The herald., 1897-08-01

calculation showed that during the two
months there should have been an extra
flow of about 500 inches if it caused the
lowering of the wells, and for the Sec
ond drop there shouN have been an
increase in the flow Of some 200 inches
if the extension Of the f1ume caused it.
But there was nothing of the sort dis
coverable by either plaintiff or defend
ant.
This proof alone was quite good
enough, taken in connection with the
principle, but way remained to dem
onstrate it. Wells were bored to the
surface of the sheet of water on a line
with the land Of the plaintiffs and on a
line running away on each side from
that land. Another line joined these a;
the top, making some fifty wells in all
The levels of these were then taken with
great care and checked up very accu-
rately. The results showed that the
water entered the flume in downward
curve from the sheet exactly like the
hydraulic curve at the end of an open
Hume discharging freely into air. In
two hundred and fifty feet the curve was
lost to the eye, and at three hundred
could no longer be detected with the
it was, etood there upon the same plane
as that of the land of the plaintiffs, and
the proof was clear that if they had been
damaged it was from failure of the sup
ply from above on account Of the dry
years Judgment went against them.
because the burden of proof was on them
to show that this flume caused the dam
age.
The f1ume was in the bottom Of
sharp trough, as shown by the profile
made from the levels. This trough or
depression rose rapidly out on both sides
and on the lower side of the f1ume the
water rose to the level Of the plane of
of the sheet above, or to the same point
it would have come with no flume there,
At the lower end of the large f1ume
there was smaller one few yards
from it and between these two the water
stood two feet higher than the water
in either of them.
Recently I was over the works under
the Mojave river at Dagget and the same
principle is plain there. The small arm
of the flume that is in there Is drawing
some 500 inches Of water and as much
more is passing around the ends, hav-
ing been shut out by having boards on
the bottom of the draining flume with
two small openings, which had been
filled with compacted gravel and sand
| by driving piles too near. Nowhere has
| the amount passing out of the fiume af
| fected the level of the water in the gravel
except close to the flume. Eighten hun
| drd feet away and up stream the flow
| ing lagunas, which have long been known
as the Fish Ponds" are standing the
same as ever, full of water and over
twenty feet above the level of the water
| in the flume under the river.
| All this proves that where there is a
constant supply there can be no lowering
of the sheet more than short distance,
and consequently that many of these
draining works which one would think
must have tapped all the water there is
have done nothing of the sort. Where
they are in a mere sponge, having no
regular feed from any sufficient water
shed, they can easily drain it. But be-
cause a drain ceases to furnish more
than a certain amount of water, it by no
means follows that the store is fully
drawn on. On a good water shed the
presumption would be the other way.
From which it is almost certain that in
stead of exhausting the underground
water of Southern California we have
little more than begun to draw upon 1t
and drains already made may in most
cases be safely extended far beyond
the point may think advisable, and in
most cases must be so extended to draw
water which may otherwise flow away
| I'M subterranean channels.
T. S. VAN DYKE.