The Advocate and news., 1898-01-26


Cottonwood river, south of the town.
Within short time an attempt to
secure a better supply has been made
by sinking we'll in the vicinity Of the
river. The result has been somewhat
discouraging, since the yield of this
well, fifteen feet in diameter, Is not
more than forty or fifty thousand gal
Ions daily and possibly not more than
twenty-five.
Nevertheless / am of the confident
opinion that there Is an abundant yield
of wholesome water, much better than
what is now used, easily accessible to
the city Of Emporia in these same wells.
That the reason for this opinion may
he better understood it will be neces-
sary for me to discuss at some length
the photographic and geologic condi-
tions of the rivers and vicinity.
In comparatively recent geological
times, the elevation Of Kansas, and es-
peclally the eastern part, has been con-
sldrably greater than 1t now Is. The
result of this elevation was that all the
streams flowed more rapidly and cut
deeper channels. In the subsidence that
later took place, the fine soil and sand
could no longer be carried away by the
less rapid flow and were deposited in
this channel, filling it up to a greater
or less extent. In the most eastern part
of the State, this old bed of the rivers
below their present channels has been
from twenty to forty feet deeper than
the actual present bed. Running across
the State from north to south, and cross
ing the Neosho oriverprobably somewhere
near Council Grove, there is a thick
stratum Of limestone, largely or for the
most part composed Of flint nodules. 1t
Is seen, for instance, at Alta Vista,
where 1t Is cracked for use as railroad
ballast. In the erosion that has taken
place during the many thousand years
this limestone has been washed away
as a fine sediment, leaving the noduIes
as rounded flint pebbles to be carried
down the stream, even to It's very mouth.
When the decllvity Of the river was
greater, and with larger body Of water
just after the glacial epoch the coarse
pebbles or gravel were deposited in the
bottom of the valley, to be afterwards
covered by finer sediment. The course
of the river has not been at all constant,
meandering back and forth across the
broad alluvial valley at Emporia. 1t
must inevitably follow that this alluyial
valley that has been filed in by the aid
of the river in it's changed courses is
underlaid to a variable depth by this
coarse gravel, which must necessarily,
also, be filled with water, which is very
slowly flowing down the great valley
to the mouth. At varying intervals will
be found outcrops Of rocks, the harder
layers which resisted wear when the
river flowed more rapidly, and which
then formed numerous cataracts. Where
the deepest part Of this old bed OF the
valley Is no one can, Of course, say, be-
cause 1t is now covered up with the finer
soil uniformly or nearly so. Neither
can one say how deep the deepest parl
OF the bed Is before reaching the hard
pan, which Is not water bearing, but II
all probability 1t Is between twenty anC
thirty feet below the present bed o.
the stream, since greater depth thar
this Is the rule In the valleys Of the
rivers in the eastern part Of the State
The we'll that was sunk near the side
Of the valley went only about twelve fee
below the surface Of the river water
before reaching rock bottom, but tina
this is not the maximum is certain from
the fact that the pier to the dam nea'
the water intake went as deep withou
finding solid bottom and was built upol
a gravel bed
believe, therefore, that If a trial wer,
made farther away from the sides of tn
old valley, a supply of water in coars
gravel of from twenty to thirty fee
would be easily found.
The only prudent way for determin
ing this would be to sink number o
drive wells at different places, whicl
should be done at small cost. l believ
that two wells of twenty feet in dia
meter each connected by gallery, ,woul