El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-01-08
WEALTH IN WELLS.
The Niles Wonders to Be Exceneo
in the DakOtaS.
A Vast Body of Underground Water That
Affords an InexhaustibIe Supply
for Artesian Wells and
Irrigation.

| SaS llatcheWan in the far north when the
new system of arteSian wells has
reached it's full development. There
are now about LOO wells in South Da-
llot;i, and about half 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 in depth
from so to 300 feet, and taking mois-
ture from ali upper stratum of water,
and deep wells, varying in depth from
1000 to 800 feet, and taking water
| from the great Dakota sandstone basin.
| Brule county alone has 80 of the latter
| class, with flow on an average of 1000
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
nificent crops over wide area
| These great wells stand unrivaled in
| the height of their pressure, and the CO.
| piousnesS of their flow has already
| gwen 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 al the har-
| vest fields every bushel of wheat that is
raised in the fertile prairies of the Da-
| 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 600
feet of thick and heavy clay resting
above the sandstone has been sufficient
tc 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 exposed 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 a height of from
$500 to $500 feet above the sea. Its
eastern edge thins out to a narrow ledge
and is almost completely lost under the
drift of later ages. 1t lies at an altitude
of from 500 to LOCO feet. 1t is obvious
that if water is turned into the porous
sandstone of this Dakota and Jurassic
formation at its 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 its eastern edge the presence of
water in the sandstone grows less to-
ward the east, till it barely reaches the
surface. This decline of pressure has
been found TO be about four feet mile
from HighmOre to Huron. S. D., and
similar grade appears to extend from
Sheridan, Nyo., 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 replenished. 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 PA 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 S4.00O,OOO, 900 cubic feet a
year 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,O0O.-
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 I
lied to the Dakota basin add twice as
much more, making about 10000 900, 900 |
cubic feet from this second source. Then |
there are vast quantities of water that |
come to the sponge-lille 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. II is |
calculated that the stored supplies of |
water in the sandstone represent ii lake |
80 feet deep over an area of 100000 |
square miles. 1872
y first-class we'll on any farm in the |
valley will supply nearly 1000 gallons a
and will cost about $500. 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
There has not been one
failure IN South Da!.ota except through
ignorance. Farms in Dakota can be
bought, wells ample to supply them
dug, reservoirs built, and handsome
homes erected at about $13 an acre and |
these farms will return their owners a
profit on an investment of not less than |
$50 per acre.
Scores of cities and villages in the Da-
iotas use direct pressure from wells for
iunninG thei" electric light plants, their
flour mills, Waterworks and the smaller
factories. They have an engineer al
ways at his POST. supply that never
needs coal or any new machinery, and
tirelesS servant demanding no wages