Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-03-03
POISONED WATER
IS PURIFIED BY
AGG|E SENIOR
Homer Powers Renders VaIu-.
able Service to TuIaroSa.
Rancher Costly Well Was.
About to Be Abandoned.


Tularosa, y. NJ. March "a well
in the Tuarosa basin. which cost &c.
600 to drill and equip. water from
which was declared absolutely worth
less by an FL Paso chemist, and Las
Cruces physician, was purified for its
owner recently through the efforts
and technical knowledge Of Homer
/ Powers, a senior at the New Mexico
College of Agriculture. The we'll was
drilled for w y. Fleck, depth 1000
feet, In the part of the Tularosa basin
known as valley fill. Confident that
the well would furnish pure water
Mr. Fleck installed his pumping
plant and tank.
Water Is Poisonous.
The first pumping demonstration
showed the water to have a peculiar
odor but as many wells in the see
ton have a similar smell. Mr.. Fleck
did not hesitate to turn the stock in
to drink. In very short time three
calves were dead A post mortem
revealed every symptom of poisoning
from sulphurated hydrogen gas. The
stock gates were closed and an inves-
tigation begun. The rancher sent a
sample of the water To an FL Paso
chemist who. after examination, pro-
h'hfiNih INV 0At'A liiiAA ibi INT. anu
advised plugging up or blowing out
the we'll 4 Las Cruces physician
gave the same advice.
Powers 10 the Rescue.
Baffled elsewhere. With $4,000 cX-
pended for an apparently worthless
well. and MP against problem for
water for his stock, Mr. Flick re
membered that the New Mexico Az
ricultural college maintains a staff of
experts whose services are always a
the disposal Of the people of the
state He sent n sample OF the We'll
water to Or. Hare, Of the college who
was busy on other experiments and
turned the. problem over to one Of his
seniors. Homer Powers. Mr.. Powers
asked for a week in which TO make
tests. His laboratory labors were re
warded within few days He found
that by n process of publication, sim
pie and net costly, the water could b
completely cleared Of the poisonous
gas and made entirely palatable. The
purification was done by aeration and
filtering through charcoal. It was
found that the water. when first
pumped was perfectly black. The
charcoal filter removed practically all
the color and absorbed some Of the
-dSs y lilHl test SllHNfu lldl IA us
ing the filter and letting the water
stand in open tanks thirty-six hours
il was entirely safe for stock pur-
poses. His experiments completed
Mr.. Powers secured permission from
Or. George +. Ladd, president Of the
Agricultural college. who had watch
ed the tests with interest, and went
To the Fleck ranch and installed a
sinpla filterinu anparatie 4 thirty
thousand gallon tank was filled with
water from the abandoned well and
in thirty-siN hours the water was de-
clared harmless by the young chem
list, who told Mr.. Flick to turn in the
cattle to drink Mr.. Fleck was doubt
ful. TO convince him. Powers took
q drink Of the water himself. Con-
WINGED, the stOckraiser opened the
gates and let in the cattle which had
been crowding around for hours,
waiting.
Delighted with the publication Of
the water. Mr.. Fleck offered to pay