El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-13
A BOON TO Ell pASO
CONTINUED from LIST pagel.

(Continued from 1st pageJ.
region there are extensive areas OF ha
level country, composed of sedimentary
material deposited by thewaters OF vas'
lakes that occupied the country in late
geologic time. These flats compose
about nipe-tenths the total area OF the
mountainous region of the southwest
and have been appropriately named
The rocks constituting the Basin or
Mesa formation are sands, clays. and
gravel, unconsolidated and porous
readily absorbing all available
moisture. In fact, the mesa formation
has q maximum capacity for imbiblng
water, and represents Q condition ex-
actly the opposite to the impervious
mountain rock. Probably only small
percent of the rainfall upon the mesas
escapes by surface drainage, while,
with the exception of the email amount
lost by evaporation, the rest penetrates
into the formation.
The capacity of a formation for i'm
billing water ia of little artesisn value
unless there exists in the same forma-
ton an alienation of inclining porous
and impervious strata by which
hydrostatic pressure is produced sutt-
Client to develop an artesian flow. AS
exist throughout the extent of the
Basin region, but there are local and
exceptional areas wherein it holds
good. The arrangement of the aueco
range running northwest ana south
east and the Organ range running
north and south is such as to Include
between them q basin or mesa which
ia an exception to this rule, however,
and may prove of value in determining
~. of 10 far at
Paso.
This basin begins more than 100
miles north of FL Paso and slopes to-
ward the city, it's surface has q fall of
from 1000 to 5000 feet as shown by the
appended table of attitudes. 1t thus af-
fords topographic conditions for a
strong artesian pressure, should the
structural conditions prove favorable.
The Rio Grande has cut a groove into
(but not through this ancient base
level some 200 feet deep, in which FL
Paso is situated, below the surface level
of the mesa. The structure of the mesa
is probably an alteration OF soft clays
and sands, laid down upon a floor OF
the harder more impervlous mountain
rock. The concealed irregularities of
this floor are the chief elements of i'm
probability in estimating the artesian
possibilities of the mesa formation.
we are justified in presuming
dalton layers which retain the
water in the mesa formation, next to
which will be found the greatest
volume and artesian pressure. The
depth of this floor, which also repres-
ents the thickness of the mesa forma-
ton, has never been ascertained, but
from we'll borings at Lanoria, it must
h1 oil fhnH
which is two miles east of the noun
tains having penetrated to this depth
without reaching it's bottom.
From the general structure of the
mountains at least double this thick
ness to the bottom, where the greatest
supply of water must be, may be infer
red.
It has been shownthat this formation
imbibes q maximum amount of the
it receives and absorbs into it's struc-
ture nearly all the rain which falls
upon the adjacent mountain sides.
After a rain large torrents pour down
the mountain sidesand are Immediately
and completely absorbed upon reaching
the meea. In addition to these
variable torrents there are at the north
ern end of the mesa several
large perennial streams fed by the
snoSs of White mountain and other
peaks, which flow into the Hueco-
FRANKLIN basin aud are absorbed by it.
That the basin is great water
bearing formation is also shown by the
wells upon it.
The only question now Is whether
there ia pressure which will force the
water to the surface in the level of the
Rio Grande valley.
From careful inquiry and investiga
ton 1 have found that numerous wells
have been bored in the mesa formation
at various intervals from its margin, at
the new military reservation. at its
head, with the following results: At
the site of the new military post, four
miles from Ell Paso, water was reached
at q depth of 2l7 feet in q quantity of
over 80, 600 gallons in % hours-the
full capacity of pump ard engine.
Two miles northeast of this point
another similar we'll has been bored.
Near Lanoria five similar wells exist.
towards Tularosa, are
shallow wells-all of which
show that the mesa is a great water
bearing formation. The following
data kindly furnished by Mr.. S. w.
Russell give statistics for some of the
wells.
Nine wells have been bored to water
on the mesa. northeast of Ell Paso, at
depths from 1913 to 26O feet, averaging
222 % feet.
The surface altitude at Lanoria,
where most of the wells were bored, is
estimated at $50 feet above the Rio
Grande at Ell Psso, which makes this
stratum of water about the same alti-
tude as the surface or hand wells be-
10 " the city. Whether the water ia
from the same source 1 can not say, but
the coincidence is suggestive. The
water struck at this depth showed no