El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-16

mouth of the COnchOs to Laredo as es-
timated on this trip 657 miles; whereas
the distance along the axis of the river
mot taking account of it's meanderings)
ernment engineer, by scaling
the map, was bat $50
miles. It would be impossible to
travel along the banks of the river be-
tween these two points because of the
impossible canyons that run out from
each side of the river. Witness ex-
planned the barren condition of the
country through there now by saying
that twenty years ago 1t was covered
with grass and the rainfall was held in
the soil. Now.the water runs off the
bare ground as off q roof.
THE WATERSHEDS.
Witness described to some extent
the great watersheds of the Conchos,
DEVILS, Pecos and other streams flow
ing into the Rio Grsnde. He said nine
tenths of the big flood of last spring
came into the Rio Grande below least
of Del Rio. He thought flood at Ell
Paso as wide as the bridges over the
bridges would not prevent the dust
from fl ing in the river bed at Del
Rio. On the grand canyon
trip the party left the mouth of the
Concbos with Is inches to feet of
water, and it was practically exhaust
ed in the first 33 miles run. But for q
smart rain and small freshet they
would have been unable to go on with
the boats. Asked what should be the
effect on navigsbility of the river be-
low Rio Grande if the Elephant Butte
reservoir were built, witness re-
piled:
From the fact that none of this
water that goes under the bridge at Ell
Paso ever gets beyond Eagle Pass,
don't see how dam up here could af-
feet 1T. I don't think any of this
water ever reaches Laredo. Until I
made this trip it has always puzzled
me that 1 never saw any signs of the
big rises 1 read of at FL Paso. 1 did
not think it possible that the bed of
the river could takesup all this water
till 1 made this trip and saw how
rise actually disappears in the sand"
On GROSS examination witness said he
was positive the rise on which his
party started down the river from the
Conchos was all from that stream, be-
cause while waiting there for their
boats he had hunted duck up the
banks of the Rio Grande and found the
bed perfectly dry, though 1t was rain |
ing at the time, sThe party had started |
down the river in the rain.
II Tue WdGor runs from northern
New Mexico to e. Paso," witness was |
asked, "why shouldn't it run on |
south?'
'There is all this loose sand. know |
how much saud there ia from here to (
the mouth of the Conchos. There Ia |
nearly 500 miles of it. 1 know it would |
take up every hit of water"
Witness said that during floods at Ell |
Psso a year or two ago he had watched |
for floods at Del Rio but none |
came.
OF THE RIO .GRANDE
James n. McMahan, carpenter
living at Del Rio, was the next wit |
ness for the defense. He has lived at |
Del Rio since 1882. For the last 13 |
years he has worked at his trade in /
summer, and hunted, trapped and |
fished along the Rio Grande and its
in winter. He described |
the various tributaries of the Rio |
Grande from Roma north, and testi-
tilted that nearly all of them had great
ly diminished In volume in recent
years. He has made three trips from
Preside del Norte to Laredo by
boat.
In 1893 he made a trip with two
other men and two boats from Ell Paso
TO Preside del Norte. He started from