FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 JAMES FURMAN KEMP 
 
 Professor of Geology 1892-1926 
 
 Given by his son, James Taylor Kemp 
 
 1927 
 
 fe, 
 
With the compliments of 
 
 J. D. WHITNEY. 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
T30 
 
 G.<" Ajt *r^ L - v< 
 
 THE 
 
 UNITED STATES: 
 
 FACTS AND FIGURES ILLUSTRATING 
 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTRY, 
 
 AND ITS MATERIAL RESOURCES. 
 
 Supplement I, 
 
 POPULATION: IMMIGRATION: 
 IRRIGATION. 
 
 BY 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 
 1894. 
 
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 
 
3-7 Ski 
 
 Bancroft Library 
 
 CO 
 
 x: 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HPHIS volume is essentially a continuation of an 
 article originally written for the Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica, and published in part in that work, and 
 afterwards separately, with omissions supplied, and a 
 small amount of additional matter added, in which the 
 statistics of certain important industries were brought 
 up to the latest date, for which information could be 
 procured. In this republication of the article as origi- 
 nally written, an appendix was added in which vari- 
 ous topics connected with the discovery and scientific 
 development of the country were discussed more at 
 length than would have been admissible in the text of 
 the work. The volume as thus enlarged was published 
 just before the census of 1890 was taken ; so that the 
 statistics of population which it contained were neces- 
 sarily unsatisfactory, inasmuch as they represented a 
 condition of things existing nearly a decade before its 
 publication. Hence it was, from the beginning, the 
 author's intention to prepare a supplement in which 
 this defect should have been remedied, and this was to 
 be done as soon as the results of the census of 1890, 
 so far as they related to population, became available 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 for use. It was not, however, until 1892 that the 
 publication of the full census returns made this pos- 
 sible, but it has now been done, and on the plan 
 adopted in the original work, which was to present 
 the important facts in a very condensed form, leaving 
 details of minor importance to be sought for in the 
 volumes of the Census Reports. 
 
 In the matter of the statistics of immigration a 
 course similar to that adopted in regard to popula- 
 tion was not so important or desirable, because the 
 official publications dealing with the former are issued 
 so promptly that it was impossible in the original 
 work, the date of whose publication was 1889, to pre- 
 sent the important facts relating to immigration down 
 to a date so late as to include the whole of 1888, and 
 a part of 1889. In the present volume, however, the 
 statistics of immigration include the essential facts for 
 the year 1893, and for the first half of 1894, and some 
 matters relating to this subject in general have been 
 discussed more fully than they were in the original 
 work. 
 
 The subject of the increase and distribution of the 
 population, which includes all matters connected with 
 immigration, is also closely allied to that of irrigation, 
 as will become evident on examining the contents of 
 the present volume. Hence it was natural that these 
 three topics should here be taken up in sequence. 
 That the irrigation question should not have been 
 opened in the original work need not excite surprise, 
 because almost all the definite knowledge which we 
 
PREFACE. Vii 
 
 have in regard to it is of very recent origin, very few 
 United States official publications relating to irrigation 
 bearing dates less recent than 1890. When it was de- 
 cided to include this subject in the present work, the 
 author himself was not aware how important the irri- 
 gation question is to a large part of the country, and 
 how many interesting scientific and economical prob- 
 lems are involved in it. For some time, indeed, it 
 was impossible to get hold of various documents and 
 reports bearing on this question, some of which could 
 only be obtained after the volume had made consid- 
 erable progress. This circumstance will account for 
 the somewhat disjointed character of that part of the 
 present work which relates to irrigation ; a further 
 difficulty has been encountered in the fact that various 
 official documents appear not to have been issued, or 
 at least not made accessible to the general public, 
 until considerably later than their time of publication, 
 as fixed by the dates which they bear on their title- 
 pages. 
 
 J. D. WHITNEY. 
 CAMBRIDGE, MASS., August, 1894. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. POPULATION. 
 
 Population and percentage of increase, at each decennial 
 census, from 1790 to 1890, 1, 2. Effects of the Civil War 
 on the growth of the population, 2. 
 
 Density and distribution of the population, 3. Movement of 
 the population, 4. Positions of the centre of population, 
 1790-1890, 4, 5. 
 
 Division of the population by sexes, 5. Geographical distribu- 
 tion of the sexes, 5, 6. Alteration in various States in the 
 condition of the population with regard to the distribution 
 of the sexes, 6, 7. Present distribution of the sexes in 
 various geographical divisions, 7. 
 
 Distribution of the population with reference to color, 7, 8. 
 Relative decrease of the colored population from 1790 
 to 1890, 8. Past and present geographical distribution 
 of the colored population, 8. Number and distribution of 
 the Chinese, 9. 
 
 Distribution of the population -with reference to the topographi- 
 cal and climatic features of the country, 9, 10. Distribution 
 of the population by drainage basins, and percentage of the 
 total population in the different drainage basins, in 1880 
 and 1890, 10. Distribution of the population in accord- 
 ance with the topographical features, from 1870-1890, 11. 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 Distribution of the population in cities and towns, 1113. 
 Number of large cities, 1790-1890, 11. Cities having a 
 population of over 100,000, arranged in numerical order, 
 12. Geographical distribution of large cities, 13. 
 
 Number and percentage of persons of native and foreign birth, 
 
 1850-1890, 13. 
 
 II. IMMIGRATION. 
 
 Earliest statistics of immigration, 14, 15. Immigrants entering 
 from Canada and Mexico, 14, 15. Number and national- 
 ities of immigrants, 1820-1893, 16-18. 
 
 Fluctuations in the number of immigrants, and changes in regard 
 to their nationalities, 19. Distribution of immigrants 
 through the country, 20. 
 
 Distribution of the native and foreign-born population, 21. Per- 
 centage increase of native and foreign-born population, by 
 geographical divisions, from 1850 to 1890, 21. Percentage 
 of foreign-born population, and geographical distribution 
 as compared with native, from 1870 to 1890, 21, 22. 
 
 Exclusion of the Chinese, 22. Farther legislation concerning 
 the Chinese, 22, 23. 
 
 Exclusion of convicts, lunatics, and idiots, etc., 24. Regulation 
 of the immigrant-carrying business by Congress, 24. 
 Restraints on immigration, 24. 
 
 III. IRRIGATION. 
 
 Distribution of the population in accordance with the mean 
 annual rainfall, 25. Imperfection of the statistics of rain- 
 fall, 25. Scantiness of rainfall much more important than 
 overabundance in reference to density of population, 26. 
 Parts of the country where the rainfall is large and the 
 population scanty, 26. 
 
CONTENTS. Xi 
 
 Regions thinly inhabited on account of insufficient supply of 
 rain, 27. Slow growth, or even decrease, of the popula- 
 tion in parts of the arid region, between 1880 and 1890, 
 
 27, 28. 
 
 Area and population of the Cordilleran division, 1880 and 1890, 
 
 28. Effects of irrigation, 28. Introduction of irrigation, 
 
 28, 29. 
 
 Appropriations by Congress for preliminary work with reference 
 to a scientifically planned irrigational system for the arid 
 region, by the U. S. Geological Survey, 29. Reports of 
 work done by the Geological Survey, as far as received 
 up to September, 1893, 30, 31. Nothing up to this time 
 actually done by the government toward carrying out these 
 irrigation schemes, 31. 
 
 Great expenses and difficulties necessarily to be encountered if 
 this were to be attempted, 32. Light on this subject from 
 the reports of the Chief of Engineers, in regard to the 
 reservoirs built by government at the head of the Mis- 
 sissippi, 32, 33. Discussion of the utility of these reser- 
 voirs, 33. 
 
 irrigation in India, 34-36. Essential differences between the 
 conditions in India and in the United States as regards 
 irrigation, 34-36. Density of population of India, 35. 
 Irregularity, not scantiness, of precipitation the difficulty 
 in India, 35, 36. Table showing the density of the pop- 
 ulation, the number of acres cultivated, and the number 
 irrigated, with the average rainfall of the principal dis- 
 tricts of India, 36. 
 
 Table showing the annual precipitation and local variations at 
 stations in the arid region, 37. Contrast between conditions 
 in India and the arid region of the United States, 38, 
 System of irrigation of the Doab described, 38. 
 
 Injurious effects of long-continued irrigation, or so-called "over 
 irrigation," 39. Statements of English engineers in regard 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 to this matter, 39-41. Long-continued irrigation in various 
 countries other than India, 41, 42. 
 
 Physical decay of certain Eastern countries, 41. G. P. Marsh's 
 views in regard to the causes of this condition of things, 
 42. Reference to the present writer's investigations of this 
 subject, 42. 
 
 B. W. Hilgard's investigations of the " reh " or alkaline deposits 
 in California, 43-45. Origin of the " reh," 43. Attention 
 to this matter recommended, 45. The subject of drainage 
 in connection with the " reh," 45. Report of the Super- 
 intendent of the Geological Survey of India on this 
 subject, 46. 
 
 Irrigation of the arid region of the United States by means of 
 Artesian wells, 46-48. Report of F. H. Newell on " Arte- 
 sian wells for Irrigation," 47. What is an Artesian well? 
 47, 48. Titles of United States official publications on 
 Artesian wells, 47. 
 
 Artesian conditions in the Paris Basin, 49, 50. The Artesian 
 well of Grenelle, 49. Of Passy, 49, 50. 
 
 Deep and Artesian wells in London, 51, 52. Failure of deep 
 Artesian wells, and causes of this, 51. Deep borings in 
 the London basin, 51, 52. Deep bored wells in Central 
 and Northern England, 52. Water supply of Manchester 
 and Liverpool, 52, 53. The Vyrnwy dam, 53. 
 
 Irrigation by means of Artesian wells in Northern Africa, 54-56. 
 Methods of boring, and conditions in the Sahara, 55, 56. 
 Prospects of redeeming the Sahara, 56. 
 
 Artesian wells in the Eastern United States, 56-61. Ideas for- 
 merly generally held with regard to procuring water by 
 means of deep bored wells, 56, 57. Attempts to procure 
 water in this way in Boston and New York, 57. Deep 
 wells in New York, 57. 
 
 Bored wells in Alabama, and quality and quantity of the water 
 thus obtained, 58. A. Winchell on the Artesian wells of 
 Alabama, 58, 59. 
 
CONTENTS. Xiii 
 
 Water-supply of Charleston, S. C., 59-61. Artesian wells at 
 Charleston, 59-61. Analyses of the water from these 
 wells, 60, 61. 
 
 Deep borings in the Mississippi Valley, 61-67. Artesian well 
 at Louisville, Ky., 61, 62. At St. Louis, Mo., 62. At 
 Columbus and Eaton, and near Cincinnati, Ohio, 63. 
 Natural gas and petroleum in the Trenton limestone of 
 Ohio, 63, 64. Deep borings and shallow wells in Indiana, 
 64. Quality of the water obtained from deep borings in 
 Indiana, 65. Attempts to obtain Artesian water in 
 Illinois, 65, 67. Deep borings at Chicago, 65, 66. At 
 other localities in Illinois, 66, 67. 
 
 Mineral springs and Artesian -wells of Wisconsin, 6773. 
 Regions in Wisconsin designated by the Geological Sur- 
 vey as areas of favorable probabilities for Artesian wells, 
 67, 78. Classification of the Artesian wells of Wisconsin 
 with reference to the geological position of the rocks from 
 which the water is derived, 68. Wells in the drift of 
 Wisconsin, and quality of the water obtained, 68, 69. 
 Bored wells in the Niagara limestone of Wisconsin, 69, 
 70. Wells in the Galena and Trenton limestones in Wis- 
 consin, 70. In the St. Peters sandstone at Sheboygan, 
 Milwaukee, and Racine, 70, 71. Wells in the Potsdam 
 sandstone in Wisconsin, 71. Mineral springs and wells 
 north of the Wisconsin River, 71-73. At Sparta, 71. At 
 La Crosse and Prairie du Chien, 72, 73. 
 
 Water-supply of Iowa, 73-78. Conditions of water-supply in 
 Iowa, discussed in the State Geological reports, 73, 74. 
 R. E. Call's investigations of the Iowa Artesian wells, 
 74-77. Wells in Iowa in the glacial drift, 74-76. Deep 
 wells in Iowa obtaining water from the St. Peters sand- 
 stone, 76. Quality of the water furnished by the Artesian 
 wells of Iowa, 77. " Magnetic " and medicinal waters of 
 Iowa, 77, 78. 
 
XiV CONTEXTS. 
 
 Water-supply pf Minnesota, 78-81. Shallow wells in Minnesota, 
 78. Shallow flowing wells, or " fountains," in Minnesota, 
 78, 79. Quality of the water from the "fountains" of 
 Minnesota, 79. Artesian wells at Red Wing, 79. Near 
 St. Paul, 80. At Mendota and Hastings, 81. 
 
 Mineral springs and Artesian wells of Missouri, 81-83. Analysis 
 of the water of the Belcher well, St. Louis, 82. Analyses 
 of waters from other Artesian wells in Missouri, 82, 88. 
 
 Mineral waters and springs of Arkansas, 83. Climatic condi- 
 tions of Texas, 84. 
 
 Artesian wells in the Coast region of Texas, 84-86. Artesian 
 wells at Galveston, 85, 86. At Houston, 86. Quality of 
 the water obtained from deep borings in the States adja- 
 cent to the Mississippi River, 87. 
 
 Water-supply and irrigation in the arid region of the United States, 
 87-232. Position of the isohyetal marking the boundary 
 between the sufficiently and insufficiently watered divisions 
 of the United States, 87. Where the irrigation question 
 is one of great importance, 88. 
 
 Table showing the percentage of irrigated area in 1890, and the 
 density of the population in 1880 and 1890, in various States 
 and Territories included within the arid belt, 89. Circum- 
 stances conditioning the density of the population within 
 the arid belt, 89. Irrigation in Washington and Oregon, 
 90. Complete returns lacking for California and Colorado, 
 90. Census statistics of Artesian wells for irrigation in 
 the western half of the United States, 91. 
 
 Sources of information in regard to the region of the Plains, 91. 
 Additional titles of volumes relating to the irrigation of 
 the arid lands of the United States, issued under govern- 
 ment authority, 92. White and Aughey's report on Arte- 
 sian wells on the Great Plains, 92, 93. Enumeration of 
 the early attempts to procure water on the Plains by 
 boring, under government auspices, 93, 94. Unfavorable 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 conclusions of White and Aughey as to the possibility of 
 obtaining Artesian water on the Plains, 94. 
 
 General considerations in regard to the early occupation of the 
 arid region of the United States by immigrants and settlers, 
 95-100. Irregularity of the rainfall in regions where this 
 is small in amount, 96. The Great Plains naturally a 
 pastoral or stock- growing region, 96. How settlers were 
 obliged to diminish the area of their ranges, 97. Kesults 
 of too hasty occupation of a region of small rainfall, as 
 shown by the census of 1890, in the case of the Dakotas, 
 Nebraska, and Kansas, 98, 99. Additional statements to 
 the same effect from other sources, 99. 
 
 Review of the "Progress Report" of R. T. Hiiiton. Special Agent 
 of the " Artesian Underflow and Irrigation Investigation," 
 100-134. Nature of the "Underflow" or "Undersheet 
 Water," as described by him, 101. The so-called " phre- 
 atic waters," 101. Supposed theoretical proof of the exist- 
 ence of an available undersheet of water in the Mississippi 
 Valley, 102-105. Fallacy of these ideas, 102-105. 
 
 What portion of the Mississippi Valley is in need of irrigation ? 
 102-105. Incorrectness of the data used, and sources from 
 which they were obtained, 103, 104. Early and later esti- 
 mates of the amount of rainfall in the Mississippi and 
 Missouri basins, 103, 104. Table of rainfall and of per- 
 centage of discharge of the Mississippi and its tributaries, 
 104. Hinton's under-estimate of the percentage of the 
 rainfall lost by evaporation, 105. Lack of precise data for 
 the United States in regard to percolation and evapora- 
 tion, 105. 
 
 Experiments with the Dalton gauge near London, and their 
 results, 105, 106. Similar experiments in other parts of 
 Europe, 106. 
 
 Climate of the Great Plains very unfavorable to percolation, 106, 
 107. The author's experience in Colorado, 107. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Results obtained by the Artesian, Underflow, and Irrigation 
 Investigations up to 1891, 108-110. The drainage of the 
 Rocky Mountains declared to be a great source of supply 
 for Artesian wells over a large part of the United States, 
 108, 109. Catlin's ideas in regard to the underflow as the 
 origin of the Gulf Stream, 110. 
 
 The "Artesian Wells Investigation Report" of 1890, 110-121. 
 Names of the engineers and geologists employed, 111. 
 Principal results of this survey, as summed up by the 
 Supervisory Engineer, 111, 112. Groups of Artesian 
 wells in the region examined, geographically located by 
 the General Field Geologist, 113. Principal facts in re- 
 gard to the Artesian wells of the James River Yalley, 113. 
 Quality of the water of these wells, 114. Artesian wells in 
 Southwestern Kansas, and near the Colorado line in the 
 Arkansas Yalley, 114. Shallow wells in the glacial drift 
 in the Dakotas, 115. The wells of the Denver Basin, 115, 
 116. Water-supply of the region in Colorado lying at the 
 eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, 116. Presumptions 
 in regard to the similarly situated region in New Mexico, 
 116. Failure of the wells at Denver, 116. Wells in South- 
 western Kansas obtaining water from the Tertiary grit, 116. 
 Wells at Miles City, Montana, supplied from the Laramie 
 group, 117. 
 
 Report of E. S. Nettleton, Chief Engineer of the Artesian, Under- 
 flow, and Irrigation Investigation, 117-121. Geographical 
 position of lines surveyed by him across Nebraska and 
 Kansas with reference to conditions of water-supply, 118. 
 Condensed statement of facts contained in his tables of 
 statistical information, 118, 119. Inferences drawn from 
 this statement as to the reality of a general underflow 
 system, 119. The real nature of the water-supply from 
 the superficial detritus in the region reported on by the 
 Chief Engineer, 120. Relations of water-supply from 
 wells in general to the amount of precipitation, 120, 121. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Possibility that the water obtained from these wells was 
 stored in the rocks during a former period of greater pre- 
 cipitation, 121, 122. 
 
 Final Report of the Artesian and Underflow Investigation, and 
 of the Irrigation Inquiry, published in 1892, 122-281. Titles 
 of the separate volumes of this report, and names of the 
 authors, 122, 123. Valuable results claimed by the Special 
 Agent in charge to have been accomplished, 123. Activity 
 in irrigation enterprises during the year 1891, 124. In- 
 crease of population in the northern part of the arid 
 region claimed, 124. More evidence on this will be 
 afforded by the results of the next census, 125. Slight 
 amount of change shown by comparison of statistics 
 given with those of the census of 1890, 125. Statistics 
 of irrigation and population in Arizona, 125. 
 
 Ideas of the Special Agent in regard to controlling the " con- 
 tinental water-supply" examined and criticised, 126-134. 
 What is meant by "continental water-supply," 126, 127. 
 Dimensions of area drained by streams heading in Mon- 
 tana, Wyoming, and Colorado, 127. Size of the basin of 
 a river and length of its course do not determine its im- 
 portance as a tributary stream, 128. How it is supposed 
 that control of the water-supply could possibly be effected, 
 128-130. Reservation of the forests, 130. Necessary 
 conditions of settlement and cultivation of a forested 
 country, 131. Conditions in this respect of the Atlantic 
 States, 131. The climate of New England has not been 
 changed to any perceptible degree by the removal of a 
 large proportion of its forests, 132. The distribution of 
 the isohyetal lines not dependent on the presence or ab- 
 sence of forests, 132. What causes do really determine 
 the amount of the rainfall of any region, 132. What 
 effects may be produced in certain localities by protect- 
 ing the forests, 133. Diminution of the amount of water 
 standing in lakes or flowing in rivers known to have long 
 
 6 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 been going on over much of the earth's surface, and to be 
 still in progress, but this desiccation not caused by the 
 agency of man, 134. Any change of this kind necessarily 
 most important and soonest perceived in regions of small 
 precipitation, 134. 
 
 Contribution to the Final Report of the Artesian and Underflow 
 Investigation, by E. S. Nettleton, Chief Engineer, 135-145. 
 Time for completing the irrigation investigation extended 
 to January 1, 1892, and distribution of work in accord- 
 ance with this change, 135. Re-examination of surveyed 
 lines in the valleys of the Arkansas and Platte rivers, 
 135. Value of the work in the Dakota Artesian Basin, 
 135. 
 
 Pecos Valley subterranean waters, 136-138. Water conditions 
 in the Pecos Valley and the adjacent region, 137. Recent 
 change in the character of the Rio Penasco, 137. " China 
 holes " on the table-lands of Pecos Valley, 138. 
 
 Extent and availability of the underflow in the Valleys of the 
 Platte and Arkansas, according to the Chief Engineer, 139141. 
 Location of surveyed lines, 139. Negative results along 
 Cheyenne and Sterling lines, 139. No important addi- 
 tions to the results previously attained on the other sur- 
 veyed lines, 140. 
 
 Movement of the underflow in the river valleys, 140-141. Ex- 
 periments for determining its velocity, 140. Reasons why 
 experiments of this kind can have but little value, 140, 141. 
 
 Deep wells of the Dakota Basin, 142, 143. Location of these 
 wells, and statistics of their depth and flow, 142. Lack 
 of uniformity in the position of the water-bearing strata, 
 and in the character of the lower rocks, 142, 143. 
 
 Statements of W. W. Pollett, Assistant Engineer, in regard to the 
 Red River Valley Artesian Basin, 143, 144. Geological 
 structure of this basin, and statistics of the wells, 144. 
 Character of the water, 144. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Belief of the Chief Engineer, that there has been a recurrence 
 of wet and dry periods in the region examined by him, 144. 
 Unsatisfactory character of the evidence to this effect, 144. 
 Real nature of the phenomena of desiccation, 144, 145. 
 
 Report of the Chief Geologist of the Irrigation Inquiry, 145-155. 
 Titles of the special reports contained in this volume, 145. 
 Sketch of the geology of the Plains, 145-147. The super- 
 ficial formations, " plains' marl," " Tertiary grit," etc., 
 146, 147. Difficulty of separating the Post-Tertiary from 
 the Tertiary in the Plains region, 147. Impropriety of the 
 use of the term " Loess " in this region, 147. Wells in the 
 Tertiary grit, 147-148. Importance of the water-supply 
 from the Tertiary grit, 149. The source of this water is 
 the rainfall, 149. Discussion of the question whether this 
 source of supply is inexhaustible, 149, 150. 
 
 Discussion by the Chief Geologist of the meaning of the word 
 "underflow," 151-153. Exaggerated ideas of the under- 
 flow current in the arid region, and why they cannot be 
 accepted as correct, 151, 152. How the Chief Geologist 
 wishes to limit the use of the word "underflow," 152. 
 Objections to this, and the real nature of the underflow 
 explained, 153. 
 
 Remarks of the Chief Geologist in regard to the Artesian basins of 
 the Great Plains, 153, 154. Their number has not been 
 increased since the publication of the preceding report, 
 but the area of several of these basins has been enlarged, 
 153. The James River Basin, Dakota, and the Fort Worth- 
 Waco Basins, Texas, 153, 154. Source of the water of the 
 wells of Coolidge, in the Arkansas Valley, 154, 155. Gas 
 pressure and rock pressure as causes of the rise of water 
 to the surface, 155. 
 
 Report of the Assistant Geologist for Texas west of 97, the 
 Indian Territory, and Eastern New Mexico, 155-198. Occur- 
 rence and availability of underground water, 155-157. 
 Extraordinary ideas on this subject held by many in the 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 arid region, 155, 156. Conditions controlling the distri- 
 bution of the underground waters, 156, 157. Causes of 
 the failure of various borings for Artesian water, and how 
 water may be procured on the most sterile plains, 157. 
 
 Detailed account of the Texas -New Mexico region, 158-198. 
 Topography and subdivisions of this region, 158, 159. 
 Geographical limits of the Eastern Division of Texas, 
 
 160. Position of the isohyetal lines in Texas, 160, 161. 
 Geology of the Eastern Division, 161, 162. Soil, rocks, 
 flora, and water-supply dependent on geological structure, 
 
 161. Distribution of the forests and prairies determined 
 by the character of the soil, 161, 162. Reference to the 
 present author's publications on this subject, 161. Fault 
 lines in the Eastern Division of Texas, 162. 
 
 Artesian areas in the Eastern Division of Texas, 163-183. The 
 Coast Prairie region, 163, 164. Artesian wells of Galves- 
 ton and Houston, 163, 164. The Washington County Black 
 Prairies, 164. The Fayette sands as a source of water- 
 supply, 164. The East Texas timbered region, 164, 165. 
 Geological structure and water-supply of the timber belt, 
 
 164, 165. 
 
 The Cretaceous Prairie region and the Cross Timbers, 165168. 
 Topographic features, soil, and vegetation of this district, 
 
 165, 166. Prosperity of the prairie region, 166. The 
 Main Black Prairie region described, 166. Nature of the 
 "black-waxy" soil, and the cause of its dark color, 166. 
 Geological formations underlying the Black Prairie re- 
 gion, 167. The Lower Cross Timbers, 167, 168. Cause 
 of the occurrence of this belt of timber, 167, 168. The 
 " prairie question," 168. 
 
 The Grand Prairie, 168, 169. Its elevation and geological 
 structure, 169. The Comanche Series, 169. 
 
 Water-supply of that part of Texas which is underlain by Creta- 
 ceous rocks, 170-183. The Grand Prairie drainage system, 
 
CONTENTS. Xxi 
 
 170-173. Geographical position of the Edwards Plateau, 
 170. Its value as a great water-reservoir, 171. Springs 
 and rivers running from the Edwards Plateau, 71. The 
 springs of San Antonio, Del Rio, San Marcos, and Austin, 
 172. These are all derived from the Trinity sands, 173. 
 
 Artesian well system of the Grand and Black Prairies, 173-183. 
 Extent of this Artesian area, 173. Wells of Fort Worth, 
 
 174. Formations furnishing the Artesian water of the 
 Black and Grand Prairie region, 174, 175. Dallas-Potts- 
 boro group of Artesian wells, 175. The Lower Cross 
 Timber, or Dakota, sands furnish the water of these wells, 
 
 175. Area occupied by the Dakota sands in Texas, and 
 rainfall on this formation, 175. Artesian and non-flowing 
 wells in the Dakota sands, 176. Artesian wells of the 
 Fort Worth- Waco region, 176-181. Wells in this district 
 obtaining their water from the Paluxy sands, 176, 177. 
 Importance of these wells, 177. Wells of Waco deriving 
 their water from the Trinity sands, 177, 178. Volume of 
 water delivered by the Artesian wells of Waco, 177. Depth 
 of these wells, 178. Quality of the water of the Waco 
 wells, 178. Deep borings at Fort Worth, 179. High 
 expectations in regard to the future importance of the 
 Fort Worth Artesian wells, 179, 180. Asserted purity of 
 the water from these wells, 180. Limits of the Fort 
 Worth -Waco system, 181. 
 
 The Black and Grand Prairie region south of the Colorado, 181, 
 182. The Edwards Plateau, 181, 182. Springs on the 
 eastern edge of this plateau, 182. 
 
 Value of the Artesian -waters of the Black and Grand Prairies, 
 182, 183. Absence of information in regard to the com- 
 position of these waters, 183. 
 
 The Red Beds region of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, 183, 
 184. Geographical position and geological structure of 
 the Red Beds region, 184. Scantiness and irregularity 
 
XXli CONTENTS. 
 
 of the precipitation in this region, 185. " Ked rises," 
 185. Water conditions of the Red Beds region, 185. 
 Quality of the water of this region, 185. 
 
 The Llano Estacado, 185-189. Extent of the Llano, 186. 
 Origin and meaning of the name, 185, 186. Topographic 
 features, scenery, and drainage of the Llano, 187. Char- 
 acter of its superficial covering, 187. No surface water 
 on the Llano, and reasons for this condition of things, 188. 
 Irregularity of the precipitation in this region, 188. Water 
 can be had on the Llano from deep wells in the mortar 
 beds and grits, 189. No Artesian water has as yet been 
 obtained on the Llano, 189. Absence of information in 
 regard to the quality of the water from the wells of the 
 Llano, 189. 
 
 The Trans-Fecos or Basin region, 189-198. Topography of the 
 Great Basin, 190, 192. Great Salt Lake and Humboldt 
 Lake, 190, 191. Climatic conditions of the Great Basin, 
 
 191. The Colorado River, 191. The regions south and 
 southwest of the Great Basin proper, 192. Changes in 
 the orography of the Rocky Mountains in this direction, 
 
 192. Development of " mesas " and " basin plains " in 
 New Mexico and Western Texas, 193. Lack of accurate 
 maps of this region, 193. The Organ-Hueco basin, 193, 
 194. The Mesilla Basin, 194, 195. Climatic and water 
 conditions of these and other similar basins, 194-196. 
 Records of wells on the Lanoria Mesa, 195. Depth and 
 character of the water from flowing wells at Pecos City, 
 196. 
 
 Summing up of the "water conditions of the inter-mountain plains 
 or basins, 197. Death Valley and the Jornada del Muerto, 
 197. Sanguine expectations of a citizen of the driest part 
 of Nevada, 198. 
 
 Examination of the Report of L. E. Hicks on the Underflow, etc. 
 of Nebraska, 198-210. Geological structure of the region, 
 
CONTENTS. Xxiii 
 
 199. Rainfall and water conditions of Nebraska, 199, 200. 
 The rivers of that State were once much larger than they 
 now are, 200, 201. Explanation of this, 202, 203. The 
 underflow described, 203, 204. Sheet waters, 204. Geol- 
 ogy of the region examined, 204. Water conditions of the 
 superficial detrital material, 204, 205. The annual rise of 
 the Loup Rivers considered with reference to the question 
 of the velocity of the underflow, 205, 206. Real character 
 of the phenomena, 206. Irrigational possibilities in Ne- 
 braska, 20T, 208. Survey of the Loup Valley, 208-210. 
 The Loup a typical river of the plains, 208. Description 
 of the Loup Valley, 200-210. How its climate may be 
 ameliorated, 210. 
 
 Examination of the Report of G. E. Culver on the Dakota Basin, 
 210-215. Geological condition of the Dakota Basin, 210- 
 212. Quantity and quality of the water, 212. Geology 
 and water conditions of the Black Hills, 213, 214. Dis- 
 tricts in which " test wells " are considered desirable, 214. 
 Adequacy of the supply, 214, 215. 
 
 Report of J. W. Gregory, Special Agent, on the Mid-Plains 
 Division of the Artesian and Underflow Investigation, 215 
 231. Boundaries of his field of investigation, 215. Special 
 object of this investigation, 215. Surface characteristics of 
 the region examined, 216. Its climate, 216, 217. What 
 is needed to make it densely populous, 217. Meaning 
 and use of the name " Great American Desert," 217. 
 Deserts, barrens, and tundras, 217. Statistics of the 
 rainfall of this region, 218. Minimum amount of 
 rainfall necessary for the success of agriculture, 219. 
 Opinions of the Chief Signal Officer on this point, 219. 
 Irrigation of the arid region not an absolute necessity, 
 219, 220. Successful experiments in timber-culture with- 
 out irrigation, 220. An ideal development of the Plains 
 region described, 220. How this might have been brought 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 about, 220, 221. What has really happened on the Plains, 
 221. Sanguine expectations in regard to the future devel- 
 opment of the Plains, 222. By what means this is to be 
 effected, 222, 223. It is the duty of the General Govern- 
 ment to interfere in behalf of the settlers on the Plains, 
 
 223. Artesian wells on the Plains are of little or no value, 
 
 224. The underflow, 224-231. Its mode of occurrence 
 illustrated by diagrams, 225. Attempts to determine its 
 rate of flow, 225, 226. Statements of citizens of the Plains 
 in regard to the abundance of the underflow water, 226. 
 The underflow believed to appear on the Atlantic coast and 
 in the Gulf of Mexico, in the form of fresh water springs, 
 226, 227. Testimony of the Superintendent of the Coast 
 Survey in reference to this, 226, 227. Modes of utilizing 
 the underflow or sheet waters of the Plains, 227-231. The 
 "fountain method," 228, 229. Examples of the applica- 
 tion of this method, 228, 229. Conditions at Garden City, 
 Kansas, 229. Method adopted in Persia for bringing 
 water from a distance, 229. Objections to the fountain 
 method refuted, 230. Immense development of the Great 
 Plains possible by means of this method, 231. 
 
