The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1906-08-18
fifteen hundred fset in places and the

flow Is sufficient to frr1gate thousands
of acres. The lakes are of ~artesian4
origin. the cavities they occupy be-
ing great assures reaching down to
the s~ub-structure which holds the
~artesian water of the region. Toe wa
ter from these lakes was first used
many years ago for irrigating the ad-
jacent territory, but the suggestion
that the lakes were artesian and hat
artesian wells could be opened up in
other parts OF the valley was not fol-
lowed until recently.
1t has been ascertained that there
is an artesian district within the
bounds of the Pecos valley many
miles long and eight miles wide. To
day within this region there are thou
sands of artesian wells pouring forth
their l~ife-giving streams, n the des-
ert has been reclaimed and made to
produce as a garden. These wells vary
in depth from four hundred to fifteen
hundred feet and the pressure and
flow vary accordingly. The pressure
is strongest at the lower end of the
artesian district, about sixty miles
south of the city of Roswell, in New
Mexico.
.-
Notwithstanding these wells have
been flowing for several years, and
the flow of the lakes has bee util-
lied for irrigation for many years,
there does not appear to be any df-
intuition in the flow of the water,
and almost without exception, every
attempt to drill an artesian well re-
suits successfully. Herein lies another
point of resemblance between he Pc
cos and the Nile Valleys. There is
said to be a similar subterranean for
nation at the lower end of the arte-
the water in both sections is found
at about the same varying depths.
encouragement in the fact that there
are artesian wells in the Nile valley
that are known to have been flowing
for centuries without any ~lessening
pressure. From the fac that the phys
Hcal formation of the two regions is
similar it is believed that the wells
in the Pecos Valley will be as last
ing and abundant.
A third source of water supply in
the Pecos Valley is the Pecos river
itself and one or two small tributa-
ries. Extensive Jams have been plac-
ed at suitable locations and the wa
tier caught into reservoirs and dis
tributed for many miles through an
extensive system of canals and later
al bitches.
A fourth source of water supply is
the result of recent experiments
which promise to become vastly i'm
portant. On both sides of the compar-
atively narrow Pee Valley the land
sweeps UP to elevated land. On the
west it rises to the foothills of the
Rocky Mountains, and ON the east to
the Llano Estacado, or Staked Plains,
which stretch beyond the eastern
border of New Mexico into the Pan
handle of Texas. 1t has been found
that comparatively shallow wells,
from 300 to 600 feet deep, will sup
ply abundant water, of the purest
quality. These wells do not flow, but
small gasoline engines and wind
pumps have bee started to lift the
water into reservoirs and the results
have been found to be most satisfac-
tory. With these simple means water
a be taken from wells and run into
reservoirs in sufficient quantities 20
irrigate immense tracts Of and un-
der cultivation. 1t is claimed the a
three-horse gasoline engine will pump
water for irrigating 100 acres of land
under cultivation and twice that num-
Der of ere in orchards, which re
quire less water than field crops. One
experiment demonstrated that 500
gallons of water per minute could be
lifted a distance of % feet from the
top of the well with a three horse
power engine, and the process CON
tinued for months at a time without