Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-11-12
SUPPLY At
PORTALES IS
UNLIMITED
REMARKABLE TESTS OF
THE PUMPING CAPACITY
PortaIes Men Who Have Thor
oughIy Investigated Water
Resources Declare Govern
ment Report Injustice,
\ Review and Criticism. by Editor
portaies Herald.

The Editor Albuquerque Morning
Journal:
Dear sir: I am sure that in the
publication of the government $
recent bulletin on the resources
Of Portales valley, violence has been
done to the facts and incalculaple
harm has been done TO his section OF
the territory. For, although there Is
good authority for believing this bull
letin trustworthy and doubtless there
was no intention other than to give
the widest publication to the facts APP
~parently set forth in this circular, no
geological survey Of the Portales val
ley has been made recently ana Ger
talnly none was even attempted pN
Mr.. O. T.. Meinzer, upon whose au-
thoritN the government is supposed 10
have issued this bulletin.
Mr.. Meinzer did make a survey rel
alive to the 320-acrc settlements in
this ana other adjacent sections ana
he did visit and look over most parts
Of the Portales valley In addition To
this. Mr.. Meinzer has M information,
except that voluntarily given him by
the people of Portaies, who tested Tor
his benefit the Humble well here IN
town, which Is an eight-ineh wen with
four and one-half inch discharge pipe
and was pumped with six-inch cen
trffugal pump for thirty-seven hours.
The water level was lowered twelve
feet in the first minute and never low
cred another inch during the thirty
seven hours of continuous pumping in
which It yielded $50 gallons per min
Now, Mr.. MpinZer witnessed ms
test, made note of the facts, which he
considered remarkable and as indl-
eating unlimited water supply. In adj
dition to this Mr.. Meinzer questioned
many farmers and residents of Por-
tales who testified that in their six
to eight years of residence here the
water supply had not been
an inch, but on the other hand, mad
increased With the years they MAD
been pumped with windmills. Mr..
Mcin2er talked with the men h
the artesian well on the court
house lawn some wears since. He was
given the facts; that this well reached
the first stratum of water at is Feet
another at 80 feet. n an artesian
flow at 2S5 feet-which, although not
strong ran ont over the casing. Mr..
Mein2er saw no well dug, and only
one above mentioned tested, and
expressed himself again and again as
confident that the water supply
here was ineXhaustihle, assuring the
people. Go on with your pumping
proposition-thorc is no doubt about
I
our water supply
Rut we could not attord to rely |
upon Mr.. Meinzer's guess, and accord !
iugly determined to make the most
thorough ana unqualified test posi-
Bile. We began two months since,
spent some $4,000 and have kept
an expert hydraulic engineer a
crew of six men at work for all this
time. The first well was sunk on Mr..
place, one mile southwest,
was II inches in diameter and
l22 feet deep me though not pumped
long, It yielded 1900 gallons per min
ate without diminishing the supply,
The next wen was an eight-inch well
an the Lindsey place, two miles west
IF Portalcs. The well yielded $50
per minute. The third well
was a lI-inch we'll. drilled 100 feet
lecp, located within ten feet of the
second we'll This we'll was pumped
or nearly "a week ana delivered from
lbO to 1000 gallons per minute. The
'ourth test wen was located on the