 F. H. Newell ; Statistics of Irrigation contained in Extra 
 Census Bulletin, No. 23, 231, 232. Tabular statement of 
 areas irrigated and of percentage character of irrigated 
 crops, 232. 
 
 Fourth Irrigation Report of the United States Geological Survey 
 examined, 233-274. Contents of the Report, 233, 234. 
 
 F. H. Newell on Water Supply for Irrigation, 234-247. Water 
 supply available as determined by the character of the 
 vegetation in the region requiring irrigation, 234-237. 
 Estimate of the areas furnishing water and of the whole 
 amount of water available for irrigation in the arid region, 
 237. Fluctuations of rivers and lakes, 238, 240. Seasonal 
 or periodic oscillations, 238. Non-periodic oscillations, 
 
CONTENTS. XXV 
 
 239. Extraordinary amount of precipitation in 1884, and 
 inferences therefrom, 230. Bruckner's work on climatic 
 fluctuations, 239, 240. Fluctuations of lakes and rivers 
 due to climatic forces world-wide in extent, 240. Subsur- 
 face waters, 240-243. Statistics of irrigation by means of 
 Artesian wells, 241. Ordinary wells on the Great Plains, 
 241. Nature of the underflow, 241, 242. Are the subsur- 
 face waters stationary? 242. The fountain method not a 
 success, 243, 244. Cost and value of water-supply, 244- 
 246. Probable sources of error in these computations, 
 246. Drainage basins of the Missouri, Yellowstone, and 
 Platte rivers, 246. Character of the discharge of the 
 principal streams gauged, 246, 247, 
 
 Report of H. M. Wilson on American Irrigation Engineering, 247- 
 274. Object of this report, 247. Artesian wells for irri- 
 gation, 248. Definition of the term "underflow," 248. 
 The fountain method, 248, 249. Utilization of the great 
 rivers for irrigation, 249. Desirability of storage reser- 
 voirs, 250. The duty of water, 250. Irrigation in India, 
 251-256. Contrast between the conditions affecting irri- 
 gation in India and in the arid region of the United States, 
 251-253. Relation of the government to irrigation in the 
 United States, 252. The conditions from this point of 
 view in India, 253. The question of the formation of alka- 
 line deposits as a consequence of irrigation discussed, 
 254-256. Discussion of the question of the character of 
 the water to be used for irrigation, 256, 257. History 
 of irrigation and of legislation relating to it in the United 
 States, 257-259. Early practice of irrigation in Arizona, 
 257, 258. In California and Utah, 258, 259. Present con- 
 dition of irrigation in California, Colorado, and Utah, 259, 
 260. Legislation and administration, 260, 261. Present 
 status of the irrigational work done under the direction of 
 the United States Geological Survey, 261. Present con- 
 dition of the laws regulating the acquirement of title to 
 
xxvi CONTENTS. 
 
 irrigable lands, 261, 262. Description of various engineer- 
 ing works, 262, 263. Water storage, 263-270. San Diego 
 Flume Company, 264, 265. Merced Reservoir, 265. Long 
 Valley Reservoir, 265, 266. Walnut Grove Reservoir, 266. 
 Castlewood Reservoir, 266, 267. Bear Valley Reservoir, 
 267, 268. Rainfall in Bear Valley, 267. Sweetwater 
 Reservoir, 268. Lake Hemet Water Company, 268. 
 Arrowhead Reservoir Company, 269. Water-supply of 
 Denver, 269, 270. Subsurface sources of supply, 270-272. 
 The underflow, 270. Pumping wells, 271. Submerged 
 dams, 271, 272. American Water Company's works, 271. 
 Submerged dam on Pacoima Creek, 272. Relative impor- 
 tance of pumping wells, 272. Engineering results of the 
 Irrigation Survey, 272-274. Methods by which the work 
 has been conducted, 272, 273. Surveys of various drainage 
 basins, 274. 
 
 General Remarks on Irrigation, 274-282. Discrepancies in the 
 views of writers on the arid region, 274, 275. Gradual 
 relinquishment of some of the earlier exaggerated ideas 
 held by irrigational officials, 275. Inadequate natural sup- 
 ply of water a great disadvantage, 275. Density of pop- 
 ulation as affected by dryness of climate, 275. No nation 
 occupying a commanding position except in a region of 
 adequate precipitation, 275. The arid part of the United 
 States will never be densely populated, 276. Importance 
 of certain parts of the arid region, on account of the 
 extent and value of their deposits of metalliferous ores, 
 276. Duration of these deposits, 276. The Great Plains, 
 their present condition and future prospects, 277. Arte- 
 sian wells, general remarks on, 278-280. Relative impor- 
 tance of Artesian wells, 278. The typical basin structure 
 not present in the Artesian wells of the United States, 
 278. Conditions producing Artesian pressure where the 
 basin structure is absent, 278-280. Rock pressure, 279. 
 Gas pressure, 280. Water supply by means of storage 
 
CONTENTS. XXvii 
 
 reservoirs, 280-282. Difficulties and dangers of storage 
 reservoirs, 281. Plan of having the General Government 
 build and manage storage reservoirs, 281, 282. 
 Supplementary Note. Artesian wells in Eastern Virginia, 
 Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey, 282. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. Latest statistics of Immigration, with additional remarks 
 on Immigration in general, and on the present status of 
 the Chinese in the United States, 285-289. 
 
 B. Brief Discussion of the Question whether Changes of Cli- 
 mate can be brought about by the Agency of Man, and on 
 Secular Climatic Changes in general, with special refer- 
 ence to the Arid Region of the United States, 290-317. 
 
 0. List of United States Official Publications relating to 
 Irrigation and Matters connected therewith, 318-324. 
 
POPULATION, IMMIGRATION, AND 
 IRRIGATION. 
 
 I. POPULATION. 
 
 ' r ~PHE first census of the United States was taken in 
 * 1790, and there has been one taken every tenth 
 year since that time. The following table shows the 
 absolute number of inhabitants, " excluding Indians 
 not taxed," at each decennial period, and also the rate 
 per cent of increase during the previous ten years : 
 
 Year. Population. Percentage of 
 
 Increase. 
 
 1790 3,929,214 
 
 1800 5,308,483 35.11 
 
 1810 7,239,881 36.40 
 
 1820 9,633,822 33.06 
 
 1830 12,806,020 33.55 
 
 1840 17,069,453 32.67 
 
 1850 23,191,876 35.86 
 
 1860 31,443,321 35.58 
 
 1870 38,558,371 22.63 
 
 1880 50,155,783 30.08 
 
 1890 62,622,250 24.86 
 
 The population of the United States on June 1, 1890, 
 as shown by the final count, exclusive of Indians and 
 
 i 
 
2 GROWTH OF THE POPULATION. 
 
 other persons in Indian territory, on Indian reserva- 
 tion, and in Alaska, was 62,622,250 ; including these 
 persons the population was 62,979,766. In 1880 the 
 population with the same exclusions was 50,155,783. 
 The absolute increase of the population in the ten 
 years intervening was 12,466,467, and the percentage 
 of increase was 24.86. In 1870 the population was 
 stated as 38,558,371. According to these figures the 
 absolute increase in the decade between 1870 and 1880 
 was 11,597,412, and the percentage of increase was 
 30.08. 
 
 The effect of the Civil War on the growth of popula- 
 tion in the United States is easily seen in the dimin- 
 ished ratio of increase shown by the figures for the 
 decade 1860-70. With that exception, the rate has 
 been extraordinarily large and uniform, but less in 
 the decade 1870-80 than in any preceding one, and 
 still less in the decade 1880-90. 1 That this rapid 
 growth of the population, due in so large a part to 
 
 1 The following statement, made in the volume devoted to Population, 
 in the Final Census Report of 1890, gives an explanation of how, in the 
 opinion of the Superintendent of this Census, these anomalies are to be 
 accounted for : " Upon their face these figures show that the population 
 increased 869,055 more between 1880 and 1890 than between 1870 and 
 1880, while the rate of increase has apparently diminished from 30.08 to 
 24.86 per cent. If these figures were derived from correct data, they 
 would be disappointing. Such a reduction in the rate of increase, in 
 the face of the heavy immigration during the past ten years, would argue 
 a diminution in the fecundity of the population, or a corresponding in- 
 crease in its death rate. These figures are, however, easily explained 
 when the character of the data used is understood. It is well known, 
 the fact having been demonstrated by extensive and thorough investi- 
 gation, that the census of 1870 was grossly deficient in the Southern 
 States, so much so as not only to give an exaggerated rate of increase 
 of the population between 1870 and 1880 in these States, but to affect 
 materially the rate of increase in the country at large." 
 
MOVEMENT OF THE POPULATION. 3 
 
 immigration, will continue to be maintained is in the 
 highest degree improbable. The fact that nearly the 
 whole of the more valuable portion of the public lands 
 has been already taken up can hardly fail to check 
 immigration, although the population is at present 
 far from dense, and far from being so large that there 
 is not ample room for a much larger number. 
 
 The area embraced within the United States at the 
 time of taking the first census was about eight hundred 
 and fifty thousand square miles, a precise statement 
 of the amount being impossible, owing to the peculiar 
 wording of that part of the treaty in which the 
 northern and western boundaries of the country are 
 defined. The density of the population at that time 
 was about 4.6 persons per square mile, this population 
 being almost exclusively confined to the Atlantic sea- 
 board. At that time not more than five per cent of 
 the inhabitants of the country lived west of the Appa- 
 lachian range, the settlements being very closely lim- 
 ited to the borders of the navigable streams. At the 
 time of taking the census of 1850, the boundaries of 
 the United States had become definitely established, 
 the only addition made since that time being the terri- 
 tory acquired in 1853 by the Gadsden purchase (about 
 47,330 square miles). At that time the average den- 
 sity of the population of the whole country was a 
 little less than eight persons per square mile. 
 
 The following table shows the density of the popula- 
 tion at the epoch of each census which has been taken 
 during the time when the area of the country remained 
 (with the exception of the purchase of Alaska, not here 
 included) unchanged : 
 
MOVEMENT OF THE POPULATION. 
 
 Tear. Area of U. S. 
 
 1860 ........... 3,025,600 10.39 
 
 1870 ........... " 12.74 
 
 1880 .......... . " 16.57 
 
 1890 ........... " 20.70 
 
 The movement of the population has, from the be- 
 ginning, been from the east toward the west, the first 
 settlements having been made on the Atlantic coast, 
 and the emigration to the United States having been 
 almost exclusively from European countries. The 
 Pacific coast had, previously to the annexation of Cali- 
 fornia, received a small number of whites coming from 
 Mexico, and since that time there have been some 
 accessions to the population in that region by means 
 of emigration from China ; but the number added from 
 this direction is almost insignificant in comparison with 
 that which has come into the country from the east. 
 Hence the centre of population has been moving west- 
 ward, and the investigations of the Coast Survey and 
 of the Census Bureau have shown that this movement 
 has been in an almost exactly westerly direction, and 
 that the centre of population has always remained very 
 near the parallel of 39. In 1790 it was in latitude 
 39 16'.5, at a point about twenty-three miles east of 
 Baltimore ; in 1880 it was eight miles west by south 
 from Cincinnati, in latitude 39 4'.1, having moved 
 westward 457 miles in ninety years ; in 1890 it was 
 in latitude 39 11' 56", and in longitude 85 32' 53", 
 having moved westward in the preceding ten years 
 53' 13", or about forty-eight miles, and northward 
 7' 48", or about nine miles. It rests now in Southern 
 Indiana, at a point a little west of south of Greens- 
 
MOVEMENT OF THE POPULATION. 5 
 
 burg, the county seat of Decatur County, and twenty 
 miles east of Columbus, Indiana. The most southerly 
 point reached was that of 1830, when the centre 
 was in latitude 38 57'.9 ; the most rapid movement 
 was in the period 1850-60, namely, eighty-one miles, 
 this being due to the rapid transfer of a consid- 
 erable population from the Eastern to the Pacific 
 States, consequent on the discovery of the gold of 
 California. 
 
 The percentage division of the population by sexes, as 
 shown by the censuses of 1850-90, was as follows : 
 
 1850. 1860. 1870. 1880. 1890. 
 
 Males 51.04 51.16 50.56 50.88 51.21 
 
 Females 48.96 48.84 49.44 49.12 48.79 
 
 The number of females for each 100,000 males in 
 1870, 1880, and 1890 was as follows : 
 
 1870. 1880. 1890. 
 
 Number of females to 100,000 males 97,801 96,544 95,280 
 
 As a natural result of the conditions influencing emi- 
 gration from the older to the newer States, it is found 
 that females are in excess in the Atlantic States. In 
 1880 in the District of Columbia, Rhode Island, and 
 Massachusetts the excess of females over males was 
 five per cent or more ; in Connecticut, New Hampshire, 
 North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, Virginia, 
 and Alabama it was from two and a half to five per 
 cent ; in Maryland, Georgia, New Jersey, Louisiana, 
 Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Maine it was less than 
 two and a half per cent. The States, on the other 
 hand, in which the males were, in 1880, considerably 
 in excess of the females, were those situated in the 
 
6 DISTRIBUTION OF THE SEXES. 
 
 Cordilleran region, where mining is the chief pursuit, 
 and where the conditions of life are such as are more 
 easily borne by men than by women. In Michigan, 
 Minnesota, Kansas, and Nebraska, which are not Cor- 
 dilleran States, but which are on the extreme northern, 
 western, or southwestern borders of the Central region, 
 the number of females was from eighty to ninety per 
 cent of that of the males, and New Mexico was in the 
 same category. In the Pacific Coast States in 1880 
 the number of females was from fifty to eighty per 
 cent that of the males ; and the same was true of 
 Colorado and Dakota, which are situated on the east- 
 ern borders of the Rocky Mountains, and which are 
 partly agricultural and partly mining States. In those 
 States in which mining and stock-raising are by far 
 the predominating interests, and which are entirely 
 enclosed in the Cordilleras, namely, Idaho, Nevada, 
 Wyoming, Arizona, and Montana, the inequality in 
 the numbers of the sexes is greatest, there being in 
 1880 in these Territories less than half as many females 
 as males. 
 
 Since 1880 the conditions of the population of sev- 
 eral of the States in regard to sex have altered mate- 
 rially. Thoughout the country at large there has been 
 an increase in the proportion of males, and this increase 
 has resulted in transferring from the list of States in 
 which in 1880 females were in excess, to those which 
 in 1890 males were in excess, no fewer than six 
 States namely, Maine, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ala- 
 bama, Louisiana, and Tennessee : in general it has 
 increased the proportion of males in the Northern and 
 Southern Central States. The development of more 
 
COLORED POPULATION. 7 
 
 settled conditions in the extreme western group of 
 States and Territories has, on the other hand, reduced 
 the proportion of males in that region. The whole 
 number of States and Territories in which, in 1890, 
 the females exceeded the males was eleven, as against 
 seventeen in 1880. All of the States and Territories 
 which, in 1890, showed an excess of females are found 
 in the North Atlantic and South Atlantic divisions, 
 as was also true of the States and Territories having, 
 in 1880, an excess of females over males, with the 
 exception of Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee in the 
 South Central division. In 1880 there were five States 
 and Territories in which the number of females was 
 less than fifty per cent of that of the males namely, 
 Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, and Montana ; while 
 in 1890 there was no State or Territory in which there 
 were not at least half as many females as males. In 
 1890 there were eleven States and Territories, mainly 
 in the Cordilleran division, in which the number of 
 females was between fifty and eighty per cent of that 
 of the males, as against five States and Territories 
 under like conditions in 1880. 
 
 Of the colored population the census of 1880 showed 
 the number to be 6,580,793 to 43,402,970 whites, or 
 15,162 colored in every 100,000 whites. The census 
 of 1890 showed that, out of a total population of 
 62,622,250, the persons of African descent numbered 
 7,470,040. In addition there were enumerated 107,475 
 Chinese, 2,039 Japanese, and 58,806 Indians competent 
 to be enrolled among the general population, making 
 the total colored element of the country 7,638,360, as 
 compared with a total white population of 54,983,390. 
 
8 POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION. 
 
 The percentage of the white and colored population 
 (including in the latter only those of African descent) 
 was, from 1790 to 1890, as follows : 
 
 1790. 1800. 1810. 1820, 1830. 1840. 1850. 1860. 1870. 1880. 1890. 
 White 80.73 81.12 80.97 81.61 81.90 83.16 84.31 85.62 87.11 86.54 87.89 
 Colored 19.27 18.88 19.03 18.39 18.10 16.84 15.69 1413 12.66 13.12 11.93 
 
 The uniform slowness with which the colored popu- 
 lation has decreased from being nearly one fifth of the 
 total to being only a little more than one tenth is 
 indeed remarkable. 
 
 The colored population is still, in spite of some slight 
 emigration, almost entirely confined to the former slave 
 States, and in three of them South Carolina, Missis- 
 sippi, and Louisiana the colored are in excess of the 
 whites. In Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, and 
 North Carolina the colored represented, in 1890, more 
 than fifty per cent of the white population, and the 
 same was true of these States in 1880. In four States 
 Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, and Maryland the col- 
 ored population represented, both in 1880 and in 1890, 
 from twenty-five to fifty per cent of the white. In the 
 District of Columbia, in 1880, there were more than half 
 as many colored as white, and in 1890 there were 48.85 
 of the former to 100 of the latter. In Kentucky and 
 Delaware, both in 1880 and in 1890, the colored repre- 
 sented between ten and twenty-five per cent of the 
 white population. Of the remaining States and Ter- 
 ritories ten had in 1890, as against eight in 1880, a 
 colored population representing from two to ten per 
 cent of the white, while in twenty-four the colored 
 element represented less than two per cent of the 
 white, both in 1880 and in 1890. 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION. 9 
 
 The number of Chinese in the country increased only 
 to a trifling extent between 1880 and 1890, namely, 
 from 105,465 to 107,475. As in 1880, so in 1890, by 
 far the greater portion of them are found in the Cor- 
 dilleran division, although a perceptible amount of 
 distribution over the country in general has taken 
 place. In 1890 the number of Chinese in the Cor- 
 dilleran division was 96,844, and in 1880, 102,102. 
 Of the total number of Chinese in the country in 1890, 
 a little over two thirds (72,472) were in California, 
 9,540 in Oregon, while the remainder were scattered 
 widely over the country. 
 
 The distribution of the population in reference to the 
 topographical and climatic features of the country is 
 such as naturally arises from the constant operation 
 of two causes, both acting in the same direction. Emi- 
 gration and overflow from a more thickly settled region 
 toward one more thinly inhabited takes place, with 
 insignificant exceptions, from the east toward the west. 
 Immigrants arrive from Europe, are landed on the 
 Atlantic coast about three fourths at one point, New 
 York and thence in large part find their way west- 
 ward in the direction of lands unoccupied or only 
 thinly settled. To the east of the Mississippi the land 
 is almost everywhere exceptionally fertile, and the cli- 
 matic conditions are over a large area very much the 
 same, and on the whole highly favorable. Soon after 
 crossing the Mississippi River, however, we find that 
 this favorable condition of things begins to change. 
 Not only is the immigrant getting farther and farther 
 from his home, but he is finding his environment 
 less and less suited to the development of those 
 conditions which favor the existence of a dense popu- 
 
10 POPULATION AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 lation. Never by any possibility can the region of 
 small rainfall and in large part of rugged moun- 
 tains, extending from the first belt of States beyond 
 the Mississippi to the belt lying directly on the Pa- 
 cific coast, become a densely populated portion of the 
 country. This dryer region is throughout its entire 
 extent also the most elevated. The results of the 
 conditions thus indicated are sufficiently shown by the 
 following figures. 
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION OP THE UNITED STATES IN 1880 AND 
 IN 1890, BY DRAINAGE BASINS. 
 
 
 
 1880. 
 
 
 1890. 
 
 
 
 sq. miles. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Per sq. 
 mile. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Per 
 sq. mile. 
 
 New England Coast . 
 Middle Atlantic Coast . 
 South Atlantic Coast . 
 Great Lakes .... 
 Gulf of Mexico . . . 
 
 61,830 
 83,020 
 132,040 
 175,340 
 1,725,980 
 
 3,811,102 
 9,646,057 
 3,705,807 
 5,377,019 
 26,167,367 
 
 61.6 
 116.2 
 28.1 
 30.7 
 15.2 
 
 4,486,813 
 11,482,411 
 2,248,466 
 7,009,839 
 32,993,234 
 
 72.6 
 138.31 
 32.18 
 39.98 
 19.12 
 
 Total Atlantic . . . 
 
 Great Basin .... 
 Pacific Ocean .... 
 
 2,178,210 
 
 228,150 
 619,240 
 
 48,707,352 
 
 210,998 
 1,237,433 
 
 22.4 
 
 0.9 
 2.0 
 
 60,220,763 
 
 256,130 
 2,145,357 
 
 27.65 
 
 1.12 
 3.46 
 
 Total 
 
 3 025 600 
 
 50 155 783 
 
 
 62 622,250 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL POPULATION OF THE DIFFERENT DRAINAGE BASINS. 
 
 Division. 
 
 1870. 
 
 1880. 
 
 1890 
 
 Atlantic Ocean 
 
 9779 
 
 97.11 
 
 9616 
 
 New England Coast 
 Middle Atlantic Coast 
 
 8.52 
 20.85 
 
 7.60 
 19.23 
 
 7.16 
 18.34 
 
 South Atlantic Coast . . . . 
 
 7.26 
 
 7.39 
 
 6.78 
 
 Great Lakes . .... 
 
 10.96 
 
 10.72 
 
 11.19 
 
 Gulf of Mexico 
 
 5020 
 
 5217 
 
 52.69 
 
 Great Basin . .... . 
 
 0.33 
 
 042 
 
 0.41 
 
 Pacific Ocean , . 
 
 1.88 
 
 2.47 
 
 3.43 
 
 
 
 
 
POPULATION OF THE CITIES. 
 
 11 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES, 1870-1890. 
 
 
 Population per square mile. 
 
 1870. 
 
 1880. 
 
 1890. 
 
 
 15.3 
 470 
 45.8 
 35.4 
 34.3 
 40.7 
 31.3 
 12.1 
 10.3 
 12.2 
 14.6 
 0.1 
 0.2 
 0.7 
 0.2 
 0.5 
 0.2 
 3.8 
 3.5 
 0.9 
 5.8 
 
 18.7 
 60.2 
 55.8 
 38.6 
 41.7 
 49.4 
 38.8 
 17.6 
 16.0 
 18.2 
 21.2 
 0.4 
 0.4 
 1.7 
 0.5 
 0.9 
 0.8 
 4.6 
 5.2 
 1.7 
 9.8 
 
 21.5 
 74.4 
 69.5 
 40.7 
 49.8 
 59.3 
 44.3 
 25.1 
 22.8 
 23.6 
 28.3 
 1.4 
 1.1 
 2.1 
 0.7 
 1.4 
 1.9 
 4.9 
 9.1 
 5.5 
 14.3 
 
 Atlantic Plain 
 
 Piedmont Region . . . 
 
 New England Hills . . 
 
 Appalachian Mountain Region 
 
 Cumberland Alleghany Plateau 
 
 Interior Timbered Region . . 
 
 
 
 Alluvial Region of the Mississippi .... 
 
 Great Plains 
 
 
 
 
 Basin Region 
 
 
 
 Pacific Valley 
 
 
 
 
 In regard to the distribution of the population of the 
 United States in towns and cities, and the positions of 
 those centres, the following may be stated : 
 
 In 1790 there were in the country four cities having 
 a population of from 8,000 to 20,000, and two above 
 20,000, but not one surpassing 75,000 in number. 
 Fifty years later, there were forty-four towns and cities 
 having a population of 8,000 and over, and one of 
 about 500,000. In 1880 there were 286, and in 1890 
 there were 448 towns having over 8,000 inhabitants. 
 
 In 1870 there were fourteen cities having over 
 100,000; in 1880, twenty; in 1890, twenty-eight, as 
 shown in the following table. 
 
12 
 
 POPULATION OF THE CITIES. 
 
 Over 1,000,000. 
 
 
 Population in 
 1880. 1890. 
 
 New York ....... 1,206,299 1,515,301 
 
 Chicago ......... 503,185 1,099,850 
 
 Philadelphia ....... 847,170 1,046,964 
 
 Over 500,000 and under 1,000,000. 
 
 Brooklyn ... ..... 566,663 806,343 
 
 Over 200,000 and less than 500,000. 
 
 St. Louis ......... 350,518 451,770 
 
 Boston . . . . ..... 362,839 448,477 
 
 Baltimore ........ 332,313 434,439 
 
 San Francisco ....... 233,959 298,997 
 
 Cincinnati ........ 255,139 296,908 
 
 Cleveland ........ 160,146 261,353 
 
 Buffalo .......... 155,134 255,664 
 
 New Orleans ....... 216,090 242,039 
 
 Pittsburg ........ 156,389 238,617 
 
 Washington ........ 147,203 230,392 
 
 Detroit". .... 3 .... 116,340 205,876 
 
 Milwaukee ........ 115,587 204,468 
 
 Over 100,000 and less than 200,000. 
 
 Population in 
 
 Name. 1880 . 1890 . 
 
 Newark ......... 136,508 181,830 
 
 Minneapolis ........ 46,887 164,738 
 
 Jersey City ........ 120,722 163,003 
 
 Louisville ........ 123,758 161,129 
 
 Omaha .......... 30,518 140,452 
 
 Kochester ........ 89,366 133,896 
 
 Saint Paul ......... 41,473 133,156 
 
 Kansas City ........ 55,785 132,716 
 
 Providence ........ 104,857 132,146 
 
 Denver .......... 35,629 106,713 
 
 Indianapolis ....... 75,056 105,436 
 
 Allegheny ........ 78,682 105,287 
 
IMMIGRATION STATISTICS. 13 
 
 According to the census of 1880, there were thirteen 
 cities having a population of more than 50,000 and 
 less than 100,000, making a total of thirty-three cities 
 having over 50,000 inhabitants, of which three are sit- 
 uated south of the parallel of 38 namely, San Fran- 
 cisco (which, however, is very near that parallel), New 
 Orleans, and Kichmond. In 1890 there were twenty- 
 nine cities having a population of more than 50,000 
 and less than 100,000 inhabitants, making a total of 
 fifty-eight cities having over 50,000 inhabitants, of 
 which eight are south of the parallel of 38 namely, 
 San Francisco, New Orleans, Richmond, Nashville, 
 Atlanta, Memphis, Charleston, and Los Angeles. 
 
 The following table shows the number and per- 
 centage of persons of native and foreign birth in the 
 United States, as given by each census since such 
 statistics began to be collected : 
 
 Date. Population. Percentage. 
 
 Native. Foreign. Native. Foreign. 
 
 1850 20,947,274 3,244,602 90.32 9.68 
 
 1860 27,304,624 4,138,697 86.84 13.16 
 
 1870 32,991,162 5,567,229 85.56 14.44 
 
 1880 43,475,840 6,679,943 86.68 13.32 
 
 1890 53,372,703 9,249,547 85.23 14.77 
 
 II. IMMIGRATION. 
 
 The subject of immigration into the United States 
 has recently been reported on very fully by the Bureau 
 of Statistics,* and from that report the following con- 
 
 * See Quarterly Report of the Bureau of Statistics, No. 2, 1892-93, 
 page 391 et seq. 
 
14 IMMIGRATION WHERE FROM. 
 
 densed statement of the more important facts connected 
 with this matter has been compiled. 
 
 No official records of immigration into the United 
 States were kept prior to 1820, but the number of 
 arrivals from the close of the Revolutionary War up to 
 that date has been estimated at 250,000. Previous to 
 1856 there had been no attempt made to distinguish 
 immigrants, or those who came intending to remain 
 permanently in this country, from those who came 
 simply as visitors or as transient passengers. From 
 1856 to 1868 a step in advance was made by giving 
 the total number of immigrants, separating them from 
 transient passengers; but since 1868, not only the 
 number, but the nationality, of the former has been 
 carefully recorded. Of course absolute accuracy cannot 
 be expected in statistics of this kind. Thus, for in- 
 stance, some persons come to this country not intending 
 to remain, but do become permanent residents, while the 
 converse of this occasionally happens. Moreover, since 
 there is no law providing for the collection of the sta- 
 tistics of immigration by land, arrivals from British 
 North America and from Mexico can be only imper- 
 fectly given. Previous to 1885 the attempt was made, 
 however, to include among the immigrants reported as 
 arriving in the United States those who came by land ; 
 but since that time this has been given up as imprac- 
 ticable, owing to the difficulty of collecting information 
 on the numerous railway trains arriving from Canada 
 and Mexico. It is believed that the number of immi- 
 grants from Mexico, or passing through that country 
 on their way to the United States, is very small, but 
 the number coming by way of Canada is very con- 
 
IMMIGRATION WHERE FROM. 15 
 
 siderable. The number of immigrants reported by the 
 Canadian officials as having passed through that coun- 
 try on their way to the United States is given as 
 567,557 for the eight years ending with 1892, an 
 average of nearly 71,000 per year, and this fact should 
 be taken into consideration in connection with what 
 here follows. 
 
 During the entire period from 1820 to 1892 much 
 the greater portion of the immigration into the United 
 States has come from Europe, the proportion of Euro- 
 pean immigrants increasing from 68.89 per cent in 
 the decade 1821-30 to 89.99 in the decade 1881-90. 
 In the very earliest period of this immigration move- 
 ment, from 1820 to 1830, nearly all the countries of 
 Europe were represented to some extent, but the total 
 number during that time was comparatively small, 
 having increased from about 8,000 in 1820 to a little 
 over 23,000 in 1830. In the forty years from 1821 to 
 1860, inclusive, over one half of the immigration into 
 this country was from England and Ireland, and the 
 greater portion was from the last-named country. In 
 the decades 1831-40 and 1841-50 one quarter of the 
 entire immigration, and from 1851 to 1870 about one 
 third, was from Germany. Between 1871 and 1892, 
 the proportion of German immigrants has varied be- 
 tween a third and a fifth; in 1891 and 1892 it was 
 20.65 per cent, and the average of the entire period 
 from 1821 to 1892 was 28.59 per cent of the total 
 immigration. The United Kingdom and Germany 
 have, therefore, together furnished the bulk of the 
 immigration into the United States. 
 
16 
 
 IMMIGRATION WHERE FROM. 
 
 During the last two decades the flow of population 
 into this country from Scandinavia, Austro-Hungary, 
 Kussia, and Italy has been pretty steadily increasing 
 in magnitude. During the decade 1881-90, the first 
 named of these countries furnished about the same 
 percentage of the total immigration as did Ireland. 
 In the years 1891 and 1892, Austro-Hungary, Italy, 
 and Russia together contributed more than two fifths 
 to the total immigration into the United States. 
 
 The following tables illustrate the more important 
 points connected with this subject : 
 
 In the first table the total immigration into the 
 United States from 1821 to 1892, inclusive, is pre- 
 sented, and also the division of this total among the 
 various countries which have been the principal con- 
 tributors to it. 
 
 TOTAL IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM 1821 TO 1892 INCLUSIVE, 
 AND ITS DISTRIBUTION AMONG THE MORE IMPORTANT NATIONALITIES. 
 
