Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-05-31
To the Editor Of the Capital

waste of the surplus waters.
These theories do very well as far
as they go, but they fall far short OF
meeting the needs of our state IN gen
eral were they fully carried ont. For
to begin with, the entire western pOr-
ton of the state has an unlimited
amount Of the surface reservoirs al
ready prepared and a large portion
of our country has no ravines to dam |
up or if we have rav1nes we have |
nothing to dam them up with, |
our country being destitute Tor al |
most sO) Of both TIMBER and stone.
What we need is more water to put |
into these basins, and the man that /
solves this enigma will have conferred |
blessing upon his brother farmers /
of the great plains indeed
1 have been resident of this (Pratt}
county for eleven years and i have
noted that we invariably have a good
crop year whenever our wallOws are
we'll filed up in the spring, but for
the last three years our WaIlOWs have
been almost constantly dry except at
short intervals, although they are, L
/ am happy to say, well filed up at
! present, and 1 would call attention to
/ the fact that we have no drainage
whatever
[ believe there is a way to mitigate
if not entirely eradicate this rule. We
have an inexhaustlble supply Of wa
ter beneath US. All we need is some
way to bring it to the surface, and we
have further an unlimited amount OF
power in the winds that sweep over
our plains, therefore we have only to
furnish some means by which we can
utilize this pond and raise this much
needed commodity to the surface,
and we have this means at hand IN
the wind mill and suction pump In
our immediate vicinity the gravel IN
which an inhaustible supply Of water
lies is found at depth ranging from
thirty to sixty-five feet, and vast ex-
tent of country to the east, north and
west is the same, or if anything shall
lower, while south of US the average
depth is considerably more. With an
ordinary wind good mill and pump
will throw at least ten barrels Of wa
ter per hour, or a total of 1920 gal
Ions per day Of twenty-fOuT hours.
!. One gallon Of water contains 23l
. cubic inches; an acre of ground con
r taIns about 6,290,064 square inches Of
surface, therefore it would take that
> amount Of cubic inches of water to
l cover it to the depth of one inch, or
}. 81, 230 gallons of water will cover one
g acre to the depth of one inch. A mill
, at this rate will throw 237, $50 gallons
= in 30 days and this amount Of water
will cover one acre to the depth Of
! nine inches and a small portion over.
= There are 720 sections Of land in our
: county and at an average cost of 500
> per mill and we'll it would cost ST.
e 600 to put one on each section in our
: county and 100 mills running at their
I full capacity of Z 800 gallons per day
y would bring to the surface the i'm
- mense amount of 5, 702, 400 gallons of
N water which would cover a little over
= 209 acres to the depth Of one inch.
Now these mills in each township
could be put into the hands of the
: township board for good keeping and
= they could be vested with power to
= place these mills upon the lands of
J such persons as would agree to or
n rather who would enter into a con
u tract with the township to take care
= Of the mill and keep it in repair for
- a stated length of time for its use.
: And there are hundreds Of men ID
- western Kansas who would be glad
:, of such an opportunity.
\ These mills could be kept going
- during the fall, winter and spring
- months when the evaporation is at
y its minimum extent and by this
= means a vast store of water could be
- brought to the surface for future use
y And, moreover, this arrangement
: would be a boon to thousands upon
- our extreme western borders where
- the wells are very deep and the PEG
pie unable to put up these cOnyen-
fences and IN many places unable tC
even dig wells upon their own lands
1 believe this plan is entirely feas
Of ible and as we have no streams tC
" clean out nor big bridges to build
Ii no custom houses to erect, in fact
b. since we want nothing that we have
e. not got or cannot get except rain as
I'd we want 1t, 1 believe we have a full
c. right to call upon our general govern
b. ment for a share Of the large surplu.
rs now lying idle IN the treasury to bc
IN used In trying to overcome this singh,
t. hindrance to cur complete happiness
I'd Or If the general and state govern
t. ments can not be induced to move II
Sc this matter l believe our laws should
IS be so modified as to permit the PEG
s. pie to procure the means Of carrying
id out this project if they so desire It.
d Two years ago our township voted
Sc $4,000 TO a prospective railroad tba
By was never built. Six thousand dol
n lars would give S1G0 per section
Of which could be proportional out pr,
er rata to all who would agree TO cree
le mills and construct reservoirs, anC
10 who would agree to keep their mills
op running during times of drought