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THE MANGEL-CORA WELL SYSTEM |
| The Mangel-Cora wells were used by the native
Aruban, long before the oil company came to the island in 1924. It
is my understanding that there were natural pools and springs of
Brackish water along the cliff line and it was here the natives gathered
water. Soon after the oil transshipment facility was begun, the
need from brackish water from flushing and bathing was realized and it
was then that the natural well system was expanded, the tunnels were dug and the vent
shafts were installed. The pumps were located at the same location
as the shaft that has the ladder that goes down into the tunnel system,
this is show as a yellow square on the map. The building over the
pumps is still standing and the pipe from the building is there, although
it is full of rust holes. The pumps have been removed. Some
of the vent shafts are still fitted with the vent pips above the
concrete slab and on a few the vent pipes have been pushed over and the
hole in the slab is open, these are show as red squares on the map.
On one, the concrete slab over the vent shaft is fallen into the shaft,
it is from this shaft that most of the photos are taken. The tunnels are shown in blue. The satellite shot is from Google
Earth. The first photos shows the road and the concrete slabs over
the vent shafts can clearly be seen. In the second photo I have superimposed the tunnel
system and vent shafts on the photo. The area below the New Houses
is the watershed area for the system. |
| These photos of the vent shafts were taken in June
of 2006. Although it had not rained since November of 2005 in
Aruba we could detect some water in the bottom of the tunnels. |
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IN THE
PHOTO BELOW, CLICK ON THE
YELLOW SQUARES TO SEE THE PUMP HOUSE. CLICK ON THE RED SQUARES TO
SEE THE VENT SHAFTS.
EACH RED SQUARE GOES TO THE SAME PAGE. |
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IN THE
PHOTO ABOVE, CLICK ON THE
YELLOW SQUARES TO SEE THE PUMP HOUSE. CLICK ON THE RED SQUARES TO
SEE THE VENT SHAFTS.
EACH RED SQUARE GOES TO THE SAME PAGE. |
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The photos of the Mangel-Cora Wells
were taken by my Paul Jensen. He did not go down the ladder in the
pump house because it was probably to badly rusted to support him.
Please note that these are open pits and can be dangerous, it is no
place to let children play unsupervised. Now that Boa Constrictors
have been released and are breeding on the island there is no telling
what is living down in those shafts and tunnels.
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IF YOU VISIT THESE SITES |
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PLEASE
USE EXTREME
CAUTION! |
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CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ABOUT MANGEL CORA
WELL |
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CLICK HERE TO
RETURN TO THE SUPPORT FACILITY DIRECTORY |
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