The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1890-08-08
Aurss1aN wEA,s.s.

Paper Of the City and County
AnTEslal ~ WELLS.
We are all agreed that more moisture
ia tina only SAVIOR Of crops in Dakota. Let
us, therefore, continue to urge congress
ret The wells that will furnish, III tho val
ley Of the jim, a flow OF water sufficient
to temper the heat Of the winds that are
so scorchiug in their transit from the
sands of the sunny south TO- their cooler
retreat in the woodlands OF the NORTH
Mitchell Republican.
That's all very good, but there is too
little business ard too much sentiment
about it.
Government aid il practicable-eyen
If it ran be secured to any great extent
only to the limit OF Experimental work.
BIZ the time all the rcd tape and expert
mental work had been gotten through
with the present dwellers oLthe Dakota
prairies would either be in the poor
house or so far away as not to care a con-
tinental whether South Dakota had any
water or not.
Life is short.
In this question Of more water in this
coantry, it is short at both ends.
What's the use OF monkeying around
congress for q miserable pittaace Of o
$lOOQo.9or s2Oo,OOO appropriation? After
that Appropriation had gone through the
hands Ola string of government officials
there wouldn't be enough left of it to
build a squirt gun. Then what's the use
Of experimenting2 1t has been fully DEM
onstrated that artesian water is as per-
feet FOR irrigation as any that falls from
the heavens. Again. this country does
not require the irrigation Of the arid re-
gions. Expensive canals andditches and
the attending expense Of surveying are
not necessary. Soak up the ground in
the fall and winter months with the
overflow from artesien wells and the
rain that falls during the summer months
will do the balance,
II the legislature Of South Dakota was
in session to-day and the question was
submitted to it of bonding the state for
$5,O00,O00f for a general system of artesian
wells at the states expense, that body
would vote it down in q minute. Why?
Because there are certain portions Of the
state in which it is impossible to sink ar
tesiau wells and other portions which do
not stand in absolute need Of them.
Selfshness is as prominent in all legisla-
tive work as any place in the world, and
Of the ordinary Legislature it may be truly
said that while individually they may be
level headed, intelligent men, collectively
they usually appear to be a gathering Of
cranks and ignoramuses. Yon cannot ex-
pect congress to do what our own legis-
lature would not do. Congress might
dam the Missouri, dig an immense irri-
eating canal and let the water privileges
at actual cost, but neither you nor the
GRAPHIC will live to see the day that
Uncle Sam will put down a we'll on your
farm, any more than he would build you
a barn. There are forty odd states tc
fight against any such fayoritisR, most
of which arc already extremely jealous
OF the growing pQWef Of the West.
The snQQcr-N6e people Of South Dakota
begin to rely on themselves wholly and
less on Uncle Sam in this artesian well
! business, the better il will be for them
The present agitation OF the matter il
congress by u representatives is mis-,
chievous to the extreme. IT adyertises Il
the world that the Dakotas are in need o.
government aid for irrigation and wha'
do we get-nothing from the government
and a reputation that will turn immi
grafton away as though the whole stat
was afflicted with a plague. S24,0W,Gg
to bnild the Croton aqueduct FOR New
York City's water supply and then tall
about s150,000 appropriation for a starte
for artesian wells in a country large
than New York State and the whole o
New England combined!
A general system of artesian wells a
the states expense OF at government es
pense is not practicable because it j
impossible to secure them III that wa.
The present artesian well law OF tn
state is very good so far as it goes, but
does not go far enough. One or two a.
tesian wells in a township are not suH
cient. Some plan must be devised wher,
by any farmer can have II who wan
it. Capt. Curtiss' idea is-and If any OIL
has a better one we would like to kno
it-for the state to borrow one, two, tire
four or even five million dollars to col
stitute an artesian we'll fund to be loant
to farmers at as low rate Of interest al
on as long a time as the bonds issued Fl
the fund will admit, the loan to take Il
form of a special tax on the land. Y
believe that only through some such pls
as this can the present generation r
deem the state-and for those who con
after us we have mighty little intereE
But before anything OF that nature CT
be accomplished an amendment to Il
constitution will be necessary. tits nc
too late to get Especial session Of the lie
islature-eyen if it were possible to g
the governor to call one-and under Il
most favorable conditions much tin
will elapse before anything can be do
to secure more moisture for these prairi
through artificial means. The questi
should have been agitated years ago. l
there be no further delay. The pre-
should take the matter in hand at once
not in a general, indifferent way, as p
the clipping above from the Republic
but in a specific style that mea
business, and, once at 1t, keep it up thoui
it rains cats, dogs and pitchforks for S
days at a time. The fact that John D
or Jim Smith raised % bushels of wheat
the acre at this or that time or that
and So has a splendid field Of corn prov
nothing only that they drew prizes whit
hundreds Of their fellow farmers dr.
blanks. awe may now and then hav,