BROOKLYN'S GREAT WELL.
What is asserted to be the largest well in the world is in the southern portion of Prospect Park, Brooklyn, near the lake, which is supplied by it with water to make up the loss by evaporation from sixty acres of surface. The great well, says The Tribune, is annually visited by many thousands of persons, who find in its never-failing fountain a source of inexhaustible interest. Although Long Island is surrounded by salt water, with the Atlantic on the east and south, and New York bay, the East river and Long Island sound on the west and north, there is never a lack of fresh water in its sandy soil. There are few places where it is not found by digging to a moderate depth, and at many points springs gush forth.
Whence comes this underground supply of fresh water, which, near the sea, is never even brackish, is a puzzle to everyone who has investigated the subject. Many theories have been advanced, but none have satisfactorily solved the problem. The most probable one is that the rain water, which falls upon the surface, sinks Into the sandy soil until an impervious stratum is reached, at varying depths from the top, and there it remains until it rises to a sufficient height to flow off by natural outlets, or is drawn off by artificial means.
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