White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1916-07-16
ARTES|AN WATER
DISTRICT VISITED
IRRIGATION EXPERTS FAVOR
ABLY IMPRESSED WITH PROS
PECrs FOR WATER IN WHITE
RIVER AND SPRING VALLEYS.

engineering of the University of Ne
vada, and Frederick l.. Bixby, irriga-
tion, engineer connected with the Of
flee of the United States department
of agriculture, assigned to duty in
Nevada, after their arrival in Ely
Saturday night, announced in the
News. visited White River and Spring
valleys on Sunday and Moday and de-
parted for Reno Tuesday.
Both gentlemen expressed them
selves as greatly pleased with what
they saw on theirs visit to this sec
tion and regretted that they could
not remain longer. They have an
eonrmous territory to cover and are
handicapped for time, as well as
funds with which to carry on this i'm
portant work. They stated. howev-
er. that they would return at the
earliest possible date and make a
further inspection, particularly In
the north end OF Spring valley.
Mr.. Bixby stated that In the event
OF the final passage and approval of
the agricultural appropriation bill
now pending in congress, and which
by its terms would appropriate $780,
900 for irrigation and experimental
purposes In connection with artesian
water, he felt a considerable portion
of that money should be spent in Ne
yada. where he considers the chances
for success unusually bright He
points out that in such experiments
II one out of five Is successful, the
return upon the money so expended
is enormous. Perhaps no subject
could be of greater Importance tc
this section. and the visit of the two
eminent engineers and experts along
this line of work was naturally a
welcome one.
Monday morning the visitors were
taken to the White River valley. ac-
companied by Commissioners d. c,
Mcdonald, John Weber and r. C.
North. as well as Senators N. II.
Chaplin and J. II. Fulmer and f. L.
Leak. The drilling operations now
being conducted by the county Off
cials in the vicinity of Preston and
Lund were carefully looked into, af-
ter which Professor Schrugham and
Mr. Bixby paid flattering eompli-
ments to the county commissioners
stating that under all conditions the
spot selected for the drilling work
could not. In their Judgment. be i'm
proved on. Roy Doughman. who IL
in charge OF the county drill. explain
ed the work and It's progress thus far
The drill mad then reached a depth
of $40 feet and was In gravelly soil
Beneath thick bed OF clay water was
struck at a depth OF 115 feet and this
rose 25 feet in the hole. The CON-
missioners stated 1t was their In
tention to continue to depth OF at
least 1000 feet II necessary.
The Preston Big Spring, which is
one of the main sources of water sup
ply in that neighborhood. attracted
the attention of the engineers, and
Mr.. Bixby took several photographs
and gathered considerable data. The
location selected for the county drill
has many advantages, among others
being the supply OF wood near at
hand to keep the drill in operation,
If an artesian well Is not struck at
os.xt H.. .x..tu uot< w
carry on the work elsewhere and II
Is hoped their excellent work will be
crowned with the success which 1t sc
richly deserves and which would re-
suit In the greatest benefit that could
come by any means. not only to the
rancher and the stockman. but to the
citizens In general
In Spring valley the engineers were
likewise favorably impressed. Water
reached in wells Of shallow depth at
tracted their attention and the
streams coming down the mountain
side In nearly every canyon was re-
garded as a favorabl indication. Prof
scrugham stated that he would i'm
mediately look into the geological
maps to ASCERTAIN whether Spring
valley is known as an open or a
closed valley.
An experimental pumping station
will be installed at the ranch owned
by Ed Robson with the hope Of OBJ
tanning what might be termed an
auxiliary water supply. For this pur-
pose the state and federal authorities
will furnish the pumping plant. Mr.
Robson viii sink the well to depth
OF about 20 feet from which the wa