The Mystery of the Solid Rock Fish
Workers drilling a deep well near Ruston were shocked to find a live, pale fish emerge from 140 feet below the surface.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A wave of incredulity swept town last Monday when it became noised about that a live fish had been taken from an artesian well at a depth of 140 feet. Monday afternoon, when the workmen pulled up the pipe to throw out the cuttings, they were startled to see a small minnow about an inch and a half in length fall from the pipe and flop around on the ground. The fish differs from its kind only in color, which is a transparent white. The sides of the cavity in the rock were moist, which proved it had been full of water. Now comes the question: what was this fish doing in a small cavity, two inches square, in solid rock 140 feet below the surface?
“You who are versed in geological lore, tell us of this phenomenon.”
While this historical account reads like a classic 'strange news' item, it touches on the early geological fascination with the region's aquifers. Groundwater remains a critical, and often mysterious, resource for Washington State to this day.
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