to be of aid in irrigation. Galveston, Texas, has a fine well 3,000 feet deep.

See Water Supply