Omaha daily bee., 1890-09-29
TO WATER The ARID LANDS.
Mr. Jones Of Kansas Has New Scheme Of
Irrigation,
ARTEsA WELLS ARE NOT NEEDED.
He Believes that Water Is to BE Had
Near the surface-The Oper-
ations now i'm Progress
Near Ogalalla.

from beneath the surface sufficient
to redeem the arid wastes of Kansas and
Nebraska. correspondent Of the Den.
yer News tells how the work is done. In
the suburbs OF the town he has built an
immense reservoir with sixty five foot
fall for the stora ge of his water. Thisis
from a half to tn hree-q uarters of mile
long by 500 feet wide and twenty feet
deep, well walled by an immense embank.
ment all around. Thirteen miles up the
South Platte from Ogalalla Mr.. Jones
began his work a year ago. a short
distance from the bed of the river he
has dug a long canal parallel to the
now dry bed of the stream. With a
breadth of fourteen feet he has con.
structed this canal for two miles along
the course of the river UP stream. keep.
ing all the way but very short way
from the bed of the stream. The latter
has descent or fall Of eight feet in
mile. The fall of the ditch is but
but two feet. In these two simple
facts lay the key to Mr.. Jones whole
plan.
As far as the canal has been carried it
has been dug through sand. Every
where four feet below the surface little
veins OF water are struck. the percola-
tion being from east to west In boring
into the earth stratas Of clay and gravel
we're penetrated. The latter being very
coarse and comparatively loosely packed
together. Water seeps through it very
readily, and the interstices are filled
with water. Thus the hydrostalic pres
sure forces the water to the surface
when an outlet for it is given by means
of the pipes. 1t seeks its own level, and
as that is considerably above the bed of
the canal, therefore it overhows. ''Buf-
falo' Jones, in hisunbOunde ed faith in the
mex haustibility Of the supply of the
underflow, goes the geOlogists one better
and declares there are lakes and seas Of
water underground. He does not believe
that man can use it up. Hecites eminent
authorities for his belief, and says that the
underilow is going to redeem the great
American desert Western Kansas, he
declares, will one day be a beautiful, pro.
ductive plain, and prophesies the same
glorious future for allthose barren tracts
of land that have hitherto not been mar
ketable.
As can be seen his system is simple
and comparatively Inexpensive The
only question can be the limits of the
supply, and whatever he does Mr.. Jones
will be thoroughly testing this. 1t is
worthy of note that the beauty of this
system is that it exemplfes what is
known in logic as the mutuality of cause
and effect. Nothing is ever lost in nat
ure. The water brought to the surface
by these artificial means is spread over
the surface of the earth, and the
by far greater amount after hav-
ing done its service sinks into the
earth again to be brought to the surface
again and untitled in the same manner
with the same result, and so on in Qnend-
ing succession. The water will be used
and reused again and again, uncon-
sciously, of course. The Ogalalla canal
will not be of any benefit to the citizens
of that country this season, but next
year they will have the opportunity of
testing what reliance theylmay place
upon it. Buffalo" Jones is confident
that they will be unable to exhaust 1t,
and his reasons for this belief must be
admitted to be well founded.
A News reporter obtained Mr.. Jones
opinion as to the feasibility of sinking
artesan wells all over the arid belt
which it has been suggested the govern
ment might undertake. Speaking of
this he said, there has been great
deal Of inquiry and speculation on this
point, | know. Water, of course, can be
had anywhere by boring far enough into
the earth's crust: the further you go the
more water you obtain. There are now
a great many wells in the country sunk
by private individuals, ranging all the
way from few hundred feet to several
thousand feet. But il is too expensive.
One we'll often costs $4,000. You can
get water without going so far below the
surface. Idont care where it is you can
get water anywhere without going very
far beneath the earths surface.
Why do you select the vicinity of a
river?n
''Well, it is generally admitted that
the water flows more freely in the neigh
borhood of the underhow of a stream.
But then will on the same plan find
water not far down on the arid plains
out here. You don't have drive wells,
drift gradually for your water and will
strike it like aminer his vein. | don't
think the government will ever try any
plan of boring artesian wells on an ex-
tensive scale. 1t may to a certain eX-
tent. But individual companies cannot
afford to carry out scheme of this kind.
rs pecially when the system l am devel-
oping is much cheaper and productive of
better results | do not think it will be
tried. With my works l can bring more
water to the surface than can 100 arte-
sian wells costing $4,000 apiece.
Mine costs $40, 600; and you can
figure out the difference without
much trouble. l got eighteen feet into
the earth and they over one thousand.
The plan outline and am following is
comparatively cheap. 1t will save mil
lions of needless expense to the country
and furnish it with bOundless supply of
water. 1t will reclaim this whole barren
waste. The irrigating bitches will not
be drying up and the rivers will not be
taxed So To get at this subterranean
water has been the question, and the
problem to be solved has been one of ex-
pense. This scheme gives the solution,
l believe. You, see, as you strike the
water in this way YOU give it an outlet,
and there are walls OF it on each side it
is forced Immediately to the surface.
There can be no question that the sub
terranean waters are inexhaustible,
and l believe, as have said, that my
method, perhaps improved on, will be
the one that will be found most feasible
TO get at them.
Fits, spasms, St. Vitus' dance, ervousues
and hyStera are soon cured by Dr. Mile
Neryine. Free samples at Kuhn Il Co.'s, 18th
and Douglas.
AMERICAN WHEAT.