Deming graphic., 1921-05-03

engineers. principally I'm the Indian
lcountry where the primitive people
have little idea OF methods 10 Increase
and develop their water supplies.
Most so-called springs are really seeps
and are easily choked and fouled BY
deposits. Millions Of acres OF range
land have I'm this way been made avail
able for stock raising.
A good example OF n developed
spring Il located at the abandoned
army post at Fort Cummings. Here
the spring was walled and covered.
Its water Is now conveyed fifteen miles
to Florida station for the use OF the
railroad.
Water holes are, Of course, only
sources OF supply during wet seasons
and years. They are basins formed Of
impervious soil or rock that collect the
rain or flood water Usually they are
natural reservoirs, hut are sometimes
improved upon and enlarged by men.
In the early DAYS travellers I'm the
desert depended largely upon the wa
ter holes; the Indians seemed always
TO know where TO find the natural els
terms.
Flood water conservation for irriga-
tion was practiced even by the prehis-
tOric peoples who inhabited the MINI
bres Valley. The mountains are
great roofs that preclpitate quantities
Of water onto the arid bolsons In wet
SEASONS. The remains OF dykes and
bitches show that the prehistoric peo-
pies controlled these flood waters and
watered their crops. Their successors
have not yet equslled the engineering
Of antiquity and are certainly failing
to avail themselves OF an inexpensive
and easily accessible water supply.
What Is known locally as the
"wamel ditch makes flood water
from the degenerate Mimbres river
available for irrigation. Some years
! this decadent stream pours n turbu-
lent and turbid flood along an ancient
water course. twenty-five miles from
where II usually Is lost In the sand.
This supply could be conserveti and
made more certain and valuable. The
prehistoric farmers utilized II as is
shown by the remains OF ancient
irrigation works
Before the sands filled them up this
section was dotted by numerous lakes,
the lingering remnants of which re-
main. Within the last ten years lake
near the Florida mountains became
farm; this is the SOllgnac place. The
CCC lake southwest Of the city Is dis
appearing, almost before the eyes. The
Palomas lakes. just across the border
In chihuahua. are the last Of vast
lake system destroyed by sand storms
Hot springs are not uncommon,
though not considered source of wa
ter supply In the usual sense. TIC
prehistoric inhabitants and Indians
availed themselves OF the hot springs
for their medicinal value, even as they
are valued and used today. Haywood
hot springs near this city rises from a
fault the extent OF which Is marked
by warm and cold springs in addition
to the hot.
= Rainfall, as a contribution to water
supply has hardly been considered
though II is here in the desert. as
elsewhere, the great source. Rainfall
and snowfall In the mountains fur.
nishes the water to fill the few sulfacl
streams and IL pours into the gravel
strata the enormous volume OF water
that feeds the springs. Even the mea-
ger desert growth Of brush and grass
would certainly perish were II not for
the average rainfall or the so called
bOlsons OF eight inches annually.
The reclamation ~ the Southwest
| from so-called desert condition 'nly
waits upon the more complete datrl-
ORIENT of the water supplies that tx-
last
Science and labor bid the thirsty
land drink and become verdant.