The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-04-03

A Geographical Misnomer to Gall
Them a Desert.
Traded by Texas For Her Maglif-
icent State House.

cit Is time that tho name 'siaked
Plains, ~ applied to the Llado Es-
facade, was stricken from The map Of
North America, said Geologist Rob
crt T. Hill at isa wholly ridicu.
lous misuomer One explanation
given for the use of this term is that
early travellers set up stakes to mark
their roads over these then considered
waterless wastes Another is that the
designation alludos to the stall-liko
stems of the yucca plants, which re-
semble stakes projecting above the
ground. But neither of these expla-
nations explains, because the yucca
does not grow on the Llano Estacado,
and no wood for stakes could have
been procured on the absolutely tree
less desert by travellers. Certainly
they could not have carried stakes
with them.
But there is no use in such a dis
cussion, because tho solution of the
problem is perfectly simple and OBJ
vious. The name 'Staked Plains IS
an erroneous translation of Llano Es-
facade, which means palisade or
wall. The Spanish term alludes to
the PERCEPTIONS cliffs by which the vast
plateau is upheld, as it we're, on every
side, except at the southeast corner.
The geological formation may be com
pared to q book lying on o table. The
whole of this plain-the largest in the
United States-Is as smooth as the
surface OF the ocean in dead
calm, its level unbroken by trees or
bushes but carpeted with rich growth
of grass.
up to within seventeen years of
the present time the Llano Estacano,
or Staked Plain, was supposed to be
utterly waterless After seasons of
rainfall there are occasional ponds or
lakes OF water held in depressions
here and there, but these are apt to
evaporate in few days. Running
Water is the only stream in the des-
ert. 1t suddenly breaks out of the
ground, ripples over pebbly bottoms
for a distance of ten miles, aud then
mysteriously disappears, like many
other rivers west of the Pecos river.
The trouble is that, though the an-
nual rainfall is fair in quantity, the
soil is porous as sponge and swal-
lows the water. The latter percolates
downward until at considerable
depth, it is stopped by an impervious
stratum.
"Thanks to this stratum, the Llano
Estacado is underlain actually by a
sheet of underground water, the most
remarkable in the United States
Thus in the midst OF the plateau more
than 1000 wells have been dug sue
cessfully. From these wells unlimited
supplies of the precious fluid are
pumped no by means of windmills,
making practicable the measuring of
thousands of cattle. Water Is struck
in this way throughout the entire ex-
tent of the mesa, which thus has be-
come great grazing region.
cat present $500 people live on
the Llano. Three million acres of the
northwest corner of it we're transferred
some time ago to certain parties as
mode of paying them for building a
new state hose at Austin. This was
by far the largest grant of land made
to any corporation in recent years,
and there was big howl about it.
Wise Judges today, however, are of
the opinion that the State got the bet
ter end of the bargain, inasmuch as
the land is worthless for farming pur-
poses. Boston Transcript.
1