The Springdale news., 1889-12-06
DAMMlNG OUR RIVERS.

The accounts which have been pub lished Of the work of the Topograph' ical Bureau in carrying out the act of Congress ordering irrigation surveys, have, up to the present time, made no mention of the studies which are in progress in the valley of the Rio Grande in Texas. They are, however,
 of large importance. Of all the great
 rivers of the United States the Rio
 Grande is the most useless Rising
 in the heart of the Rocky Mountains
 in Colorado, and draining the ever
 lasting snow plains of that elevated
 plateau, it flows south through Color
 ado, New Mexico and Western Texas.
 till it strikes the Mexican boundary at
 Paso del Norte; then, swinging around,
 1t pursues an easterly and southeast
 erly course till it empties itself in the
 Gulf of Mexico. 1t starts out with
 good volume of water, which is in-
 creased by feeders from the Sierra
 Blanco; but in passing over the sandy
 plain through which its course lies it
 loses so much of it's contents by evap-
 oration and percolation that for a
 thousand miles or more it is generally
 fordable and can neither float vessels
 nor spare water for irrigation pur-
 poses The question which presented
 itself to the Government surveyors is
 whether this water which now goes
 to waste by evaporation and seepage
 could not measurably be saved by
 impounding it in reservoirs. And last
 month they seem to have been of the
 opinion that it could.
 The natural site for main reser-
 voir is the bend of the river at Paso
 del Norte. A dam at this point would
 not interfere with trade, as the river
 Is generally fordable there and the
 smallest steamers can not approach
 within one thousand miles of the town. But it might lead to the col lection of the waters of the upper Rio Grande in lake from which they might be conveyed in open ditehes to the southern counties of Texas, which are now sand wastes. Texas is so wealthy q State that. if the project were deemed feasible. it would not have to go to Congress for means to construct the necessary works.
 The uses Of rivers are only just be- coming understood. The Missouri river is nearly 5000 miles long, and discharges 120. GOO cubic feet of water per second; but it is nearly useless. Vessels do not navigate it's waters ex- cept for a few hundred miles; lands derive no fertility from it's waters; its function appears to be to drown out land every spring. The Shoshone or Snake river is 1 1,000 miles long; it flows through Wyoming, Ida ho. Oregon and part of Washington; the country which it traYerses is largely barren for want of water; the Shoshone carries so much water that in one place it has hewed out for itself a channel 1000 feet deep; but the idea of taking the water from the places where it brawls idly on its way to the Columbia to the plains which need it for agriculture occurs to few. The Colorado river is also l ,000 miles long; it's volume may be inferred from the fact that it has cleaned it's way through stratified mass of rock from 5000 to 1000 feet thick; but it is utterly useless. and if by convulsion of nature the Green and Grand rivers. which unite to form 1t, where to be suddenly dried up it would hardly be missed. Yet the Lower Colorado flows through a desert which might be made a garden with water.
 The traveller who visits Sacramento in the spring is appalled, at the vast area of tule land and of good agricult- ural land which is drowned by the pe- riodical overflow of the Sacramento river. The rancher tells him that the evil is of short duration. as the water will presently flow off to the sea. It never occurs to the landowner that this water which he is so anxious to get rid of is the source of most of the value which his land possesses, and that fl he had the wit to store it in- stead of letting it go to waste, fields which grow fifteen bushels of wheat. would raise thirty-fve bushels, and tule land now vaIueless could be re- claimed at small expense. When this thought permeates the land- owners mind We shall discover that not the half has been said of the fertil- fly of California. San Francisco Call.
 A little Maine girl, visiting New I ork recently, went to the theater two or three times. On her return home she was reluctant to go to church on and made the remark that ''she liked those meetings best where the curtains rosen Her father. who was leading church member. eau toned her about that remark when callers were present Shortly after the minister was shown in and the little girl entertained him awhile alone. When her father entered the room she said: Papa, I've told the all about my visit to New