The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-02-17
T Ell GRAMS!
FOR TEE MINER BY THE MONT ANA
TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
FROM ALL PARTS OF the WORLD!
ARTISAN WELLS.
Report on nm Important SUBJ
ipPf.

Valuable Report OH an Important Sub
ject.
WASHINGTON, Feb. Ex-senator Hill, of
Colorado, has been authorized to submit to
the Senate in behalf of the public lands COM
mittee a very interesting report which he has
prepared in advocacy of the passage of his bill
looking to the reclamation of ard public
lands by means of Artesian wells. The re-
port begins by stating .h.s. SOO,OOO,O0O acres
of land are embraced in the arid region of the
United States, that not one per cent. OF this
territory has been sold by the United States,
and that it must remain unsold for years to
come unless some means are found to supply
it with water. After deducting from the az
gregate the number of acres of land ascel-
tanned from government surveyors and other
reliable sources to be unfit for agriculture,
even if water were supplied to them, because
of their being broken and mountainous, des-
titute Of soil, covered with lava deposits or
consisting of barren, drifting sand, there
remains says the report 5OO,OOO,OOO acres Of
lands of the great plains and valleys, OH a
part of which valuable crops could be raised
if water were supplied for irrigation. The
report concludes: "Many thousand acres
have already been reclaimed by utilizing the
waters of rivers and streams and spreading
them over the land during the period of the
crops, but owing to the limited supply of
water which can be made available from these
i sources under the most favorable conditions
probably lot more than three per cent. of the
500, OOO, 900 acres can be reclaimed. What
use can be made of the 49,, OOO,O 900 remaining
acres? They are not, it is true, entirely val
ueless; they are now, and will be hereafter
used still more, for pasturage lands, but they
can never to any great extent be sold for this
purpose. The growth of grass is so scanty
that it requires from Is to rs acres for the
support Of each head of cattle, and many
thousand acres are situated from 80 to 100
miles from living water, and are thus unavail-
able even for ~pasturage, but little will ever
be realized by the government from the sale
of these lands until it is demonstrated that
water can be supplied by Artesian wells. In
the State of Colorado alone on the great
plains east of the Rocky mountains there are
100000 acres of land, and much of it will
produce if irrigated 25 to 30 bushels Of wheat
per acre. 1t is in view of these facts which
has been given that Congress has been asked
to appropriate So, 900 Tor boring Artesian
wells. Private enterprise will not undertake
the work, which is of an expensive character,
as the land is all owned by the government,
but let it be demonstrated that water can be
supplied in this way and citizens will plr-
chase the land of the government and wells
will be bored by individuals and incorpora-
tions, and in time vast tracts of land will
thereby be reclaimed. Should it be found
that Artesian we'll water can be mace avail
able these lands from being the most barren
on the continent will become the most attrac-
tive to farmers. Their crops would not be
subject to rain fall and drought, and the
chances OF a failure of crops would be greatly
diminished, and the interest i'll agricultural
pursuits III that section would be greatly slim
ulatel. Although these lands arc as unpro-
ductiye as m,ch of the land which has been
granted to other States under swamp land acts.