 Germany 4,748,440 
 
 Ireland . 3,592,247 
 
 England 2,534,955 
 
 Norway and Sweden . . 1,032,188 
 
 Austro-Hungary. . . . 586,666 
 
 Italy 526,749 
 
 Russia 517,507 
 
 France 379,637 
 
 Scotland 347,900 
 
 China 296,219 
 
 Switzerland 185,488 
 
 Denmark 163,769 
 
 All other countries . . . 2,700,295 
 
 The grand total is ... 16,611,060 
 
 In the following table the number of immigrants 
 arriving in the United States is given for each decade 
 from 1821 to 1890, with a classification in which the 
 relative importance of the immigration from the United 
 Kingdom in the earlier decades is conspicuously man- 
 ifested, as also the remarkable increase in the years 
 1881 to 1890. 
 
IMMIGRATION NUMBER AND ORIGIN. 
 
 17 
 
 STATEMENT OP IMMIGRANT ARRIVALS IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE 
 DECADES 1821-90. 
 
 FKOM 
 
 1821-30. 
 
 1831-40. 
 
 1841-50. 
 
 1851-60. 
 
 1861-70. 
 
 1871-80. 
 
 1881-90. 
 
 British Islands . 
 Rest of Europe . 
 China .... 
 Rest of the World 
 Total .... 
 Yearly Average . 
 
 75,803 
 23,013 
 2 
 44,621 
 
 283,191 
 212,497 
 8 
 103,429 
 
 1,047,763 
 549,739 
 35 
 115,714 
 
 1,338,093 
 1,114,564 
 41,397 
 104,160 
 
 1,106,970 
 1,073,429 
 68,059 
 349,756 
 
 989,163 
 1,357,801 
 122,436 
 475,295 
 
 1,462,839 
 3,258,743 
 61,711 
 463,320 
 
 143,439 
 
 599,125 
 
 1,713,251 
 
 2,598,214 
 
 2,466,752 
 
 2,944,695 
 
 5,246,613 
 
 14,344 
 
 59,912 
 
 171,325 
 
 259,821 
 
 246,675 
 
 294,469 
 
 524,661 
 
 Still further light will be thrown on this subject 
 by the following table, in which the nationality of the 
 immigration into the United States is given in con- 
 siderable detail for the years 1881 to 1887, in per- 
 centages of the total amount. From this table it will 
 be seen that Germany furnished during those seven 
 
 PERCENTAGE TABLE SHOWING THE NATIONALITY OF IMMIGRANTS INTO 
 THE UNITED STATES FOR THE YEARS 1881-87. 
 
 
 1881. 
 
 1882. 
 
 1883. 
 
 1884. 
 
 1885. 
 
 1886. 
 
 1887. 
 
 Great Britain . . 
 
 1310 
 
 12 11 
 
 1292 
 
 1369 
 
 1592 
 
 1875 
 
 2064 
 
 Ireland . . .... 
 
 985 
 
 9.99 
 
 1467 
 
 1270 
 
 1421 
 
 1347 
 
 1406 
 
 Austro-Hungary .... 
 Belgium ... . 
 
 3.92 
 
 27 
 
 4.10 
 15 
 
 5.30 
 29 
 
 6.81 
 37 
 
 7.31 
 39 
 
 10.22 
 42 
 
 7.56 
 58 
 
 
 1.24 
 
 1 75 
 
 171 
 
 1.65 
 
 167 
 
 169 
 
 1 80 
 
 
 .78 
 
 .76 
 
 70 
 
 .80 
 
 90 
 
 1 04 
 
 108 
 
 Germany 
 
 3466 
 
 3180 
 
 3233 
 
 3372 
 
 3072 
 
 21 96 
 
 21 53 
 
 Italy 
 
 279 
 
 403 
 
 518 
 
 314 
 
 442 
 
 778 
 
 899 
 
 
 1.50 
 
 1.08 
 
 86 
 
 .81 
 
 .71 
 
 68 
 
 102 
 
 Norway and Sweden . . 
 Russia 
 Spain and Portugal . . . 
 Switzerland . . 
 
 11.51 
 2.01 
 .06 
 1 62 
 
 12.00 
 3.07 
 .66 
 162 
 
 9.45 
 1.78 
 .16 
 200 
 
 8.22 
 4.32 
 .11 
 1 78 
 
 9.47 
 5.72 
 
 .26 
 146 
 
 11.73 
 8.45 
 .13 
 1 15 
 
 13.46 
 5.95 
 .01 
 1 26 
 
 Other European countries 
 China 
 British North America . 
 
 .06 
 2.87 
 13.22 
 
 .06 
 
 4.87 
 11.90 
 
 .06 
 .07 
 11.74 
 
 .23 
 
 02 
 1038 
 
 .19 
 .02 
 522 
 
 .64 
 .00 
 
 .25 
 
 .00 
 
 All other countries . . . 
 
 .54 
 
 .65 
 
 78 
 
 1.25 
 
 1.41 
 
 1.89 
 
 1.81 
 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
18 
 
 IMMIGRATION NUMBER AND ORIGIN. 
 
 years somewhat less than one third of the total immi- 
 gration; Great Britain and Ireland somewhat more 
 than a quarter ; Norway and Sweden about a tenth ; 
 British North America about a tenth ; Austro-Hungary 
 a little over six per cent; Russia (including Poland) 
 from four to five per cent ; and Italy nearly the same. 
 These nationalities together furnished during the six 
 years 1882-87 about ninety-five per cent of the total. 
 The immigration from Italy and Russia shows a mod- 
 erately rapid, but pretty uniform, increase from year 
 to year. From France, Spain, and Portugal the im- 
 migration has been, during the entire period, almost 
 insignificant in amount. 
 
 This subject is still further illustrated by the follow- 
 ing table, which gives the number of immigrants into 
 the United States for the years 1890, 1891, and 1892, 
 with a detailed statement of the various nationalities. 1 
 
 Country. 
 
 
 Year 
 
 s. 
 
 
 1890. 
 
 1891. 
 
 1892. 
 
 England and Wales .... 
 Scotland 
 
 57,689 
 12,041 
 
 54,048 
 12,557 
 
 50,527 
 11,520 
 
 
 53,024 
 
 55,706 
 
 55,467 
 
 Total United Kingdom . . 
 
 122,754 
 9,366 
 
 122,311 
 10,659 
 
 117,514 
 10,593 
 
 
 6,585 
 
 6,770 
 
 6,521 
 
 
 92,427 
 
 113,554 
 
 130,758 
 
 Italy . . . . o . 
 
 52003 
 
 76055 
 
 62,137 
 
 Netherlands . 
 
 4,326 
 
 5206 
 
 7,260 
 
 Austro-Hungary 
 
 56,199 
 
 71,042 
 
 80,136 
 
 
 46,671 
 
 74923 
 
 117,692 
 
 Sweden and Norway .... 
 
 41,002 
 6,993 
 
 49,448 
 6811 
 
 57,709 
 7,408 
 
 All other countries .... 
 
 16,976 
 
 23,340 
 
 25,356 
 
 Total 
 
 455 302 
 
 560 319 
 
 623 084 
 
 
 
 
 
 For later statistics of immigration see Appendix A. 
 
IMMIGRATION NUMBER AND ORIGIN. 19 
 
 The total immigration into the United States for the 
 twelve years 1881-92 has been as follows : 
 
 1881 669,431 1887 490,109 
 
 1882 788,992 1888 546,889 
 
 1883 603,322 1889 444,427 
 
 1884 518,592 1890 455,302 
 
 1885 395,346 1891 560,319 
 
 1886 334,203 1892 623,084 
 
 The above figures indicate a considerable fluctuation 
 in the total immigration into this country, the reasons 
 for which cannot easily be given. The maximum of 
 the last twelve years was in the year 1882, 788,992 
 persons, and the minimum in 1886, with 334,203 per- 
 sons; since the latter date there has been a pretty 
 steady rise in the number, those for 1892 being nearly 
 the double of those for 1886. The yearly average for 
 the decade 1881-90 was 524,661, which is nearly the 
 double of the average of the preceding decade. 
 
 The table on the preceding page, showing the number 
 and the nationalities of the immigration for the three 
 years 1890-92, exhibits, in the main, facts similar to 
 those indicated in the percentage table of the nationality 
 of immigrants for the years 1881-87, given on page 17. 
 A slight decrease in the immigration from the United 
 Kingdom from year to year is evident, the average of 
 the three years being only a little more than a fifth of 
 the total. The immigration from France and Denmark 
 remained nearly stationary ; that from Sweden and 
 Norway and Germany increased rapidly and quite reg- 
 ularly; that from Russia very rapidly and regularly; 
 that from Italy rapidly and irregularly. Russia fur- 
 nished in 1892 as large a number of immigrants to 
 
20 IMMIGRATION DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 the United States as the United Kingdom, and nine 
 tenths as many as Germany. 
 
 The immigration into the United States is very 
 unequally distributed over the surface of the country. 
 An inspection of the census tables and the accom- 
 panying maps shows that immigrants in very large 
 proportion seek Northern regions. In the Southern 
 States, with the exception of Florida, Louisiana, and 
 Texas, the foreign element is practically null. North 
 Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Mis- 
 sissippi have less than one per cent of foreign-born 
 population ; Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas less 
 than two per cent. No State south of Maryland and 
 the Ohio River east of the Mississippi has as much as 
 five per cent, with the exception of Florida. In the 
 North Atlantic, Northwestern Central, and Cordilleran 
 States and Territories, on the other hand, the foreign 
 element is most strongly represented. Thus, in Rhode 
 Island, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, 
 and Nevada the foreign-born population is over thirty 
 per cent of the native ; in Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
 New York, Illinois, Michigan, South Dakota, Idaho, 
 Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, and 
 California, over twenty but less than thirty per cent. 
 Texas forms an exception to the other Southern States, 
 the foreign element being of some importance 6.84 
 per cent especially in the southwestern portion of 
 the State. 
 
 The following table shows by geographical divisions 
 the percentage of the native arid foreign-born of the 
 total population in 1890, as well as the percentage of 
 native white persons born of foreign parents. 
 
NATIVE AND FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION. 
 
 21 
 
 Division. 
 
 Native. 
 
 Foreign. 
 
 Native white 
 of foreign 
 parents. 
 
 North Atlantic .... . . 
 
 77.66 
 
 2234 
 
 2503 
 
 South Atlantic 
 
 9765 
 
 235 
 
 3 64 
 
 North CGntral . 
 
 81 84 
 
 1816 
 
 2508 
 
 South Central 
 
 97.07 
 
 293 
 
 462 
 
 
 74.54 
 
 25.46 
 
 2345 
 
 
 
 
 
 The distribution of native white persons of foreign 
 parentage follows very closely that of the foreign-born 
 element, showing that those States and Territories 
 which a generation ago attracted European immigrants 
 still continue to attract them in practically the same 
 degree. 
 
 The following table shows the percentage increase of 
 native and foreign-born by geographical divisions, and 
 for the whole country, for each census since 1850. 
 
 Division. 
 
 Percentage Increase of Native. 
 
 Percentage Increase of Foreign. 
 
 1850-60. 
 
 1860-70. 
 
 1870-80. 
 
 1880-90. 1850-60. 
 
 1860-70. 
 
 1870-80. 
 
 1880-90. 
 
 North Atlantic . 
 
 17.38 
 
 14.09 
 
 19.58 
 
 19.57 
 
 17.68 
 
 30.51 
 
 20.46 
 
 34.10 
 
 South Atlantic . 
 
 13.73 
 
 9.31 
 
 20.53 
 
 16.52 
 
 51.89 
 
 2.67 
 
 4.44 
 
 19.66 
 
 North Central . 
 
 58.91 
 
 40.97 
 
 35.68 
 
 26.68 
 
 137.30 
 
 51.18 
 
 25.01 
 
 39.20 
 
 South Central . 
 
 32.93 
 
 11.96 
 
 39.41 
 
 23.20 
 
 68.13 
 
 1.39 
 
 17.65 
 
 17.34 
 
 Cord ill eran . . . 
 
 189.84 
 
 53.91 
 
 87.20 
 
 78.02 
 
 562.50 
 
 75.06 
 
 59.58 
 
 54.16 
 
 United States . 
 
 30.35 
 
 20.83 
 
 31.78 
 
 22.76 
 
 84.38 
 
 34.52 
 
 19.99 
 
 38.47 
 
 There were in the United States as a whole in 1890 
 17,330 foreign-born persons to each 100,000 native- 
 born, as against 15,365 in 1880, and 16,875 in 1870. 
 There has been an increase in the number of foreign- 
 born to each 100,000 native-born for the North Atlan- 
 tic division from 24,070 in 1880 to 28,773 in 1890, 
 and in the North Central division from 20,189 to 
 
22 EXCLUSION OF THE CHINESE. 
 
 22,184. In the Cordilleran division there has been a 
 decrease in the number of foreign-born to each 100,000 
 native-born from 39,448 in 1880 to 34,161 in 1890. 
 In the South Atlantic and South Central divisions the 
 foreign-born element is not numerically of importance, 
 there being only 3,021 foreign-born to each 100,000 
 native-born in 1890 in the South Central division, 
 and but 2,411 in the South Atlantic division. 
 
 Early in 1882 an Act was passed by Congress sus- 
 pending Chinese immigration into the United States 
 for the term of twenty years. This was vetoed by the 
 President, and another one was passed having nearly 
 the same provisions as the first, but limiting the time 
 of its operation to ten years. This Act was not vetoed : 
 but became a law May 6, 1882. This second Act is 
 entitled " An Act to execute certain treaty stipulations 
 relating to Chinese." From and after ninety days 
 after the passage of this Act the entrance of Chinese 
 "laborers" into the United States was forbidden, and 
 any master of a vessel bringing them here was punish- 
 able by a fine of $500 for each laborer so brought, and 
 also by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one 
 year. The pretext for this unprecedented act was 
 "that the coming of Chinese laborers to this country 
 endangers the good order of certain localities " within 
 the territory of the United States. The term "labor- 
 ers" was held to mean "both skilled and unskilled 
 laborers, and Chinese employed in mining." 
 
 Further legislation relating to the exclusion of the 
 Chinese from the United States was had by Congress 
 in 1888. Two Acts were passed, the first having been 
 approved Sept. 13, 1888, and a second, supplementary 
 
EXCLUSION OF THE CHINESE. 23 
 
 to this, October 1 of the same year. The object of 
 these two Acts was to prevent the Chinese who were 
 then in the United States from returning after having 
 left this country. The first Act (approved September 
 13) allowed a native of China to leave the country 
 and return, provided he had " a lawful wife, child, or 
 parent within the United States, or property therein 
 of the value of one thousand dollars, or debts of like 
 amount due him and pending settlement." This privi- 
 lege was entirely cancelled by the supplementary Act, 
 approved October 1 ; and as the matter now stands, only 
 " Chinese officials, teachers, students, merchants, or trav- 
 ellers for pleasure or curiosity are permitted to enter 
 the United States." Futherrnore, it is provided that 
 in order to become entitled to such entrance they must 
 " obtain the permission of the Chinese Government or 
 other Government of which they may at the time be 
 citizens or subjects." This permission, and the personal 
 identity of the party having obtained it, must be au- 
 thenticated by the diplomatic or consular representative 
 of the United States at the port or place from which the 
 party comes. It is farther provided that any master of 
 a vessel landing, or attempting to land, any Chinese 
 laborer, " in contravention to the provisions of this Act, 
 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on con- 
 viction thereof, shall be punished with a fine of not less 
 than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, 
 in the discretion of the Court, for every Chinese laborer 
 or other Chinese person so brought, and may also be 
 imprisoned for a term of not less than one year, nor 
 more than five years, in the discretion of the Court." 
 Provisions have also been made by Act of Con- 
 
24 RESTRAINTS ON IMMIGRATION. 
 
 gress for the regulation of the immigrant carrying 
 business, and rules have been prescribed as to food, 
 water, light, space occupied, etc. A tax of fifty cents 
 is also imposed on all immigrants landing in this 
 country to be used " in defraying the expense of regu- 
 lating immigration under this Act, and for the care of 
 immigrants arriving in the United States, for the 
 relief of such as are in distress, etc." 1 
 
 By an Act of Congress approved August 3, 1882, it 
 is provided that no convict, lunatic, idiot, or person 
 " unable to take care of himself or herself without be- 
 coming a public charge," shall be permitted to land. 
 Under the provisions of this Act it appears that from 
 1883 to Jan. 30, 1893, 11,421 immigrants had been 
 returned from the United States to their own coun- 
 tries, or an average of about 1,000 persons a year. 
 Of those thus returned from 1883 to June 30, 1893, 
 inclusive, there were 120 convicts, 486 lunatics, and 
 151 idiots. The remainder (10,664 persons) were 
 returned as "liable to become a public charge." 
 
 A very stringent Act was passed by Congress in 
 1885, prohibiting the importation and immigration of 
 foreigners and aliens " under contract or agreement to 
 perform labor in the United States, its Territories, and 
 the District of Columbia." Under the provisions of 
 this Act there had been returned to their own countries, 
 up to 1888, 7,764 persons. During the fiscal year 2 
 ending June 30, 1893, 464 persons were thus returned. 
 
 1 Not collected from immigrants coming from Canada or Mexico. 
 
 2 For further remarks in regard to the general subject of immigration 
 into the United States, its distribution etc., as also in reference to the 
 exclusion of the Chinese and other unwelcome persons, see Appendix A. 
 
POPULATION AND RAINFALL. 
 
 25 
 
 III. IRRIGATION. 
 
 The following table is given by the census of 1890, 
 as illustrating the distribution of the population in 
 accordance with the mean annual rainfall. 
 
 Inches of 
 Rainfall. 
 
 Population per square mile. 
 
 Increase in Population 
 per square mile. 
 
 1870. 
 
 1880. 
 
 1890. 
 
 1870-1880. 
 
 1880-1890. 
 
 Below 10 
 
 0.3 
 
 0.6 
 
 0.8 
 
 0.3 
 
 0.2 
 
 10 to 20 
 
 0.4 
 
 0.8 
 
 1.8 
 
 0.4 
 
 1.0 
 
 20 " 30 
 
 1.6 
 
 4.7 
 
 8.1 
 
 3.1 
 
 3.4 
 
 30 " 40 
 
 28.6 
 
 35.5 
 
 43.1 
 
 6.9 
 
 7.6 
 
 40 " 50 
 
 39.4 
 
 49.2 
 
 59.0 
 
 9.8 
 
 0.8 
 
 50 " 60 
 
 15.5 
 
 20.9 
 
 25.1 
 
 5.4 
 
 4.2 
 
 60 " 70 
 
 11.9 
 
 14.5 
 
 18.1 
 
 2.6 
 
 3.6 
 
 Above 70 
 
 0.8 
 
 2.1 
 
 4.1 
 
 1.3 
 
 2.0 
 
 It must be remembered, in consulting the above 
 table, that the statistics of rainfall where this is very 
 scanty are never satisfactory, and this is emphatically 
 the case in the arid region of the United States, where 
 the stations at which meteorological observations are 
 taken are few in number, and the topographical con- 
 ditions such that the rainfall is very irregularly dis- 
 tributed, and extremely variable in amount from year 
 to year. Only by means of a very long series of 
 observations at many stations, plotted on accurate 
 topographical maps made on a large scale, could even 
 approximately accurate hyetographic curves be drawn. 
 
 Nearly three fourths of the population of the United 
 States inhabit a region over which the rainfall is be- 
 tween thirty and fifty inches in amount, and on either 
 
26 POPULATION AND RAINFALL. 
 
 side of the area thus favored the number of persons 
 to the square mile diminishes very rapidly, as shown 
 by the figures given in the above table. But the extent 
 of country where these conditions are more or less 
 influential is very unequally divided between areas of 
 abundant precipitation and of excessive dryness. Only 
 over a very small part of the country does the rainfall 
 exceed fifty inches, while considerably more than two 
 fifths receives less than twenty inches. But it is by 
 no means true that the scantiness of population over 
 the region having more than fifty inches of rainfall is 
 due to that excess of precipitation. There is no part 
 of the United States where the rainfall is so large as 
 to be the essential cause of a thinly distributed popula- 
 tion. Many large areas of the earth's surface are 
 densely inhabited even where the precipitation is much 
 larger than it is in any part of the United States. The 
 regions of very large rainfall in this country are parts 
 of Mississippi and Louisiana adjacent to the Gulf of 
 Mexico, and the southern portion of Florida. There is 
 also a narrow belt similarly conditioned along the Pa- 
 cific coast in Oregon and Washington. Here it is clearly 
 the case that other causes than excessive precipitation 
 connect themselves with and are responsible for the 
 scantiness of the population. The coast of Oregon and 
 Washington is bordered by high mountains, not easily 
 cleared and cultivated, and coming close down to the 
 sea. Most of the peninsula of Florida lies too low for 
 easy drainage : the delta of the Mississippi and the 
 adjoining regions have similar disadvantages. The 
 Southwestern Central division of the United States 
 (including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas), 
 
THE ARID REGION. 27 
 
 much the larger portion of which receives over twenty 
 but less than fifty inches of rainfall, has, according 
 to the census of 1890, only 10.3 persons to the square 
 mile, while the table given above shows that in the belt 
 in which the precipitation ranges from fifty to sixty 
 there were 25.1 to the square mile in 1890, and in the 
 belt ranging between sixty and seventy 18.1 to the 
 square mile. 
 
 Far otherwise is it in regard to the scantiness of the 
 population over a very considerable fraction of the 
 United States as conditioned at the present time in 
 large part, and likely to be so in the future, by the in- 
 sufficient supply of rain. This so called "Arid Kegion" 
 comprises two fifths of the whole area of the country, 
 but contains only three per cent of its population. 
 Moreover, there was during the interval between the 
 census of 1880 and that of 1890 but very little change 
 in the density of the population of this region. Of the 
 three subdivisions of the Cordilleran division of the 
 country, the Plateau is most scantily supplied with 
 water, and in that region (comprising the State of 
 Nevada and the Territories of Arizona and Utah) the 
 density of the population increased between 1880 and 
 1890 only 0.3 (or from 0.7 to 1.0) per square mile. 
 In the whole Cordilleran division, comprising 39.3 per 
 cent of the total area of the United States (exclusive 
 of Alaska), the density of the population was raised 
 between 1880 and 1890 from 1.5 to 2.5 per square 
 mile. In the State of Nevada during that interval 
 there was a considerable decrease of the population. 
 The following table gives the essential facts regarding 
 the area, distribution, and number of the population of 
 
28 
 
 IRRIGATION WHERE ORIGINATED. 
 
 the Cordilleran region, as reported by the census of 
 1880 and that of 1890. 
 
 AREA AND POPULATION OF THE CORDILLERAN DIVISION OF THE UNITED 
 STATES IN 1880 AND 1890. 
 
 Subdivision. 
 
 Area. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Square miles. 
 
 Per cent 
 of total. 
 
 Per cent of total. 
 
 Per sq. mile. 
 
 1880. 
 
 1890. 
 
 1880. 
 
 1890. 
 
 Rocky Mountain. . 
 Plateau 
 
 655,275 
 
 308,690 
 323,570 
 
 18.4 
 10.2 
 10.7 
 
 0.8 
 
 0.5 
 2.2 
 
 1.3 
 0.5 
 2.9 
 
 0.7 
 0.7 
 3.4 
 
 1.8 
 1.0 
 5.7 
 
 Pacific Coast . . . 
 
 Total . . 
 
 1,187,535 
 
 39.3 
 
 3.5 
 
 4.7 
 
 15 
 
 2.5 
 
 
 Irrigation has done something to mitigate the un- 
 favorable condition of the arid belt, but no artificial 
 assistance can do more than palliate to a limited degree, 
 and that only within certain favorably situated areas 
 of small extent, the discomforts and disadvantages of 
 those who live in and attempt to cultivate a region 
 where the rainfall is insufficient. 
 
 Irrigation was employed in California almost from 
 the beginning of the placer-mining excitement ; but at 
 first, of course, only on a very small scale. The canals 
 (usually called " ditches ") which were originally built 
 solely for the purpose of bringing water for use in gold 
 washing, soon began to be used in part for irrigation, 
 and chiefly for raising fruit and vegetables. As the 
 mines became exhausted the water was more and more 
 used for agricultural purposes. Later on, the construc- 
 tion of canals or ditches for irrigation solely, and on a 
 more extensive scale, was successfully attempted, es- 
 pecially along the base of the foot-hills in the southern 
 part of the Sierra. The same thing was done in the 
 
IRRIGATION PLANS FOR. 29 
 
 more southern part of the State, in the western and 
 southwestern border region or foot-hills of the Coast 
 Ranges. As the towns grew larger, dams began to be 
 built to hold back water for their supply. At the 
 eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado, the 
 natural advantages for irrigation are great, and this 
 business has there become of considerable importance. 
 This had all been done under authority of the various 
 States, but after a time the general government took 
 the matter into consideration, and Congress decided to 
 do at least a certain amount of preliminary work, 
 with the idea of laying the foundation of a more com- 
 prehensive and scientifically planned system of irriga- 
 tion for the whole arid region of the country. 
 
 With this end in view, an appropriation was made 
 in 1888 of $100,000, and one of $250,000 in the next 
 year, and others in succeeding years, 1 the expenditure 
 of which was placed in the hands of the Director of 
 the United States Geological Survey. The objects to 
 be attained by the work thus authorized, as stated in 
 the Joint Resolution of Congress approved March 20, 
 1888, and in various Acts of that body, are: "to inves- 
 tigate the practicability of constructing reservoirs for 
 the storage of water in the arid regions of the United 
 States; also to classify the public lands, and furnish a 
 map or. maps showing the various divisions of the 
 public domain suitable for agricultural, mineral, and 
 other purposes ; and particularly to segregate the lands 
 susceptible of irrigation, where irrigation is required, 
 from other lands, and designating places for reservoirs, 
 canals, and other hydraulic works." 
 
 1 For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, $41,509.89. 
 
30 IRRIGATION PROJECTS FOR. 
 
 Up to the present time (September, 1893) three 
 reports of the irrigation survey work thus authorized 
 and set in operation have been published or are avail- 
 able for reference. 1 From these the following data 
 have been compiled. 
 
 During the first season of this survey the necessary 
 preliminary topographic and hydrographic work was 
 begun : in Montana, at the head -waters of the Columbia 
 and Missouri Rivers ; in Nevada, near the head- waters 
 of the Truckee, Carson, and Walker; in Colorado, on 
 the South Platte and the Upper Arkansas ; in New Mex- 
 ico, in the drainage basin of the Rio Grande. 
 
 In the second year of this work, engineering surveys 
 were carried on in Montana, principally along the Sun 
 River ; in Colorado, on the head-waters of the Arkan- 
 sas, and in Kansas farther down that river ; on the Rio 
 Grande, principally in the vicinity of El Paso ; in Cal- 
 ifornia, around Clear Lake and in the Sierra Nevada ; 
 in Nevada, on the Truckee and Carson Rivers ; in Utah, 
 around Utah Lake ; and in Idaho, on the lava plains 
 adjoining Snake River. In Montana, ten reservoir 
 sites were surveyed, and on the head-waters of the 
 Arkansas, eight. Work of a similar kind was done in 
 the other localities mentioned above, especially near 
 El Paso, where the position of a proposed large dam 
 was fixed, at the outlet of Donner Lake in California 
 
 1 Report I., in the Tenth Annual Report of the U. S. Geol. Survey. 
 Part II. Irrigation. 1890. 
 
 Report II., in the Eleventh Annual Report of same. Part II. Irri- 
 gation. 1891. 
 
 Report III., in Report of the Secretary of the Interior (52 Cong. 1st 
 Sess., Ex. Doc. 1, Part 5), containing Twelfth Annual Report of the U. S. 
 Geol. Survey. Part II. Irrigation. 1892. 
 
IRRIGATION SURVEYS FOR. 31 
 
 and of other lakes in the same vicinity. Furthermore, 
 in the Snake River division surveys were made " de- 
 monstrating the practicability of diverting the waters 
 of that river upon the lava plains upon both sides of 
 the stream," etc., etc. 
 
 In the Third Report of the Irrigation Survey, the 
 results of the previous years' work are summed up in 
 the statement that 147 reservoir sites were surveyed 
 and reported for segregation, of which 33 are in Cali- 
 fornia, 46 in Colorado, 27 in Montana, 39 in New 
 Mexico, and 2 in Nevada. The total area segregated 
 for these reservoirs was 165,932 acres. The aggregate 
 contents of all these reservoirs are given as being 
 2,847,815 acre-feet, supposed or assumed to be suffi- 
 cient to irrigate 1,898,544 acres. Of these reservoir 
 sites, diagrams are given in the report, which was pre- 
 pared by A. H. Thompson, who was in charge of this 
 department of the work. In addition there is a special 
 report " On the Hydrography of the Arid Region" by 
 F. H. Newell, and one by H. M. Wilson on " Irrigation 
 in India," occupying nearly 200 royal octavo pages. 
 
 Nothing has yet been done toward the accomplish- 
 ment of any of these gigantic schemes, involving an 
 immense expenditure, if they were actually to be car- 
 ried out. With any such attempted carrying out, the 
 practical difficulties which would arise, aside from the 
 question of cost, would be great and manifold. The 
 engineering difficulties of large dams, not only those of 
 construction, but those of preservation after building, 
 have been sufficiently shown in the numerous catastro- 
 phes which have occurred in this country during the 
 past few years, resulting from the giving way of these 
 
32 DAMS AND RESERVOIRS. 
 
 structures, and by which thousands of lives have been 
 lost. The legal difficulties involved in the distribution 
 of the water and the right to purchase the land about 
 to be benefited by the irrigation works of any partic- 
 ular district, as well as the question of conflict between 
 United States and State or Territorial authorities, 
 would not be the least of the obstacles which would 
 have to be met and overcome, if the United States 
 should really embark in any such irrigation enterprise 
 as seems to have been contemplated by Congress at the 
 time of the inception of this irrigation scheme. 
 
 The question of the probable cost of dams and 
 storage basins in the arid region receives some light 
 from the examination of what has been expended by the 
 United States government in building reservoirs at the 
 head-waters of the Mississippi River. The object of 
 these reservoirs is defined by the Chief of Engineers 
 to be " to collect surplus water, principally from the 
 precipitation of winter, spring, and early summer, to 
 be systematically released so as to benefit navigation 
 upon the Mississippi River below the dams." 1 
 
 This reservoir project was the outcome of surveys 
 and examinations made in 1869, 1874, 1878, and 1879. 
 Up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, 
 the sum of $619,850.20 had been expended on this 
 work, and a further sum of $1,034,683.50 was esti- 
 mated as required for the completion of the project. 
 Up to the year 1886 four of the proposed reservoirs 
 had been completed, and during the months of May and 
 June, 1891, men and materials had been assembled for 
 
 1 Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army, 1892, Part I. 
 p. 257. 
 
RESERVOIRS AT HEAD OF MISSISSIPPI. 33 
 
 the erection of a fifth at Sandy Lake. The completed 
 reservoirs are said to have been operated from 1885 to 
 1891, during seasons of low water, " to the benefit of 
 navigation on more than 165 miles of the Mississippi 
 River." The " true effectiveness " of the system does 
 not seem yet to have been ascertained, since the officer 
 in charge of the work recommends that appropriations 
 be continued " for the operation and maintenance of 
 the five reservoirs, and for hydrological and meteoro- 
 logical observations, to determine the effect of the 
 reservoir water." The latter purpose is said to be 
 " specially worthy of consideration, for the result of the 
 observations extending over a period of several years 
 would determine the true effectiveness of the reser- 
 voirs." 1 
 
 1 There is an elaborate discussion of the question of the utility of the 
 reservoirs at the head-waters of the Mississippi in the Report of the Chief 
 of Engineers cited above. It contains a condensed history of the reser- 
 voirs, proposed and built, at the head-waters of the Mississippi River and 
 its tributaries, with a brief resume of the results up to the close of the sea- 
 son in 1887, with additional matter by the engineer in charge of the work, 
 bringing the whole subject down to the end of the fiscal year ending 
 June 30, 1892. The question whether the benefits realized are sufficient 
 to justify the enormous expenditures incurred in this work does not 
 seem to have been satisfactorily answered. It is claimed that by the 
 release of the stored-up water of the four completed reservoirs (at Lake 
 Winibigoshish, Leech Lake, Pokegama Falls, and Pine River, this last 
 completed in 1886) there was an increase in the channel depth at St. 
 Paul of one foot during the low water season of 1888 ; but " the effect of 
 the reservoirs on the navigable depths of the water in the channel of the 
 Mississippi River above the Falls of St. Anthony is not as clearly shown 
 as it could be." Practically the navigation of the Mississippi ends at 
 St. Paul, above which point there are numerous falls and rapids. The 
 upper part of the river appears to be chiefly used for rafting logs during 
 the season of high water, and it seems that the system of dam construction 
 for the purpose of increasing the depth in the channel during low water 
 season is opposed by the lumbermen as being decidedly in conflict with 
 their interests. Should this prove to be the case, it is to be feared that 
 
 3 
 
34 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. 
 
