The morning call., 1890-06-27
THE ARTEsIAN WELL SURVEY.

The report of Chief Engineer Nettleton
of the Artesian Bureau Of the Irrigation
Department contains some interesting facts
1t appears that the Dakota artesian basin is
the largest in the world Water may be
found over an area yering several thou
sand square miles, and spreading from
Western Montana nearly to the Missouri.
Several hundred wells have been sunk and
are flowing freely. The basins of Kansas,
Nebraska and Colorado are scarcely less
important, and throughout Western Texas
arteslan wells are being sunk with success.
The Government spent $4,000 last year in
surveys for the work and the engineers ask
for S2j0,o0o more for this year and the next.
The arteSian well system rests on the
proposition that wherever an arid area ex-
lists it is underlaid by body of water. The
water which was once ON the surface has
percOlated through the earth until it reached
an impermeable rock, where it lies under
heavy pressure. When this body Is reached
by pipe 1t rushes up by hydraulic pressure
and oyerspreads the surface. 1t is on the
same principle that oil wells and gas wells
are dug. The bowels of the earth are
searched for their contents and yomit them
forth when an exit is supplied.
The drawback to the extensive use Of
the artesian system is the small area which
a well will water. In the southern part of
this State, where the arteSlan bench OF
water lies from 70 TO 800 feet below the sur
face, ii costs anywhere from $3.50 To $500 to
sink an artesian well, and when water is
struck it often turns out that the flow is
insufficient to irrigate more than few
acres. Land must be very productive to
afford such an outlay for irrigation, and
when it reaches a value which warrants
such an expense transfers are slow. In the
San Luis Valley in Colorado there are some
5000 flowing artesian wells, and land is held
at values corresponding to their cost. But
the real estate market is not active.
OF course as the system develops and the
depth at which an available bench OF water
is to be found is better known, the expense
of well-diggng will be reduced, and every
farm will have one or more wells of its
own. But their area Of usefulness will be
limited by the quantity of land which can
be flooded by each we'll, and when it is
necessary to irrigate whole sections at
time, the number OF wells required will be
considerable. On the lines of railroad in
Southern California and Arizona, artesian
wells are to be seen at q large number of
the stations, and small patches of verdure
surround the wells. But the arid desert
comes very nearly up to the edge Of the in
closure.
Science may hereafter develop some plan
for a wholesale appropriation of suOterra-
mean waters. But until it does, schemes of
irrigation on large scale will have to de-
pend on surface waters for their supply
Of the fertliziug element. Whether the
rivers of the world are or are not diminish
ing in volume, they carry water enough
now to irrigate vast tracts of barren
country. The water which goes to waste
at the mouth of the Mississippi and the
Colorado and the Columbia would fertilize
an agricultural area capable of sustaining
a population of millions. So long as this
is the ease, practical engineers Will gener-
ally concentrate their efforts on projects to
tap these rivers and their affluents. in pref
erence to seeking the desired fluid under