El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-28
Ell PASO, TEXAS THURSDAY FEBRUN %, 1901.

obstacles. There is no country SO lar
nor climate so severe; there is no peril
and no expense which can discourage
mining because the possible reward
is so great and the hope of sudden
wealth so alluring. 1t may be sad and
deplorable, but it is none the less
true that a man will risk less Tor
home than for a fortune. There are
certain heroic exceptions to the rule,
but the fact remains that the conquest
of the desert must be made easily If
made at all Here lies the chief sig
nificance of the new power, since its
operations are necessarily limited, for
the present at least, to the sunshine re-
gions of the earth.
Half of our own continent, most OF
Australia and New Zealand, most of
Africa and South America, a vast por-
ton of Asia. including India, belong
distinctly to the sunshine regions. Here
solar power is bound to be extensively
employed in lifting water from under
the ground and from the deeply eroded
channels of innumerable rivers.
Exact information concerning the
underground water supplies is some
what meager since both public and pri-
vate enterprise were naturally first di-
rected to the diversion of streams and
the employment of the smaller and
the employment of the smaller class
of reservoirs. But during the past five
years pumping has become the most
aggressive feature of the irrigation in
dustry in the west and the area of its
operations has been rapidly widening.
large portion of the precipitation is
run off, which is carried into the
streams. A portion is lost in evapor-
alton. some is absorbed by the ground
and remains to moisten vegetation. but
a considerable part finds it's way
through porous soil and the seams in
the earth far below the reach of all
growing things to subterranean reser-
voirs. A portion of these underground
waters burst forth in springs or arte-
sian outpourings, but we know that
enormous underground rivers and lakes
exist beneath the crust of the earth.
and that they are regularly reinforced
by falling rains and melting SHOWS.
Then there are numerous western
streams that may be said to flow up
side down-the ground on top and the
moving current underneath. A notable
instance is the Platte. which Bill Nye
has described as lone mile wide and
one inch thick" and to which he ascrib-
ed "a wide circulation but very little
influence"
The utility of the power will be strik-
ingly illustrated on the great plains.
Here the government has made ex-
tensiye Investigations of the under
ground supplies. It was found that wa
ter could be had in narrow strips along
the INTERNATIONALLY along the Platte
and Arkansas, at an average depth of
ten feet. Outside of this belt is. an
other and wider one. where water is
found at a depth of ten to fifty feet
Still further out is another district.
enormously greater than those already
mentioned. where water may be had
at depth of 50 to 100 feet. These
three divisions cover the larger pro-
portion of the areas which will be
irrigated. but there are smaller dis
tricts within the area, where the I'M
foreground reservoirs lie at various
depths from 100 to $50 feet.
Now. thousands of windmills have
been set up OF the plains. largely for
irrigation purposes during the past
ten years. but their efficiency is practi-
ca11y limited to the watering of ten
acre plots in the narrow strips along
the rivers where water may be had at
ten feet. The coming of the new pow
er. far more potent than that which is
gained by Harvesting the wind. though
at no more cost of operation. means
the extension of irrigation to the wider
DellS VI upldHu WHERE wafer Is ueepeT
This means in turn more intense cult
walton. smaller farms. denser popula-
ton. Therefore the Influences which
are sure to follow the introduction of
solar power upon the plains must be
great and far-reaching. This remark
applies not merely to Kansas and Ne
braska. but to the two Dakotas and to
the imperial domain of Texas. Poten-
TALLY one of the most fertile yet ac-
tually one of the most barren tracts
one the continent is that known as
the StaRed Plains of western Texas
1t is barren because its two most valu-
able resources have not been utilized.
These are the sun which shines above
them and the sheet of water which
lies beneath.
What is true of these understanding
plains. is practically true of all the arid
regions of the world. Cheap motive
power is the indispensable condition of
the existence of civilization. And pow
er demands either falling water or
abundant fuel. Relatively to the needs
of a dense population. there is little of
either water power or fuel. but upon
every four square feet of the surface
of these regions there falls degree of
solar heat, according to the best
scientific information. to produce one
horse power if it can only be utilized.
Prof. s. p. Langley. of the Smithson-
ian institution. placed the following
prediction on record as long as four
teen years ago:
Future ages may see the seat c: :,
an r,lr fro, fe.t.r.x of