Mesa free press., 1898-06-17
\. D. MORTON. A.P.sHrwMAN.
MORTON & SIIEWMAN
Publishers
Advertising rates made known ON ap-
plication.
POSSIBILITY OF ARTESIAN
WATER lHE SALT RIVkR
AND GILA VALLEYS.
(concLuDED }

1
streams are intermittent in flow aud
only appear at the surface during
periods Of great food they leave be-
hind them broad, sandy washes, uuder
laid ty coarser matcrials-grav'l,
pc .bies and bculdcrs. In such
c'lrnnele we find ~ rule til u
water mpy he obtained by simply
digging wells in the channel. Anu
in many cases where water disappears
III one part of such stream, leaving a
dry he'd. or wash. for miles, by some
inequality Of the rock bed. the water
may be brought to the surface at a
lower point and then flow for short
distance freely freely and again sink
and disappear from sight. The Mo-
have river, in California, is good
-xample. The Plomo wash, in Sonora
is fine exampl. Of continuous flow
extending probably to the very shores
Of the Gulf. Many other examples in
Ar zona may he cited. There IS al
underground TOW in The Santa Cruz
extending, no doubt. from Tucson to
she Gila. There is q strong under
ground flow under the mesa at Tucson
upon which The University is built.
the. sources nf which are to be found
iu The kilito at Pan,ano aud in the
Sabina canyon supply.
IN such river channels as the Salt
and Glla, now d led full, leaving one
CONT nous plain, hut nevertheless
having troughlike depressions under
tn, plains. conceive we have {, a
great degree the conditions favorable
To confined water. ] conceive that
the iilllng Of these troughs may be
sat ulated with water from points far
removed to the eastward toward tho
sources of the streams. / imagine
that the lower portions OF tho filling
Of these great liver troughs or chan
nt4s. are filed with water, just as the
upper layers Of soil and gravel about
Tempe are nov flied full with irrl-
eating water. II is we'll known that
the level of the water below the sur
f.ce at Phoenix has bsen constantly
rising since irrigation commenced
Tne gravel and sands of the valley,
, where supplied with water, heccne
an measur. storage reservoirs which
waa-n filled will make their satnratlOn
apparent l.y bursting out in springs,
or by marshy land as is observed to-
day. So [ conceive censtan. sup
ply of water towards the sources CT
the two rivsrs may fill to n great ex-
tent the subterranean gravels along
their courses and that if these gravels
are pierced Ivy borings we may have
at least an upward f,w Of water it
not flow coming t. ard al owe the
surface. These conditions are very
different from tru. Artesiai. conditions
but may, under favorins cireumstan-
ors, give e Nv above the SUI, face i4k-
that from, a true Arttsian we'll, or 1t
uch an upward f,w is not secur d,
vim. to want uf sutficicnt hydro
static pressure, it Is probable that IN
he majority of cases water will rise
II the boring above the level at which
he water is Il. ST. pierced.
L. the great tr, ugh of the G,la il
appears 10 m probable that. corsiI
-ring the great thickness Of the sedi-
ments, from the fine sil's of tte up
n. parts Of the PLAIN down through
u .resslve ayers of sand. gravel and
bou ID. rs, all laIl down and distribut-
d in linear patches and on a slope
with the valley, we should have sue
essfui wells at almost any point
W; Thin the main axis or g neral line
Of the drainage. How deep such
bor:ngs sho,ld be it is impossible to
state as we are wholly without evil
dence of the depth of the river do