Imperial press and farmer., 1902-04-05

in this supposedly arid belt was in wells bored by the railway company along it's line at Thermal and other points, many years ago. At Thermal a flow of several hundred miners inches was secured. There are now splendid flowing wells at Indio, Coachella, Thermal and Walters.
 The First Experiment.
 In April, 1900 the Rector brothers undertook the rather hazardous (and some would have considered 1t fool hardy) venture of sinking for water on the dry Coachella Plain, some four miles east of Indio. They drove down a twolnch pipe and on the first of November following, were rewarded by an artesian flow. The water-bear- ing stratum was penetrated at a depth of $50 feet, and the pressure was so great as to produce five miners inches from the two-inch opening. This pres sure is thirty-five pounds to the square inch-only five pounds less than that in the lower hydrants of the Los An geles water system. The success in this first well stimulated other ven lures, and it was not long until there was a regular furore for water devel- opment in the desert valley. At the present time there are no less than nine or ten boring rigs in operation, and such facility has been acquired that, in some cases, seven or eight hours work brings the desired flow. There are now over one hundred sue cessful wells in the valley, most of which range in aperture from three and one-quarter to four and one-half inches. These wells have developed the fact that there is an alluvial de posit all the way down. lying in four teen distinct strata, in the course of 500 to $40 feet. The water bearing stratum is coarse gravel from fifteen to siXty-fve feet in thickness.
 Clearing Begun.
 Thus fortified with a water supply, Rector brothers began, in November, 1900, to clear the native brush from tract of twenty-five acres, which, in the course of the next three months, they planted to barley, wheat, canta- loupes, watermelonS, and sugar beetS. Tho crops were varied, for expert mental purposes, on about two acres of land and the remaining twenty three acres was put into cantaloupes for substantial crop. The land proved wonderfully fertile. and all of the crops did well, coming to maturity in a phenomenally short time. The req son for this is obvious. At depth of two feet below the surface the ground holds a temperature of 72 deg. the water developed from the wells is "A deg, thus making veritable hotbed of the irrigated land. It is matter of astonishment to most people that these desert lands should prove so fertile. The evidence of the artesian wells. however. shows that the soil is a succession of alluvial deposits to the depth of 500 feet. In it's wild state even it was capable of produc- ing a dense growth of arrow weed, yellow sage and mesquite The last named grows to the size of large tree. For untold ages the soil has accumulated humus from decayed vegetable matter and drift. Four and half feet below the surface there is permanent moisture and at twelve to twenty-five feet a good pumping sup ply may be secured. The entire basin seems to have saturated substrat- um, due probably to seepage from the Colorado River, or underflow from the surrounding mountains.
 A Good Crop of Barley.
 The soil itself is very fertile. A small tract was flooded by the Rec tor brothers in November. and sown tO barley Without furtb bpr irriootiop