El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-12-02

A GLANCE at the accompanying cut
n will reveal the stratification Of
= valley lands in the vicinity Of
Deming to depth of 140 feet In very
few instances has 1t been necessary 70
go deeper than 100 feet for sufficient
water to furnish the largest irrigation
pumps now in use in the valley. me
well shown in the cut furnishes law
gallons Of water per minute, or su1fi-
Client water TO irrigate 100 acres OF
land. half in alfalfa and half in general
farm crops. Wells have however, been
sunk much deeper than this in the Dem
ing country prospecting for arteslan
water the deepest Of which was put
down 1868 feet substantially the same
strata recur, the bedrock Of the valley
having never been sounded.
Once a Deep Gorge In Mountain.
The region is very interesting to the
geOlOgist- 1t is said by some scientific
men that what is now the wide stretcn-
ing valley of the Mimbres was once in
ages past only a deep gorge in noun
tains which were then miles high
Other scientific men say that the
mountains were never apparently much
higher than they are at present bQt
have been slowly pushed upward dur
ing past ages just about as fast as
shey have been erOded- In any event
it is quite clear that the formation in
the bottom Of the valley lying upon the
bedrock is the same formation as once
capped the mountains y hen the process /
Of erosion first started, and tn3t the
whole valley has been built up in this
While all this may be very interest
ing to the scientific, the two POINTS
which are most interesting from a
commercial standpoint are % the wa
ter supply Of the valley, and 90 its
surface soil. In order to understand
the nature Of the water supply. it is
first necessary TO conceive CT the
stream In Its original condition, before
the process Of erosion set in which
eventually filled No the gorge in the
mountains with some 1000 CT more feet
Of soil and gravel. At th7t tims the
stream, IL it was as large as It is now,
flowed along the bedrock, discharging
annually something like 400 900 acre
feet per year Some of the time il was
a trickling mountain stream, at other
times Il was a raging torrent, Eurling
huge bOulders along its course, and
grinding them up into gravel. In flood
times, much Of this debris II ON the
mountains was deposited along its
course, and we can conceive CT the time
when sufficient deposits of coarse grav-
el were made for the stream in its nor
NAL condition to find its way through, I
Instead Of above them
beginning of the River.
Here was the beginning of The IN
derground river. AS tie years went
on, the tireless waters continued their |
work until a waterway was made /
through coarse gravel under the en-
tire southern port ln Of lie valley. Tt |
is probable that the gravel is depos- |
tied in the form of lenses, much as one
sees along almost any surface stream, I
winch lenses are OF course covered over |
with soil Waterways Of gravel evil /
IDENTIFY connect the -raveI lenses. which /
explains the fact Of the varying thick /
ness Of the gravel strata in wells over
the valley In one place certain stra- I
tum viii be found to be 10 or Is feet
In thickness, at another place only a
Few hundred feet away. this strata win
be only four or five feet thick. so that
II layer Of earth we're thrown back, /
40 or so feet in thickness, it would re-
veal the first water bearing stratum I
lying. generally level but oval shaped, I
showing mounds all over its surface
Gravel Strata to Bed Rock
IN the same way all the gravel strata |
are laid clear down to bedrock IT Is I
curious thar the various water bearing I
strata in the AIimbres valley have diff 4
ferent heads The second stratum en-
countered sends its water up above the ]
water level Of the first stratum the /
third sends its above the second, and so /
on There is a stratum encountered at I
90 Feet which IN one instance, at least l
forced its water out the top of the we'll ]
but not with sufficient head for irriga-
Jlon- 1t is this fact which has led sew I
eral experienced well men to declare
that the matter Of securing artesian
water In the Mimbres valley is sfnplv !
a matter Of going deep enough, and |
then screening only the strata which ]
snow strength enough to deliver the /
water to the surface, casing off all the
weaker strata. This procedure. they
contend, would prevent the artesia1 /
strata from losing their water into the /
weaker strata. The prospect of arte-
sian water does not especially interest
the MImbres valley farmer, however.
Simple. Inexpensive Process.
The pumping Of water for irrigation I
Is such a simple. effective and mex
pensiYe process, that most of them are 4
Wiling 70 let well enough alone. Be
sides, pumping well costs little. while /
an artesian well is very expensive, ana /
there are many who contend that the I
cost OF pumping does not exceed the !
THE CHURCHEs