The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-03-10

inundating the farms and doing
damage along the river, are almost
incredible and people are asking how
it can be.
The undulated country constitut.
ing the Snake river plains is few
hundred f eet higher than Snake
river and due to it's relation to the
mountains the snow fall is much
deeper there than along the river
There may be little or no snow on
Snake river, very little at Little Lost
river and moderate supply on Big
Lost river, but heavy snow in the
middle of the desert. During the
past winter, the snow fell quite deep
in the desert, it started with a rainy
season, saturating the ground, then
the ground froze probably to con-
siderable depth with one wet snowfall
| after another during the winter,
| during the first warm weather that
melted off all the snow along the
Snake river. Then when the very
warm days came about the first of
March, the mass of soft snow on the
desert suddenly turned to water and
flowed in the various drainage basins
which the desert is made up Of. The
ground being wet and frozen and
coated with ice with snow on top of
it, it was impossible that any of the
first melting of SHOWS should sink
into the ground. 1t all had to 60
somewhere and drained off of the
great slopes into the long hollows
that lead away, in different directions
twenty, thirty miles into great basins
which also had an outlet somewhere
draining towards larger basins or
into Snake river. One of these OUT
let's was past the western end of the
lava beds northwest of Moreland,
inundating great belts of farming
lands and eventually finding it's way
into the river near the old John Wat
son ranch, outh of Thomas. This
outlet is fed by waters that flow into
it from the great plains west of Shell
ley and along the great water shed on
line with the northern and middle
buttes, then cutting sOutheastward
from the region Of the middle buttes
in a great curve around to the west
ward in the direction of Taber, then
south and eastward taking in prob
ably half a million acres or more.
The drainage system is hardly notice,
able to one riding over the country in
dry weather, but stockmen who have
been riding when the snow was going
off could observe the system operat-
ing everywhere. -
Another drainage system turns all
the water into the Tilden basin or
Tilden flats a few miles north of
Taber. That basin extends to the
middle butte on the north and water
shed extends southwestward to the
small buttes lying few miles to the
eastward of the big butte and from
there the watershed runs south and
east. Farmers in the Tilden fats
can sow fall wheat and have it de-
velop- with fine prospects until the
spring thaw comes and then 1t is
liable to be smothered under several
feet of snow water. Another drain
age basin lies on the north side of the
middle butte and the eastern butte
and drains into a great cave about
half a mile long situated on the
Arco-Idaho Falls road.
Another drainage basin that has
given considerable trouble lies about
a mile east of Cerro Grande and the
Macakay branch is built thru the
middle of it on a grade about twenty
feet high. The water flows into that
in great quantity, surrounded on
three sides by the lava beds and
there is no outlet excepting when 1t
fills up high enough to flow over the
lava beds. That leaves the Macakay
track under several feet of water.
Westward from Cerro Grande are
water courses hardly noticeable in
dry weather, but in times like the
freshet just passed, each one is
rushing river that in this case tore
out the railroad grade. There Is a
vast number of other drainage
basins Of considerable size that form
lakes in various places on the desert
some very large ones lying to the
southwestward of the buttes. Others
lie twenty or thirty miles northest OF
the big butte in the direction of Mud
Lake. II any one should ascend the
big butte in the early spring they
would see q vast number of silvery
lakes in the bosom of the desert.
Some Of these lakes are on higher
ground than others by these under
ground than others and the water
sinks thru the lava beds ,one lake
feeding another by these under
ground channels. In some places
the water comes out in the form OF
springs in various slopes and gulches
and persons unaccustomed to the
vagaries of the desert think they have
discovered great springs that will
flow with pure water the year round.
AS matter of fact the supply might
be exhausted within few hours after
the traveller passed that way or it
might run for week, month or
three months then suddenly cease
flowing. Many men have discovered
fortunes in the former springs and
rivers in the desert, acted in good
faith, returned later to develop a
farm or ranch and found not drop
to drink li
Due to the fact that the floods on
the desert are of infrequent occur
renee. people have not made much