The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-12-13
The "Rainless Belt"

Of country extending eastward from the
base of the Rocky Mountains two hundred
miles or more, and north and south for
distance of from six to eight hundred miles
where rain seldom falls, and that for this
reason it is called the ''rainless belt" In
this 'belt" there are no living running
streams except such as have their source in
the Rocky Mountains and are fed by the
melting SHOWS that perpetually mantle their
lofty submits.
The surface of this territory Is rolling
and the traveller finds frequent water courses
in which, whenever 1t does rain, the water
speedily makes its way into the living
streams. In these wates courses or ''draws"
as they are sometimes called, occasional
pools are to be seen, not stagnant, but clear
and pure showing that they must be sup
piled not by surface water only but from
beneath. These pools are invaluable to
the large and numerals herds OF cattle that
Craze their living on these plains through
out the entire year. Indeed, without these
pools this "rainless belt" could not in the
absence of living streams be used as grazing
lands only at the expense of some artificial
supply. Beneath the surface can be found,
by digging, water pure and plentiful and by
the inevitable windmill it Can be brought
up cheaply. The depth to which it is nee
essary to go before water is reached varies
with the locality, being sometimes 80 feet
and sometimes 200, but quite uniformly it
is found in the same stratum. 1t seems as
though the source of this underground wa
ter, as well as of the streams running in
surface channels, must mainly be the ever
lasting SHOWS of the "Rockeys... 1t is not
improbable that water coming continually
from this everlasting Efountain is filtered
through an under-stratum many miles, per-
haps hundreds of miles, until it makes its
appearance in springs eastward toward the
Missouri river. This theory has some lit
tie confirmation in the fact that springs are
now found issuing from the banks and in
ravines at considerable distances from ir-
rigating bitches in Colorado where, before
the construction of the bitches, banks and
ravines were as dry as the uplands.
The absence of rain throughout the.belt is
the curiosity and the mystery. Still the
fact is susceptible of rational explanation
to some extent. Rain comes from clouds
so heavy with vapor that they can not be
longer sustained in that form and therefore
descend in showers Vapor Is an exhala-
ton from lakes, ponds, swamps, marshes
and moist surface soil. rttle2
The geological formation throughout this
whole belt is such that these sources of
yapor do not and can not exist prior to set
Element and cultivation, and some of them
not then.
1t has been found as the result of expe-
rience that the settlement of country and
the cultivation of the soil effect both eli
mate and rain fall. The clearing off of
forests and the draining of swamps and
marshes diminish the amount of vapor and
of course lessen the rainfall and measure
bly, dry up the streams. Concomitant with
this the temperature is affective. In
prairie country the reverse takes place.
The growth of forests, which is necessity
and takes place rapidly, shades large por-
ton af the ground and retains in the soil
more of the water that falls upon it, Thus
the amount of vapor is increased and of
necessity the rainfall is increased.
All over the "rainless belt" referred to
the surface has become mat of grass
roots by the growth of vegetation for indie
finite ages and beng almost wholly destitute
of timber has become crusted over asst were
by the suns heat and rendered ''water-
proof" The consequence is that when rain
does fall instead of being absorbed by a
loose surface it rapidly runs Off into the
water courses and makes its way into the
rivers. Now, let the turf be broken by the
pillow and the soil be cultivated, and reason
would indicate just what experience demon
strates, viz: That the water that falls upon
it, instead of running rapidly off will be alb
sorbed and by the slow process of evapo-
II. L..
in copious showers, fertilizing and refresh
ing the earth, causing springs to burst forth
ut which man and beast may drink, and
making the "solitary place to be glad and
the desert to rejoice and blossom like the
rose" ~ r.
Further, the government has offered
special inducements to settlers on our pub
lie lands for cultivating forest trees, and
the railroad companies that have received
a subsidy in alternate sections of land from
the government do the same thing. The
necessities and interests of the settlers
prompt them to the same policy, and under
these stimulants the prairie states and ter
ritories are fast putting on the leafy glory
of the east. The result is that every acre
of land that is or shall be devoted TO the
growth of trees will become reservoir OF
moisture and mandatory Of rain clouds
that will return to the earth in pearly drops
rewarding the toll of the hnsbandman and
widening the area of christian civilization.
The "rainless belt" has been constantly
narrowing as the tide of emigration has
flowed westward. This has moved at the
rate of about 20 miles year. Although
checked somewhat by the reyerses of the
last two years, it is again advancing, par
ticularly in western Nebraska at nearly it's
wonted pace. Let 1t continue few years
longer and the "rainless belt will be push
ed back to the base of the Rocky noun