Crawford avalanche., 1891-03-19

they are closed, but discharge compara-
lively small quantities OF water when
allowed to flow freely This indicates
that the supply is not fully maintained.
or, in other words, the water-bearing
stratum is OF such character as to i'm
pede the passage of the water freely
through the rock. Nearly all of the
Dakota wells throw out large quantities
OF sand with the water when allowed 10
discharge freely. Some of them have
thrown out THOUSANDS of cubic yards Of
sand
At Redfeld, Sphinx County, the towns
people have been sprlnkling their gar
dens the past few years, with highly
beneficial results. Encouraged by this,
they have laid pipes across the creek
from the well to a little valley or bottom,
where there is about ten acres In culti-
walton, for the purpose of further test-
ing the benefits of irrigation.
AT Hitchcock, Beadle County, they have
little well, 3Ss inches at the bottom,
that discharges 1,24O gallons per minute
and has pressure of 15S pounds per
square inch. This little we'll supplies
the town with water and drives flour
ing mill with three sets of rollers, and
actually makes forty barrels of -four dali
ly. The proprietor told Mr.. Coffin that
the natural pressure was so steady and
regular that there was absolutely not the
variation OF a single revolution In twen-
ty-four hours. And yet this water is wet
after doing this work, and some of il is
being utilized to irrigate about seventy
acres In very systematic manner on n
farm adjoining town. The waste water
from this well in the past few years has
overflowed several tracts of lands Grain
that grew on land thus overhowed the
past year was exceptionally large yield,
while grain on adjoining fields not thus
overnowed was failure.
At Groton, Brown County, the town au-
thorities have set apart plat of ground
OF something over four acres for park.
There Is hydrant standing at one cor
ner OF the park. The town authorities,
realizing that the prosperity of the town
depends upon the prosperity of the
farmers, have donated the use OF that
lot and that hydrant for the purpose of
making test of irrigation. This exper-
iment is being watched with great
deal OF interest by the surrounding
farmers.
At Frankfort they have well that
has become uncomfortable because OF
ignorance or carelessness or accident in
putting it down. 1t is throwing out i'm
mense quantities of mud (shale) and
sand. The situation is truly becoming
alarming But the water is wet and
they are using ii. A sort Of company of
twenty-five or thirty have "chipped in"
and constructed ditch from the well
to an adjacent farm, where they are
irris,ating about 800 acres as an expert
ment.
The underground water supply of
western Kansas possesses some features
peculiar TO itself. Prof. Gregory says
an almost continuous zone OF springs
stretches, like the half of an Indians
bow, from the west line of Nebraska, Z
curving downward through the Platte
country, across the Republican and
Smoky Hill districts, and through the
eastern portion of the others Inclosed
within this arc may be found number
OF deep pools, often spoken of as springs
and sometimes as natural wells. The
water does not flow from these-at least (
there Is no surface stream. but { hey fur
nish unlimited supplies OF water One
such Is noted in Greeley County, an
other In Kearney, another i'm Sew I
ard, and others of the same
sort are scattered over this re-
gion. One such pool south OF the
Arkansas River, near the line be-
tween Kearney and Hamilton Coun-
bss. is OF great depth. Local report has (