 Frequent reference is made in the various United 
 States and State reports on irrigation to the condition 
 of things in India, and to the vast irrigational engi- 
 neering operations which have been carried on there by 
 the government; which, however, are to a considera- 
 ble extent merely a continuation, systematization, and 
 amplification of what the natives had been doing for 
 centuries. 
 
 There are very great and essential differences between 
 the condition of things in India and the United States, 
 with reference to the governmental control of irrigation. 
 The Indian government has the means of repaying 
 itself, in large part at least, for its expenditures in this 
 department of the public works. It is the land which 
 furnishes the chief source of Indian revenue, and the 
 collection of the land tax forms the main work of In- 
 dian administration. 1 The rate of assessment, how- 
 ever, varies with the quality of the land, and with the 
 advantages, natural or artificial, which it possesses. 
 The average rate is 9s. Qd. per acre on irrigated land, 
 as compared with only 2s. 3d. per acre on unirrigated 
 land. 2 Any similar method of repayment to the United 
 States government for the expenditures incurred in 
 engineering irrigational works would be impossible. 
 
 the dams, unless carefully defended from attack by the United States 
 authorities, will be more or less completely destroyed by those who 
 consider that their natural rights to use the river for rafting purposes 
 have been interfered with by the general government. 
 
 1 " That the state should appropriate to itself a share of the produce of 
 the soil, is a maxim of finance which has been recognized throughout 
 the East from time immemorial. ... No other system of taxation could 
 be theoretically more just, or in practice less obnoxious, to the people." 
 W. W. Hunter, in Our Indian Empire," London, 1882, page 334. 
 
 2 W. W. Hunter, loc. cit., page 424. 
 
IRRIGATION IN INDIA. 35 
 
 But, furthermore, the conditions of the two countries, 
 British India and the arid region of the United States, 
 both as to climate and population, are, if not entirely 
 different, at least so essentially unlike, that no safe 
 conclusion can be drawn from a comparison of their 
 irrigational possibilities. 
 
 And, first, as to population : India is a densely 
 populated country, as compared with the United States 
 as a whole, and much more so as contrasted with the 
 arid region of the last named country. The census of 
 1891 showed a population of 287,234,849 on 1,557,484 
 square miles of British territory that is, including 
 the feudatory states. Here, as will be seen from these 
 figures, we have almost five times the population of 
 the United States on about half its area. But the 
 portion of the latter country which it is proposed to 
 irrigate has, as will be seen from the table on page 28, 
 only from one to two persons to the square mile, while 
 British India as a whole (excluding the native states) 
 has a little over 233 to the square mile. 
 
 Again, India, on the whole, is a region of large pre- 
 cipitation, only small portions of that country having 
 a scanty supply of rain. It is irregularity of precipita- 
 tion, or exceptional seasons of drought, rather than a 
 small average amount, for which provision has chiefly 
 to be made. Sind, which derives its supply mainly 
 from canals filled by the floods of the Indus, and where 
 the percentage of irrigated as compared with non- 
 irrigated land is largest (80 per cent), has only a little 
 more than 2,000,000 acres under cultivation, the total 
 of British India being nearly one hundred times greater. 
 Sind, however, has been exceptionlly free from famine 
 
36 
 
 IRRIGATION AND RAINFALL IN INDIA. 
 
 uuder British rule. Orissa, on the other hand, where 
 the average rainfall exceeds sixty inches, was, a few 
 years ago, the scene of one of the most severe famines 
 of recent times. 
 
 The annexed table gives a pretty good idea of the 
 comparative density of the population, as well as of 
 the relative amount of irrigation and the amount and 
 variability of the rainfall in the most important prov- 
 inces of British India. 1 
 
 Province. 
 
 Popu- 
 lation 
 to 
 square 
 mile. 
 
 Acres of area 
 ordinarily 
 cultivated. 
 
 Acres of area 
 ordinarily 
 irrigated. 
 
 Per cent 
 of cul- 
 tivated 
 land irri- 
 gated. 
 
 Rainfall in inches. 
 
 Average 
 Annual. 
 
 Local 
 Vari- 
 ation. 
 
 Punjab . . 
 
 187.4 
 442.2 
 
 473.5 
 
 127.4 
 163.5 
 
 150.4 
 
 248.3 
 196.6 
 
 21,000,000 
 36,000,000 
 
 54,500,000 
 
 15,500,000 
 6,500,000 
 ( 24,500,000 
 I 2,250,000 
 32,000,000 
 5,000,000 
 
 5,500,000 
 
 11,500,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 770,000 
 100,000 
 450,000 
 1,800,000 
 7,300,000 
 800,000 
 
 26.2 
 
 32.0 
 
 H 
 
 5.0 
 1.5 
 1.8 
 80.0 
 23.0 
 16.0 
 
 22 
 
 36 
 
 West. 49 
 Lower 66 
 51 
 35 
 
 29 
 
 6-36 
 25-50 
 
 43-61 
 54-112 
 43-79 
 21-69 
 
 18-36 
 
 N. W. Provinces and ) 
 Oudh .... J 
 
 Bengal 
 
 Central Provinces . 
 Berar 
 
 Bombay . . . ) 
 Sind ......) 
 
 Madras 
 
 JMvsore . 
 
 
 The following table shows the annual average pre- 
 cipitation at certain stations in the arid region, those 
 being selected at which the observations have been 
 continued during the greatest number of years. 2 Ari- 
 zona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah are represented, 
 
 1 This table is compiled chiefly from data furnished by H. F. Blanford, 
 in " Climates and Weather of India, Ceylon, and Burmah," London, 1889, 
 and W. W. Hunter's Indian Empire," London, 1882. 
 
 2 The information presented in this table has been compiled from the 
 Report of the Chief Signal Officer on Irrigation and Water Storage in 
 the Arid Region (1891), 51st Cong. 2d Session, Ex. Doc. No. 287. 
 
RAINFALL OF ARID REGIOX. 
 
 37 
 
 no very recent available data for other Cordilleran 
 States and Territories having been obtained. The 
 scantiness and irregular yearly distribution of the pre- 
 cipitation in the region which the table covers are 
 
 ANNUAL PRECIPITATION AND LOCAL VARIATION AT CERTAIN STATIONS 
 IN THE ARID REGION. 
 
 Station. 
 
 Average 
 Annual 
 Precipitation. 
 
 No. of 
 Years 
 observed. 
 
 Precipitation. 
 
 Local 
 Range. 
 
 Greatest. 
 
 Least. 
 
 Casa Grande, Arizona 
 
 4.28 
 
 10 
 
 10.70 
 
 1.73 
 
 8.97 
 
 Muricopa, 
 
 6.17 
 
 15 
 
 11.96 
 
 0.38 
 
 11.58 
 
 Fort McDowell, " 
 
 10.38 
 
 24 
 
 20.95 
 
 4.94 
 
 16.01 
 
 Fort Mohave, " 
 
 5.99 
 
 17 
 
 6.99 
 
 21.38 
 
 2.16 
 
 Phrenix, " 
 
 7.88 
 
 16 
 
 12.83 
 
 6.17 
 
 7.66 
 
 Tucson, " 
 
 12.11 
 
 15 
 
 18.37 
 
 5.26 
 
 13.11 
 
 Fort Verde, " 
 
 13.13 
 
 22 
 
 27.53 
 
 4.82 
 
 22.76 
 
 Whipple Barracks, " 
 
 17.06 
 
 20 
 
 26.75 
 
 1002 
 
 16.73 
 
 Fort Craig, New Mexico 
 
 10.84 
 
 24 
 
 24.58 
 
 4.63 
 
 19.95 
 
 Santa Fe, " 
 
 14.69 
 
 39 
 
 24.80 
 
 7.76 
 
 17.05 
 
 Fort Selden, " 
 
 857 
 
 18 
 
 12.60 
 
 3.49 
 
 9.11 
 
 Fort Stanton, " 
 
 19.05 
 
 23 
 
 28.70 
 
 12.63 
 
 16.07 
 
 Fort Collins, Colorado 
 
 1375 
 
 16 
 
 14.48 
 
 9.70 
 
 4.78 
 
 Colorado Springs, " 
 
 14.79 
 
 17 
 
 18.56 
 
 9.12 
 
 9.44 
 
 Denver, " 
 
 14.32 
 
 21 
 
 20.12 
 
 9.51 
 
 10.61 
 
 Pike's Peak, " 
 
 28.05 
 
 18 
 
 4457 
 
 9.28 
 
 35.29 
 
 Fort Garland, " 
 
 12.74 
 
 12 
 
 42.34 
 
 7.44 
 
 34.90 
 
 Fort Lyon, " 
 
 11.07 
 
 11 
 
 13.47 
 
 4.54 
 
 8.93 
 
 Blue Creek, Utah 
 
 8.27 
 
 14 
 
 11.94 
 
 4.13 
 
 7.81 
 
 Corinne, " 
 
 11.58 
 
 21 
 
 18.95 
 
 5.41 
 
 13.54 
 
 Camp Douglas, ' 
 
 17.41 
 
 24 
 
 28.00 
 
 6.73 
 
 21.27 
 
 Ogden, 
 
 13.46 
 
 21 
 
 20.60 
 
 6.54 
 
 14.06 
 
 Promontory, ' 
 
 7.61 
 
 21 
 
 14.67 
 
 3.30 
 
 11.37 
 
 Salt Lake City, ' 
 
 16.85 
 
 29 
 
 38.20 
 
 10.94 
 
 27.26 
 
 Terrace, 
 
 4.29 
 
 21 
 
 10.04 
 
 0.76 
 
 9.28 
 
 here most strikingly manifested. There is not a single 
 station (with the exception of Pike's Peak, at an eleva- 
 tion of over 14,000 feet) where a series of observations 
 of any considerable length has been taken, in the arid 
 region, where the annual precipitation averages as 
 
38 IRRIGATION OF THE DOAB. 
 
 much as twenty inches : in all but five of these stations 
 it falls below fifteen, and in one-third of them below 
 ten. 
 
 This scantiness of the rainfall in the arid regions 
 of the United States is in striking contrast with the 
 abundance of the precipitation over a large part of 
 India where irrigation is extensively employed. Thus, 
 in the Northwest Provinces, including Oudh, where 
 one third of the cultivated land is irrigated, the average 
 annual rainfall is thirty-six inches, or about the same 
 as that of Western New York and Northern Ohio, 
 Indiana, and Illinois. 
 
 The most gigantic of the Indian system of irrigation 
 works is that by which the districts of the Doab, or the 
 high ground lying between the Indus and the Ganges, 
 are supplied with water. For this purpose nearly the 
 whole visible stream of this river in the winter and 
 spring, before it has been swollen by the melting of the 
 snows of the Himalaya is taken, at the point where it 
 leaves the mountains and enters the plains (Hurdwar), 
 and conveyed in an artificial channel two hundred feet 
 wide and twenty feet in depth, the water itself being 
 ten feet deep. This canal, after passing through a 
 region where the engineering difficulties were tremen- 
 dous, finally reaches the water-shed between the Ganges 
 and the Jumna. This and another canal, taken out of 
 the Ganges 200 miles lower down, are capable of dis- 
 charging 10,000 cubic feet per second, and this great 
 body of water is distributed by means of a main chan- 
 nel more than a thousand miles long, with four thousand 
 miles of distributing channels. 
 
 There is an important question connected with the 
 
EFFECTS OF OVER IRRIGATION. 39 
 
 subject of irrigation, namely, that of the effect on the 
 soil of a long continuance of the process, or of what 
 has sometimes been called "over irrigation," which 
 really means " long continued irrigation." The saline 
 ingredients which are contained in the water used are 
 left behind, of course, as evaporation takes place, and 
 this residuum accumulates with greater or less rapidity 
 according to the quantity and purity of the water sup- 
 plied to the soil. The smaller the rainfall of the irri- 
 gated regions the more rapid will be the accumulation 
 of the saline matter, other things being equal, since 
 this deposit is liable to be dissolved and carried off by 
 the rain-water, which is itself almost chemically pure. 
 Hence, in regions like the larger part of India, where 
 irrigation is practised on a large scale coincidently 
 with a very considerable amount of precipitation, the 
 results of a long continued artificial supply of water to 
 the surface are manifested only to a comparatively 
 small extent, the surface soil being cleansed, as it were, 
 by the occasional heavy falls of rain. 
 
 But even in India this deleterious effect of extensive 
 irrigation seems already to be manifesting itself, and, in 
 certain districts, to an alarming degree. This fact is 
 admitted by some of the best authorities on Indian 
 engineering matters. In support of this statement the 
 following quotations are given from a work the object 
 of which is to call attention to the extravagance of the 
 Indian government, and the injury which this enormous 
 expenditure on public works, especially on irrigation, 
 is doing to that country. " Secondly and this is a 
 still more serious set-off, affecting alike the North-West 
 Provinces and the Punjab there has been a great loss 
 
40 OVER IRRIGATION IN INDIA. 
 
 of land revenue owing to increased exudation of reh 
 or saline efflorescence, in many of the canal-irrigated 
 districts. This is what Mr. A. 0. Hume writes: 'In 
 Oudh, the Punjab, and the North-West Provinces the 
 soils contain an appreciable mixture of saline particles. 
 With the construction of high-level canals the subsoil 
 water-level is raised, the surface flooded, the earth 
 yields up its soluble salts to the water, which again 
 restores them (but on the surface) as it passes in va- 
 pour. At first the result may be good, and marvellous 
 are the crops that have been raised in the Doab on the 
 first introduction of canal-irrigation, owing to the first 
 slender doses of potash and chloride of sodium. But 
 nature works on blindly and unceasingly. The water 
 below searches out one by one each soluble particle 
 in excess of the particular soil's capacity of retention, 
 and, as it slowly creeps up by capillary attraction, leaves 
 these ever behind it on the surface. Time passes on ; 
 some crops begin to be unprofitable. In the hottest 
 time of year a glimmer as though of hoar frost over- 
 spreads the land. . . . Along the little old Western 
 Jumna Canal thousands of fields are to be seen thus 
 sterilized. Along the course of the mighty Ganges 
 Canal, a work as it were but of yesterday, the dreary, 
 wintry-looking rime is already in many places creeping 
 over the soil. . . . The time must come when some of 
 the richest arable tracts in Northern India will have 
 become howling saline deserts.' And this terrible fact 
 is admitted by the engineers themselves. Thus Sir An- 
 drew Clarke, late Public Works Minister in India, writes 
 of the 'vast oosur plains, within easy reach of the 
 canal, lying waste and barren/ and the white patches 
 
EFFECTS OF OVER IRRIGATION. 41 
 
 called reh. ' They represent a serious loss to Govern- 
 ment, the reh especially so, for it is found to spread in 
 a most alarming way with the extension of irrigation/ 
 ... It is to be hoped that this canal [the Sirhind] 
 will prove a real blessing to the Punjab, but the note 
 of warning, struck by Lord Ripon in declaring it open,, 
 points to serious dangers ahead. ; I am/ he said, < a 
 warm friend of irrigation, but I must express my belief 
 that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. . . . 
 It is found that, although for a few years after the 
 opening of a new canal the increase of fertility of the 
 irrigated country is great and striking, a time comes 
 when the crops begin to fall off, and the land com- 
 mences to show signs of decline.' . . . Anyhow, till the 
 reh difficulty is satisfactorily solved, it seems absurd for 
 the Famine Commission to propose a, further extension 
 of the Western Jumna Canal through the districts north- 
 west of Delhi." 1 
 
 Similar facts connected with the subject of long 
 continued or excessive irrigation have been frequently 
 observed in other parts of the world, and have been 
 more or less carefully investigated. The decay, loss of 
 fertility, and consequent partial or entire abandonment 
 of extensive areas of the earth's surface, once densely 
 populated, is a matter which has excited much com- 
 ment. Various districts not very far removed from 
 the Mediterranean, and farther east, in Syria, Armenia, 
 and Mesopotamia, are the localities where these changes 
 of physical conditions within the historical period have 
 been most clearly perceived and most generally ad- 
 
 1 A. K. Connell. The Economic Revolution of India, and the Public 
 Works Policy. London, 1883, pp. 121, 122, 127, 128. 
 
42 PHYSICAL DECAY OF CERTAIN COUNTRIES. 
 
 mitted to have taken place. The most popular opinion 
 in regard to the cause of these changes is, that they 
 have been, in large part at least, the result of neglect 
 or hostility on the part of man. 1 
 
 The present writer is of opinion that the physical 
 decay of the regions in question has been chiefly caused 
 by a change in its climatic conditions, a positive dimin- 
 ution of the precipitation having taken place, and that 
 this change has manifested itself over a large part 
 of the earth's surface, having been begun long before 
 the historic period, and being still active. 2 This de- 
 siccation, of course, connects itself intimately with the 
 subject of irrigation, since the more widely the dimin- 
 ution of an already scanty rainfall has been felt, the 
 more extensive have been the efforts to remedy this 
 growing deficiency by artificial means. 
 
 The subject of the deterioration of the soil as a 
 consequence of long continued irrigation has also been 
 discussed in this country in connection with what has 
 been observed in California, and especially in the south- 
 ern part of the San Joaquin "Valley, where, to use the 
 
 1 Thus Mr. G. P. Marsh, in " The Earth Modified by Human Action," 
 (New York, 1874,) makes the following statement : " The decay of these 
 once nourishing countries is partly due, no doubt, to that class of geo- 
 logical causes whose action we can neither resist nor guide, and partly 
 also to the direct violence of hostile human force ; but it is, in a far greater 
 proportion, either the result of man's ignorant disregard of the laws of 
 nature, or the incidental consequence of war and of civil and ecclesiastical 
 tyranny and misrule." The countries to which reference is here made 
 are " Northern Africa, the greater Arabian peninsula, Syria, Mesopo- 
 tamia, Armenia, and many other provinces of Asia Minor, Greece, Sicily, 
 and parts of even Italy andSpain." Loc. cit., pp. 4, 5. The same state- 
 ments are repeated in the edition of 1885, pp. 3, 4. 
 
 2 See the author's "Climatic Changes of Later Geological Times," 
 (Cambridge, Mass., 1882,) Chapters II. and III., where this question is 
 discussed at very considerable length. 
 
ALKALINE DEPOSITS IN CALIFORNIA. 43 
 
 words of the principal scientific investigator (Professor 
 E. W. Hilgard) of this matter, " it was not until it 
 began to be noted that in the irrigated districts of the 
 Kern and Tulare Valley, the alkali was continually 
 extending its area, and seriously damaging the wheat 
 crop where before there had been no signs of it, that 
 public interest was aroused." 1 
 
 The phenomena exhibited in the San Joaquin Valley 
 are thus described by Professor Hilgard : 2 " The rain- 
 fall in this region is usually so small (from five to six 
 inches) as to suffice only for the moistening of the soil 
 to the depth of a few feet ; and during the time required 
 for the evaporation of this natural moisture the short- 
 lived vegetation of the region rapidly passes through its 
 development. That vegetation consists of a compara- 
 tively small number of species of bright spring flowers, 
 which in their season cover the entire country with a 
 dense beautiful carpet, one and the same flower oc- 
 cupying the ground almost exclusively at times for 
 many square miles by virtue of the law of the ' survival 
 of the fittest.' Were there any crop of a habit similar 
 to these flowers that could be profitably grown on these 
 plains, irrigation could obviously be dispensed with. 
 The settlers of the region have tried what seems to be 
 the next best thing, viz. : to grow grain crops of a 
 short period of growth, and therefore needing irrigation 
 only during a small portion of the dry season. In so 
 
 1 See " Alkali Lands, Irrigation, and Drainage in their Mutual Rela- 
 tions," by E. W. Hilgard, Professor of Agriculture and Director of 
 Experiment Station. Sacramento, 1892. This is a pamphlet published 
 by the College of Agriculture, University of California. It is a second 
 edition of an Appendix to the Report for the year 1890. 
 
 2 Loc. cit., p. 15. 
 
44 ALKALINE DEPOSITS. 
 
 doing, they have moistened the soil to a considerably 
 greater depth than was reached by the rain-water 
 before, and as a consequence the annual evaporation 
 has greatly increased. The irrigation water, moreover, 
 has brought with it from these depths all the supply of 
 alkali salts that before had gradually been washed be- 
 yond the reach of the ordinary rainfall by an occasional 
 wet season. Each succeeding irrigation, followed by 
 evaporation, tends to accumulate the salts nearer the 
 surface, so that finally the root-crowns of the grain crops 
 are ' burnt up' before even beginning to head. The 
 evil will, of course, be greatly aggravated if the water 
 used for irrigation originally contains any considerable 
 amount of alkaline salts, which are superadded to those 
 already in the soil strata." 
 
 The subject of the origin of the " reh" or alkali on 
 irrigated lands is discussed at some length in Professor 
 Hilgard's report, and the following quotation from that 
 document will give, in a few words, his most essen- 
 tial conclusions, so far as they relate to the question 
 of the difficulties of the irrigation problem : " From 
 the facts above given regarding the alkali soils and 
 irrigation waters of California, the importance of inves- 
 tigating thoroughly not only the quantity but also the 
 quality of the water available for irrigation in the arid 
 regions, is sufficiently obvious. The facts as nature 
 has made them should be elicited and plainly set before 
 the people, so that money may not be invested in use- 
 less undertakings, or damage done which it may be 
 difficult to undo thereafter. There are probably but 
 few rivers in the world of such composition or natural 
 purity that continued irrigation without correlative un- 
 
DRAINAGE AND IRRIGATION. 45 
 
 der drainage can be practised without in the end caus- 
 ing an injurious accumulation of soluble salts in the soil. 
 In India, according to the testimony of official reports, 
 quoted herein, the evil effects of such practice have 
 become painfully apparent, and to such an extent that 
 after the expenditure of enormous sums for bringing 
 the water upon the fields, the Government now finds 
 itself face to face with the costly problem of its eco- 
 nomical removal, by drainage, so as to relieve the soil of 
 the accumulated ' alkali/ which has rendered it unfit for 
 cultivation. A.n early attention to this matter, with 
 such foresight as will prevent the occurrence of similar 
 difficulties, cannot be too, earnestly recommended to all 
 interested in lands needing irrigation, from the Pacific 
 coast to Colorado and Kansas." 1 
 
 The desirability of drainage as a prevention of the 
 accumulation of alkali on and near the surface depends 
 on the fact that this seems to be brought about, to a 
 considerable extent at least, not so much by the actual 
 evaporation on the surface of the irrigation water as by 
 the bringing up from below by capillary attraction and 
 evaporation of the subsoil water holding saline matter 
 in solution. The effect of irrigation is to raise the 
 water level, thus bringing fresh alkaline particles to 
 the surface, from which, in a hot and dry climate, 
 evaporation is exceedingly rapid, and the deposit of 
 saline mater proportionally large. The remedy for 
 this, in the opinion of the Indian officials, is deep 
 drainage, the object of this being, as expressed by the 
 most concise and comprehensive term, the remedying of 
 defective water circulation. The great difficulty and ex- 
 
 1 Loc. cit., page 56. 
 
46 OVER IRRIGATION IN INDIA. 
 
 pense of any system of deep drainage in India has been 
 repeatedly admitted by various officials. That there is 
 still considerable uncertainty in regard to the causes of 
 the development of alkali or "reh" on irrigated sur- 
 faces seems pretty evident, and in proof of this state- 
 ment the following quotation is offered. It is an 
 extract from a report of the " Keh Committee " for 
 the Aligarh District, by the Superintendent of the 
 Geological Survey of India, Mr. H. B. Medlicott. 
 
 " Observation and experiment cannot be profitably 
 made by men, however otherwise intelligent, without 
 any scientific knowledge of the matter under inves- 
 tigation. The almost total absence hitherto of this 
 element in reh investigations, is the most instructive 
 point in its history ; and I would express a hope that 
 the Aligarh Committee may mark a turning point in 
 this report. . . . The resulting information will depend 
 chiefly upon the amount of informed intelligence ap- 
 plied from the beginning. Unless the proposed experi- 
 ments are conducted by some competent head, the 
 question will drift helplessly, as it has up to this day. 
 I would therefore advise that a well qualified agri- 
 cultural chemist be engaged for five years under the 
 Department of Agriculture, to devote himself to this 
 special investigation." 
 
 The question of the possibility of irrigation in the 
 arid region by means of Artesian wells is one of great 
 scientific interest, and of some practical importance. 
 This matter has received considerable attention in the 
 course of the various State Geological Surveys, as also 
 on the part of the United States Geological Survey, and 
 the Department of Agriculture. Census Bulletin No. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS. 47 
 
 193 (Census of 1890), by Mr. F. H. Newell, is devoted 
 to the subject of " Artesian Wells for Irrigation." l 
 
 An Artesian well is properly a boring of considerable 
 depth, from which water rises to the surface and over- 
 flows, without the necessity of pumping. Deep wells 
 from which the water does not rise to the surface, but 
 has to be raised by means of a steam-engine or some 
 other mechanical contrivance, were formerly called 
 "deep wells," or "bored wells"; but at the present 
 time, especially in the United States, any bored well, 
 even if not very deep, is frequently designated as an 
 "Artesian well." 2 
 
 The presence of water-bearing strata at some depth 
 beneath the surface is a fact of quite common occur- 
 rence in various parts of the world ; but the conditions 
 favoring a rise to the surface or an overflow of this 
 water, when such a stratum has been reached by a 
 bore-hole, are much less frequently met with. To cause 
 water to rise to the surface and overflow it, the water- 
 
 1 This paper bears the date of June 11, 1892. Besides this, there may 
 be mentioned, as having been published by the Department of Agricul- 
 ture, a report on " Artesian Wells upon the Great Plains," drawn up by a 
 Commission appointed " to examine a portion of the Great Plains east of 
 the Rocky Mountains, and report upon the localities deemed most favor- 
 able for making experimental borings." This report, signed by Messrs. 
 C. A. White and Samuel Aughey, Commissioners, was published in 1882. 
 A paper " On the Requisite and Qualifying Conditions of Artesian Wells," 
 by Thomas C. Chamberlin, is contained in the Fifth Annual Report of 
 the U. S. Geological Survey, published in 1885. The reports of Richard 
 J. Hinton, " Special Agent [of the Department of Agriculture for] Artesian, 
 Underflow, and Irrigation Investigation" (1887-91), deal largely with the 
 question of irrigation by means of Artesian wells in various sections of 
 the Arid Region, as also on the Great Plains. 
 
 2 " The term Artesian was originally only applied to wells which over- 
 flowed, but nearly all deep wells are now so called, without reference to 
 their water-level, if they have bore-holes." Ernest Spon, in " The Present 
 Practice of Sinking and Boring Wells," 2d Edition, p. 2. London, 1885. 
 
48 ARTESIAN WELLS PARIS BASIN. 
 
 bearing bed must be both covered and underlain by 
 impermeable strata, and there must be hydrostatic 
 pressure due to the fact that the outcrop of the bed 
 so situated is at a higher level than the orifice of the 
 bore-hole through which water is to rise. The extent 
 of the uncovered surface of the permeable stratum, and 
 the average quantity of rain which falls upon it, are 
 the essential factors determining the amount of water 
 which can be obtained by an Artesian boring penetrat- 
 ing that stratum, and on the elevation of the source of 
 supply or outcrop of permeable rock depends the so- 
 lution of the question whether the water will rise to 
 the surface, and, if so, with what amount of pressure; 
 i,hat is, to what height it will rise if confined within 
 a tube and not allowed to flow away at the orifice of 
 the bore-hole. 
 
 What is commonly designated by geologists as a 
 " basin structure" is, therefore, an essential feature 
 of a region in which a flow of what may properly be 
 called " Artesian water " can be obtained. Such a 
 structure is typically well developed in the Paris 
 basin, where the Lower Greensand an assemblage 
 of permeable strata is covered by a thick mass of 
 chalk, between which and the underlying water-bear- 
 ing beds there is a series of impermeable strata, rep- 
 resenting the Gault of the English geologists, of no 
 very great thickness, but sufficiently argillaceous to 
 prevent the escape of water from the underlying 
 greensand. 1 
 
 1 For some remarks in regard to possible modifications of the typical 
 conditions under which Artesian water is obtained, see further on, in 
 connection with the descriptions of various wells in the Mississippi Val- 
 ley, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS PARIS BASIN. 49 
 
 The well of Grenelle, at Paris, begun in 1833 and 
 completed in 1841, draws its supply from the Lower 
 Greensand, at a depth of about 1,800 feet beneath the 
 surface, above which it rises to the height of 120 feet, 
 having a temperature of 82. This is the most famous 
 of all Artesian wells, because it was the first to furnish 
 water from so great a depth. Before this well was 
 bored a considerable amount of water had been ob- 
 tained from the Tertiary strata in the vicinity of 
 Paris, as well as in various other localities in the North 
 of France. Some of these borings yielded a large sup- 
 ply of water, but in no case as much as that furnished 
 by the Grenelle well, nor did it in any instance rise 
 to a considerable height above the surface, the geologi- 
 cal conditions for obtaining an Artesian flow of water 
 from the Tertiary not being as favorable as those gov- 
 erning the supply from beneath the chalk. 
 
 The outcrop of the Lower Greensand, from which 
 formation the well of Grenelle is fed with water, is in a 
 zone lying about a hundred miles east of Paris, and at 
 an average elevation of about 300 feet above the orifice 
 of the bore-hole. The average rainfall of the region is 
 probably about twenty-two inches, and the area over 
 which the water-bearing stratum is exposed is not far 
 from one hundred square miles. 1 
 
 The success of the Grenelle well led to various efforts 
 on a much larger scale to obtain Artesian water from 
 the strata beneath the chalk of the Paris basin. The 
 well of Passy is the most famous of these, chiefly on 
 account of the great diameter of the bore-hole, which 
 
 1 See " A Geological Inquiry respecting the Water-bearing Strata 
 around London," by Joseph Prestwich, Jr., London, 1857, p. 304. 
 
50 DEEP BORED WELLS. 
 
 is about three and a quarter feet, while that of the 
 Grenelle well was only eight inches. The Passy well 
 was begun in 1856, and completed, after surmounting 
 many difficulties caused by the caving in of the upper 
 strata, in 1861, when, from a depth of 1,914 feet, water 
 rose to the amount, at first, of about three and a third 
 million gallons a day. This afterwards increased, for 
 a time, to five and a half million, and afterwards de- 
 clined to about four million, at which figure it contin- 
 ued for some time. Owing to the defective character 
 of the tubing of the Passy well its yield has fallen off 
 greatly, and at latest accounts was not so much as half 
 a million of gallons a day. Had the tubing been made 
 of iron, and sufficiently strong to stand the pressure of 
 the water, the original yield of four or five million gal- 
 lons would have been continued, in all probability, until 
 the present time. 1 
 
 Water supply from deep bored wells which are not 
 properly Artesian, but from which water is raised to 
 the surface by pumping, are very common in different 
 parts of the world, and especially in England. In Lon- 
 don many wells bored in the beds of the Lower Ter- 
 tiary, lying under the London clay, at a depth of from 
 a hundred to two hundred feet below the level of 
 the Thames, were originally Artesian, that is, their 
 water rose above the surface. After some years, this 
 source of supply having been drawn upon too heavily, 
 the water level sank to from sixty to seventy feet 
 below high-water mark. 
 
