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Show I" '1 i Hi llfeij : How Boise Secured Hot : :m I Water Heating System: ' J'Tii'l-l (Philadelphia. Korlh American.) li,,5i''-' it About three years ago the citizens of H ' n !V m I Boise, Ida., where tho winter Is nlmost I ' ' il I were as la In Alaslta, and fuel Is t' ' j j jj I very costly heard that Col. Henry C. j j j J'; ;( Dcmmlner, acting State Geologist of lit II; Ww Pennsylvania, had dotcrmlned that the ; ' I .'J' "J ft earth's crust was very thin In that re-' re-' W'V'i .lilt filon' anrt nilffht bo tapped for hot wail wa-il ' '1!' Tfr and 8te;im tor the practical heating- j 1 t4 1 'Uti I ! ! of prtorog and residences. I 1 J If ,m j i To some of tho wise-acres in Boise the , ' 1 t " 'I R I 8 seemed to be merely a piece of Im-I' Im-I' " m !j!!J TnaBlnatlon an. Aladdin' lamp dream ' j 7 it) plensHnp nonsense. so far ns real utlllty ' (f. " J j I iros concerned. But several business ; j J men and the Governor of the State, I V i1 . I ohn T. Morrison; the former Adjutant-!,! Adjutant-!,! General, J. Jj. Weaver, and the Mayor -.1' ; of Boloe paw lit to take the Idea ucrl-y) ucrl-y) 1'. li t oiiBly. They wrote to Col. DemnIns for i if ."! further detail.-? of his suggestion, and. ' VMljl obtaining: them, besan to experiment by I . ! Ml ' ? borlnj? holes In the ground. I I it 'I During tho last tire months half the - '!, I i I f ntorea and dwellings in Boise, which has 1 5f -, , i ; a population of 1G.0C0. have boon heated i ' 't with boiling water and steam by pipe I j fj . , H lino from borings through tho earth's J . 1 crust. - ... , it , 'i On Invitation of State and municipal I jj l;l M omdalM CoL Dcsnmlng will start from v (j I ' j i: I HarrlBburpr, Pa., next week to receive a "'''' ill! public ovation n.t Boise- In appreciation m of the successful economical demonstra- ' j tion of his Idea. j( ! 'J,j; Reception Arranged. ': The reception In honor of the Penn- ' lis l nylvanla expert was arranged by ex- ; ijjf Adjut-Gen. J. L. "Weaver of Idaho, who i was amonjr thoye tho believed, when 1 ,-as the first experiment was made, that the I ijfjfi natural heating Idea was practicable. ' m Jlli? enthusiasm over the carrying out ' j f the plan If indicated In a letter to ' 1 'W' o1, Desnm'.ng, In which he state? that jj ' ! '34 the waste hot water is being used for . 1 li if sprinkling Fomo of the streets, and that, 'if Jn consequence, the grass plots and i' i ) U shrubbery on tho sidewalks have been i "PHI green iHnce early In the spring. ' k 'j j'tjk Col. Demmlng waa surprl&ed and i , ,i It greatly amused over the report of ver- ' ' . dure In March in the streets of Boise. I; .''Tl'li map. I j , i ' i; But "he wasn't surpriEed to learn that j ' ' ' S half of the tenvn. Including the public il i , j ,! buildings, had beer, healed from holes i' ) ' ii, 1 ;! 3i. "bored under It. .1 1 t : a "I knew the crust was thin at Boise." 1 (J , ' g he raid, "and that the strata of soil ! 1 !1 li P would permit borlngii to reach boiling H I1 ''I'lfft water within, say. 2500 feet. 'That eatl- i' i mate was conservative'." ,' j 1 I It was very conservative, for they I, ' '' i' found boiling water under Bolso last ; ; j ' 1 p T.-Intcr at a depth of 1500 feet, and at j , " f. 2000 feet they found a temperature of t ' ' jj 220 degrees Fahrenheit, eight degrees I I !(,Ui above boiling. I, J i i JP Some Idea of the thinness of the ' ! J.'Si earth's crust In Idaho may be had from f the fact that to reach a temperature of i ; m Jt only 160 degrees Fahrenheit under the 1 ' j " '. V. cities of New York. Chicago or Phlla- I' ' i v delphla It would be necesnary to bore to li ', V si depth of GGOO feet, If the temperaturo 1 . , nt the surface were as high as fifty dc- ,1 ' grees above 7.ero. . And at Boise, with a surface temper- I i !'; nture of 20 degrees below zero, they il , I Jiave been obtaining a plentiful supply i ' ' , 1 f of boiling water from a depth of 1500 to 1 1 , . ,' !' 