Las Vegas free press. (East Las Vegas, N.M.) 1891-1???, 1892-01-06

ply is the mouptain SHOWS, and the
streams find their way through the
basins to the ocean,"
Further on he speaks as follows of
that part of the territory below
White Oaks that will be - ersed
by the Denver q Ell Paso rsilroad;
"The Organ.Hueco is one of the
largest of these basins. 1t vast
plain, apparently a dead level, be-
tween the Organ-Frankliu and the
Hueco-Sacramento ranges d noun
tains. 1t extends from the Rio
Grande near EI Paso northvard $50
miles. The width of the basin is
ninety miles at the southern end and
it tapers TO forty miles at tie north
ern end. The Rio Graude river here
cuts in at the southern end of the
basin, exposing its structure to
depth of over 200 feet. The basin,
though seemingly a dead level, really
inclines a little to the southwark.
This is shown by the White Oaks
railroad profile. 1t is $500 feet
above the sea level at its northern
end and only $500 feet at the south
ern end. 1t is surrounded by high
mountain blocks Of hard, impervious
limestone. The soil is a pinkish-
gray sandy loan. There are no gull
lies or washes. The surface is mo-
notonously smooth. Toward the
northern end Of the basin are the cell
ebrated white sands. They are COM
posed of rounded grains of gypsum.
A few feet of digging in this sand
discloses water A portion of the
northern end is covered with great
mass of lava supposed to have flowed
for distance of thirty miles from
some now extinct craters. This
great basis has upon its surface not
one running stream or any drainage.
It's surface is the most complete PIC
ture of aridity imaginable. 1t is the
ideal desert. Yet beneath the sur
face lies the illustration of one of the
most important water principles of
the west.
"From the mountains which sur
round considerable water is conduct
ed down to the edges of the basin.
There it SINKS almost Immediately.
1t goes down through the porous
soil until it reaches the impervious
mountain rock which underlies the
whole basin. AT the northern end
of the basin are streams of consider
able size fed by SHOWS. These
streams run the year round. They
are the lost rivers. The Rio Tularo-
sa and the Tres Rios flow great vol
umes, especially during the fall and
winter, for there is more precipita-
ton on the mountains than in the
basin. In the basin the proportion
is eight inches IN year. On the
mountains it is perhaps three times
that, and the whole of it nearly is
brought down over the impervious
rocks to the edge of the basin. But
Immediately on leaving the noun
tains and entering upon the plain
these rivers disappear. They do not
evaporate. They do not sink in cav
ems. They are literally drank up by
the soft, sponge-like formation and
the water is stored below the line of
saturation. The shedding of this
rainwater by the impervious noun
tain rock and aud the inhibition by
the spongy PLAIN present the key to
the whole water problem OF New
Mexico"
This basin is largely unexplored.
Prof. Hill Believes that it affords a (
fine field for artesian experiment.
BY boring deep enough, especially
toward the lower end of the basin,
he thinks that flowing wells will be
obtained. "Wherever," he says,
"upon the apparently sterile plain an
experiment has been made abundant
water has been obtained at depths
below 232 feet, and windmills pump
the water for irrigation. The record
of these wells demonstrates the stor-
age of much water below the line of
evaporation, in the deeper strata of