 London, from a geological point of view, is not as 
 favorably situated as Paris for procuring Artesian 
 
 1 See Spon, loc. cit., pp. 224-232. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS LONDON BASIN. 51 
 
 water. There is a notch in the lip of the London 
 basin made by the passage of the Thames out of it, 
 and this is at a level of about a hundred feet below 
 the rest of the rim. This, of course, diminishes the 
 capacity of the basin as a reservoir. Again, various 
 deep borings made in and near London, which have 
 passed entirely through the chalk, have in most cases 
 failed to reveal the presence of the Lower Green- 
 sand, which is the chief water-bearing formation in the 
 Paris basin. In all the London deep borings the Up- 
 per Green sand and the Gault succeeded each other 
 in due order, but beneath the latter a great variety 
 of beds has been found. Of thirteen deep borings 
 of which the records are given in the publications of 
 the English Geological Survey, 1 only one (that at the 
 brewery of the Messrs. Meux) seems positively to 
 have passed through any appreciable thickness of the 
 Lower Greensand, which there had a thickness of some- 
 what over sixty feet, but which was lithologically very 
 different from that formation at its outcrop, being 
 composed of a limestone of oolitic structure. In most 
 of the other localities where deep borings have been 
 made in the London basin, much older rocks have been 
 reached by the drill after passing through the Gault. 
 These rocks have been shown by examination of the 
 cores obtained with the diamond drill to be of vari- 
 ous ages : in one case, Lower Carboniferous ; in two, 
 Devonian ; in one, Upper Silurian ; and in two oth- 
 ers, probably Triassic or Devonian. In short, there is 
 
 i See W. Whittaker's "Guide to the Geology of London and its 
 Neighborhood," (a publication of the Geological Survey of England and 
 Wales,) Third Edition, London, 1880, p. 19. 
 
52 DEEP BORED WELLS ENGLAND. 
 
 abundant evidence that there is a range of old rocks 
 under London which has unfavorably affected the 
 development of the formation which has been so prolific 
 of water in the Paris basin. 
 
 There are, however, numerous deep bored wells in 
 London and its vicinity, which draw their supply from 
 the chalk : these, however, all have to be pumped. But 
 a small part of the water supply of this great city is 
 obtained from this source, most of it being taken from 
 the Thames and the Lea* 
 
 In former years many large towns in Central and 
 Northern England were supplied in large part with 
 water from deep bored wells in the New Red Sand- 
 stone, a formation underlying a large area in that 
 region. Birmingham and Liverpool were among the 
 cities which depended on this source of supply. The 
 water furnished by these wells was never very satis- 
 factory as to quality or quantity, and they have been 
 gradually abandoned, as far as it was possible for this 
 to be done, in favor of water obtained by means of 
 storage reservoirs, in which the water is collected from 
 some suitably situated drainage area. 
 
 The water supply of Manchester for a long time came 
 from deep wells in the New Red Sandstone ; but this 
 having been found to be an entirely unsatisfactory 
 method, a tract of high land lying between that city 
 and Sheffield, and drained by the river Etherow and 
 its tributaries, was selected as a gathering ground, 
 and seven reservoirs formed there, having a collective 
 capacity of about 4,590 million gallons, and capable 
 of supplying eighteen million gallons a day. Even 
 this quantity proved insufficient, so that, as long ago 
 
WATER SUPPLY OF LIVERPOOL. 53 
 
 as 1879, it was decided to seek an additional supply, 
 and Lake Thirlmere was finally fixed upon as the 
 locality from which it was to be obtained. From this 
 lake, the level of which was raised by a dam, water is 
 conducted by tunnels or a covered conduit for a dis- 
 tance of a hundred miles to the vicinity of Manchester, 
 which city will thus be supplied, when the works 
 have been entirely completed, with fifty million gal- 
 lons a day. Liverpool, which also liad long been fur- 
 nished with water from deep wells in the New Red 
 Sandstone, finally, after much investigation, selected 
 the valley of the Vyrnwy River, a tributary of the 
 Severn, as a site for a large storage reservoir. Here 
 a dam has been built capable of holding back a body 
 of water having an area of 1,121 acres and a maxi- 
 mum depth of eighty-four feet. This work, begun in 
 1880, was completed in 1889, and is calculated to fur- 
 nish forty million gallons per day. 1 
 
 The Artesian and deep wells of which a brief notice 
 has thus been given are intended for the water supply 
 of large cities, and not at all for irrigation. Indeed, 
 
 1 As this work is one of great importance, and excelled by few, if any, 
 of a similar kind in the world, the following particulars may be appended 
 in regard to it. This dam, of solid masonry throughout, is about 140 feet 
 high and 1,172 long across the top. The foundation extends, in the mid- 
 dle of the valley, 60 feet beneath the surface to solid rock, where the 
 bottom of the dam is 132 feet below the level of the lake ; its height from 
 the lowest part of the foundation to the parapet of the roadway along its 
 edge is 161 feet. The lake thus artificially formed is 4 miles long, and 
 from J to | of a mile wide. The main portion of the aqueduct which 
 conveys the water of the lake to the service reservoirs will consist of 
 three lines of cast-iron pipes, one of which, 42 inches in diameter, has 
 already been laid. The distance between the lake and the service reser- 
 voirs, near Liverpool, is over sixty-eight miles. The lake, at its lowest 
 available level, is 496 feet higher than the top level of the service reser- 
 voir at Prescot. 
 
54 ARTESIAN WELLS ALGIERS. 
 
 it is not known to the present writer that this use of 
 water obtained from great depths is anywhere practised 
 on a scale of any magnitude, either in Europe or Asia. 
 There are, however, Artesian wells in Northern Africa, 
 the water of which is used for irrigational purposes, 
 and which are quite celebrated on account of the pecu- 
 liarities of their geographical position and mode of use. 
 The wells in question are by no means novelties, for it 
 is known that the Romans, and, before their time, the 
 Egyptians, obtained by various methods water which 
 they used for cultivation, and in other ways, on the 
 northern and eastern borders of the Sahara. Rivers 
 were dammed, and reservoirs constructed, from which 
 the water was taken in canals, in a manner quite simi- 
 lar to that practised in modern times. It is believed 
 that various districts which now are entirely dry and 
 deserted, but which once were celebrated for the beauty 
 of their vegetation and somewhat densely populated, 
 were formerly supplied in this way, and possibly with 
 Artesian water obtained from deep wells. 
 
 When the French took possession of Algiers, they 
 found that the natives in certain localities on the 
 borders of the Sahara had long been in possession of 
 the art of digging wells, some of which were more than 
 200 feet deep. The region where the water thus ob- 
 tained had been, and was still, of some importance, lies 
 to the southeast of the city of Algiers, distant some 
 two hundred miles, between Biskra and Tuggurt, in 
 the valley known as the Wadi Rihr. Here various 
 wells have been sunk, the well-digger usually com- 
 ing, at the bottom of his excavation, on a bed or kind 
 of crust of hard gypsum, on breaking through which 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS WADI RIHK. 55 
 
 the water issued with great force, and in considerable 
 volume. This operation was attended with consider- 
 able danger. Moreover, the wells thus sunk usually 
 began within a few years after their completion to 
 become choked with sand brought up from below or 
 washed in from above. To remove this was a very 
 difficult matter, as the work had to be done by divers, 
 who were able to remain under water for as much as 
 five or six minutes while clearing away the obstruction 
 to the flow of the water. 1 In spite of the efforts of the 
 divers to keep the wells open, many of them have be- 
 come useless, and several once flourishing oases had 
 been more or less completely abandoned at the time 
 the French took possession of the country. Engineers 
 acquainted with the modern methods of well-boring 
 were, therefore, brought from Europe, and they were 
 successful in procuring, without difficulty, and in vari- 
 ous localities, a considerable supply of Artesian water, 
 thus restoring prosperity to the region of the Wadi Rihr 
 to such an extent that its population doubled in num- 
 ber between the years 1856 and 1890. The water thus 
 obtained is chiefly used for the cultivation of the date 
 palm, which requires a large supply of moisture, and 
 does not suffer even when the water is strongly im- 
 pregnated with saline matter, as is the case with all 
 that obtained in this region from deep wells. 
 
 The satisfactory results of the borings in the Wadi 
 Rihr have led to operations of a similar kind in various 
 other districts of the Sahara, some of which have 
 
 1 See, for a description of this process, E. Desor, in " La Foret Vierge 
 et le Sahara," Paris, 1879, pp. 108-115, quoted from Les Puits Artesiens 
 des Oasis Meridionales de 1'Algdrie," Alger, 1862. 
 
56 ARTESIAN WELLS EASTERN STATES. 
 
 proved successful. 1 There are indeed enthusiastic in- 
 dividuals who believe that by means of Artesian water 
 the desert may be rescued from sterility, or even cov- 
 ered with forests and fertile meadows. Thus far, 
 however, the progress in this direction has been ex- 
 tremely small. 2 The region where the most has been 
 accomplished toward redeeming the Sahara is still very 
 thinly populated, and the oases have but a compara- 
 tively small area and are far apart. 3 
 
 Artesian wells, or those called Artesian, are numer- 
 ous in the Atlantic States, the Mississippi Valley, and 
 the Cordilleran region, and in certain localities they are 
 of some importance, although, in general, their use in 
 connection with irrigation is limited to the extreme 
 western part of the country. A brief notice of the 
 more important attempts made in the Eastern States 
 to procure Artesian water may here be introduced. 
 
 Many years ago the idea was generally current 
 throughout this country that water of good quality 
 and abundant in quantity could be had almost any- 
 
 1 See Comptes Rendus des Seances de la Societe de Geographic, Paris, 
 
 1892, containing (on page 179) an account, by Mr. Georges Rolland, of 
 borings for Artesian water at El Golea, in the extreme southern part of 
 the Algerian Sahara, where a military post has been established. In the 
 volume for 1893 of the same journal (page 108), this engineer discusses 
 the chances of success in boring at Hassi Inifel, a place situated on the 
 travelled route from El Golea to Ain Salah, and in the line of communi- 
 cation between Algiers and Timbuctoo. From information furnished by 
 various authorities it appears that Wadi Rihr, Wargla, and El Golea are 
 the three localities in Algiers where Artesian borings have been most suc- 
 cessful. El Golea is about 250 miles southwest of Tuggurt, and Ain Salah 
 about the same distance farther on in the direction of Timbuctoo. 
 
 2 See, in reference to this point, H. Schirmer, in " Le Sahara," Paris, 
 
 1893, pp. 427, 428, where a quotation from Largeau's " Le Sahara Alge- 
 rien " is given, with a commentary by Mr. Schirmer himself. 
 
 8 The number of inhabitants in the Wadi Rihr was 6,700 in 1856, and 
 13,300 in 1890. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS ATLANTIC COAST. 57 
 
 where by boring to a sufficient depth. In endeavor- 
 ing to prove the truth of this theory, much money 
 has been expended, and many bore-holes carried to 
 a very considerable depth at a great number of 
 localities. Some of these enterprises have been suc- 
 cessful to a limited extent ; but in general they have 
 been failures, because the water obtained was either 
 insufficient in quantity or unsatisfactory in quality. 
 The object to be gained by these borings has been 
 almost always a supply of water for cities, for impor- 
 tant public institutions, or for some kind of manufac- 
 tory. Nowhere east of the Mississippi, so far as known, 
 has the water thus obtained been used for irrigational 
 purposes or has any such use been contemplated. 
 
 Before water had been introduced into the large 
 cities of the Atlantic Coast, by bringing it from a 
 distance in conduits, it was very natural that it should 
 have been sought for by means of deep borings. Va- 
 rious attempts of this kind were made in Boston and 
 New York. In the former city, these efforts have been 
 renewed within the past five years without any success- 
 ful result. In New York, it is said that there are as 
 many as forty deep wells ; some of these, however, are 
 not now in use, and nearly half of them are owned by 
 breweries. Their depth ranges from a few feet to 2,000, 
 and the diameter of the bore-hole from two and a half to 
 ten inches; their capacity varies from 2,000 to 126,000 
 gallons per day. Details in regard to the quality of 
 the water from these wells, and the height above the 
 surface to which it rises, are not available. 1 
 
 i See W. W. Mather, in "Geology of New York," Albany, 1843, 
 pp. 146, 147, where it is stated that " borings have often been made for 
 
58 ARTESIAN WELLS ALABAMA. 
 
 The first deep wells of importance in the United 
 States seem to have been bored in Alabama, where there 
 were, as early as 1848, " in the single county of Greene 
 upwards of forty ' bored wells/ varying between 170 
 and 600 feet in depth, all constructed by private in- 
 dividuals for their own use." 1 Of the quality and 
 quantity of the water obtained from these wells the 
 accounts vary considerably. Professor Tuomey, State 
 Geologist of Alabama, says, in speaking of two wells 
 at Finch's Ferry, " The water is the strongest that I 
 have examined." He adds, apparently with reference 
 to the wells of this region in general, " There can be no 
 doubt that if these wells were not so numerous, they 
 would become places of resort as mineral springs." 2 
 
 Professor A. Winchell also describes 3 the Artesian 
 wells of Alabama, and states that the water-bearing 
 strata are alternating beds of sand and shale which 
 underlie the well-known "rotten limestone" of the 
 Cretaceous series of that region. A table of seventy- 
 four wells is given, which vary in depths from 90 to 
 728 feet, the quantity of water which they deliver 
 ranging from 3 to 1,200 gallons per minute. The well 
 reported as yielding the last-named quantity is the so- 
 called " Great Well," at Cahaba, and this is said to be 
 728 feet deep. Professor Winchell remarks in regard 
 
 Artesian wells in situations where the geological structure was such 
 that they could not be expected to be successful. New York island 
 is a good example." 
 
 1 See M. Tuomey, in "Report on the Geology of South Carolina,'* 
 Columbia, S. C., 1848, p. 247. Also, by the same author, " First Biennial 
 Report on the Geology of Alabama," Tuskaloosa, 1850, pp. 138-140. 
 
 2 Loc. cit., p. 139. 
 
 8 In " Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement 
 of Science," Vol. X., Albany Meeting, 1856, Part II., pp. 94-103. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS SOUTH CAROLINA. 59 
 
 to it : " This is truly an astonishing well, but I am 
 sceptical in regard to the alleged quantity of water 
 discharged." The water of this well, at the date of the 
 article quoted, rose twelve inches above the mouth of 
 the pipe. Some of the Alabama wells are said to be 
 "highly saline"; others to be "strongly charged with 
 sulphuretted hydrogen." Although no general state- 
 ment to this effect is made, it is inferred that the 
 water of all the wells described by Professor Winchell 
 contains a large amount of saline matter, and that, at 
 all events, it could not be used for irrigation, for which 
 purpose it would not seem to be needed, since the 
 region is one of large rainfall. 
 
 The subject of water-supply is one which has long 
 occupied the attention of the citizens of Charleston, 
 S. C. The rainfall at this place being quite large, the 
 shallow wells in the sand, which is there about" twenty 
 feet thick and rests on a bed of impermeable clay, 
 for a time furnished a tolerably satisfactory supply of 
 water ; but this has been steadily deteriorating in qual- 
 ity, so that the necessity of procuring something better 
 has long been felt. For a time recourse was had to 
 wells sunk to a depth of about sixty feet through the 
 clay and into a bed of water-bearing sand which lies 
 between that and the marl beneath. Several " sixty- 
 foot wells," as they were called, were bored from 1820 
 on, and some of these are still in use. 
 
 Information in regard to the deep wells of London 
 having reached Charleston, it was determined that an 
 effort should be made to obtain Artesian water in that 
 city. Acting under the advice of the State Geologist, 
 Professor Tuomey, and encouraged by the success of 
 
60 ARTESIAN WELLS SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 similar undertakings in Alabama, a boring was begun 
 by the City Council in 1845. Previous to this, how- 
 ever, the United States authorities had made an attempt 
 to procure Artesian water at Fort Sumter. Both these 
 undertakings failed of success on account of want of 
 skill in the management of the work, the greatest depth 
 reached having been 347 feet. In 1847 the city au- 
 thorities renewed their efforts, however, and a depth 
 of 1,260 feet was reached, at which water was obtained, 
 but in small quantity, the diameter of the bore-hole 
 being only three inches. Another well was then be- 
 gun of larger bore, but was stopped, first temporarily 
 by an accident, and later by the Civil War. 
 
 Again, in 1876, the attempt to procure Artesian 
 water was renewed, and this time with success. The 
 bore-hole was located on Calhoun Street, where, at a 
 depth of a little over 1,900 feet, a group of beds of 
 water-bearing sand was struck, and water to the amount 
 of 360,000 gallons per day obtained. Another well was 
 begun in George Street immediately after, and others 
 have since been bored at various points in the city and 
 in its vicinity. The quantity of water which these wells 
 afford is, however, by no means sufficient for a city hav- 
 ing already over 50,000 inhabitants ; nor is the quality 
 satisfactory, as will be seen from the following table, 
 which shows the number of grains of solid matter to 
 the gallon contained in the water of various Artesian 
 wells in and near Charleston l : 
 
 1 See Artesian wells Report of Special Committee, in "City of 
 Charleston Year Book 1881," pp. 257-315 ; also the same publication 
 for the year 1884, pp. 147-156, where will be found a report setting forth 
 the inadequacy of the water-supply of the city. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 61 
 
 Grains in 
 
 Locality of Well. one gallon 
 
 of water. 
 
 " Old Artesian well " corner of Meeting and Wentworth 
 
 Streets 135.366 
 
 Citadel Green 65.053 
 
 Commercial Cotton Press 264.481 
 
 Chisholm Mill 214.937 
 
 Ashepoo Phosphate Company 1 167.022 
 
 Edisto Phosphate Company l 149.06 
 
 Stono Phosphate Company J 128.941 
 
 A great number of deep borings have been made 
 during the past thirty or forty years in the Mississippi 
 Valley, with the expectation of procuring water suit- 
 able for the supply of some city or public institution. 
 Since the excitement in regard to the occurrence of 
 petroleum and natural gas, the number of these bor- 
 ings has increased indefinitely, and but little attention 
 has been paid to their yield of water. In general, how- 
 ever, it can be said that, so far as water-supply is con- 
 cerned, they have all or nearly all proved failures, 
 often because the flow from the bore-hole was insuffi- 
 cient, and still more frequently because, in addition to 
 the scantiness of the supply, the quality of the water 
 obtained was not such as to make it suitable for any 
 use other than medicinal. In many cases, however, 
 these borings have been of value as throwing light on 
 the geological structure of the region where they were 
 made. Some of the most important of these undertak- 
 ings may here be briefly noticed. 
 
 At Louisville, Kentucky, a boring was begun in 1857, 
 and carried to a depth of 2,086 feet, with a diameter of 
 three inches. The water obtained rose, when tubed, to 
 
 1 These wells are all within three or four miles from the City Hall. 
 
62 ARTESIAN WELLS MISSOURI. 
 
 a height of 170 feet above the surface, and the flow 
 amounted to 330,000 gallons per day. This water is, 
 however, not fit for ordinary use, since it contains 915 
 grains of solid matter to the gallon, consisting mostly 
 of common salt and sulphate of soda, with considerable 
 sulphate of magnesia and sulphate of lime. The water 
 is said to have valuable medicinal qualities, and to re- 
 semble that of the celebrated springs of Kissingen. 1 
 
 At St. Louis, Missouri, a boring was carried to the 
 depth of 3,843.5 feet, on the grounds of the County In- 
 sane Asylum. This well furnished water more or less 
 saline all the way down. Below 3,545 feet it contained 
 from seven to eight per cent of salt. This boring passed 
 entirely through all the sedimentary formations, termi- 
 nating in the granite. The supply of water which it 
 furnishes appears to be but small, and no use has been 
 made of it. Another boring was made at Belcher's su- 
 gar refinery, and carried to a depth of 2,176 feet. At 
 1,231 feet the water contained three per cent of salt. 
 There are no details available as to its quantity fur- 
 nished, or whether it rose to the surface. No practical 
 use has been made of this water. 2 
 
 1 See J. Lawrence Smith, in the American Journal of Science, (2), 
 Vol. XXVII. pp. 174-178, where it is stated that "the top of the well is 
 now [1859] closed, and the water conducted about thirty feet to a basin 
 with a large jet d'eau on the centre, from which there is a central jet of 
 water forty feet in height, with a large water-pipe, from which the water 
 passes in the form of a sheaf. When the whole force of the water is al- 
 lowed to expend itself on the central jet, it is projected to a height of from 
 ninety to a hundred feet, settling down to a steady flow of a stream sixty 
 feet high." The bore-hole is five inches in diameter as far down as 
 seventy-six feet, from that point to the bottom of the well three inches. 
 
 2 See G. C. Swallow, in " First and Second Annual Reports of the 
 Geological Survey of Missouri " (1855), p. 131. Also, G. C. Broadhead, in 
 " Report of the Geological Survey of Missouri, including the Field work 
 of 1873-1874," pp. 32-34. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS OHIO. 63 
 
 At Columbus, Ohio, in the grounds of the State 
 House, a well was bored between 1857 and 1860, to 
 the depth of 2,775 feet. The water continued saline 
 all the way down, and no use appears to have been 
 made of it, nor are there any statements in the reports of 
 the State Geological Survey as to its quantity. This bor- 
 ing passed through the whole thickness of the Devonian 
 and Upper Silurian, and terminated in the Calciferous 
 Sandrock underlying the Trenton limestone. 1 A deep 
 well was bored in Eaton, Preble County, Ohio, some 
 years ago, and was carried to a depth of 1,370 feet. 
 Others have been bored in the Ohio Valley, near Cin- 
 cinnati, and carried down to a depth sufficient to reach 
 the bottom of the Trenton limestone ; these wells were 
 sunk in search of petroleum, but without success, nor is 
 there any record of water having been obtained from 
 them. 
 
 The fact that the Trenton limestone in the northern 
 part of Ohio contained a large amount of both petroleum 
 and natural gas, was not revealed until after the borings 
 mentioned above had been executed. The occurrence 
 of natural gas at and near Findlay, Hancock County, 
 has been known since that region was first settled 
 (about 1836) ; but its presence in large quantity was 
 first made known in November, 1884, and immediately 
 after that petroleum was discovered in the same forma- 
 tion (the Trenton limestone), since which time this re- 
 gion has become of great economical importance. 2 
 
 1 See Edward Orton, in " Report of the Geological Survey of Ohio," 
 Vol. VI., Economic Geology (1888), pp. 106-108. 
 
 2 All through this part of Ohio there has been, since these discoveries 
 at Findlay were made, immense activity displayed in drilling wells for oil 
 and gas. The following quotation from the above-cited volume of the 
 
64 ARTESIAN WELLS INDIANA. 
 
 In Indiana there have been numerous borings made 
 for water, some of which are in the drift, while others 
 are much deeper ; but they are all designated in the 
 Reports of the State Geological Survey as "Artesian." 
 As examples of the comparatively shallow wells may be 
 mentioned numerous wells in Rush County, most of 
 them not much exceeding fifty feet, and the deepest 
 being 106 feet. Of the quality and quantity of the 
 water supplied by these wells nothing definite can be 
 stated, except that in one locality at the west end 
 of Rushville the average depth being from twenty 
 to twenty-three feet, the water is designated as being 
 "Artesian chalybeate." 1 These are evidently simple 
 shallow wells. The City of Marion, Grant County, is 
 supplied with water from a boring sixty-eight feet 
 deep. This well may properly be called Artesian, 
 since the water overflows at the top of the bore-hole. 
 The yield is not definitely stated, but the well is said 
 to furnish " an abundance of good pure water." 2 The 
 analysis of this water showed that it contained twenty- 
 eight grains of solid matter to the gallon, mostly car- 
 bonate of lime. 
 
 Geological Reports may be appended as an illustration of the truth of this 
 statement : " The discovery of gas and oil at Findlay has made a great 
 impression on the western half of Ohio not only, but on all adjacent 
 States as well. In fact, no geological discovery ever made in this coun- 
 try, unless the original discovery of petroleum in western Pennsylvania 
 shall be excepted, has exerted so widespread and powerful an influence on 
 half of the United States, or at least on the northern Mississippi Valley, 
 as the discovery of Findlay gas. Every county in the western half of 
 Ohio, without exception, has already drilled one or more wells to the 
 Trenton limestone, or at least 'made a determined effort to reach the new 
 source of light and heat." Loc. cit., p. 117. 
 
 1 See J. Collett, in " Thirteenth Annual Report of the Department of 
 Geology and Natural History," Indianapolis, 1884, pp. 100-103. 
 
 2 Loc. cit., p. 140. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS ILLINOIS. 65 
 
 All the deeper wells of Indiana appear to furnish a 
 strongly saline water ; for instance, an Artesian well at 
 Reelsville, 1,240 feet deep, " from which there resulted 
 a strong flow of white sulphur water, highly charged 
 with sulphuretted hydrogen gas. ... It was considered 
 a specific in diseases of the liver and kidneys." 1 A well 
 bored at Corydon, in 1871, at a depth of 1,200 feet 
 yielded brine strong enough to make one and a quarter 
 pounds of salt per gallon. The yield of this well seems 
 to have been very small. 2 Another well, half a mile east 
 of Corydon, designated as the " White Sulphur Well," 
 of which the depth is not given, yielded a water con- 
 taining 450.88 grains of solid matter to the gallon. 
 This well is, or has been, used as a mineral spring, 
 and " cures almost magical in their results are vouched 
 for." At Lodi, Fountain County, a boring 1,155 feet 
 deep yielded a copious supply of water " discharged 
 with great force," and containing 673.937 grains of 
 solid matter to the gallon. This water is said to be 
 nearly identical with that of the White Sulphur Springs 
 of Virginia. 3 
 
 In Illinois the results of deep boring for Artesian 
 water do not seem to have been favorable, unless it be 
 in the city of Chicago. Here there are wells which 
 appear to furnish some water, although no definite infor- 
 mation has been obtained with regard to their yield ; 
 
 1 Department of Statistics and Geology, Second Annual Report, In- 
 dianapolis, 1880, p. 405. 
 
 2 E. T. Cox, in Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Annual Reports of the 
 Geological Survey of Indiana," Indianapolis, 1879, p. 353. 
 
 8 See J. Collett, in " Eleventh Annual Report of the Department of 
 Geology and Natural History," Indianapolis, 1881, p. 114. The flow of 
 this well at a depth of 1,051 feet is said to have been 1,500 barrels per 
 day ; the solid matter is stated to be about five sevenths common salt. 
 
 5 
 
66 ARTESIAN WELLS ILLINOIS. 
 
 neither can anything positive be stated about the qual- 
 ity of the water. The borings at Chicago are said by 
 the State Geologist to range from 700 to 1,100 feet in 
 depth, and " to furnish an abundant supply of water 
 for the local needs which caused them to be bored." 1 
 The most important of these wells are said to be at the 
 Union Stock Yards, where the strata are described as 
 being most probably horizontal, or nearly so. 2 
 
 The following items in regard to deep borings in Illi- 
 nois are extracted from the latest published volume of 
 the State Geological Survey. 8 At Riverton, seven miles 
 east of Springfield, a boring was carried to the depth of 
 655 feet. At Olney, in the south part of the State, a 
 boring for Artesian water was carried to the depth of 
 2,000 feet without success. At Canton, in Fulton 
 County, a boring was begun above the horizon of Coal 
 No. 5, and extended into the Silurian to a depth of 358 
 feet. At Streator, in La Salle County, an Artesian bor- 
 ing was carried to a depth of 2,496 feet, the last 1,358 
 feet being in the Potsdam sandstone. Both the St. Peters 
 
 1 See Geological Survey of Illinois," Vol. III. (1868), pp. 244 and 
 256. There are but few particulars given in the State Geological reports 
 in regard to either the quantity or the quality of the water obtained in 
 any of the Artesian borings in Illinois. 
 
 2 A pamphlet entitled " History of the Great Chicago Artesian Well, a 
 Demonstration of the Truth of the Spiritual Philosophy, with an Essay on 
 the Origin and Uses of Petroleum," by George A. Shufeldt, Jr., has been 
 published at that place, and has gone through several editions (1865, 1867). 
 The statements here made are astounding. The water is said to flow at the 
 rate of about 600,000 gallons per day from a depth of 711 feet, and to be 
 " as clear as crystal and as pure as the diamond, . . . and better adapted 
 for drinking purposes than any other water known." So many of the 
 statements made in this pamphlet can easily be proved to have no basis 
 of truth, that it is not possible to accept any part of it as authority in 
 regard to the Artesian water of Chicago. 
 
 8 See Geological Survey of Illinois," Vol. VII. (May, 1883), pp. 5, 7, 
 49, 50. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS WISCONSIN. 67 
 
 sandstone and the white sandstone of the Calciferous 
 group were found to be water-bearing in this well, the 
 water from the St. Peters coming to within forty feet 
 of the surface, and that from the Calciferous to within 
 about thirty-four feet : this latter water was reported 
 as being sweet, and apparently free from deleterious 
 mineral substances, while that from the Potsdam was 
 brackish and unfit for common use, but it rose in a tube 
 to the height of forty-five feet above the surface. At 
 Marseilles, a depth of 2,189 feet was attained, but the 
 flow of water, which rose to the surface, was only one 
 and a half barrels per hour. The quality of the water 
 is not stated. 
 
 The mineral springs and Artesian wells of Wisconsin 
 are of much more importance than those of the adja- 
 cent more Southern States, which have been briefly 
 noticed on the preceding pages, and they received 
 considerable attention during the progress of the sur- 
 vey carried on under the direction of Professor Cham- 
 berlin during the years 1873 to 1879. 1 Some of the 
 more important conclusions reached by this Survey may 
 here be briefly stated. 
 
 The "areas of favorable probabilities" for Artesian 
 wells in Wisconsin are designated as follows : I. A 
 belt extending along the entire border of Lake Michi- 
 gan, at an elevation not much above that of the lake. 
 
 1 See Volume I. (1883) of the reports of that Survey, pp. 689-701, in 
 which the subject of Artesian wells in general is discussed ; Volume II. 
 (1877), pp. 141-170, containing remarks on water supply, an enumera- 
 tion of the various geological horizons in which springs occur and Arte- 
 sian wells either have been or may be successfully bored, with chemical 
 analyses of the water of several noteworthy springs and Artesian wells ; 
 Volume IV. (1882), pp. 57-63, containing descriptions, with analyses of 
 the water, of various Artesian wells in the Mississippi Valley. 
 
68 ARTESIAN WELLS WISCONSIN". 
 
 II. In the Green Bay Valley, from Fond du Lac north- 
 ward. III. In the valley of Kock River. IV. Along 
 the Mississippi River. V. Along the shore of Lake 
 Superior. 
 
 Farther on in the series of volumes of the Geological 
 Survey reports, 1 the numerous Artesian wells of Wiscon- 
 sin are classified with reference to the formations from 
 which they derive their flow, as follows : I. Those that 
 flow entirely from the drift, clay layers forming the up- 
 per and lower confining strata, and sand or gravel the 
 water-bearing seam. II. Those that derive their flow 
 from the junction of the drift with the indurated rocks 
 below. III. Those that originate in the Niagara lime- 
 stone. IV. Those that arise from the Galena and 
 Trenton limestones. V. Those coming from the St. 
 Peters sandstone. VI. Those originating in the older 
 crystalline rocks. 
 
