Daily camera., 1897-01-13
WEALTH In WELLS.
Tho Niles Wonders to Be Excelleo
in the Dakotas.
A Vast Body of Underground Water That
Affords an Incxhaustible Supply
for Artesian Wells and
Irrigation.

lndt Will Dc taken from tue valley Oh lne
James river in the Dakotas and the
Saskatchewan in the far north when the
new system of artesian wells has
reached its full development. There
are now about LOO wells in South Da-
kota, and about half as many in North
Dakota. These are the result of eXper
iments covering three or four years in
the one state and half as long in the
other. They are divided into what are
called shallow wells, varying i'll depth
from so to 300 feet, and taking mois-
ture from an upper stratum of water,
and deep wells, varying in depth from
1000 to 1,50O feet, and taking water
from the great Dakota sandstone basin.
Brule county alone has 30 of the latter
class, with a flow on an average of 1900
gallons a minute. Had it not been for
the difficulty of placing bonds under the
new artesian well act during the past
season there would now be nearly 1000
wells in South Dakota, insuring mag
niticent crops over wide area.
These great wells stand unrivaled in
the height of their pressure, and the CO
piousness of their flow has already
given rise to fears that they might not
last long. and that by the time the farm
er had dug his well and constructed his
farm for the use of irrigation, they
might fail him. There is power in these
underground waters to grind at the har
vest fields every bushel of wheat that's
-, wi ,f n,
kotas.
The immediate sources of the waters
are the sandstone layers in the so-called
Dakota geological formation, which
average 300 feet in thickness. The wa
ter comes up often with immense pres
sure, from rs to 200 pounds to the inch,
and at some wells is lifted in solid
eight or ten inch stream scores of feet
above the ground. Why should it not
ere this have burst forth and spent it
self? is often asked. From 400 to 1000
feet of thick and heavy clay resting
above the sandstone has been sufficient
to hold it down till tapped. This sand
stone of the Dakota basin extends in
definitely north and south under the
great plains in huge shallow trough.
Its western edge, of very irregular
form, lies eNposed along the, eastern
foothills of the Rocky mountains, in
ridges around the Black Hills, and in
other upheavals east of the Rockies.
These exposures lie at height of from
$500 to G,500 feet above the sea. Its
&C cfo aflcre hi tc no lpG ra
and is almost completely lost under the
drift of later ages. 1t lies atan altitude
OF from 800 to 1000 feet. 1t is obvious
that if water is turned into the porous
sandstone of this Dakota and Jurassic
formation att it's upper and western edge
till it is filled to the brim, and then if
the sandstone is tapped at a level of
about 1900 feet above the sea, the alti-
tude Of the James river basin, water will
burst forth with immense force. The
efficient head may be more than 500
feet.
Because of the unavoidable leakage
along it's eastern edge the presence OF
water in the sandstone grows less to-
yard the east, till it barely reaches the
;urface. This decline of pressure has
oeen found to be about four feet mile
rom Highmore to Huron, S. D., and
similar grade appears to extend from
Sheridan, Wyo., to Marshall, Mimi,
where are the easternmost of the arte-
sian wells of the basin. This leakage
and the opening of wells, with their vast
waste of water. must in time exhaust
the supply of it if it were not constant
ly replcnished. Water is supplied to
the formation or reservoir in three
ways First by the rainfall on its west
ern upturned edge. where the annual
rains are "a inches year. AS there are
5000 square miles of this upturned
edge, and half this fall goes into the
porous strata. there is the enormous to-
tai of almost $4,000, 900 cubic feet
wear from this source alone. The sec
ond source is the water that may seep
into the basin from streams flowing
over it, The Missouri river loses T,000,-
100000 cubic feet daily as it flows along
the sandstone near Great Falls alone,
and it is fair to reason that the Yellow
stone, Big Horn, North Platte and other
streams that are now more closely al
lied to the Dakota basin add twice as
much more, making about 10000 100000
cubic feet from this second source. Then
there are vast quantities of water that
come to the sponge-like stone from
older formations below and from above.
The first two sources will supply more
than ten times the water now received
from the artesian wells combined. 1t is
calculated that the stored supplies of
water in the sandstone represent lake
30 feet deep over an area of 100000
square miles.
A first-class well on any farm in the
valley will supply nearly 1000 gallons a
minute, and will cost about $4,000. 1t
will supply water to 1000 acres. The
practical value of the water has been
fully demonstrated the last two sea-
sons, and al who have had wells are
enthusiastic. There has pot been one
failure in South Dakota except through