2000 feetJ , -j .'1 In the- world's modern scientific rec- j Jjr ords of geological exploration there has t u' Tiot been any experiment as astonishing 01: jj ; J as the project at Boise, j !Kri,: I 'j 4 Flying machines, balloons, electricity I as a substitute for steam In fast rail-wfr rail-wfr way transportation, wireless telegraphy. ,! i i J electricity ao a substitute for fuel all ! ' i ! i .- these things are yet really In the ex- I M, ! 1' : 'r j ptrlmental stage. , ' y, . ff But getting "heat from the center of . 1' - the earth" to warm your house a , ' ' ft i dream of the forefathers Is no longer L f, ' , i' l' I; an experiment. Away out in snowbound , ' J . i-l ' ' g Idaho It is a fact so simple In appll- 'l ' 'If J Yl nation that the community regards It as i! i ! I'lfl commonplace, as Pennsylvanlans re- ! j ( ! I ft ' gard oil wells, or California gold mines. ,, ,' , Col. Demming-'s Discoveiy. II ! ' , ; From the middle of September until I ! i ji , 1 the first of May Bolpe requires artificial i, ( 'I, $ heat, and coal costs 520 a ton. For j-, j I lj; ' months at a time the city Is snowbound. j '-i and often coal cannot be had at any Hi 1 1 ' v ! T'rIce- I ''-j i I By the tapping of the earth and piping I ' tyiiu I ot- waler ud steam through the town j, last winter, the citizens were enabled !.,!', to save thousands of dollars, and, be- I 1 il J Pidea did not experience the annoying 1 ' ! ' necessity of attending furnaces or grates jj j ' 1 1 i . r or stoves. I "-. ! I, t Boise was kept so warm last winter I K'l! by hot water and steam from tho ! " ' ' jt'j'4 s "bowels of the earth." that GOO families j 'il came to town and lived in tents for ! 'i l iiifi several months, awaiting the resump- 1 ( ' ,) q tIon,of building operations. They were . i l like "boomers" squatting on a claim In I 1 j , u I the days of invasion of Oklahoma. And ',J' ' 'Ifi it was all on account of an assurance t ; ''f of saving money for coal or wood, and I I ' 'v j i )ji of being made comfortable by using the 1 ' M' (jj "direct pipe line from the center of the jj ' I ' ,!$ This economical "God-3end" for Ida- jj; j '!f ho that':; what they call it out In Bolae - came about through a singular lnter- ' M 'i cst wn'cn ol- Demmlng has always I j! ! taken In the welfare of men working in li ' ' jt-k ' ff About four years ago. on looking over m 1" reports upon tho famous Comstock sll- Yt . '"'ifff vr mine In Nevada, ho learned that I m i ' j'l 1 !" though the miners were working only at J 'I ii '.' a depth of from 3000 to 3500 feet, their j. , i !M .5 mff.crlng was severe on account of the j ' J !,)- heat from the earth. I J il rti temperature averaged about 100 I m j j,' "j'l degrees, and the men were kept capable ' ' '1 I on,y by na,vlnP tbelr heads and shoiil- , i, I , i J ders drenched frequently by cold water. '1 1 r i "f. About the same time Prof. "William . j. L j, Hallocfc of Columbia college, whom CoL ' ' ( i 'til Demmlng had not met, but In whose K ' ! ' 1 work he was greatly Interested, ha1 'j , & drawn the attention of the German Gov- ' 1 iS' ernmer.t to the scientific value of ex- I VvS perlmcntal borings. ! ' ' i i -('P.fS Bcsoarchcs by the German Govern- ( 'Mijl ment, especially at Schadebach, showed Hr ' til MJf tnat Lhfs averagft rise of temperature r i, t ilj'l was one degree Fahrenheit for every , t ; sixty-five feet. w 'I ' ''vlS CoL Deemlnff- hearing of the results. j ' ,j i innulred as to experiments In England, "i'J 'I '1 11 nnd learned Uiat tho deepe.it borings iltl' j t'l there showed an average of one degree My I ! S for every Bixty-four feet, 'tiiV'R $ Then he turned hifi attention person- Pfe lly to tllc" T"nltcd States, and found !tlil l l-' l 1nat caBt ' lne Rocly -Mountains the ! M! f average was one degree for every sixty 'I ' ' 8 iee't, and, somewhat to his astonishment, Hi 1 ' V S one deKrfte for every fifty feet vest of H lj jl iOl the BoclUes. if i?1 S He Invetlgated particularly the Tam- h nxack copper mine in northern Mlchl- H! j 4ft j, I gan. The shaft, twenty-nino feet