The Opelousas courier., 1897-03-06
4 QUEER OASIS.
In the Centre of What Was Once
the Great American Desert.
How the Artesian Wells That
Water It Are Supplied.

Artesiau VOLS are usually expensive
Injuries, but there is one spot on the
American Continent where they are
cheaper than pumps and more com-
nor than mortgages. This is in
the centre of what used to he called
the Great American Desert. The
boundary Of the oasisforms an ellipse,
4 focus of which is ut Wilburn,
Kan, and the other 1T Meade. A
winding stream, called appropriately
Crooked Creek, forms the long axis
OF the eiiipse. This little lozsage.
shaped district, lying in the arid fore
head OF the West, is probably the best
watered portion OF the earth's land
suriuce.
A farmer there may have an artc-
sian we'll in his back yard. another at
his barn and a dozen more in different
places on his farm. All he has to do
is to bore Il hole fifteen or twenty feet
deep and stand to one side. The wa
ter quickly comes bubbling up and
runs busily away to quencl the thirs;
OF Crooked Creek. No we'll III the
whole district cos. above $50, but al!
are satisfactory.
There arc upward OF $50 wells IN
the narrow basin, yet only d few Of
them are intelligentiy managed.
There are three or four wells which
yield forsy-ive gallons OF water a
minute, from twelve to twenty taat
yield thirty gallons, and tie rest
grade on down to eight or ten gallons.
It is computed that enough water
flows from the ground each year to
cover -, 600 acres OF land one foot
deep.
The residents, however, are not
organized and have never heard ofthe
question, How can I use what l
have?" Therefore, they waste the
water shamefully, and the district, in
stead OF being . garden Of perennial
beauty and prosperity, is chiefly re-
markable for the size Of its mosqul-
toes and the hoarseness OF it's frogs.
Here and there a more progressive
farmer has drained his Guagmires and
shown what he can do with these
blessings of nature.
From the time when students first
turned attention to it, this spot has
been a puzzle. The people who live
there imagine they have only a thin
crust Of earth between their feet and
q vast underground lake, that the land
rests upon this lake as ice does upon
water, and thaat ~ell bored into its
bosom allows tErfes1Water ~ rise just as
it comes up throuss Tycks in the ice.
But deep borings lmve proved that the
lake does not exis
The State Geolos:eex Survey has
about settled the question. and, after
all, it is a very simple one. The floor
of oil the Western te: ritory is made
up Of deposits of that. age called by
~geologists the cretaceous. Above this,
however, is a wholly different forma-
ton, the tertiary deposit. 1t consists
Of a losso material; shale, clay, sand,
soil. varying in depth from so to ESQ
icet. This forms the surface Of tue
land and is spread over the area even
y without respect to the under for
majors. 1t appears to have been put
on like q suit of clothes to warm the
bones Of naked old Nature.
Tie water, fallen as rain all over
the Rocky Mountain slope, sinks
through this loose crust until it comes
10 the .cretaceous rocks. Then, find
ing its downward course stopped, Il
follows the dip OF the strata and flows
gently eastward upon its c%retaeecus
bed beneath its tertiary coverist.
Wherever o stream has cut its chan
nei down nearly to the floor, enor.
nous springs are continually to be
found, and this in the dryess region,
not an actual desert, on tie globe.
: The ~artesian district. then, is easily
accounted for. By some combination
o. circumstances the earth's surface
has been worn away in the narrow
valley Of Crooked Greek almost to the
floor OF the country, ant the water
lowing slowly along undee,the high
lands OF the west energies here for o
brief peep at the day and then passes
"a beneath the eastern hills. New
York Tribune.
4 Prince Who Could Fight.