Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-07


49,, ,rsat artesian well arer stretching across thu
&c O. Texas from abou. D nton to Laredo. no
snit as YOU predict. this important discovery
nd, by our biologists, will eventua!ly cause
~ are pointed out 10 be converted into sraho
,Yirultural re ZION, sure enough. II COVERS our
yery bs.t agricultural lands, which nave mere
,oi6re been held back from fullesS deVe4opmGut
m account of imperfect water supply, ohly.
nv There is one thing in your article that 90
Ut cIserly undersi and, though doubtless you
can explain It III easily enough: You speak OF Ihis
-I,grg3ble artesian area as lying above great
TI,.srground river. II this be so, whence comes
n water oil that river, and why does a. n o. az
INC roln; ind its way to the surface ana mere
ceasa to be an und eTground Tlver! ny sIo ~
Texas nave great rivers uh1eritou'lu ~ ~ 80
nrnnafat lively insignificant rivers on the sur
SB A THINKER.
i1F Fort Worth, Tex.
The foregoing was evidently intended
,or our ..auswer to correspondents
,,Ipmn. but feeling desire TO answer it
AT Greater length than space in that de-
Dertmeut would consistently permit, we
bov. concluded TO give it heariug mere
What we figuratively called an under
ground river is, of course, no river at
uU Professor Robert Il. Hill says IL ID
mure like great saturated sponge; or
rather series OF great saturated
snonges. These "sponges' Ohe water
hearing strata) are composed OF coarse
sand and pebbles lying between
,roTer In word, there is deposit of
sand and pebbles, which, Tor conVen-
fsnce we may term the lower water
,anr mo- stratum. 1t is continuous from
the bend of the arteslan area described
inst week TO where Texas loses interest
/, the area by Its passage from her terri
,orv at the Mexican line. Above this
stratum lies thick stratum of stone that
vu;cr cannot pass through. Mex top
oF this. comes another water-bearinS
stratum of sand and pebbles, then an
other stratum of stone, and so on, until
the five or six water bearing strata as
lately worked out by Professor Hill, are
made up.
And now for where the water comes
from; These strata dip or incline gently
towards the gulf of Mexicoi that is, they
din little east OF south. This Inclined
rositiup naturally brings the strata to
the surface at some point to the north
west. and where this occurs the waters
falling upon the country i'll rains pass
into the sandy or porous strata anu per-
coIate down between the strata OF lm-
nervous stone, which last confines them
20 the porous strata and prevents their
escape to the surface. The porous strata
are kept entirely satur lted or fui oil
water I'D to the point at which their sup
niles are received, and since this point
lies at an altitude considerably above the
common level of what we term the arte-
glau area, the waters under TINS area are
subiected TO no small degree of pressure
on account of their elevated head. AS q
consequence. when we put down a bore
to these confined waters they rush to the
surface with an amount of force depend
emf upou the height of water-head pecul-
lar TO the water bearing stratum tapped
But where does the water get into the
rater-beariug strata? We have APP
nroeched Professor Hill with reference
10 this matter, eliciting the fact that FOL
at least the upper portion of the For
worth Waco urtesian area the wafer
benriug strata come to the surface, re-
ceiyiug their waters, of course, IN tint
counties of Wise, Jack, Parker, PalC
Pinto, Erath, Comanche, Brown, Mills
Lampasas, San Saba. Burnet and Llano
A glance at any good map OF Texas VIII
show you that no streams of any particu
lar importance rise in either OF thes'
counties, hence but for what geoioglsi
are of late making plain, we might be a
q loss TO understand what disposition ]
made of the watershed in this region
lint we now know that the waters ente
the porous strata coming 10 the surfac
here, AMI thence pass beneath the i'm
rortnnt artrsiau area being considered
as the "great underground river men
toned by us in our former article.
For the benefit OF such OF our youn
people as have not enjoyed an oppor
tunty of studying geology, and who ma
lie interesting themselves in tins matte
soon. doubtless to cut such an importan
nfrriH
sugcest simple method for iilustratio
which they cannot help understanding
Get a section of ordinary jelly cake an
Mace il on u slight moline towards III
southeast. The layers OF jelly betwee
the LAYERS OF cake will pretty well repre-
spnt ,he water bearing strata-the layer
of cake will represent the intervenin
sirata of impervious rock. Now, trll
the upper end of the cake to level, q
the section lies and that eni will sho'
the region covered by the counties lu!
named, with the water-bearing STRAIT
coming TO the surface in proper posltlo
to receive the waters falling In rains.
any point down the inclined surface {
the cake, where the surface OF the cour
try is lower thnu that represented by I'll
upper end, bore put down 10 either
the water-beRrIng strata will secure Il
outflow of water; or, III other words, 9
artesian well.
The quantity of water flowing under
or living under the Fort Worth Waco n,
tesian area is simply immense. 1t is Il
main drainage of mn eSpause OF countl
extending westward from the COUNT
named as covering the inlet, no tellir
how far. IT this water could be sudden
placed upon the surface it would make
river larger than all the rivers in Tex
at medium stage, could they be throw
into one
AT first thought this statement mi
appear little surprising, but such shou
not be the case. Considering their leng
and the quantity of water that falls up
the surface IN the regions through viii
they flow, our Texas rivers are entire
too small, compared to the rivers of me
other sections of our common countr
This is due to one positive cause, and 4,
NAV be, to q possible cause. Texas
largely o country of open plains, a
also a country Of, in certain seasons,
dry aud highly absorbent atmospher
therefore the waters of her rivers Il
rapIdly reduced in volume by evapor
tIoh. As rule, the further they run
larf har cat