by H' j tst i i Keven feet, inside measurement, Is now , i f-i'j V WOO feet deep, and Is to be sent to GOOO. : c r t h when it will bo the deepest hole In the I' 1 Only "Work Two Hours. i'Mtt " J II ! Today blasts of cold air are forced ' I ff isl dWn un lQe mJners- cakes of. B I P ' 7 r T T T T 1 T 1 T T 1 T T I T Ice In barrels are lowered, and lee water wa-ter Is constantly thrown over the shoulders shoul-ders of the workmen. No man 1h permitted per-mitted to remain below more than two hourB at a time. Kven during that phort period the miners must have thlck-soled shoeii, especially mado for them, and sometimes the heat of the ground la so Intense that the men must atand on Ice cokes. "The comparatively low temperature I of the Michigan mine at such great I depth." said Col. Dcmmlng. "puzzled inc. It set me thinking for a while. But I was certain from my personal Investigations Inves-tigations that the earth's crust In Michigan Michi-gan must be exceptionally thick. The Tamarack mine, though a Kood test In Itself, was not, to my mind. Indicative. I had mado a good study of the whole Northwest and In southern Idaho, prospecting pros-pecting for metals, I came to be sure, through small borlnga and a knowledge of the soli, tluit hot water could be found within 2000 feet below the. surface. "That was three years ago. I had no ldaa that my belief, expressed nt that time, would result in any enterprise that might be of economical use to the town of Boise. It was then colled BoJpe City, and had about 3500 Inhabitants. Inhabit-ants. "When they beard of my assertion, several prominent members of the community com-munity called me a 'dreamer' and a 'crank from the East' they said that getting hot water from borings out In a blizzard town was nonsense. "Well, tho gentlemen were privileged to think what they pleased about me. I wasn't selling Ideas. My sole object was the obtaining of scientific data. "Of course, It's pleasant now to be looking forward to ji public reception as a token of appreciation of that 'crank' Idea of an Easterner." There are about a dor.eji holes under Boise today, the deepest being less than 20CO feet. They were sunk with chuck drills, such a3 are used In boring for oil or natural gas. They measure from twelve Inches to fifteen In diameter at the top. and grade down to six Inches. Water at 130 degrees was found at 1000 feet, l-JS deprees about 1250 feet, 160 degrees de-grees about 1500 feet, and 200 degrees at 2000 feeL In some InRfjinrcs thi hnf water rushes up from these wells as oil from a boring, and In other Instances It is pumped up. Tanks receive the output out-put of groups of borings, and from these tanks the hot water and steam are forced through pipe lines underground to all the public buildings, and to stores and private dwellings. It may seem almost Incredible to a layman that such a proposition could me feasible. He might Imagine that the water would become cold going through the pipes under the frozen frround. The company of cltlzeno of Boise, who appreciated the commercial value of tapping the earth, employed steamheat-lng steamheat-lng engineers to solve that question, and It was not a dlfllcult problem. The whole matter rerolvc-d Itself Into the practicability of keeping a constant flow. The supply being sufllclent. It was easy to Install adequate pumping apparatus. To the purchasers or customers. Col. Demmlng understands, the cost of the "fuel" Is about one-fifth of the ordinary cost of fuel and general maintenance of fires. In addition the company operating operat-ing the borings puts Into the house free of charge, certain parts of the distributing distribut-ing system. For all that achievement Col. Demmlng Dem-mlng Is to be honored publicly by the citizens of Boise. He will go from Harrlsburg with personal per-sonal letters from his friend. Governor Pennypacker. and Senator Penrose and many others Interested In his official career as State Geologist and as a scientist sci-entist of international reputation. |
