The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1913-06-17
WILL MAKE DESERT
BLOOM AS THE ROSE

At recent meeting of the Nevada
bankers in Goldfeld one of the most
instructive addresses of the sessions
was that of Judge w. X. thomas, of
Las Vegas, who spoke on "The Ar
tesian Waters of Nevada. -
From the Las Vega Age is taken
the following summary of his re-
marks:
"In my opinion, one of the most
important factors that will distinguish
the present century from those gone
before will be the world wide exten-
sion of irrigation and the wonderful
development of the now uninhabited
portions of the earth-uninhabited be-
cause of deficient rainfall The magic
OF water is in the air, and it's devel-
opment and use more enchanting
than romance.
Science, history and practical ex-
perience all teach us that water forms
rivers, currents, channels and lakes un-
der ground. Held in place between
layers of impervious or non-leakable
formation under the surface, 1T travels
and proceeds on its way. The open
channels of rivers are not the only
natural carriers of water, though they
do by far the heaviest part of the
work. Water travels by ways unseen
in closed channels under ground, con-
fined between water tight layers and
feeds springs and wells at a great dis
tance from the starting point.
By digging or boring through the
top layers of impervious formation we
reach the water below, which rises
In the hole about as high as the :
source-in other words, the water
seeks its level and we have flowing
water or pumping water, according to
the height of the water at its initial
point. Here, then, we have the ar
tesian well, simply the application of
the rule that water seeks its own
level.
Now Dormant.
. | believe the life giving artesian
waters are now dormant and undevel-
oped under most of the fertile valleys
of Nevada, and some of the state
money lately appropriated could have
been put to better use for our own
Nevada-for, in the end, we who live
here must work out our own saliva
tion, and | say to you that the lure
of gold is not as romantic as the
lure Of water Many a valley now
laid away as worthless IA few years
will astonish the most optimistic of
us.
Gin the southern end of Nevada
(Las Vegas where / live, the rainfall
is but four inches a year, and yet,
down there is a country-a valley, an
empire, as it were, larger than Rhode
Island with its half million people
where over 100 artesian wells are now
pouring lifegiving waters upon the
parched but rich ground of the desert,
and the number of these miracle work
ing wells will soon be multiplied many
times more than ten-fold-affording
employment through intensified form
ing and its manifold adjuncts in both
country and town to nearly as many
people as are now residing in the
whole state of Nevada.
Nothing But the Truth.
"This may sound a little out of the
ordinary to the man who has not
studied the situation as | have, and /
know how conservative bankers be-
come because of human nature.
However, before you consign me to a
place reserved for the unreliable, look
into the matter for yourselves, ex-
anime what other places have accom-
pllshed, and in five or ten years from
now, write to me how far astray were
your first conclusions. Let me give
you an instance, at once reliable and
full of coming truth. Rocky Ford is
in the southeastern corner of Colorado,
where few years ago the desert held
sway supreme, but last year twelve
miles square of this same desert
ground paid the Santa Fe railroad a
million dollars in freights alone.
This amounted to a little more than
$40 per acre for frelghts in one year.
The little empire that / hail from,
when brought to as high state of
cultivation will multiply Rocky
Ford s freight bill ten-fold.
Cost of Wells.
"Water with us is obtained by bor-
ings from 100 to 400 feet, mostly the
latter, and the flow of water varies
from 10 inches to 200 inches. The
cost of a well runs from $500 to $500,
according to the depth and size of the
hole. Lands cost from $5 an acre to
$50 an acre, and in addition to the
lands held in private ownership some
government lands still exist. The cost
of clearing, blowing and leveling the
lands will average about SIS per acre.
1.-The amount of water required for
properly irrigating an acre of land,
with us, is not yet reduced to that
certainty where figures can be de-
pended upon, but basing our situation
upon the experience of Southern Cali
fornia, where conditions are similar,
it is safe to say that a well flowing 20
inches of water will do duty for so
or 60 acres of land devoted to the
production of grass, grain, fruits and
vegetables. One of the most difficult
things confronting the inexperienced
irrigator is to resist the temptation of
using too much water -