The Tides That Move the Wells of Ocosta
Early settlers discover a natural phenomenon where groundwater levels mimic the Pacific tides.
There are some queer wells on Grays Harbor, near Ocosta. The queerness is in the fact that the water in the wells rises and falls with the tide. In order to strike water it is necessary to bore about 120 feet. The water is pure, fresh and soft. It rises in the pipe, at high tide, about three feet above the level of the ground; at low tide it falls to about two feet below the surface of the ground. In the Harbor the rise and fall of the tide is 10 feet. The most plausible explanation is that advanced by Capt. De Courcey. He says the water probably lies under a stratum of earth that, when the earth above is covered by the tide, the tide's enormous weight is communicated to this stratum through the softer strata above, thus pressing down upon the water at high tide and forcing it up in the pipes, and causing it to fall when the tide recedes. Whatever may be the cause, it is a most interesting phenomenon.
“The water probably lies under a stratum of earth that, when the earth above is covered by the tide, the tide's enormous weight is communicated to this stratum.”
Coastal geology remains a point of fascination in Grays Harbor, where sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion now pose more urgent challenges than the curiosities of 1891. While these wells were once seen as a strange local wonder, they highlight the permeable and interconnected nature of the region's aquifers that modern hydrologists still study today.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.