 In the first group, or those coming from the drift, 
 the following wells are among those more particularly 
 noticed : Those of Taycheedah, from sixty to seventy 
 feet deep, and not reaching the bed-rock ; the water of 
 some of these is said to be strongly impregnated with 
 sulphuretted hydrogen. At Calumet, on the shore of 
 Lake Winnebago, two fine wells are mentioned, about 
 ninety feet deep, " giving a copious flow of clear, cold, 
 sparkling water, impregnated with considerable iron, 
 and some sulphuretted hydrogen." At Whitewater, 
 various " flowing wells," owing their origin to the fact 
 that a bed of lacustrine clay rests upon the flank of 
 drift hills to the southeast, admirably adapted to serve 
 as collecting areas. One of these wells, fifty-two feet 
 
 i Volume II. pp. 150, 151. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS WISCONSIN. 69 
 
 deep, in a stiff blue clay, is described as having a copi- 
 ous flow, "the water being charged with iron and 
 sulphuretted hydrogen." At Oshkosh there is a con- 
 siderable number of shallow wells, varying from fifty 
 to 150 feet in depth, some of which derive their flow 
 from within the drift, while others come from the junc- 
 tion of the detrital formation with the rock in place 
 beneath. Some of the flowing wells at Fond du Lac 
 also have an origin similar to that of the shallow wells 
 at Oshkosh. There are also numerous wells at Rush- 
 ford, Aurora, Poysippi, and vicinity, included in what 
 is designated as the " Poygan Lake system," which all 
 belong to a common depression filled by a continuous 
 lacustrine deposit, and are essentially alike in nature 
 and origin. They all originate in the drift, and owe 
 their existence to the alternate porous and impervious 
 character of the red clay and associated beach deposits. 
 Their flow is said to be in some cases very copious, 
 and the water excellent, rather soft, but occasionally 
 impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. It is evi- 
 dent that no very sharp line of distinction can be 
 drawn between the wells the water of which is de- 
 rived from the drift itself, and those drawing their 
 supply from the junction of the detrital formation 
 with the bed-rock. The water of the various Fond du 
 Lac, Oshkosh, and Oakfield wells comes from both these 
 horizons. 
 
 Of wells bored in the Niagara limestone and obtain- 
 ing their yield of water from that formation, those of 
 Manitowoc are cited. The drift here appears to be 
 about sixty feet deep, and the borings at several of the 
 wells penetrated the rock to the depth of ninety feet. 
 
70 ARTESIAN WELLS WISCONSIN. 
 
 An analysis of the water of one of the wells in this 
 geological position shows it to contain a large amount 
 of saline matter (192.7 grains to the gallon), the sul- 
 phates of lime, soda, and magnesia predominating. 
 
 Some of the wells at Oshkosh and Fond du Lac, and 
 most of those at Watertown, derive their water from 
 the fourth horizon mentioned above the Galena and 
 Trenton limestones ; but in general this source of sup- 
 ply seems to be of comparatively little importance, by 
 far the larger part of the deep-seated wells of Eastern 
 Wisconsin, at least receiving their water from the St. 
 Peters sandstone. This rock is porous, and also much 
 fissured in various directions, so that water easily pene- 
 trates it, while the overlying Trenton limestone forms 
 an effective impermeable cover. From this source 
 comes the water of the deeper wells at Watertown, 
 some of those at Fond du Lac, the Sheboygan well, and 
 others at Milwaukee, Racine, and Western Union Junc- 
 tion. The well at Sheboygan is 1,475 feet deep ; the 
 discharge is 225 gallons per minute ; the water contains 
 589.25 grains of solid matter to the gallon, consisting 
 chiefly of common salt and sulphate of lime. The 
 pressure at the surface is sufficient to raise the water 
 104 feet. The Milwaukee well is 1,048 feet deep ; the 
 pressure is sufficient to fill a four-inch pipe at sixty feet 
 above the surface. Nothing is stated in regard to the 
 quality of the water of this well. Another well, in the 
 suburbs of Milwaukee, is 1,200 feet deep, and delivers 
 300 gallons of water per minute ; its flow may be car- 
 ried to a height of more than fifty feet above the sur- 
 face. The water of this well contains 42.34 grains of 
 solid matter to the gallon, consisting mostly of the sul- 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS WISCONSIN. 71 
 
 phates of lime and soda, and the bicarbonate of mag- 
 nesia. The Racine well is 1,240 feet deep ; at 888 feet 
 in depth the St. Peters sandstone was struck, which is 
 there forty-eight feet thick. Beneath this is 100 feet of 
 the Lower Magnesian Limestone, underlain by a consid- 
 erable thickness of the Potsdam sandstone. When the 
 St. Peters sandstone was reached a flow of water was 
 secured, which was increased in volume on penetrating 
 to the depth of 204 feet the Potsdam group. The 
 water rose in a tube sixty-five feet above the surface : 
 regarding its quality nothing is stated. The well at the 
 Western Union Junction was also continued down into 
 the Potsdam sandstone for a distance of 157 feet, the 
 total depth reached being 1,263 feet. There are no 
 details given in regard to the volume or quality of the 
 water obtained. 
 
 In that part of the Wisconsin Survey reports which 
 is devoted to the " Geology of the Mississippi Region 
 North of the Wisconsin River," l a brief notice is given 
 of the mineral springs and wells existing at various 
 points within the district described. At Sparta there 
 are said to be twelve Artesian wells within a distance 
 of two miles from the central part of the city. Their 
 depth is uniformly about 300 feet, and the water rises 
 from six to ten feet above the surface. " It is claimed 
 that these mineral waters will cure a large and varied 
 list of diseases ; but of this we have no personal knowl- 
 edge." 2 The source of the water of these wells is be- 
 
 1 See "Geology of Wisconsin, Survey of 1873-1879," Volume IV. 
 (1882), pp. 57-62. 
 
 2 Loc. cit., p. 57. An analysis of the water from one of these wells 
 shows that more than one half of the solid matter which it contains is 
 carbonate of iron. Too much confidence should not be placed in the cor- 
 
72 ARTESIAN WELLS WISCONSIN. 
 
 lieved to be from near the junction of the Potsdam and 
 Archaean (Azoic). The Artesian well of La Crosse is 
 said to be 573 feet deep, but no details of its yield are 
 given. The well of Prairie du Chien is 959 feet deep, 
 and its water rises in the tubing to the height of sixty 
 feet above the surface: its discharge is 869,916 gallons 
 per day. The water is said to be clear and sparkling, 
 but " a little brackish to the taste." The La Crosse 
 deep well obtains its water from the granite, which, 
 however, it penetrates to the depth of thirty-six feet 
 only ; that of the Prairie du Chien well seems to come 
 chiefly from various strata in the lower part of the 
 Potsdam sandstone. 
 
 The results of the chemical analyses of the Wisconsin 
 Artesian waters show that these are, almost without ex- 
 ception, hard. Few of these waters, however, seem to 
 have been carefully and accurately analyzed. Besides 
 the analyses mentioned in the preceding pages, the fol- 
 lowing are cited in a tabular statement of analyses of 
 the waters of Wisconsin, reprinted in 1877 from the An- 
 nual Report for 1873 r 1 Artesian well, Madison, 21.12 
 grains of solid matter to the gallon ; Wild's Artesian 
 well, Fond du Lac, 20.84 grains ; Artesian well, Court 
 House Square, Sparta, 9.05 grains. This last is the 
 only water cited in the table of analyses of twenty- 
 three specimens from the springs, wells, rivers, and 
 lakes of Wisconsin, which shows less than twenty 
 grains of solid matter to the gallon, with the exception 
 of that from Milwaukee River (17.02 grains) and that 
 
 rectness of this piece of chemical work, the results of which are carried 
 to the fifth place of decimals. 
 
 i See " Geology of Wisconsin, Survey of 1873-1877," Vol. III. pp. 31, 32. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS IOWA. 73 
 
 from Lake Michigan (8.46 grains). It seems not to 
 be possible to make any positive general statement 
 connecting the quality of the waters of Wisconsin with 
 the geological horizon from which they are obtained ; 
 the evidence appears, however, to favor the idea that, 
 on the whole, the best water comes from the shallower 
 wells : that of some of the very deep ones is certainly 
 entirely unsatisfactory. 
 
 The conditions of water-supply in Iowa are briefly 
 discussed in the State Geological Report. 1 The drain- 
 age system of this State is such that the streams 
 are numerous and pretty uniformly distributed, while 
 springs are frequent in the valleys. Water is almost 
 always obtained from the drift which covers so large a 
 part of Iowa by sinking not more than a few feet, so 
 that deep wells do not seem to be much needed. All 
 the water of this State is, however, hard, so that 
 rain-water collected in cisterns is commonly used for 
 household purposes. The rainfall in this region is 
 amply sufficient to make it possible to secure water 
 enough for ordinary domestic use, away from the large 
 cities, by using sufficient care in the construction of 
 proper cisterns. 2 The scarcity of water at certain sea- 
 sons of the year, and the occasional recurrence of espe- 
 cially severe periods of drought, however, have led to 
 numerous attempts to secure a supply more satisfactory 
 in quality or quantity by means of Artesian wells. Up 
 
 1 See C. A. White, in "Report of the Geological Survey of the State 
 of Iowa," Vol. II. (1870), Des Moines, pp. 331-334 and 354-357. 
 
 2 The annual rainfall of the State of Iowa, as determined by the 
 various series of observations collected by the Iowa State Weather and 
 Crop Service, is about thirty-five inches. Monthly Review of the Iowa 
 Weather and Crop Service, Vol. III. No. 3 (1892). 
 
74 ARTESIAN WELLS IOWA. 
 
 to the time of the publication of Professor White's re- 
 port, few of these undertakings seem to have been even 
 moderately successful. Such deep borings as were 
 begun primarily with the expectation of discovering 
 petroleum were entirely unsuccessful, while those made 
 especially for water were in most cases failures, because 
 that which was obtained was too impure to be used in 
 any way, unless possibly for medicinal purposes. 
 
 In later years, in spite of these difficulties, increased 
 attention has been paid to Artesian wells in this State, 
 as is shown by the appearance in various scientific peri- 
 odicals of articles devoted to this subject. 1 Professor 
 Call has recently published a tabular statement giving 
 certain facts in regard to eighty-six Artesian wells in 
 Iowa. 2 Of these wells about forty are described as end- 
 ing in the "glacial drift," eight in the Carboniferous, 
 four or five in the St. Peters sandstone, and two in the 
 " Silurian "; in regard to all the others no satisfactory 
 information is given as to the source from which the 
 water is derived. In fourteen cases it is said to be 
 "soft"; in forty-five to be "hard"; further than this 
 there is nothing said as to the character of the water. 
 The wells ending in the St. Peters sandstone are from 
 
 1 See R. Ellsworth Call, in "Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of 
 Sciences for 1890, 1891," Vol. I. Part 2, pp. 57-63 ; also, by the same 
 author, various articles in the " Monthly Review of the Iowa Weather and 
 Crop Service," Vol. III. Nos. for February and March, 1892. The main 
 grounds on which Artesian waters are sought in Iowa are stated by Pro- 
 fessor Call to be, " first, the convenience of such flows for farm and urban 
 use, and, second, the supposed purity of such waters." 
 
 2 The details of this statement are vague and unsatisfactory. No 
 analyses of the water are furnished, and no clue to its character is 
 afforded other than that indicated above. Only in regard to about 
 half the wells noticed is any information given as to the amount 
 of flow. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS IOWA. 75 
 
 676 to 1,400 feet deep; the two in the "Silurian," 1 
 1,640 and 2,000 feet. Throughout the region where 
 large "glacial wells" occur, water is usually found at 
 depths varying from twenty-five to 170 or 180 feet. 
 The southwestern part of Hancock County, along the 
 smaller tributaries of Boone River, is mentioned as be- 
 ing an " Artesian hydrographic basin." Another area 
 of glacial wells is that lying within the drainage of 
 Raccoon River, the Des Moines River dividing this from 
 the Boone River area, the latter being described as fur- 
 nishing by far the greater number of wells, as also the 
 stronger and more permanent flows of water. The 
 greatest reported flow of any well in the Boone River 
 area is said to be 3,000 gallons per hour ; a few hun- 
 dred gallons per hour is the maximum in the Raccoon 
 Valley. These areas of glacial wells are said to lie 
 within the terminal moraine, while that of Belle Plain 
 is beyond it, some seventy-five miles to the southeast. 
 Within this area, in Benton, Tama, Poweshiek, and 
 Iowa counties, there are said to be sixty-three flowing 
 wells, and others in which the water does not rise to 
 the surface. The depth of the detrital material in 
 this basin is indeed most remarkable. A well, named 
 "Jumbo," was bored here, and water struck at the 
 depth of 193 feet, the lower 172 feet being "blue clay, 
 with layers or pockets of sand or gravel." The condi- 
 tion of this well at the present time is not stated ; but 
 it is said of it that, during its period of greatest flow, 
 " 8,267,040 gallons in twenty-four hours came from this 
 
 i By " Silurian " appears here to be meant some formation older than 
 the St. Peters sandstone : in one instance " Magnesian limestone of Silu- 
 rian age " is specified ; in the other, simply " Silurian rock." 
 
76 ARTESIAN WELLS IOWA. 
 
 monster well." The entire thickness of the interstrati- 
 fied clay and sand at this point is not known ; water 
 was found in a stratum of gravel and sand at a depth 
 of 209 feet, and this was bored into for a distance 
 of twenty-five feet, without passing through it. The 
 water gave on analysis 133.68 grains of solid matter 
 per gallon, about three fifths of this being sulphate of 
 lime and one fifth chloride of magnesium. The great 
 depth to which the so called " glacial deposits " in 
 the vicinity of Belle Plain extend is thought to in- 
 dicate the existence of an " extensive subterranean 
 hydrographic basin, or the presence of an immense 
 ancient river valley, now entirely filled and obliter- 
 ated." Of the "glacial wells" in general, it is said 
 that "they are all relatively shallow, the catchment 
 basin which feeds them relatively small, and their 
 'life,' which is at best precarious, sustains a definite 
 relationship to the mean annual precipitation of the 
 region." 
 
 Besides the shallow or glacial Artesian wells of Iowa, 
 of which the above brief notice has been given, there 
 are numerous deep ones. Those which lie along the 
 Mississippi River all, or nearly all, end in the St. Pe- 
 ters sandstone ; and this formation is said to be the 
 source of the water of most of the deep wells of the 
 State. This rock underlies, at depths varying from 
 1,000 to 1,200 feet, that part of Iowa which is north 
 and east of a line drawn from Keokuk to Sioux City. 
 The conditions in the northwestern and southwestern 
 portions of the State seem to be unfavorable for pro- 
 curing Artesian water. 
 
 So far as can be determined from the small number 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS IOWA. 77 
 
 of analyses of Iowa Artesian water available, the ear- 
 lier statements of Professor White in regard to its very 
 unsatisfactory character seems to be upheld. Professor 
 Call remarks that " with one or two exceptions, and it is 
 quite doubtful if these are correctly reported, the water 
 of all glacial wells belongs to the class called hard 
 water ; the water of all the wells that end in the Car- 
 boniferous rocks or in the St. Peters sandstone is soft." 
 The analyses furnished do not, however, substantiate 
 the correctness of this statement. Thus the water of 
 an Artesian well in the city of McGregor, descending to 
 the St. Peters sandstone, contained 136.8 grains of solid 
 matter to the gallon, mostly common salt with sulphate 
 of soda, and some sulphate and carbonate of magnesia ; 
 that of the well at the Asylum near Council Bluffs, 1,100 
 feet deep, was shown by analyses to contain 89.433 grains 
 of solid matter to the gallon ; that of an Artesian well 
 at Des Homes, penetrating the Carboniferous strata to 
 the depth of 380 feet, 181.37 grains of solid matter to 
 the gallon ; that of the well at Boone, the boring of 
 which ends at 3,011 feet in a white sandstone, 86.48 
 grains to the gallon ; that of the water of an Artesian 
 well at West Liberty, 1,968 feet deep, ending in the 
 sandstone, 64.8 grains to the gallon ; that of a well at 
 Fort Madison, 763 feet deep, and probably ending in the 
 St. Peters sandstone, 115.13 grains to the gallon. In 
 short, it does not appear from published documents that 
 any water has been obtained in Iowa by Artesian bor- 
 ings suitable for use either for household purposes, or in 
 the boilers of steam-engines. The waters of some wells 
 in this State are said to be " strongly magnetic," and 
 have been extensively advertised as possessing high 
 
78 ARTESIAN WELLS MINNESOTA. 
 
 medicinal value. The same statement has been made 
 in regard to many other wells, springs, and Artesian 
 waters of the Mississippi Valley, and of the region of 
 the Great Lakes. 
 
 As in the adjacent States in the Mississippi Valley, 
 so in Minnesota, attempts have been made to pro- 
 cure water by means of Artesian wells. It would 
 appear from the various reports published by the 
 Minnesota Geological Survey that water can be ob- 
 tained with ease over a large part of this State by 
 means of shallow wells in the drift. In some of the 
 counties, however, the superficial detrital material con- 
 tains a considerable proportion of calcareous matter, 
 so that the water from these wells is hard. Some 
 deep wells have been bored in the hope of procuring a 
 better supply, but these attempts appear to have been 
 only partially successful. Thus a deep well at Man- 
 kato, Blue Earth County, sunk to the depth of 2,204 
 feet, " furnished no Artesian flow of water, and is not 
 used." 1 Many shallow wells in the same county, 
 sunk to but slight depths in the drift, furnish Artesian 
 water in considerable quantity, these flowing wells 
 being locally denominated "fountains." More than a 
 hundred of these fountains have been obtained in Blue 
 Earth County upon the area drained by the head 
 streams of Maple River, from Sterling Centre fifteen 
 miles southeastward, including Sterling and Mapleton 
 townships, and reaching into Faribault County. At 
 Wells, in this last-named county, occur the most re- 
 markable of this class of wells which have been discov- 
 
 i "Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota. Final 
 Report," Vol. I. (1884), pp. 422, 452. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS MINNESOTA. 79 
 
 ered in Minnesota. These wells are sunk in the drift 
 to the depth of from 110 to 120 feet, the water rising 
 in them to the height of fifteen or twenty feet above 
 its surface. About twenty of these wells have been 
 sunk within a radius of one mile, the bore-holes being 
 in most cases two inches in diameter, but reduced to 
 half an inch or less at the top. The water thus ob- 
 tained is said to be of excellent quality, but somewhat 
 chalybeate. Other Artesian wells, or fountains, are 
 said to have been sunk in Faribault County, the water 
 coming from beds of gravel and sand at depths of 
 from thirty or forty to nearly a hundred feet. Of 
 these fountains it is stated that "All these Artesian 
 wells, as also the common wells of the county, . . . 
 invariably have good water and nearly always in ample 
 amount within twenty-five or fifty feet from the surface. 
 It is, however, hard water, holding the carbonates of 
 lime and magnesia in solution, and requires cleansing 
 with ashes or otherwise before it can satisfactorily be 
 used for washing with soap." 1 
 
 At Red Wing, Goodhue County, two Artesian wells 
 have been drilled, one at the station of the Chicago, 
 Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway, the other about 
 eighty rods from this. This latter well is 260 feet 
 deep, the first 160 feet of which is in the drift, and 
 the remainder in the sandstone. 2 The yield of this 
 well is 300 barrels per day, the water rising thirty feet 
 
 1 Loc. cit., Vol. II. p. 471. 
 
 2 This sandstone belongs to what is called by the Minnesota Geologi- 
 cal Survey the " St. Croix sandstone," one of the many names applied 
 to the formation originally named " Potsdam sandstone " by the geolo- 
 gists of the New York Survey, and from which it differs in no important 
 respect, either lithologically or palaeontologically. 
 
80 ARTESIAN WELLS MINNESOTA. 
 
 above the surface. The well at the railway station is 
 450 feet deep, discharging 800 gallons per minute, the 
 water rising when tubed seventy-five feet above the 
 surface. Nothing is said of the quality of the water 
 of this well, except that it deposits " a considerable 
 irony sediment," while that furnished by the other 
 well, near the station, is described as being " soft and 
 pure." A similar statement is made in regard to the 
 water of another Artesian well, a few miles farther 
 west, which is 355 feet deep and also terminates in the 
 sandstone. An Artesian well at the hospital in Saint 
 Peter, Nicollet County, on the Minnesota River, is 
 200 feet deep, the water rising seven feet above the 
 surface : nothing is said as to its quality or quantity. 
 
 The Artesian wells near St. Paul appear to be the 
 most successful and important in the State. There are 
 several at West St. Paul, varying in depth from 200 
 to 275 feet, the water in which rises from twenty to 
 thirty feet above the surface, and is said to be " very 
 soft, pure, and wholesome": it comes from the Potsdam 
 sandstone. There are also deep wells at St. Paul, one 
 at " Elevator 13," 850 feet deep, and one at the St. 
 Paul Harvester Works," 671 feet deep ; in neither of 
 these does the water rise to the surface. It is sug- 
 gested by the Geological Survey that Artesian water, 
 which is already used for fire protection on the west 
 side of the river, could be had at St. Paul in sufficient 
 quantity for the supply of the entire city " by sinking 
 several large wells to this sandrock [the St. Croix] 
 and by the construction of pumping-stations and 
 
 reservoirs." 1 
 
 Loc. cit., Vol. II. p. 364. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS MISSOURI. 81 
 
 At Mendota, also on the Mississippi River, a few 
 miles southwest of St. Paul, there is a well 857 feet 
 deep, the water of which, coining from the Potsdam 
 sandstone, rises a few feet above the surface, and flows 
 at the rate of 300 gallons per minute. Still farther 
 down the Mississippi, at Hastings, Dakota County, 
 there is an Artesian well, 1,160 feet deep, in the Pots- 
 dam sandstone, the water from which will rise when 
 tubed fourteen feet above the surface, flowing at the 
 rate of about a hundred gallons per minute. 
 
 Recent publications of two of the Geological Surveys 
 of the Mississippi Valley States, Missouri and Arkan- 
 sas, furnish considerable information in regard to the 
 mineral waters obtained from springs and bored wells 
 in those States. 1 The mineral springs of Missouri 
 are very numerous, and many of them are believed 
 to possess " undoubted medicinal value." They are 
 classed by Professor Schweitzer as furnishing muriatic, 
 alkaline, sulphatic, chalybeate, and sulphur waters. 
 Under the heading, "List of Mineral Waters of the 
 State, examined, sampled, and analyzed by the Geo- 
 logical Survey during the Years 1890 to 1892," thirty- 
 five counties are cited as possessing mineral springs, 
 eighty-three distinct springs, wells, or Artesian wells 
 being specified, and the results of the analyses of their 
 waters given. Of the wells designated as " Artesian," 
 which are six in number, the following details are 
 
 1 See " Geological Survey of Missouri, A. Winslow, State Geologist, 
 Vol. III. (December, 1892), containing a Report on the Mineral Waters 
 of Missouri by Paul Schweitzer and A. E. Woodward," and "Annual 
 Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas for 1891, Vol. I., The 
 Mineral Waters of Arkansas, by John C. Branner, State Geologist," 
 Little Rock, 1892. 
 
 6 
 
82 ARTESIAN WELLS MISSOURI. 
 
 given : the " Clinton/' in Henry County, is 800 feet 
 deep, the flow 400 gallons per minute, and the water 
 contains 106.24 grains of solid matter (mostly com- 
 mon salt) to the gallon ; the " Louisiana" (at the town 
 of that name in Pike County, on the Mississippi, eighty 
 miles from St. Louis) is 1,275 feet deep, the flow of 
 water " abundant," and its contents of solid matter 
 545.71 grains per gallon, nearly four fifths of which 
 is common salt ; the " Clinton Artesian Well, No. 3," 
 also in Henry County, 913 feet deep, flowing at the 
 rate of 2,500 to 3,000 gallons per minute, the water 
 being classed as " alkaline," and containing 94.54 
 grains of solid matter to the gallon, about half of 
 which is common salt, and the rest chiefly the car- 
 bonates of lime and magnesia with a very little 
 (2.08 grains to the gallon) chloride of potassium; the 
 "Jordan," also in Henry County and near Clinton, 
 depth not given, water said to be a weak chalybeate, 
 and the well now abandoned ; the " Belcher," St. Louis 
 County, already noticed on a preceding page ; 1 the 
 "Nevada," near the town of that name in Yernon 
 County, 800 feet deep, flowing at the rate of 10,000 
 
 i See p. 62. The report of Professor Schweitzer having been received 
 since that notice of the Belcher well was written, the following addi- 
 tional information concerning this noted well may here be added. The 
 water contains 550.25 grains of solid matter to the gallon, of which 401.57 
 are common salt, 50.18 sulphate of lime, 47.49 chloride of calcium, 46.08 
 chloride of magnesium, 3.06 bromide of magnesium, 0.87 chloride of 
 potassium, the remainder silica and oxide of iron. " A large amount of 
 this water is used for home consumption [apparently for medicinal 
 puposes] as well as for shipping, its use being free to any one who may 
 wish to take it." The water flows from a l|-inch pipe at the rate of 
 about fifty gallons per hour ; it is clear and sparkling, with a perceptible 
 odor of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, which gives rise to a white precipitate 
 of sulphur on the stones over which it flows. 
 
WELLS AND SPRINGS ARKANSAS. 83 
 
 gallons per hour, the water (classed as alkaline) con- 
 taining 76.01 grains of solid matter to the gallon, 
 nearly half of which is common salt, and the remainder 
 chiefly carbonates of lime and magnesia, together with 
 2.40 grains of carbonate of soda. 
 
 The distinction between Artesian wells and springs 
 is not very closely maintained in Professor Schweitzer's 
 report : thus, of one of the " Kandolph Springs," in 
 the county of that name, the " Sulphur Spring " is said 
 to be " a free flowing four-inch well, 969 feet deep, 
 bored originally . . . for the purpose of obtaining pe- 
 troleum. . . . The flow is at the rate of about 120 
 gallons per hour. Very few of the wells or springs 
 mentioned in this report could be employed for any 
 other than a medicinal purpose. A few of them have, 
 however, been used in former years for making salt, 
 especially the so-called " Great Salt Springs " of Saline 
 County. 
 
 In the " Annual Report of the Geological Survey of 
 Arkansas for 1891," a volume is devoted to the min- 
 eral waters of that State. 1 In this volume a consider- 
 able number of analyses of the water of various springs 
 and rivers, as well as of such springs as are more prop- 
 erly designated as " mineral," are given. Arkansas is 
 a well-watered State, the rainfall over most of its sur- 
 face being rather in excess of its needs. Irrigation is, 
 therefore, not a question of practical importance. 2 
 
 1 This volume, by John C. Branner, State Geologist, bears the date 
 of 1892. 
 
 2 Arkansas is famous for its springs. In the language of the above 
 cited report, " hundreds of beautiful, free-flowing springs gush from hill- 
 sides and valleys in all parts of the State. . . . Some of these springs are 
 so big that they are utilized for driving mills and cotton gins and other 
 
84 ARTESIAN WELLS TEXAS. 
 
 Texas is a State having an area so extensive that 
 the climate and topographic conditions are strikingly 
 different over various portions of its surface. 1 Along 
 its eastern edge, in the region adjacent to Louisiana, 
 the rainfall is copious, and not much less on the bor- 
 ders of the Gulf of Mexico, while the whole of the 
 western and northwestern part of the State lies beyond 
 the line separating the well-watered area from that 
 scantily supplied with moisture. It was on the Llano 
 Estacado, a vast plain lying between the Pecos River 
 and the Gulf water-shed, that the first attempts 
 by the government to procure Artesian water in the 
 arid region of the United States were made, and 
 without success. 
 
 In the coast region of this State numerous borings 
 have been made to procure water, and, according to 
 the investigations of the Geological Survey, the result 
 has proved that " flowing wells can be had throughout 
 the coast prairie region, from the Guadalupe River to 
 the Sabine, at depths varying from sixty-four feet in 
 
 machinery, and as their discharges are subject to little or no fluctuations 
 throughout the year, they are free from the dangers of freshets and the 
 risks of drouths. ... At Mammoth Spring, in Fulton County, one of the 
 finest water powers in the country is furnished by an enormous clear 
 water spring." The so-called " mineral springs " are, in some cases at 
 least, remarkable for their purity. Thus the waters of the various Eureka 
 Springs, in Carroll County, around which a town of several thousand 
 inhabitants has grown up, and which are visited by people from all parts 
 of the United States, contain only from five to seven grains of mineral 
 water to the gallon, and the same is true of the almost equally famous 
 Elixir Spring, at Elixir Spring, in Boone County. These, as well as many 
 others in Arkansas, belong to the class of " indifferent springs," or those 
 in which the medicinal value cannot be accounted for by the composition 
 of the water. 
 
 1 Texas has an area of 262,290 square miles. It is five and a half 
 times as large as the State of New York. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS TEXAS. 85 
 
 De Witt County to 1,100 feet at Velasco, in Brazoria 
 County, and that the water as a rule is of excellent 
 quality in all wells distant from ten to fifteen miles or 
 more from the coast." 1 It is, furthermore, stated by 
 the Survey, that, outside of the coast prairie region 
 and west of the Guadalupe River, the Artesian water 
 conditions vary so greatly and continually, through the 
 thinning out of the water-bearing sands or their entire 
 absence in many localities, that no large area within 
 the boundaries of the State can, at present, be desig- 
 nated as an Artesian water-bearing district. 
 
 The present water-supply for the city of Galveston is 
 derived from thirteen Artesian wells, ranging in depth 
 from 810 to 1,346 feet. 2 The water, however, contains 
 so large an amount of impurities, chiefly common salt, 
 " that it is unsuitable for either domestic or manufac- 
 turing purposes, although used to some extent for the 
 latter." 3 To determine the question whether better 
 water could be obtained at Galveston, the city authori- 
 ties caused a well to be bored to the depth of 3,070 feet, 
 of which it is said that "the water is brackish, but 
 apparently less so than that from any other well on 
 the island." 4 
 
 1 See " Geological Survey of Texas. Preliminary Reports on the Gulf 
 Coastal Slope. By J. A. Singley." Austin, June, 1893. 
 
 2 The flow from all these wells is collected in a reservoir and pumped 
 into a standpipe, whence it is distributed to all parts of the city for use 
 in case of fire. The total flow of these wells is about 2,300,000 gallons 
 per day. " The water is used to a limited extent for domestic purposes 
 when a drouth begets a scarcity of cistern water." It is used also in 
 smaller manufacturing establishments, most of the larger having wells of 
 their own. 
 
 8 Loc. cit., p. 1. (From Fourth Annual Report, 1892.) 
 4 At this depth " the City Council concluded that the experiment had 
 been carried far enough, and discontinued the work." 
 
86 ARTESIAN WELLS TEXAS. 
 
 Various wells sunk by private parties on the island 
 of Galveston furnish water containing from two to 
 three hundred grains of solid matter to the gallon, 
 most of which is common salt. In spite of this high 
 percentage of foreign matter, the water of some of 
 these wells seems to be used under boilers. The Arte- 
 sian wells on the mainland near Galveston seem to 
 furnish a decidedly better quality of water than those 
 on the island. 
 
 A large number of Artesian wells have been bored 
 in the coast region of Texas, some of which furnish 
 water much superior in quality to that of the Galves- 
 ton wells. Thus the city of Houston has nearly a 
 hundred w r ells within its corporate limits, the water 
 being derived from about six different water-bearing 
 sands, while the depth of the wells varies from 115 to 
 564 feet. The "city's supply" (probably that dis- 
 tributed in the mains) is said to be over 4,000,000 
 gallons per day. A single analysis of the Houston 
 Artesian water gives the total solid matter as being 
 twenty-one grains per gallon, carbonate of lime being 
 the predominating ingredient. The water from some 
 of the other wells in the coast region is much inferior 
 to that obtained at Houston ; but in some cases these 
 Artesian waters appear to have been used to a limited 
 extent for irrigation. In various localities as at 
 Corpus Christi, where a well was sunk to the depth 
 of 1,765 feet without finding water that could be 
 utilized by the city Artesian borings seem to have 
 been entirely unsuccessful, either no water at all having 
 been obtained, or else only that which was not fit for 
 any use whatever. 
 
IRRIGATION IN THE ARID REGION. 87 
 
 What has been said in the preceding pages will be 
 sufficient evidence that for the States lying adjacent to 
 the Mississippi River on both sides irrigation by means 
 of Artesian wells is a matter in which success is, on the 
 whole, rarely to be expected. The quality of the water 
 obtained from deep borings is almost everywhere such 
 as to make it entirely unavailable for irrigational 
 purposes, as also, indeed, for any purpose other than 
 medicinal. While, as already remarked, water in 
 abundance and of good quality would be extremely 
 desirable, especially if decidedly softer than that fur- 
 nished by ordinary wells or from the rivers of a region 
 so extensively underlain by calcareous rocks, it is much 
 less important that such a supply should be obtained 
 for irrigational purposes in the States adjacent to the 
 Mississippi than in those lying still farther west, where 
 the rainfall is insufficient for successful cultivation. 
 
