The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1923-02-01

thick deposits of sand, clay, and
gravel-the so-called valley fill.
This fill is saturated with water de-
rived from local rainfall, melting
snow, and principally, perhaps, from
the floods of the mountain streams.
Many wells obtain water from this
valley fill. Near the axes of the
valleys the water is close to the sur
face; farther up the alluvial slopes
it lies deeper. The upper part of
the valley fill consists of gravel and
sand which was deposited and is still
being deposited by streams. These
layers slope downward toward the
center Of the valley, and upon them
layers of fine-grained almost clayey
deposits have been and are being
laid down. If these claylike layers
are imprevious to water and if they
extend up the slopes over water
bearing beds of sand and gravel the
water will be under artesian pres
sure.
The valley fill in Quinn River
Valley has been tested to a depth
of 544 feet by a well on the Ellison
ranch, in sec. 25, T. ID N, R. SO E.
The water in this well does not flow
out but it rises so close to the sur
face that it is led through a pipe
60 feet long to a trough in a hole
at a little lower level. The we'll
forms a valuable stock-watering
place. No log Of the we'll was kept,
but the information obtained indi-
Gates that the well penetrates some
sandy beds, but no thick bed of
clay, such as would form an i'm
pervious cover sufficient to retain
water that is under pressure. This
well therefore seems to show that
the shallower part of the valley will
not yield artesian water that is
under heavy pressure or that would
furnish a large supply. Similar
small but useful wells drilled along
the trough of the valleys are likely
to get flowing water, but the supply
will probably not be great enough
for use in irrigation.
The valley fill has not been tested
to great depths and its structure is
unknown. The presence of a ter
race, partly cut on rock and partly
consisting Of aluuvium, east of Nc
Dermitt and in a small patch al
Cane Springs indicates that the val.
ley was filled with an alluvial de.
post before the SURGICAL shallow fill
was laid down and that the earlier
fill was removed over most of the
valley by erosion. This early fill
remains only in small patches, which
give no indication that it will yield
artesian water in any larger meas
ure than the shallow fill.
The ranches near Orovada are
probably too far up the slope to
obtain the slight artesian pressure
that exists along the middle of the
valley. Drilling into the deeper fill
at this locality is hazardous, for the
results are likely to be disappoint-
ing. At least there is no indication
at the surface that this fill contains
artesian water.
Paradise Valley contains large
fiat areas of mellow land that have
a fine-grained soil. The area in
this valley in which fine grained
material was deposited appears to
have been even larger than that in
Quinn River Valley, and impervious
beds that may confine artesian wa
ter may cover larger area. Wells
drilled in the fat meadow lands to
depts of 500 to 1000 feet will prob
ably obtain small flows that will be
useful for watering stock, particu-
larly in winter, when the waters of
the creeks form icy bog holes that
are dangerous to cattle.
Possible Artesian Water in
Volcanic Rocks
The Quinn River Mountains, the
Buckskin Mountains, and large
mountainous areas north and east
of Paradise Valley are composed of
volcanic rocks, which are in many
ways similar to rocks in Idaho that
yield artesian water. These valconic
rocks consist Of 1900 to 1900 feet
of massive beds Of lava and more
than 500 feet of tuff, which in turn
rest on alternate beds of tuff and
lava. The beds of tuff and the as
ISOLATED beds of sedimentary rock
would form series of pervious and
impervious beds suitable to form an
artesian system. The volcanic rocks
in the Quinn River Mountains have
general eastward dip toward
Quinn River Valley, and near the
western border of the valley the
angle Of dip is about 10 dgrees. The
volcanic rocks would therefore be
found beneath the valley floor only
at great depths, and in order to
determine whether they are water
bearing it would be necessary to
drill through the upper massive
beds. 1t is possible, however, that
flows could be obtained at certain
places in the mountain canyons
from wells sunk to relatively shall
low depths. Unfortunately, the
areable land in the canyons is Of
small area and is so isolated as t.
be Of little value.
The valconic rocks in Paradise
Valley crop out along the eastern
border of the Santa Rosa Noun
tains and dip toward the valley at
angles of 9 to ID degrees. The
outcrops consist of the lower part
Of the formation, which is made up
mostly Of thin lava flows that APP
pear to be poorly adapted to trans
nit water under artesian pressure.
Test wells drilled in the center Of
the valley would encounter these
flows only at great depths. On the
east side Of Paradise Valley, north