El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-27
FINDINGS Requested
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between said points,, it is shown that
the percentage of loss from such causes
is from practically one-third to practi-
cally one-half of the entire volume of
such water, including all waters flow
| ing into tie came between said points;
and at various other points in New
Mexico such losses, more or less equal
in percentage, are also shown to occur
| (T While there are no measure
ments from which the percentage of
loss by evaporation or seepage from
the volume of water after the came
passes Ell Paso, Texas, can be definite
ly determined, yet the general charac-
ter of the bed, banks, formation and
eral character as that portion of such
stream lying between San Msrcial and
Ell Paso, where such large Losses in
volume have been accurately de-
| termined; and that for a distance of
four hundred miles below Ell Paso,
Texas, measured by the sinuosities
of the river, to Preside del Norte,
such seepsge and evaporation continue
to diminish the volume of such
waters.
(S.) That for the distance Of $40
miles below the point where defend
ants propose to divert the waters of
such stream, and embracing 260 of the
300 miles in which such large losses
from seepage are shown by such meas-
urements to occur, and. between Ele-
plant Butte and Preside del Norte,
there are no living tributaries to such
Rio Grande, and the water of such
stream, passing the points wheredefend-
ants propose to divert the same, is not
reinforced substantially between such
points by any regular flow or tributary,
and as q consequence of such lack of
reinforcement and of such losses by
seepsge and evaporation only a small
portion of such waters passing Ele-
plant Butte, where the defendants pro-
pose to divert the same, ever reach
Preside del Norte, and that there is no
perennial flow of such stream at such
point.
(9) The first tributary of the Rio
Grsnde below the point where
defendants propose to divert it's
waters, is the Conchos, which comes
into the Rio Graude at Preside del
Norte, distance Of $40 miles, by the
sinuosities of the river, below Ele-
plant Butte. The Conchos is peren-
nisl stream rising in the mountains Of
Northern Mexico and flowing several
hundred miles northerly into the Rio
Grande, fed by tropical rains; in sea-
son it is torrsntial stream of great
magnitude and at all times carries
considerable quantity of water. sand at
the point where it joins the Rio
Grande the area of q cross section of
its high water mark shows the same
to be at least twenty-five times as
great as the highest water mark known
In thirty-three years of the
Rio Grande at such place.
dence that the waters of the Rio
Grande bed passed Preside del Norte,
the mouth of the Conchos. in nppre-
ciable quantities upon one occasion:
that is, during the month of May, 1897,
at the period when the highest water
ever measured, reaching II 900 cubic
feet per second, and lasting for about
two months at a great height, passed
Ell Paso, Texas. No evidence has been
offered as to the amount then SO pass
ing the mouth of the Conchos In the
ness to the effect that the height of
same was about three feet and the
duration of its passage at any such
height was only for about eight days,
and further, unsatisfactory estimates
were based upon the surface area of the
cross sections referred to and varying
from $40 cubic feet to 5000 cubic feet
per second. And 1 find from the evil
denoe that at the period mentioned the
waters go flowing by the mouth of the
Conchos did not affect the height of
the river at Laredo, Texas, below this
point but far above the head of naviga-
tion.
QO) That the distance by the
sinuosities of the river between Pre-
sidio del Norte, or the mouth of the
Conchos, to Rio Grande City is some
thing over nice hundred miles, and
that the bed of the stream between
such points appears to be practically
succession of basins or valleys of great
err or less extent, and of the same
character and affording the same faci-
lities for absorbing the waters as the
valleys ABOVE FL PaSO, or those above
the mouth of the Conchos, and 1 find
that large amounts of the water flow
ing between the Conchos and Rio
Grande City are lost between said
points by sinking, evaporation and
seepage.
on That the character of the
formation In the basins or valleys of
the Rio Grsnde at the only point where
the same have been sounded to any
great depth, that is, by the Boundary
commission, at Ell PasO, Texas, show