 The isohyetal line of twenty-six inches may be 
 taken as approximately marking the boundary between 
 the sufficiently and insufficiently watered portions of 
 the Western region. This leaves to the east, or in the 
 moister area, a large part of Minnesota, the eastern 
 edge of Nebraska, rather less than half of Kansas, 
 most of the Indian Territory, and about half of Texas. 
 Through all the region to the west of this isohyetal 
 the rainfall may with propriety be considered insuffi- 
 cient, although there is a belt of considerable width 
 lying between the isohyetals of twenty-six and twenty 
 inches in which the conditions with respect to moisture 
 are intermediate between those of fairly sufficient and 
 decidedly insufficient supply. In the region enclosed 
 between the isohyetals of twenty-six and twenty inches, 
 
88 IRRIGATION U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 and still more in that beyond the latter, almost as far 
 as the Pacific Ocean, the irrigation question is an im- 
 portant one, and, as shown in the preceding pages, one 
 which has received a considerable amount of attention 
 from the general government, as well as from some of 
 the individual States and Territories. 
 
 The work of the Irrigation Department of the 
 United States Geological Survey, as far as its results 
 are accessible up to the present time, has received a 
 brief notice in the preceding pages. 1 It now remains 
 to give some further details with regard to what has 
 been actually accomplished in the way of irrigation in 
 the Western or arid region of the country. In doing 
 this the chief guide will necessarily be the publications 
 of the Census of 1890, together with various official 
 documents issued by authority of the Department of 
 Agriculture and by the Signal Service. 2 
 
 All that has been done up to the present time toward 
 mitigating the effects of a naturally arid climate in 
 the more arid portion of the Cordilleran region is com- 
 paratively insignificant, as is shown both by the figures 
 showing the density of the population of that region, 
 and by the actual census returns of the percentage of 
 the area of the different States and Territories actually 
 under irrigation at the time the statistics were collected 
 for the census of 1890. The annexed table exhibits 
 these results, the density of the population in the States 
 and Territories included in the list being given for the 
 year 1880, as well as for 1890. 3 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 29-31. 
 
 2 Reference has already been made to some of the more important 
 of these documents on pages 36, 46, and 47. 
 
 8 See also the table on page 28, in which a general statement is given 
 
IRRIGATION CENSUS STATISTICS. 89 
 
 T> Q o * Population Population 
 
 State or Territory. Percentage of per Sq. Mile, per Sq. Mile, 
 
 1880. 1890. 
 
 Idaho 0.4 0.39 1.00 
 
 Montana .... 0.4 0.27 0.91 
 
 Wyoming .... 0.4 0.21 0.62 
 
 Utah 0.5 1.75 2.53 
 
 Nevada 0.3 0.57 0.42 
 
 New Mexico ... 0.1 0.98 1.25 
 
 Arizona 0.1 0.36 0.53 
 
 The above enumerated States and Territories are all 
 included within the arid belt of the country, and form 
 its larger portion. The exceeding smallness of their 
 total area under irrigation at the latest date for which 
 statistics are available cannot fail to be noticed, as 
 also the scantiness of the population of this region, 
 and the slight change in this respect which took place 
 during the period elapsing between the time of taking 
 the census of 1880 and that of 1890. The density of 
 the population of this region is conditioned chiefly by 
 the development of its mining resources, what small 
 increase there is being almost entirely dependent on 
 this branch of industry, as has been shown by the de- 
 cline of the population of the State of Nevada which 
 has taken place since some of the more important min- 
 ing districts have ceased to be worked with profit, and 
 as is likely to be the case in other parts of the region 
 in question, where experience has shown that the mines, 
 as a rule, are not of a kind likely to hold in depth, a 
 large portion of the occurrences of ore having more 
 the nature of contact deposits than of true veins. 
 
 In two other States, and in two only, has the census 
 
 with regard to the area and population of the Cordilleran division and 
 its subdivisions in the years 1880 and 1890. 
 
90 IRRIGATION WASHINGTON AND OREGON. 
 
 of 1890 given the statistics of irrigation in such a form 
 that the actual importance of this branch of agricul- 
 ture can be distinctly stated. These two States are 
 Washington and Oregon : in the former the percentage 
 of irrigated area is 0.11, in the latter 0.3. Both these 
 States, however, lie in considerable part within the 
 best-watered- portion of the country, the rainfall on all 
 the area west of the Cascade Range being more than 
 ample, and it is here that almost the whole increase 
 of population in the period between 1880 and 1890 
 took place. This increase was large, especially in the 
 case of Washington, the density of whose population 
 rose in that interval from 1.12 to 5.22, while that of 
 Oregon increased from 1.85 to 3.32 per square mile. 
 This increase was almost entirely confined to the area 
 west of the Cascade Range, that to the east of it 
 belonging to the arid belt, and having for the most 
 part a decidedly unfertile soil. 1 Irrigation in Oregon 
 is almost exclusively confined to the counties east of 
 the Cascade Range. In two counties to the west of 
 that range, however, a little has been done in this 
 direction. 
 
 Two other States are lacking in any complete sta- 
 tistical returns of irrigation, namely, California and 
 Colorado, in both of which much has been done toward 
 the improvement of the water supply with reference 
 to mining as well as to agriculture. Furthermore, 
 nothing is said of Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and 
 
 1 This lofty and precipitous range of mountains effects a marked 
 change of the climate of the two States, cutting off almost entirely the 
 precipitation, which north from the northern border of California is 
 extremely copious on the western, and almost null on the eastern side 
 of the range. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS FOR IRRIGATION. 91 
 
 Texas, parts of each of which States lie within the 
 region insufficiently supplied with moisture, and where 
 irrigation is desirable. This incompleteness of the irri- 
 gational statistics is in part remedied by another 
 Census Bulletin, 1 devoted to the subject of " Artesian 
 Wells for Irrigation," in which some details are given 
 with reference to all the States and Territories lying 
 along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, in the 
 Great Basin, and on the Pacific coast. 
 
 According to this document, there were, in June, 
 1890, in the States and Territories forming the west- 
 ern half of the United States, 8,097 Artesian wells, 
 the average depth of which is 210.41 feet, and the 
 average discharge 54.43 gallons per minute, while the 
 average area irrigated by each well is 13.21 acres, and 
 the average cost of water per acre irrigated, $18.55. 
 These wells are very unequally distributed within the 
 area included in the investigation, for over one third 
 of them are in California, and nearly one third in 
 Utah. The remainder (a little less than one third) 
 are about equally divided between Colorado, North 
 Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas, while in the other 
 States and Territories the number of Artesian wells is 
 quite insignificant. 
 
 The lack of information in the general irrigation 
 reports in regard to the belt of States lying at the 
 eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, and which are 
 partly within the arid region, namely, the Dakotas, 
 Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, is in part supplied by 
 the reports of Mr. Hinton, of which an enumeration 
 has already been made. 2 Besides these reports, made 
 
 1 Bulletin No. 193, issued June 11, 1892. 2 See ante, p. 47. 
 
92 ARTESIAN WELLS ON THE PLAINS. 
 
 under the authority of the Agricultural Department of 
 the United States, voluminous documents have been 
 issued within the past three years by Congress, under 
 the title of "Keport of the Special Committee of the 
 United States Senate on the Irrigation and Reclama- 
 tion of Arid Lands." The first of these special reports 
 bears the date of 1890, and is entitled " Report of 
 Committee and Views of the Minority." l The second 
 report of this committee, also issued with the date of 
 1890, is entitled "The Northwest." 2 The third is 
 devoted to the "Great Basin Region of California," 3 
 and the fourth to the "Rocky Mountain Region and 
 Great Plains." 4 The fifth contains various miscella- 
 neous papers on irrigation." 5 The sixth is essentially 
 a reprint of Mr. Hinton's first report on " Irrigation 
 in the United States." 6 
 
 The report of Messrs. White and Aughey, 7 devoted 
 to Artesian wells upon the Great Plains, and made 
 under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture, 
 begins by giving a general idea of the topography and 
 surface features of that part of the United States 
 
 1 Senate Document, 51st Congress, 1st Session, Report 928, Part 1. 
 Washington, 1890. 
 
 2 This is Part 2, Volume I., of the above cited Report. 
 
 8 This is Part 3 of the same Report, and is called Volume II. ; it con- 
 tains 573 pages. 
 
 4 Part 4, and Volume III. of the same, with 608 pages. 
 
 6 This part, which is numbered Volume IV. of the series, contains 
 " Statements of the Director of the United States Geological Survey, 
 Reports of United States Consuls in Countries using Irrigation, and Mis- 
 cellaneous Papers on the Subject of Reclamation," in all 384 pages. 
 
 6 It is called, on the title-page, "A Second Edition of Miscellane- 
 ous Document No. 15, 49th Congress." All these documents, forming 
 together " Report 928, 51st Congress, 1st Session," in six parts, bear the 
 date of 1890. 
 
 7 Published in 1887. See ante, p. 47. 
 
ARTESIAN BORINGS COLORADO. 93 
 
 which lies between the 102d meridian and the eastern 
 base of the Rocky Mountains, this being the region 
 assigned to the commissioners for examination, but it 
 is more especially devoted to that part of this area 
 which lies within the boundaries of Colorado, want of 
 time having made an examination of the whole district 
 impracticable. Thirteen inches is assumed to be the 
 the mean rainfall over this region, and a meridian 
 100 miles east of the 102d is said to be generally 
 regarded as, at least approximately, representing the 
 western boundary of the great agricultural region lying 
 directly eastward of the district explored, beyond which 
 to the westward the successful growth of farm crops is 
 not practicable without irrigation. From this meridian 
 the aridity increases until the 102d meridian is crossed, 
 from which line westward the maximum for that lati- 
 tude is encountered. 
 
 Within the arid belt as thus limited the commis- 
 sioners remark that several attempts have been made 
 to secure supplies of water by means of Artesian 
 borings, all except one of these attempts having been 
 the work of private parties. One boring, at Fort 
 Lyon, was done under the auspices of the Agricul- 
 tural Department. This boring was made by the 
 Commissioners the subject of a special report, which 
 was published in connection with the general report 
 issued a year later. 1 The boring at Fort Lyon, which 
 was carried to the depth of 719 feet, was not a success, 
 the flow of water being too small to be of any practical 
 importance. All the borings made by private parties 
 
 1 This special report, addressed to the Commissioner of Agriculture, 
 bears the date of October 20, 1881. 
 
94 ARTESIAN BORINGS THE PLAINS. 
 
 seem also to have been failures. 1 The conclusion of 
 the Commissioners seems to have been decidedly unfa- 
 vorable to the project of obtaining water in this region 
 by means of Artesian borings. Their statement to this 
 effect is given in the following words : " After a careful 
 examination of all the facts that we have been able to 
 gather, it is our opinion that the prospects of obtaining 
 a satisfactory supply of water by means of Artesian 
 borings in our district are not very encouraging ; but 
 there are portions of it, which we shall designate, 
 within which we think that success may be more 
 reasonably hoped for than in others." 
 
 Farther on in this report the Commissioners state 
 that "the characters of the superficial and tertiary 
 deposits are such as to offer very little encouragement 
 for making Artesian borings in them ; and therefore 
 borings of slight depth are not, in our opinion, likely 
 to be successful anywhere within the proper limits 
 of this district." It is, however, suggested that the 
 Dakota and Triassic sandstones may prove to be water- 
 bearing; but to reach the former a depth of from 
 1,200 to 2,000 feet must be attained, while to reach 
 the deeper possibly water-bearing formations will prob- 
 ably require a boring 600 to 800 feet deeper. 
 
 1 In the Appendix to the Report of Messrs. White and Aughey an 
 additional statement is given by Mr. Horace Beach, who was added to 
 the Commission " for the purpose of collecting statistics in relation to 
 the practical work of boring Artesian wells in the region under investi- 
 gation." Mr. Beach gives details in regard to borings made at or near 
 South Pueblo, Denver, Coal Creek, Greeley, and Kit Carson, Colorado ; 
 Servilleta, New Mexico ; and Cheyenne, Wyoming. These all appear to 
 have been failures, with the exception of a second boring at Pueblo, of 
 which it is said that at a depth of 1,200 feet " we have a flowing well of 
 warm water, nearly pure." 
 
SETTLEMENTS ON THE PLAINS. 95 
 
 With regard to the irrigational condition of the 
 region reported on by Messrs. White and Aughey, and 
 the so-called "Great Plains" in general, the following 
 remarks will here be in place, in preparing which all 
 the available sources of information have been con- 
 sulted, supplemented by numerous visits to the region 
 in question. 
 
 After the wave of population both that arising 
 from the natural increase and that furnished by the 
 extraordinary immigration into the United States 
 had spread itself over the well-watered portion of the 
 country, and taken possession of the most easily acces- 
 sible and agriculturally the most valuable tracts offered 
 for sale by the Government, later comers were obliged 
 to go farther west in order to acquire cheap home- 
 steads, and they then found themselves obliged to take 
 up with land less favorably situated, both with regard 
 to climate and distance from Eastern and European 
 markets, than their predecessors had been able to se- 
 cure. 1 This condition of things came about gradually. 
 Immigrants unacquainted with the climate, and yield- 
 ing in part to the pressure of necessity, or perhaps 
 influenced by the misrepresentations of speculators in 
 government and railroad lands, found themselves occu- 
 pying a region where the rainfall is insufficient for car- 
 rying on agricultural pursuits in the manner to which 
 they had been previously accustomed, the consequence 
 being that in these later years there has been a con- 
 stant struggle on the part of settlers within or on the 
 
 i See the present writer's " United States : Facts and Figures illus- 
 trating the Physical Geography of the Country, and its Material Re- 
 sources" (1889), pp. 256-258. 
 
96 THE GREAT PLAINS CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 
 
 borders of the arid region in some way or other to get 
 over these difficulties. 
 
 Experience has shown that in the belt of land inter- 
 mediate between the distinctly well watered and the 
 decidedly insufficiently watered areas the conditions of 
 successive seasons are variable. The rainfall for a few 
 years may be fairly sufficient for the maturing of the 
 crops, but this cycle of favorable years is in turn suc- 
 ceeded by another of less favorable character. This 
 irregularity of the rainfall is not a peculiar feature of 
 the region in question: the same thing happens every- 
 where in districts where the average precipitation is 
 barely sufficient for successful culture. No regular 
 periodicity has thus far been discovered in this recur- 
 rence of cycles of rainier and drier seasons in any 
 country, nor have the causes of such irregularities been 
 satisfactorily made out. These fluctuations in the 
 annual rainfall are by no means limited to regions of 
 small rainfall, but their disastrous effects are naturally 
 much more strongly felt where the average precipita- 
 tion is only just enough for the maturing of the crops. 
 
 The consequences of this condition of things in the 
 arid and semi-arid parts of the United States have 
 been manifold. In the first place, it was early recog- 
 nized that the decidedly insufficiently watered area 
 extending east of the eastern base of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains the Great Plains was naturally a pastoral 
 region, better suited to raising cattle than for any 
 other purpose. 1 In the earlier stages of the cattle- 
 
 1 This is the case all over the world. Regions of small rainfall, if not 
 too cold, are pastoral regions, inhabited by more or less nomadic tribes. 
 Such are the Steppes of Asia, and the Pampas of South America. The 
 
THE GREAT PL AINS CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 97 
 
 raising business the methods of those thus engaged 
 were simple. A locality where sufficient water for 
 stock could be had usually at the base of some 
 mountain range was taken possession of, and pur- 
 chased if necessary. From this as a base of oper- 
 ations a " cattle-range " was established on that 
 purchase, and by having possession of the only avail- 
 able water a very large district might be made 
 available for stock-raising without the necessity of 
 purchasing more than a small portion of it. But, as 
 more settlers made their appearance, claiming land 
 occupied by others who had acquired no legal rights 
 to it, conflicts began to arise, and sometimes be- 
 came quite serious. It is true, also, that the vari- 
 ous attempts which have been made to supplement 
 the natural supply of water by means of ditches and 
 Artesian wells have in certain localities been suffi- 
 ciently successful to lead the settlers to realize the 
 fact that comparatively small areas well cultivated 
 were decidedly more profitable than tracts too large 
 to be properly developed. 
 
 The statistics of the census of 1890 show as plainly 
 as possible the results of the over-hasty occupation of 
 land too dry to be successfully cultivated except during 
 the cycles of more than average rainfall. The follow- 
 ing extract from the census documents well illustrates 
 
 arid part of the United States is, however, to a considerable extent, a rich 
 mineral region, which fact modifies greatly the conditions of settlement 
 and distribution of the population. Moreover, the mining districts within 
 the arid region are essentially different in their topographical character 
 from the non-metalliferous region of the Plains. The only point of 
 agreement between the Plains and the Great Basin is lack of moist- 
 ure; in all other respects the differences between the two areas are 
 fundamental. 
 
98 THE GREAT PLAINS - AGRICULTURE. 
 
 this condition of things, as revealed by comparison of 
 various State censuses taken in 1885 with the results 
 of the United States census of 1890 : "During the past 
 ten years the population of Dakota, considering the two 
 States of North Dakota and South Dakota together, has 
 increased from 135,177 to 511,527, or 278 per cent; 
 Nebraska from 452,402 to 1,058,910, or 134 per cent ; 
 and Kansas from 996,096 to 1,427,096, or 43 per 
 cent. This increase has not, however, continued uni- 
 formly throughout the decade. In 1885 Dakota con- 
 tained 415,610 inhabitants, or more than four fifths 
 of its present population. Nebraska contained 740,645 
 inhabitants in the same year, thus dividing the numer- 
 ical increase equally between the two halves of the 
 decade, but leaving the greater percentage of increase 
 in the first half. In the same year Kansas by its State 
 census had 1,268,530 inhabitants, showing that nearly 
 two thirds of the numerical gain was acquired during 
 the first half of the decade. The industries of these 
 States are almost purely agricultural, and are dependent 
 on the supply of moisture, either in the form of rain 
 or by irrigation. Through these States passes what is 
 known as the sub-humid belt, a strip of country several 
 degrees in width, in which during rainy years there is 
 an abundance of moisture for the needs of crops, while 
 in the years when the rainfall is below the average the 
 supply is deficient. In this region little provision has 
 been made for artificial irrigation, the settlers having 
 thus far been content to depend upon rainfall. Into 
 this region the settlers flocked in large numbers in the 
 early years of the decade, drawn thither by the fertility 
 of the land, and by the fact that for a few years the 
 
THE GREAT PLAINS MO VEMENT OF POPULATION. 99 
 
 rainfall had been sufficient for the needs of agriculture. 
 During the past two or three years, however, the con- 
 ditions of rainfall have materially changed. It has 
 fallen decidedly below the normal, and the settlers 
 have thereby been forced to emigrate. Thousands of 
 families have abandoned this region and gone to Okla- 
 homa and the Eocky Mountain region. This migration 
 is well shown in the progress of Kansas, as indicated by 
 its annual censuses. These censuses show a rapid in- 
 crease in population from 1880 up to 1887; 1888 shows 
 but a slight increase over 1887, while 1889 shows a re- 
 duction in the population, leading up to the further 
 reduction shown by the federal census in 1890. 5>1 
 
 Statements to the same effect have been repeatedly 
 made in other official documents of recent date, of which 
 the following may be offered as an example: "In the 
 first part of the present decade population poured in 
 upon the Great Plains region. The earlier years of 
 sufficient rainfall were followed by years of drought, 
 in which a large percentage of the success previously 
 achieved was destroyed. Reaction set in, and for a 
 time it appeared as if the entire Plains region would 
 have to be given over to cattlemen ; but slowly, how- 
 ever, the cattle-range business is changing as the pres- 
 sure of population continues with more or less vigor, 
 and ranchmen are becoming unable, east of the basins 
 of the Eocky Mountains at least, to command large 
 areas of natural grass land." 2 
 
 The fact seems to be, however, that this large migra- 
 tion of the population from the arid region of the 
 
 1 See " Census Bulletin No. 16," issued Dec. 12, 1890, pp. 7, 8. 
 
 2 Hinton's Progress Report for 1890, p. 15. 
 
100 GOVERNMENT REPORTS ON IRRIGATION. 
 
 Plains was due in part, at least to a realization 
 of the unfavorable conditions normally prevalent there, 
 rather than to any actual temporary decrease of the 
 precipitation during the latter part of the decade 
 1880-89, since the statistics of rainfall collected by 
 the Signal Service during that period over the region 
 in question do not indicate that there was any percepti- 
 ble change in this respect, or any noticeable difference 
 in the amount of precipitation, during the first and 
 second halves of this decade. 1 
 
 The unfavorable report of Messrs. White and Aughey 
 on the possibility of procuring Artesian water in suffi- 
 cient quantity and of suitable quality for irrigation on 
 the Great Plains did not, however, lead to any diminu- 
 tion of the efforts of the settlers in that region to have 
 still further expenditures made by the Government 
 for the purpose of elucidating this question. The doc- 
 uments to which reference has already been made 2 are 
 the outcome of this additional work, so far as the 
 results are at present available, and some critical re- 
 marks may here be introduced with reference to their 
 contents. 
 
 We find in Mr. Hinton's " Progress Eeport in Irriga- 
 tion in the United States, Part I., prepared under the 
 Direction of the Secretary of Agriculture," that this 
 work is now designated as the "Artesian, Underflow, 
 
 1 For a further discussion of the question whether there is any 
 statistical proof of a change or periodical fluctuation in the amount of 
 precipitation in later years in the arid region of the United States, and 
 for remarks on changes in climate in general, as having been caused by 
 the agency of man, see Appendix B. 
 
 2 See ante, p. 92. See also Appendix C, in which will be found as full 
 a list as can be made, up to the time of the publication of the present 
 volume, of official documents relating to the subject of irrigation. 
 
UNDERFLOW AND PHREATIC WATER. 101 
 
 and Irrigation Investigation," of which Mr. Hinton is 
 the "Special Agent." l We find, also, that a large corps 
 of assistants (eighteen in all) were, or had been, em- 
 ployed in this work at the time this report was made. 
 The term "underflow," here introduced, demands a 
 special definition. This word seems to be used by 
 Mr. Hinton as synonymous with " undersheet," a term 
 also frequently employed by him in the report in 
 question. The word "phreatic," which also often ap- 
 pears in this document, needs some explanation, since 
 it is not to be found in English dictionaries. 
 
 The underflow or undersheet water, from the util- 
 ization of which so much seems to be expected, is 
 nowhere definitely defined in Mr. Hinton's reports ; 
 but, as nearly as can be made out from various state- 
 ments made by him, it would appear that, in his opin- 
 ion, a very much larger volume of rain falls on the 
 basin or catchment area of the Missouri-Mississippi 
 than is delivered at its mouth, and that much the 
 larger portion of this precipitation finds its way to 
 the Gulf of Mexico under ground, as " seepage and 
 percolation" of this river. There is, therefore, a sub- 
 terranean mass of water an "underflow" or "under- 
 sheet " which, if penetrated by deep borings, or even 
 by ordinary wells, is capable of furnishing a sufficient 
 amount of moisture to allow of successful cultivation 
 over a vast area in which the natural supply is quite 
 insufficient for that purpose. This source of supply 
 is designated by Mr. Hinton as "phreatic water," or 
 water which can be utilized by means of wells. 2 The 
 
 1 This report bears the date of 1891. 
 
 2 " Phreatic " is derived from the Greek <pe'ap, which meant originally 
 a well, and later a water-tank, cistern, or reservoir. 
 
102 UNDERFLOW AND IRRIGATION. 
 
 truth of this theory is considered as having been de- 
 monstrated both by general physical and meteorological 
 observation, and by actual experimental methods in 
 the arid region. 
 
 The theoretical proof of the existence of an available 
 undersheet of water is sought for in the fact that the 
 discharge of the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico is 
 only equal to 107 cubic miles of water, while the total 
 rainfall in the basin of that river equals 620 cubic 
 miles, leaving 573 cubic miles to be accounted for. 
 This amount, with some deduction for evaporation, 
 must as is assumed flow in a subterranean cur- 
 rent ; and, as Mr. Hinton remarks, " if we allow one 
 half of this huge volume to the western portion of 
 the drainage basin we shall open a wide field for 
 speculation." l 
 
 There are several reasons why these statements with 
 regard to the supposed underflow of the Mississippi and 
 its practical importance with regard to irrigation in the 
 drier region of the country cannot be accepted as hav- 
 ing any real value, or as being at all applicable to 
 the matter under discussion. In the first place, it is 
 by no means the whole basin of the Missouri-Mississippi 
 which it is desirable to have irrigated, but only a minor 
 portion of it. The basin of the Mississippi proper, 
 both before and after the junction of that river with 
 the Missouri, is almost entirely a well-watered region. 
 The only part of the country which belongs to the 
 arid region, and which is drained by any other branch 
 of the Mississippi than the Missouri, is the head of 
 the Arkansas. A very small area in Southwestern 
 
 i See Hinton's Progress Report, Part L, p. 37. 
 
RAINFALL IN MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 103 
 
 Kansas, Southeastern Colorado, and Northeastern New 
 Mexico belongs to the Arkansas basin. Practically, 
 the dry portion of the United States east of the 
 Rocky Mountains is the basin of the Upper Missouri 
 and its tributaries. The area of the drainage basin of 
 the Missouri is a little more than two fifths of that 
 of the Missouri-Mississippi, and about two thirds of 
 this may be considered as being included within the 
 arid or semi-arid region. Thus we find that a little 
 more than one quarter of the basin of the whole Mis- 
 sissippi system is all with which we have to do in 
 reference to the irrigation question, and that statistics 
 based on the physical and meteorological conditions of 
 the whole basin have no application here. 
 
 Again, the statistics used by Mr. Hinton are far from 
 being correct, whether intended to be used with ref- 
 erence to the rainfall and drainage of the entire Missis- 
 sippi basin or of any part of it. They are given on the 
 authority of Mr. M. F. Maury, whose work was pub- 
 lished more than thirty years ago, and who based his 
 estimate of the average annual fall of rain in the Mis- 
 sissippi Valley on data published by Mr. L. Blodget in 
 1855, by whom it was fixed at forty inches. 1 A few 
 years later, namely, in 1861, Messrs. Humphreys and 
 Abbot, in their elaborate work on the Physics and Hy- 
 draulics of the Mississippi River, 2 availing themselves 
 of much additional information furnished by Mr. Blodget 
 and others, and coming down to as late as 1860, fixed 
 the average annual rainfall in the Mississippi basin at 
 
 1 See M. F. Maury, " The Physical Geography of the Sea," Eighth 
 Edition, New York, 1861, p. 102. 
 
 2 A publication of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers, U. S. War 
 Department. 
 
104 RAINFALL IN MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 
 
 30.4 inches, which is about ten inches less than the 
 number adopted by Mr. Maury and utilized by Mr. 
 Hinton. The average annual rainfall in the basin of 
 the Missouri was taken at 20.9 inches. The total area 
 of the Mississippi basin was assumed by Mr. Maury to 
 be 982,000 square miles : the figures adopted by Messrs. 
 Humphreys and Abbot are 1,244,000 square miles, or 
 262,000 square miles more than Mr. Maury' s estimate. 1 
 The object of this last-named author in discussing the 
 rainfall and area of this basin was to use the facts for 
 the purpose of showing the vast amount of water taken 
 up in this region by evaporation. He assumed that all 
 the rainfall which was not poured into the ocean by 
 the Mississippi was disposed of in that way, entirely 
 
 1 The latest official determination of the area of the Mississippi basin 
 that of Mr. Gannett, published in the Census Reports of 1880 gives 
 1,240,039 square miles, a result differing very little from that adopted by 
 Messrs, Humphreys and Abbot. The discharge of the Mississippi, or of 
 any one of its branches, depends on various conditions, considerably 
 complicated in their combined action. The amount of the rainfall, the 
 character of the climate, and the nature of the soil, are the essential 
 factors in bringing about the final result. The following table, exhib- 
 iting the amount of annual rainfall in each basin, including that of the 
 main river as well as of its various tributaries, and the percentage 
 of that rainfall discharged, as determined by Messrs. Humphreys and 
 Abbot, will show that the amount discharged by any one of these 
 streams is to a considerable extent, at least determined by the 
 amount of rainfall in the basin which it drains. 
 
 TSTaino nt P{n Inches of Percentage of 
 
 Rainfall. Discharge. 
 
 Yazoo 46.3 90 
 
 St. Francis 41.1 90 
 
 Ohio 41.5 24 
 
 Red 39.0 20 
 
 Upper Mississippi 35.2 24 
 
 Arkansas 29.3 15 
 
 Missouri 20.9 15 
 
 Missouri-Mississippi 30.4 25 
 
EVAPORATION AND PERCOLATION. 105 
 
 ignoring the fact that a portion of it must percolate 
 the ground and be held there permanently. 1 
 
 Mr. Hinton, on the other hand, almost entirely over- 
 looks, or greatly underrates, the amount of the rainfall 
 which is lost by evaporation. In commenting on Mr. 
 Maury's figures he assumes that this loss amounts to 
 only 170 cubic miles, or about twenty-seven per cent 
 of the annual precipitation in the Mississippi basin. 
 Of the correctness of this estimate no proof is offered : 
 it seems to be merely a guess, and one which is very 
 wide of the mark, as will here be explained. 
 
 There are no precise data by which to fix the 
 amount of evaporation from the surface of the soil, 
 or of percolation through it, anywhere in the United 
 States. There is abundant reason, however, for be- 
 lieving the latter to be very small in amount in every 
 portion of either the arid or the semi-arid part of the 
 country. The most reliable and continued observations 
 on percolation and evaporation have been made in Eng- 
 land, and especially in the neighborhood of London, by 
 means of the Dalton gauge. 
 
 Experiments conducted by Mr. Charles Greaves on 
 the river Lea, at the intake of the East London water- 
 works, showed that as the average of twenty-two years' 
 observation the annual rainfall was 25.837, the per- 
 colation 6.866, and the evaporation from the ground 
 18.970 inches. At King's Langley the Dalton gauge, 
 observed for eight years, indicated that, the average 
 
 1 Having shown, as he thinks, that the rainfall in the Mississippi 
 basin amounts to an average of 620 cubic miles annually, and that the 
 discharge of that river is 107 cubic miles, he adds : " This would leave 
 513 cubic miles of water to be evaporated from this river basin an- 
 nually." Loc. cit., p. 102. 
 
106 EVAPORATION AND PERCOLATION. 
 
 annual rainfall being 26.61 inches, 42.4 per cent perco- 
 lated, through the gravelly loam forming the surface at 
 the locality, to the depth of three feet ; between Octo- 
 ber and March, 10.39 inches percolated the soil out of 
 a rainfall of 13.95 ; while between April and Septem- 
 ber, the average rainfall being 21.67 inches, only 0.90 
 inch percolated, or 7.1 per cent. The experiments of 
 Dr. Dalton himself, at Manchester, showed that, as a 
 mean of three years' observations, the percolation was 
 twenty-five per cent of the rainfall : those of M. Gas- 
 pain, in the South of France, proved that the average 
 rainfall was twenty-eight inches, of which twenty per 
 cent percolated. 
 
 Similarly numerous long-continued observations in 
 Europe have shown that at the time of the year when 
 the precipitation is only moderate, with frequent inter- 
 vals of dry weather, the percolation is almost null, 
 while during the winter or rainy season, when the 
 ground remains saturated with moisture for a consid- 
 erable length of time, a large percentage of the rain- 
 fall percolates. In general, in England and Western 
 Europe, the average annual percolation does not much 
 exceed one fifth of the total precipitation. 
 
 The climate of the Great Plains is, however, much 
 less favorable to percolation than that of any part of 
 Great Britain. In the region east of the base of the 
 Rocky Mountains the precipitation is almost exclusively 
 limited to the spring and summer months, that in win- 
 ter being almost null, as may be learned by examining 
 the various publications of the Signal Service. 1 
 
 1 See, especially, " Climate of Nebraska," Senate Executive Document 
 No. 115, 57th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1890 ; and " Irrigation 
 
CLIMATIC FEATURES OF COLORADO. 107 
 
 Thus, the average monthly precipitation at North 
 Platte, Nebraska, for the five months frorn November 
 to March, is only 0.50 inch, while that from April to 
 October is 2.52 inches, or five times as much. 
 
