Big Well (Kansas)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Big Well, in Greensburg, Kansas, was built in 1887 at a cost of $45,000. It was designed to provide water for the Santa Fe and Rock Island railroads. It served as the municipal water supply until 1932. Billed as the world's largest hand-dug well, it is 109 feet deep and 32 feet in diameter.
Visitors may enter the well for a small fee (about one United States Dollar), descending a stairway to the bottom of the well. The well is illuminated by electric lights. The visitor's center also has a half-ton meteor recovered from the area.
[edit] External links
 |
This Kansas state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
All though billed as the Largest hand-dug well, and incorrectly as the worlds deepest well, the title of largest wells may in fact also be incorrect. A probable contender for this lies in Brighton, UK where a hand dug well exists which is as deep as the Empire State Building is high. The well is 1285 feet deep, and consists of an upper shaft with a diameter of 6 feet and a lower shaft with a diameter of 4 feet.
Other deep (but not so large) Hand-dug British wells include the one at Dover Castle, UK which may have been built before the Normon Conquest of 1066AD and is 310 feet deep.
