Saturday, August 17, 2013

Artesian Well Report 1854 - 56


The year was 1854.  The city alderman was Edward Henry Durrel.  Thanks to him, the New Orleans Academy of Sciences (later absorbed into Tulane University, where the records can be found) under the direction of Dr. N. B. Benedict was granted rights to drill for an artesian well at the foot of Canal Street [1].  Their goal was twofold: a.) to dig for an artesian well and b.) to make a study of the strata the lie beneath the city.  The first water they came to was 41 feet down and mixed with sand and shells.  Artesian water was reached at a depth of 335 feet and was “strongly alkaline and chalybeate” (containing salts of iron, tasting like iron).  And just beneath the soil?    Two feet below the surface lies a layer of “clay, blue, tenacious, uniform.[2]  The fact that New Orleans is like a bowl and drainage is a problem (especially in 1854 before our modern pumping system) means that rain water seeps down 2 feet and can’t drain past the clay.  The level of water we find when we dig down depends upon the time of year and the amount of rain we have.  Ask anyone who gardens and they’ll tell you that digging down into the clay can be a backbreaking chore.  (This clay also presented a problem when it came to grave digging!  Something to keep in mind.)  Two years later in 1856 they were still at it, so the Council passed a resolution “requesting the committee on the Artesian Well on Canal Street to report on the condition of same and the prospects of a speedy completion.[3]
 
And so they finally (and speedily) completed, having drilled down to a depth of 630 feet - the height of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Mo. - and never hit bedrock!  (Bedrock was finally discovered in the 1930's during the construction of the Huey P. Long Bridge; it is approximately 1000 feet beneath the City.)  Here is the report that the city requested in its entirety, outlining, strata upon strata,  what exactly lies beneath the city of New Orleans. 


No.
Character of Strata
Thickness of
Stratum
Top of Stratum
Below Surface
1
Heterogenous matters – the common surface
2.0
0
2
Clay, blue, tenacious, uniform
15.0
2
3
Clay, coal-black, containing woody matters, rootlets, &c.
3.8
17.0
4
Sand and clay mixed; subtile, like annual deposits of Mississippi River
10.2
20.8
5
Clay, dark, semi-fluid, nearly destitute of grittiness
7.0
31.0
6
Clay, same as No. 5 but becoming sandy
3.0
38.0
7
Sand, leaden-blue, coarse; many small shells; water abundant
0.7
41.0
8
Shells, exclusively, great variety, very compacted
1.3
41.7
9
Sand, identical with No. 7
13.0
43.0
10
Sand, clay and shells mixed, olive-colored, of consistency of “mortar”
10.0
56.0
11
Sand, coarse, dark-brown; small cypress roots and water-worn pebbles
4.0
66.0
12
Sand, coarse, light blue, destitute of shells
5.0
70.0
13
Sand, blue, mixed with fragments of shells
1.0
75.0
14
Shells exclusively, compacted; a few water-worn pebbles in lowest part
6.5
76.0
15
Clay, olive-green, tenacious, like wax
2.5
82.5
16
Sand, nearly impalpable, so subtile that little could be brought up
3.0
85.0
17
Clay, like No. 15, but a section of it is a little mottled with yellow
1.0
88.0
18
Sand, gray or light-blue
1.0
89.0
19
Clay, blue, as if half dried, with umber-colored masses, each enclosing a yellowish stone
1.0
90.0
20
Sand, blue, subtile, with a little clay
4.0
91.0
21
Sand and clay, identical with No. 4
3.0
95.0
22
Clay, identical with No. 19; stones contorted, fantastic forms, perforated, effervesce with acid

1.0

98.0
23
Sand, subtile, like German sand for grinding and fining glass, imported at 50 cents an ounce

9.0
99.0
24
Clay, masses of two different colors, both very dark, tenacious and pure
1.0
108.0
25
Clay and sand, blue, soft; tools sink by their own weight
3.0
109.0
26
Clay, dark, drab, like tallow between teeth; effervesces by acid, leaving pores surrounded by dark line

34.0

112.0
27
Sand, clay, shells and stone like indurated clay
3.0
146.0
28
Clay, blue, tenacious – a mere flake
0.2
149.0
29
Sand, &c., identical with No. 27
0.8
149.2
30
Clay, striated, changing to matter like vegetable mould
3.0
150.0
31
Wood, cedar log, sound, striated with thin plates of silicious matter
0.5
153.0
32
Vegetable mould, changing to striated clay, identical with No. 30 inverted; shells destitute of animal matter

1.0

153.5
33
Sand, greenish blue, tenacious from slight mixture of clay
2.0
154.5
34
Clay, pure; color identical with No. 33; tenacious
9.5
156.5
35
Sand, very subtile, rendered adhesive by a little clay
4.0
166.0
36
Clay, drab, tenacious, containing lumps exactly like pieces of chocolate
5.0
170.0
37
Clay, umber-colored, but darker, tenacious
1.0
175.0
38
Sand, green; a little clay, which increases with the depth
4.0
176.0
39
Clay, color same as the sand of No. 38, (still a little sand)
2.0
180.0
40
Sand, like No. 38; color still the same green as No. 38
1.0
182.0
41
Sand, coarse, whitish green, very variable as to clay mixture
13.0
183.0
42
Clay, leaden-blue, not gritty; effervesces with acid
32.5
196.0
43
Sand, leaden-blue, coarse; comminuted with shells; a little clay
21.5
228.5
44
Mixed, like Nos. 30 and 32
2.0
250.0
45
Clay, pale lead, or dirty white; tenacious, unctuous, like tallow between teeth, not gritty

39.0

252.0
46
Clay, sand and shells; soft mass, but looks like common sandstone
2.0
291.0
47
Sand, unmixed
29.0
93.0
48
Clay, pale olive, very pure
4.0
322.0
49
Sand, like No. 47
6.0
326.0
50
Clay, like No. 48
3.0
332.0
51
Sand, ash-colored, (pure white and black,) coarse; (artesian water)
95.0
335.0
52
Sand, nearly black, subtile, a little clay, (360 gallons of water an hour)
50.0
430.0
53
Clay, blue, tenacious, firm; a little gritty; no more water
63.5
480.0
54
Sand, many minute shells and fragments
2.5
543.5
55
Clay, blue, firm, tenacious, (containing a stratum of sand at 556 to 568½; no specimen obtained)

36.0

546.0
56
Sand and a little clay; hardness nearly stony, (penetrated to 584 feet)

582.0

Total depth attained, 630 feet






[1] ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF NEW ORLEANS, 1854; New Orleans City Archives.
[2] REPORT OF THE NEW ORLEANS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,  1856, TULANE UNIVERSITY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
[3] ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF NEW ORLEANS, 1856; New Orleans City Archives.