Bromfield High School - Beacon Yearbook (Harvard, MA)

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Brom? i el.cl Beacon Strictly speaking, -artesian is the name given to such wells as discharge water at the surface under natural conditions, but here we define the term as a Well in which the water rises under its own pressure above the point where it was found. There are a surprising number of people who believe that no matter where they would like a well - hill, valley, forest or desert - a few feet of easy drilling will bring a water spout of the softest, purest water with limitless abundance and great rate of flow. In reality, the depth -of a well and the quality of the water depend upon the earth structure surrounding the well. Nowadays when the surface water is so polluted, we must go down to another layer. The well then goes down through the surface soil - down until it reaches solid rock ledge. After it goes through this ledge it should reach a layer of sand or porous stone in which there is water. If this water is contaminated, too hard, or not sufficient, the well must go through another rock ledge and on to another porous layer containing water. You may wonder why the sides of a well do not cave in, as in your ex- periences of digging at the beach or in the back yard. The sides would fall in if they could, but the driller starts out digging a hole larger than the intended well size and, when he has reached rock ledge, places large pipe inside the hole to hold up the sides and to keep surface water from running into the well. Then he drills inside the pipe. Seams in the rock ledge must be sealed up with cement. Sometimes the cement is poured into the well, and the hole dug right through it. A less costly scheme is to place a small- er pipe inside and pour cement around it. Nothing, -of course, is gained when, afterwards, the driller cannot extract the smaller pipe from the cement. You would not use the same cement in building your house that you would use in well drilling. Such cement is not of poor quality, on the con- trary, you could not afford it since it c-osts three times as much as ordinary cement. The driven well that we are concerned with is supposed to be vertical. That doesn't mean that it always is. When the tool strikes the side of a boulder, it has a tendency to bend the hole slightly, and this leads to trouble. Occasionally a tool breaks off down in the hole and then a process follows called fishing. Fishing wastes time and labor and requires specially made gadgets - and a rabbit's foot. Success often depends more on the good luck charm than on the device. One contrivance is an inverted cone which is lowered onto the tool With the hope that the tool will stick inside the cone until it reaches the top. Fishing isn't always successful, but when it is, it sometimes saves 81500. Experienced well drivers can tell exactly what is going on down below by the sound of the drilling and the feel of the cable. When water is reached, the bale is let down. The bale is a cylinder with a valve in the botton to let the water in when it touches the end of the well. The bale full of water is dumped in a sluice for examination. The well, if the water is good, is then test-pumped for twelve or more hours to see if the Well recedes at the given capacity. If it does, it may need to be gravel-packed. The gravel used for packing is a certain carefully graded size of stone de- pending on the surrounding earth. Inside this packing goes a bronze screen Page Thirty-three

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Brom? i eLd Be anon WELL DRILLING Well drilling is one of the subjects on which there is very little written material. Wells are becoming more common every day as we depend more and more on them for water, salt, gas, and petroleum. Holes are now drilled in search of coal, iron ore, and other materials. Wells are variously classified according to the method of sinking, manner of lining, and depth or flow of water. As a matter of fact, there are over -one hundred com- binations possible for a well. The tools for the commonly known dug well are mainly pick and shovel. Dug wells date back to Biblical times. In the Book of Genesis, we find that Isaac became very great, and the Philistines envied him and filled in with earth all the wells which the servants of his father, Abraham, had dug some time before. Now Isaac and his servants redug all these wells and kept the original names to them. And we even find an example of an Ar- tesian well in verse nineteen of chapter twenty-six Cstill in the book of Genesisb : Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. Well digging was not uncommon as an occupation, for in the Gospel of Saint Luke, chapter sixteen, verse three We read: Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot digg to beg I am ashamed. More up to date and closer to home, I find that there are many wells in Harvard dating back to the sixteen and seventeen hundreds which are still used today. The well used by the Spragues dates back to 1665, and it has never been known to go dry. Two modern means of digging a well are boring and drilling. They differ essentially from hand digging in that all operations are carried on from the surface, the hole being smaller - usually from three to twenty- seven inches in diameter. Boring and drilling differ from each other also, that is, boring employs a rotating motion while drilling pounds and shat- ters with a churning moti-on. The first method cuts a hole at any desired inclination using as a tool a diamond bit driven under pressure by a rotat- ing outfit. The diamonds used in the bits are commercial diamonds - stones with fiaws or other imperfections which render them unsuitable as cut jewels. This rig is used in the exploration for deposits of coal, iron, copper, and precious metals. Because of its ability to drill at an angle, it. was used to help mine the minerals from under one's neighbor's property. The more commonly known method hereabouts has, as a tool, a bit on a heavy shank whose pounding power is supplied by lifting and dropping it by a rope or Wire cable. The grinding depending on sheer weight neces- sarily sinks a vertical hole - theoretically, that is. Artesian wells are becoming increasingly popular. The name came from Artois, the province in France where the first deep boring in Europe were made. A famous well near there was begun in 1833 and in 1841 at a depth of 1797 feet the water rushed out with terrific force at the rate of 500,000 gallons per day. Another well near by was 1923 feet deep and of the unusual diameter of 2143 feet, yet it yielded 5,600,000 gallons daily, the water rising to a height of 54 feet at the mouth. Page Thirty-two

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Eromfliegd Be acson of a corresponding size mesh. Now it is time to lay the pipes and have a glass of cool, refreshing water from your own well. Because of our increasing usage of water and because of water shor- tages resulting from droughts, more and more people are becoming acquainted with the process by which men tap our underground reservoirs. VALEDICTORY As classmates bidding farewell forever to our high school days, we make numerous promises to one another and to friends to correspond often and to share now and then the memories of these days and of our dreams and ambitions. I sincerely hope that every promise is kept. It was Tryon Edwards who said, He that resolves on any great and good end, has, by that very resolution, scaled the chief barrier to it. Wayne W. Blackwell PF ik PF SENIOR ROLL CALL Barbara Carol Benjamin Wayne Waldo Blackwell Lois Adiel Dickson .......... Robert Kenneth Hall ...... Catch Bill ....................Wayne Won't Budge .......... Lois Adheres ftoj Dreams ................Robert Keeps Happy Frank Lennihan ................. .......................... F atiguing Life Marie Eugenie St. John ....... Paul Irving Thatcher .... Harold Albert Tooker ........ Jane Ann Waters ............ ........................................ ...........Marie Enjoys Sailor Jack .......Paul Insists fonj Tarrying .......Has Angelic Tendencies C ?J .Jane's Always Winsome Barbara C. Benjamin .................................................................................... Bill Wayne W. Blackwell .......... I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair Lois A. Dickson ........... R-obert K. Hall ......... Frank Lennihan ...... Marie E. St. John ....... Paul I. Thatcher ..... H. Albert Tooker ........ Jane A. Waters ........ Senior Class .......... Mrs. Turner ...... Miss Brown .......... Mrs. Clifford ........ Mrs. Drescher ..... Mrs. Flaherty ...... Mr. Drisc-oll .......... Mr. Dunlap ............... Bromfield School ....... Mr. Vattes Mr. Kelly ......... I Could Be With You The Girls Go Yourself .........She's Only a Sailor's Sweetheart Fry That Man of Mine ..........We've Come A Long Way Together Knows Day Is Done ...............Typewriter Song .............Music, Music, Music .......The Old Master Painter .............................Memories ..........................Good-bye ........M1SS You ........Rag Mop