Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1889-10-17
SENATOR S7EWARTSPE
----------------
He Says that the James River
Valley Beats the Entire
World .-....%-
AS an ArteSian Basin His In
teresting Ideas OH Irri-
cation.
jamestown has Been Captllr-
ed by an Army of School
Teachers.
The Strange, Pathetic Story Of
IL Long Lost Son, Now
Found. fa,'t g..

Found. .s.s.z,t
Senator Stewart on Irrigation.
Senator Stewart of the United States
senate cammittee on irrigation and arid
lands, which visited Dakota and appear
ed before the con. con. last summer, has
been interviewed by a New York Herald
man and furnished the following outline
of what it is proposed to do in reference
to irrigation in the northwest: &t
The central belt OF the Dakotas. and
also the northeast or Red river section of
North Dakota, are endowed with the
most remarkable bodies Of artesian water
yet tound on the continent. That of the
James valley. already developed for 800
miles north and south and for SO miles
tell, the most remarkable belt OF artesian
water known in the world. There are
nearly 100 wells already sunk, no one of
which is deeper than $50 feet--most of
them much less yet all of them show a
pressure sufficient to force to an average
height OF about 200 feet from one to four
streams Of great force and volume. It is
the ntst extraordinary phenomenon [
have ever witnessed.
',lhe mid Dakota wells find their
sources in the Rocky Mountain drainage,
those of Southern California direct from
the Sieras, Nevada and Madre. There
are 10000 wells in all south of Lathrop
on the Southern Pacific railroad, a ma
jority Of which are not flowing, and are
fed from local range drainage or by seep-
age from streams and lakes, but the wells
OF the great plains must everywhere find
their sources from the eastern slopes of
the ontinental divide. Artesian waters
have already been found, not SO abund-
antly though as in the mid DakoGas, in
4 Central Nebraska, Kansas, in the foot
hills and high table lands Of Montana.
Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and on
the plains of the northwest portion OF
Texas @
..What are to be the methods, then, of
storage and irragation suitable for the
plains region, senator?"
1.-The problem on the plains is one of
supplementing the RAINFALL" said Mr..
Stewart. "A permanent adjustment will
not be effected 10Y wells, however numer-
Gus. They must, however, be the source
of most of the small storage with which
the Dakota and other farmers on the
plains will meet the present deficiency of
yearly rainfall. Well water is not appli-
cable to irrigation purposes, and Major
Powell advises that it always should be
allowed to stand in small ponds, gather
ing the correcting and enriching qualities
(for land use) which the microbe and
other microscopic life always breeds.
Everywhere, too, on the plains, in the
Dakotas as elsewhere, the farmer can
construct small ponds and basins .
'One acre of water ten feet deep will
supply the deficiency in rainfall for most
may largely be prevented, when neces-
sary, by filterine gypsum, spar or some
clays broken into powder through the
water until they settle and coat the bot
toms. Again, an ordinary ditch, accord
ing to the nature of the soils, will sub
irrigate by seepage from 500 to 1000 feet
on either side of itself. What will ar
acre reservoir do then? I advise our Da
kota friends to combine.
''Ihey, like other sections, seem to
have had at first an idea that this com.
mittee was intrusted with the power &c
turn the treasury surplus loose for the
benefit OF every one wishing TO possess
an artesian we'll or being the owner O.
what in their own opinion might be ;
suitable site for storage reservoir. Il
the farmers where flowing waters are OBJ
tainable, or even where waters III sutfi
cient quantity rise nearly to the surface
would unite together say those on one
section and would make suitable choice
of a location for we'll and basin. they
could by thus combining their mean:
sink we'll large enough in capacit,
and by it's overflow to ill a reservoir
in size amply sufficient for their owr
needs"
rs that all, senator, you have to s',s
gest as to the Dakotas?'
.Oh, no. | regard the problems there
in as one with the great plains IN general
Their permanent solution requires, II
my opinion, much larger treatment
But let me say first that the small stor
age system in the Dakotas is not ex
hausted with the suggestions | have
made as 70 the wells and reservoirs O
tanks There are, it appears, series 0
shallow lagoons or lakes covering, as t
the area east Of the Jim river. perhaps
100000 acres, the northern altitude o.
which region is such as to warrant thu
opinion that they can at small cost be 81
arranged as to form series of reservoirs
the stored up waters OF which will sup
ply the wants of very large area
Other witnesses testified to the capacit.
of the Devils lake for storage purposes
also to the creation of such basins as th'
western side of Coteallx.
'All Of these suggestions are OF value
but the only permanent system to sup
ply the great plains from 81 degrees
thirty minutes to 104 degrees, or the bast
Of the Rockies foothills, will be a grea