 The condition of things in regard to evaporation in 
 the arid region may be illustrated by the writer's experi- 
 ence during a summer of exploration in Colorado along 
 the base of the Front Range, and in the region of the 
 Parks. During the months of July and August rain 
 fell copiously almost every afternoon, so that it only 
 happened twice during that time that there were as 
 much as three consecutive days without it, and the 
 showers were frequently copious, continuing for several 
 hours. Strange, however, as it may appear to one un- 
 acquainted with the peculiarities of the climate of this 
 region, the ground was never wet to the depth of more 
 than a few inches. Not one particle of water penetrated 
 so deep as to be permanently retained. The charac- 
 ter of the vegetation in the valley of the Upper Ar- 
 kansas, where these observations were made, was such 
 as to indicate clearly that the climate was exceedingly 
 dry, " sage-brush " and pinon pine abounding, and an 
 examination of the soil showed that nearly every drop 
 of the rain which reached the earth was returned to the 
 atmosphere within a few hours after it had fallen. The 
 small amount of moisture which does percolate the soil 
 in this region must come from the winter rains, or from 
 the melting of the snow at the close of winter. Since 
 over most of the Great Plains th6 precipitation in the 
 form of snow is exceedingly small, unless in exceptional 
 
 and Water Storage in the Arid Regions," House Executive Document 
 No. 287, 57th Congress, 2d Session, Washington, 1891. 
 
108 UNDERFLOW AND IRRIGATION INVESTIGATION. 
 
 seasons, and since most of the rainfall comes at a time 
 when the conditions are best suited for producing a very 
 rapid evaporation, it is clear that the total percolation 
 in that region, under the climatic conditions now pre- 
 vailing, must be very trifling in amount. 
 
 The facts here stated would seem to throw great 
 doubt on the validity of Mr. Hinton's arguments in 
 favor of a large supply of "phreatic water" in the 
 arid regions. It remains now to examine into the 
 facts brought forward by him in regard to the actual 
 boring of numerous " Artesian wells," as he calls 
 them, in the district investigated by him, or under his 
 direction. 
 
 The results obtained in the course of the " Artesian, 
 Underflow, and Irrigation Investigations," up to the 
 time of the publication of the " Progress Eeport " in 
 1891, are thus stated by Mr. Hinton : * "It will be seen 
 by an examination of the maps prepared for and pub- 
 lished by the Artesian wells investigation report that 
 from north to south a basin or basins of Artesian water 
 of great power and volume have been struck and are 
 now operating, through 1,400 wells or more, on an area 
 not to exceed 100 miles in width. There are wells on 
 the plains and in the foot-hills east and west of the belt 
 defined, but they have distinct hydrographic and topo- 
 graphic features of their own. Within the developed 
 Artesian regions it will be found that the deepest and 
 most permanent wells have, taking topographical ' dip ' 
 and ' trend ' into consideration, an almost uniform 
 depth from north to south, a considerable sameness of 
 temperature, volume, pressure, chemical character, and 
 
 1 See " Progress Report," Part I. p. 35. 
 
UNDERFLOW AND IRRIGATION INVESTIGATION. 109 
 
 flow. This argues that they come mainly from one 
 general source, and have about the same degree of 
 hydrostatic pressure. If the investigation of the past 
 year had accomplished nothing more than to bring 
 this encouraging series of facts to the attention of the 
 struggling settlers, and of all those interested in their 
 maintenance and success, that would alone have been 
 worth all it has cost. But this is by no means more 
 than the beginning of a remarkable addition to our 
 knowledge of physical features and facts relating to 
 our semi-arid and arid domain. The investigation has 
 opened up a great vista of economic possibilities and 
 engineering development. The engineer and the ge- 
 ologist engaged in the work are confident that the 
 source of supply for the Artesian wells now flowing 
 will mainly be found in the drainage of our continental 
 range the Rocky Mountains. The same observa- 
 tion which governed their opinion of the Northwest 
 holds equally good for similar conclusions as to the 
 centre and the Southwest, as far at least as concerns 
 that portion north of the Rio Grande boundary." 
 
 Again, Mr. Hinton remarks as follows : l "In North 
 Dakota interest is now centered upon the prospect of 
 obtaining more deep wells, and of storing water from 
 the wells sunk in the glacial drift of the Red River 
 Basin. Several hundred of these wells, all of a secon- 
 dary character, are found in that section. Very little 
 artificial application of water is necessary for the secu- 
 rity of crops, but that little is needed very badly, and 
 during most years. Water has been found all along 
 the line of the Great Northern Railroad, and at very 
 
 1 Loc. cit., p. 36. 
 
110 UNDERFLOW FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 moderate depths in the Milk River Valley. There is 
 very little doubt that Artesian water to a considerable 
 extent, though at somewhat great depths, may be 
 obtained from that vast reservoir, the Dakota sand- 
 stone, filled as it has been for unknown cycles from 
 the vast precipitation falling on the Rocky Mountains 
 and draining through the upturned edges of the stratum 
 into the water-conserving rock below." 
 
 The idea of an " underflow " from the Rocky Moun- 
 tains toward the east and south is by no means original 
 with Mr. Hinton. George Catlin, in his remarkable 
 work, " The Lifted and Subsided Rocks of America," 
 long ago advocated something similar, although his 
 ideas were different from those of Mr. Hinton with 
 reference to the practical use of these " submontagne 
 rivers," as he called them. Mr. Catlin believed that they 
 were the source and cause of the Gulf Stream a the- 
 ory which up to this time has not been received with 
 much favor by geologists or physical geographers. 1 
 
 The "Artesian Wells Investigation Report," to which 
 reference is made in the above quotation from Mr. Hin- 
 
 i " The vast inclines extending off and into the plains from the bases of 
 the [Rocky] mountains, both to the east and the west, and at their axes 
 several thousand feet above the level of the ocean, and from which (or 
 through which) the mountain ridges rise, I shall here assume are the grad- 
 ual elevations of the sedimentary system (as before suggested), caused by 
 the successive upheavals passing through them, lifting them, and propping 
 them at the fractured edges, and forming vast cellars or cisterns beneath 
 them, through which, and above the granite surface, the sunken waters 
 flow. ... I have said that the Gulf Stream was caused by submontagne 
 rivers from under the Rocky Mountains and the Andes, converging in 
 the latitude of the Caribbean Sea, and discharging their combined waters 
 into that estuary ; and pouring through the Gulf of Mexico, taking with 
 them the waters of the Rio del Norte and Mississippi, they debouch with 
 them into the ocean at the Cape of Florida, and there become the Gulf 
 Stream." Loc. cit., p. 26. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS INVESTIGATION REPORT. HI 
 
 ton's progress report, was published in 1890, and is 
 called by the Secretary of Agriculture " a preliminary 
 investigation made to determine the proper location for 
 Artesian wells within the area west of the ninety- 
 seventh meridian, and east of the foot-hills of the 
 Rocky Mountains." * It is prefaced by a report of the 
 Special Agent in Charge, Mr. Hinton, in which the pos- 
 sibilities of Artesian wells in the arid region of the 
 United States are set forth in glowing terms, and de- 
 scriptions are given of various regions in Europe, Asia, 
 and Africa, where irrigation by means of water thus ob- 
 tained is extensively carried on. Mr. Hinton's report 
 is followed by a large number of special reports, espe- 
 cially those of Mr. E. S. Nettleton, " Supervisory Engi- 
 neer of the Irrigation Survey," and of Professor Robert 
 Hay, General Field Geologist, and of Messrs. Culver, 
 Bailey, Hicks, and Van Diest, as well as other reports 
 made to the special agent in charge by the division 
 field agents, Messrs. Underhill, Updyke, Coffin, Gregory, 
 Carpenter, and Roesler. 
 
 The principal results of this survey, up to the time 
 of the publication of this report, are thus summed up 
 by the Supervisory Engineer : " (1) The existence of a 
 large Artesian basin in the Dakotas, which is indicated 
 by the number of flowing wells scattered over an area 
 of about 12,000 square miles. (2) The presence of an 
 abundant supply of water in a loose sand stratum of 
 great thickness and subjected to great pressure, which is 
 fully maintained after being pierced by numerous wells 
 flowing their full capacity for years. (3) The probabil- 
 ity of an extension of this basin to westward or a con- 
 
 1 This is Executive Document No. 222, 51st Congress, 1st Session. 
 
112 ARTESIAN WELLS INVESTIGATION REPORT. 
 
 siderable distance from the James River Valley devel- 
 opments, and having similar characteristics. (4) The 
 probable existence of an Artesian basin in Texas similar 
 to that in the Dakotas, and of unknown area, but lying 
 at a greater depth from the surface. (5) The existence 
 of several other Artesian basins in other parts of the 
 country examined, which have similar flows, from which 
 water is obtained in sufficient quantity for domestic use, 
 and, in some instances, for the irrigation of small areas. 
 (6) The existence of two Artesian basins lying in the 
 drift where flowing water for domestic use and for irri- 
 gation is obtained at a very low cost. (7) The neces- 
 sity of irrigation to prevent total loss of crops, at times, 
 and for their full development nearly every year. 
 (8) The existence of large supplies of subterranean wa- 
 ters underlying quite generally the whole territory 
 examined. (9) The lack of knowledge of the majority 
 of the people of the methods for utilizing the Artesian 
 well and underground waters for irrigation purposes. 
 
 (10) The need of a closer and more extended geological 
 examination to designate, as near as possible, where it 
 is probable that water may or may not be obtained. 
 
 (11) The necessity of verifying by test experimental 
 work some of the conclusions of the geologists. (12) The 
 necessity of investigating the subject of utilizing the 
 subterranean waters and the extent of country which 
 can be reclaimed by them and to report on methods 
 for bringing such waters to the surface and the cost 
 therefor." 
 
 The groups of Artesian wells in the region examined, 
 "whose waters are largely available for irrigation, 
 being, to some extent, now so used and capable of 
 
REPORT OF GENERAL FIELD GEOLOGIST. 113 
 
 considerable development in that direction/' are geo- 
 graphically located as follows by Mr. Hay, the General 
 Field Geologist. 
 
 (1) The wells of the Red River Valley in North- 
 eastern North Dakota. (2) The wells of the James 
 River Valley in the two Dakotas (North and South). 
 (3) The wells of the Yellowstone Valley at Miles City, 
 Montana. (4) The shallow wells in the drift formation 
 on the eastern side of the two Dakotas. (5) The wells 
 of Northern Nebraska. (6) Four groups of wells in 
 Southwestern Kansas. (7) The wells of the La Poudre, 
 Denver, and Pueblo basins in Colorado. (8) The Fort 
 Worth and Waco groups in Texas. (9) The wells of 
 New Mexico. (10) The wells of Wyoming. Some of 
 the details in regard to these Artesian well districts, 
 furnished by Mr. Hay, may be here appended. 
 
 The most important of the groups above enumerated 
 is that of the James River Valley, which covers an area 
 of 20,000 square miles, with about 150 wells. These 
 are said to flow with considerable pressure (60 to 153 
 pounds to the square inch), and with considerable volume 
 of water, some furnishing over 1,000 and one nearly 
 3,000 gallons per minute. The water which these wells 
 furnish is believed to come from the sandstones of the 
 Dakota group, belonging to the Lower Cretaceous. The 
 outcrop of this group on the sides of the western moun- 
 tains is said to be " several thousand feet higher than 
 in Middle Dakota," and as this sandstone is followed 
 toward the east it is covered by a thickness of from 
 1,000 to 2,000 feet of shales, which are more or less 
 impervious, and thus seal in the waters at the low 
 eastern edge of the Artesian trough, and prevent their 
 
114 ARTESIAN WELLS INVESTIGATION REPORT. 
 
 escape. The reason why this sandstone has furnished 
 no Artesian water farther west than the James River 
 Valley is thought to be, that this rock is covered by too 
 great a thickness of later deposits, making it too costly 
 a matter to reach the underlying water-bearing rock. 
 The existing wells of this group are said to have their 
 waters " highly mineralized," but no analyses are given. 
 It is thought, however, that none " so far are mineral- 
 ized to the extent that they would injure vegetation." 
 On the western side of the Black Hills, in Wyoming, 
 the Dakota sandstone yields flowing wells of salt water, 
 with a considerable amount of oil, natural gas being 
 also present. 
 
 In Southwestern Kansas, and just over the line in 
 Colorado, in the Arkansas Valley, there is a group of 
 Artesian wells, the water of which is furnished by the 
 Dakota sandstone, at a depth of less than 300 feet. 
 There are, however, reasons for believing that these 
 wells do not get their supply of water from the exposure 
 of this rock in the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains. 
 One reason given for this is, that the Dakota sand- 
 stone, in that part of the foot-hills corresponding in lati- 
 tude with Southern Nebraska and part of Kansas, are 
 more or less metamorphosed into quartzite, thus losing 
 their permeable quality to a considerable extent. The 
 source of the water of these wells is, therefore, sup- 
 posed to be " local breaks in the superincumbent strata 
 not far to the west, or even in outcrop which occur 
 some miles to the south." The wells in Kansas to 
 which reference is here made, which are near Coolidge, 
 do not have sufficient pressure to lift the water more 
 than twenty or thirty feet, the neighboring high ground 
 
REPORT OF GENERAL FIELD GEOLOGIST. 115 
 
 being 200 feet above them ; and at Syracuse, sixteen 
 miles south of Coolidge, the water did not rise to the 
 surface. The facts seem to indicate, in the opinion of 
 the field geologists, that Northern Nebraska may have 
 an extension of Artesian conditions from Southern 
 Dakota, and be a part of the James River district, the 
 source of the water being the southeast flank of the 
 Black Hills, where there has been no metamorphism 
 of the sandstone. For the rest of Nebraska, as also 
 Western Kansas, and part of Colorado, the Dakota 
 sandstone is not expected to fnrnish Artesian water, 
 except in limited areas where the local conditions 
 may chance to be favorable, as near Coolidge. 
 
 The shallow wells in the eastern part of the two 
 Dakotas get their water from the so-called "glacial 
 drift," a sheet of which, varying in thickness from 
 fifteen to two hundred feet, is spread over a wide 
 extent of country east of the Missouri, extending even 
 into Iowa. 1 Where the gravelly beds of this formation 
 are sufficiently thick and intercalated with strata of 
 clay, Artesian conditions are likely to be present ; the 
 flow of water being, however, not very abundant, but 
 in quality much superior to that obtained from the 
 deep wells. 
 
 The wells of the Denver basin, in most cases, are 
 supplied with water from rocks of Tertiary age : a 
 few only penetrate the Laramie or higher Cretaceous 
 beds. The conditions here are favorable for an Arte- 
 sian flow, since the edges of the upturned formations 
 at the base of the Rocky Mountains are near at hand. 
 The wells in and around the city of Denver are said to 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 73-76. 
 
116 ARTESIAN WELLS INVESTIGATION REPORT. 
 
 be 300 or more in number, and the head of water to 
 have become so reduced that few of them are now flow- 
 ing ; " but the pumps which have succeeded the nat- 
 ural flow have given no indication of reduction in the 
 quantity of the water." The regions along the eastern 
 base of the Rocky Mountains, in which the Platte, 
 Fountain, and Arkansas debouch upon the Plains, is 
 chiefly watered by irrigation canals from those rivers, 
 Artesian water being there of only secondary impor- 
 tance. Conditions similar to those in Colorado as 
 respects the procuring of Artesian water are presumed 
 to exist farther south, in New Mexico, since the geo- 
 logical conditions continue essentially the same all 
 along the base of the range, and the rainfall is not 
 less there than it is in the same longitude farther 
 north. At the time the report which is here under 
 discussion was prepared, little seems to have been 
 known with regard to Artesian water in New Mexico. 1 
 There is a group of wells at Fort Worth, in Texas, 
 where the same thing has occurred as at Denver. Out 
 of 240 wells which have been bored, only three or four 
 are now flowing. 
 
 The wells of Southwestern Kansas, northeast of 
 Meade Centre, are said to be about eighty in num- 
 ber, their flow varying from two or three gallons per 
 minute to between sixty and seventy. The origin of 
 the water in these wells is the Tertiary grit, and their 
 number is said to have increased during the year 
 which elapsed after the preparation of this report, 
 while the flow of water had not diminished. 
 
 1 In the Census Bulletin, No. 193, " Artesian Wells for Irrigation," 
 dated June 11, 1892, no facts are given indicating the existence of 
 Artesian water of any importance in this geological position. 
 
CONCLUSIONS OF CHIEF ENGINEER. 117 
 
 The group of wells in the Yellowstone Valley, at 
 Miles City, Montana, is briefly described by Professor 
 Hay. They are from twenty to thirty in number, 
 their flow being from one to twenty gallons per min- 
 ute, and they are utilized for the irrigation of gardens 
 and for domestic purposes. These wells obtain their 
 water from the Laramie group, and it is thought that 
 over the extensive area where this formation is devel- 
 oped to a very considerable thickness, and uplifted 
 against the mountains, it may become an important 
 source of water-supply. 1 
 
 Accompanying Mr. Hinton's Report for 1890, and 
 forming the second part of the Progress Report of the 
 Artesian and Underflow Investigation, there is a special 
 report by Mr. Nettleton, the Chief Engineer of the 
 work, covering a large section of the central division 
 of the Great Plains, embracing considerable portions of 
 Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. This report is accom- 
 panied by maps and profiles, and a considerable amount 
 of statistical information, in tabular form, with regard 
 to wells examined in detail along certain surveyed lines. 
 It is from these statistics, apparently, that Mr. Hinton 
 feels himself justified in drawing the conclusion that 
 " there is a large region south from the Niobrara to 
 the Republican Fork in Northern Kansas wherein the 
 phreatic waters are known to be abundant and their 
 plane quite near the surface. A regular fall to the east- 
 ward will enable the distribution of water to be made 
 with comparative ease in that direction. No great 
 
 1 Later information in regard to the wells at Miles City is given in 
 Mr. Hinton's Progress Report for 1890, Part I. (1891), p. 152. They are 
 said to be from 450 to 500 feet deep, the water rising from twelve to 
 eighteen feet above the level of the valley. 
 
118 POSITION OF LINES SURVEYED. 
 
 amount of mechanical power will be required to lift 
 such phreatic waters to points where they may be more 
 readily distributed. A very remarkable development is 
 sure to be seen within the next year or two in the basin 
 formed by the Republican, the Frenchman, and the 
 tributaries of the North and South Platte." 1 
 
 The geographical position of the lines surveyed by 
 Mr. Nettleton, as stated above, may be learned from 
 the following statement : (1) Across the South Platte, 
 at Big Spring, Nebraska, to a point near the head of 
 Frenchman River, forty-eight miles. (2) Across the 
 Platte, Nebraska, from the South Loup River to Med- 
 icine Creek, fifty-five miles. (3) Across the South 
 Platte, at Lexington, Nebraska, from the South Loup 
 River to the Republican River, seventy miles. (4) Across 
 the Platte River, at Grand Island, Nebraska, from the 
 South Loup River to the Republican River, seventy- 
 seven miles. (5) Across the Arkansas River, at Great 
 Bend, Kansas, from Smoky Hill River to a point near 
 luka, Kansas, seventy-five miles. (6) Across the Ar- 
 kansas River, at Dodge City, from Pawnee Fork to 
 Crooked Creek, seventy-five miles. (7) Across the Ar- 
 kansas River, at Garden City, Kansas, from Ladder 
 Creek to Loco, Kansas, eighty-five miles. (8) On the 
 hundredth meridian, from Norton, Kansas, one hundred 
 and thirty miles. 
 
 An examination of the tables of statistical informa- 
 tion which accompany the sections made along the 
 lines thus located reveals the following facts: (1) The 
 depth of the wells varies from 12 to 1,145 feet. (2) In 
 
 1 Hinton's Progress Report for 1890, Part I. p. 18. 
 
STATISTICS OF WELLS EXAMINED. 119 
 
 102 cases (out of 188) the water did not rise at all in 
 the bore-hole ; very rarely did it rise more than a few 
 feet, and in only one well to the surface. (3) From 
 most of these wells the water is raised by means of a 
 windmill, but sometimes by a hand-pump, and in two 
 or three cases by steam. (4) In by far the larger 
 number of these wells the water is used for stock or 
 for household purposes ; in one case only for irriga- 
 tion, and in two for locomotives. 1 (5) The supply of 
 water varies from less than a hundred to several 
 thousand gallons per day, but in much the larger 
 number of cases the quantity pumped is between one 
 and three thousand gallons. (6) In regard to almost 
 all these wells the geological information given is very 
 meagre : by far the larger number are said to have 
 been sunk in " sand " or " sandy clay " ; in some cases 
 the well ends in gravel, in other cases the absence of 
 gravel is specially noted ; in the few instances in which 
 rock is said to have been passed through in the boring 
 no clue is given as to its geological age. 
 
 The facts stated above seem clearly to indicate 
 that the water from these wells belongs to no general 
 " underflow " system : it comes from the superficial 
 detrital material of Tertiary or Post-Tertiary age, this 
 material being of very considerable, but also very irreg- 
 ular, thickness, while to draw the line which divides 
 the two systems from each other is a matter of great 
 difficulty, and probably in most cases an entire impos- 
 sibility. An ideal section given by Mr. Nettleton in 
 illustration of the geological conditions prevailing in 
 
 1 These wells are of large bore. They are on the line of a railroad, 
 and in the immediate vicinity of a river. 
 
120 CHARACTER OF WELLS EXAMINED. 
 
 the region in question seems to be a fair representa- 
 tion of the general character of the formations inter- 
 sected by these wells. It represents a thick body of 
 clay traversed by beds of sand, very irregular in their 
 development and position with reference to a horizontal 
 plane, and occasionally inosculating with each other. 
 In the masses of sand having a considerable thickness 
 and lying obliquely in the clay, we have the necessary 
 conditions for a supply of water, which may rise to 
 some little height above the bottom of the bore-hole, 
 but which cannot (unless exceptionally) be really Arte- 
 sian. In a region of large rainfall such a source of 
 supply would be highly satisfactory for ordinary domes- 
 tic purposes, and such is really the character of the 
 water-supply over a large part of the United States 
 as, for instance, in New England away from the 
 large cities, which have peculiar needs, resulting from 
 the concentration of a large population within a com- 
 paratively small area. 
 
 The fact that the wells have to be sunk to a con- 
 siderable depth in the region here under discussion 
 depends on the smallness of the rainfall. Where the 
 precipitation is overabundant the line of saturation 
 lies near the surface, sinking a little during the drier 
 part of the year, but in a region covered by thick 
 deposits of permeable material never reaching any 
 great depth. Over areas similarly conditioned, but 
 less generously supplied with rain, the water-level 
 stands lower and must be reached by deeper wells, 
 which it may be necessary to sink into the solid rock, 
 in which case, if the rock be permeable, a permanent 
 supply of water may be secured which can be exten- 
 
CONDITION OF WATER-SUPPLY. 121 
 
 sively drawn upon. 1 In regions where the precipitation 
 is very small, and the evaporation proportionally large, 
 as is the case in Western Nebraska and the arid or 
 semi-arid region in general, the superficial detritus will 
 be water-bearing only under exceptionally favorable 
 conditions, as, for instance, in the immediate vicinity 
 of permanent streams. The plane of saturation will 
 be at a very considerable depth, and the supply of 
 water limited in quantity. 
 
 The facts revealed in the sections and the accom- 
 panying tabular statements, of which a synopsis has 
 been given above, are such as would be expected to 
 result from the climatic and geological conditions 
 existing in this region. Water is obtained in various 
 localities in moderate quantity, but usually only at a 
 very considerable depth, and that this supply would 
 hold out if drawn upon to a considerable extent is 
 extremely doubtful. Indeed, it seems most probable 
 that in this region of present small rainfall the inhab- 
 itants are utilizing the water stored beneath the ground 
 at a former period, when the precipitation was larger 
 than it now is. There is abundant evidence to sub- 
 stantiate the statement that within a comparatively 
 recent period from the geological point of view, very 
 recent the climate of this part of the country has 
 become decidedly drier than it formerly was. 2 At all 
 
 1 Of this character was, until within a few years, the water-supply of 
 a large part of the most densely populated region of England, the source 
 of the water being the sandstones of the Permian and Triassic groups, 
 which formations cover so large an area in that country. See ante, 
 pp. 50-52. 
 
 2 This change in the climate of the region in question is by no means 
 a condition of things peculiar to this part of the country. There is 
 abundant evidence that a change of this kind has taken place all over 
 
122 FINAL IRRIGATION REPORT. 
 
 events, it can be truthfully stated that any such 
 " underflow " as that supposed by Mr. Hinton and his 
 assistants to have been shown to exist over a region 
 lying hundreds of miles to the east of the base of the 
 Rocky Mountains is a physical impossibility. The idea 
 has its root in the intense desire prevailing at the West 
 to make it appear that natural defects of that part of 
 the country are not really defects, because they can be 
 so easily remedied by a sufficient expenditure of money 
 on the part of the general government. 1 
 
 In 1892 another report on irrigation was published, 
 which, in the letter of transinittal of the Secretary of 
 Agriculture by which it is accompanied, is called the 
 " final report of the artesian and underflow investi- 
 gation, and of the irrigation inquiry." It is in four 
 volumes, the general scope and authorship of each of 
 which are indicated in the note below. 2 
 
 the world, the evidences of desiccation in later geological times present- 
 ing themselves in abundance in the Old World as well as in the New. 
 In an article entitled " Whence comes the Water of the Oases of the 
 Sahara ? " by G. Rohlfs, published in the " Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft 
 fur Erdkunde " (Band XXV HI., 1893, pp. 296-305), this distinguished 
 African explorer, after stating various rather puzzling facts in regard to 
 the distribution of water in the Sahara, arrives at the conclusion that 
 these can only be accounted for by admitting that the rainfall of that 
 region is in reality much larger than has generally been supposed. The 
 present writer has been led by long study of this subject to the conclu- 
 sion that this larger rainfall is something which cannot be denied, but 
 that it is an event which has to do with the past, and not with the present 
 epoch. See the author's " Climatic Changes of Later Geological Times," 
 pp. 101-154. 
 
 1 See Appendix B, where this matter will be brought up for further 
 discussion. 
 
 2 This report constitutes Executive Document 41, 52d Congress, 1st 
 Session, and bears the date of 1892. It is in four parts, numbered 
 Part I. to Part IV., each paged separately. The first of these has, as a 
 special title, "A Report on Irrigation and the Cultivation of the Soil 
 thereby, with Physical Data, Conditions, and Progress, within the United 
 
WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. 123 
 
 The introductory volume, by Mr. Hinton, the Special 
 Agent in charge, is largely occupied by general consid- 
 erations in regard to the subject of irrigation, not only 
 in the United States, but all over the world. The great 
 importance of the irrigation investigation carried on 
 under the direction of the Department of Agriculture 
 is insisted on, and it is claimed that highly valuable 
 results have already been achieved. " The existence 
 of underflow or phreatic waters of varying depths and 
 quantities throughout the length and breadth of the 
 great plains region has been in a large degree tenta- 
 tively established by its work, and that this fact has 
 given great encouragement to the pioneer farmers 
 and communities in western Kansas. Encouragement 
 has also been given, by the large work done during the 
 past twenty-one months, to agricultural enterprise and 
 industry in southwest Colorado, in eastern New Mexico, 
 and throughout Texas west of the ninety-seventh me- 
 ridian. The practical work of construction and culti- 
 vation which is in progress has resulted in great part 
 from the impetus given to energy and enterprise by 
 
 States for 1891, accompanied by Maps, Illustrations, and Papers, by 
 Richard J. Hinton, Special Agent in Charge." The second is called a 
 " Final Report of the Chief Engineer Edwin S. Nettleton, C. E., to the 
 Secretary of Agriculture, with accompanying Maps, Profiles, Diagrams, 
 and Additional Papers." The third is entitled " Final Geological Reports 
 of the Artesian and Underflow Investigation, between the Ninety-seventh 
 Meridian of Longitude and the Foothills of the Rocky Mountains, made 
 by Prof. Robert Hay, F. G. S. A., Chief Geologist." The fourth is the 
 " Final Report of the Mid-Plains Division of the Artesian and Underflow 
 Investigation between the Ninety-seventh Meridian of Longitude west 
 of Greenwich and the Foothills of the Rocky Mountains, by Special 
 Agent S. W. Gregory, of Garden City, Kansas, and a Special Report on 
 certain Artesian Conditions in the State of South Dakota, by Fred. F. B. 
 Coffin, Engineer for South Dakota." 
 
124 INCREASE OF POPULATION 
 
 the same influence under the small appropriation made 
 by the Fifty-first Congress." 
 
 The year 1891 is said in this report to have been 
 marked by great activity in the direction of irrigation 
 enterprises on a large scale, and in the development, by 
 means of irrigation, of numerous small localities west 
 of the one hundredth meridian. In the region between 
 the ninety-seventh meridian and the foothills of the 
 Rocky Mountains, almost from north to south, there 
 is said to have been a decided growth of settlements 
 and a marked increase of cultivation. The increase 
 of population through the region of Wyoming and 
 Southern Idaho, up the valley of the Yellowstone, and 
 over the Rocky Mountains into the Cascade Range, is 
 said to have been "not large, but steady in character," 
 while new and extensive areas that will soon invite 
 occupation are to be found in Southern Idaho, Eastern 
 Washington, and Oregon, as well as in Northern and 
 Central Montana, both east and west of the Rocky 
 Mountains. Over the more southern area of the arid 
 region the movement of population is admitted to be 
 slower. 
 
 This question of the rapidity of increase of the pop- 
 ulation in the arid region will have had more light 
 thrown on it after the next census has been taken. 
 The tabular statements given in the preceding pages of 
 the present volume show clearly enough that during the 
 interval which elapsed between the taking of the cen- 
 suses of 1880 and 1890 the growth of the States and 
 Territories in which the water-supply is scanty was ex- 
 tremely small, a density of population as great as two 
 to the square mile not having been reached at the time 
 
NOT SUSTAINED BY FACTS. 125 
 
 of taking the last census either in the Plateau or the 
 Rocky Mountain subdivision, 1 which together have 28.6 
 per cent of the area of the country, and in 1890 had 
 only 1.8 per cent of its population. 
 
 The figures given in the volume under consideration, 
 showing the number of acres irrigated and under cul- 
 tivation over the whole of that part of the United 
 States lying west of the ninety-seventh meridian, 
 indicate only a trifling change as having taken place 
 between 1890 and 1891 : in the former year 7,577,600 
 acres are reported as having been irrigated and culti- 
 vated ; in 1891, 8,026,526 acres. 2 If the irrigation of 
 seven and a half millions of acres had been attended 
 with so small an increase of population as that which 
 had manifested itself up to the year 1890, it is not 
 likely that a further development of the irrigated area 
 to the amount of less than half a million of acres will 
 have produced any considerable change in respect to 
 the density of the population. 3 
 
 A most extraordinary misconception of climatic and 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 28 and 89. 
 
 2 See farther on, for additional data, from " Extra Census Bulletin," 
 No. 23, published September 9, 1892. 
 
 8 The tendency to exaggeration in all these irrigation reports is 
 well illustrated by what is said of Arizona, a Territory having, in 1890, 
 59,691 inhabitants (0.4 to the square mile). In regard to this Territory 
 it is said that " the successful boring of Artesian wells in Arizona is of 
 considerable importance, and bids fair for future development in this 
 important direction. There is no doubt whatever that Arizona has a 
 large supply of phreatic waters, with at least a negative Artesian charac- 
 ter-pressure sufficient to rise in the bore if not to overflow at the surface." 
 The statistics furnished, however, show that the increase in the area 
 irrigated and under cultivation from 1890 to 1891 was only 4,900 acres : 
 in the former year, according to the Census Reports, on one tenth of one 
 per cent of the whole area of this Territory only were crops raised by 
 irrigation. 
 
126 CONTROLLING THE WATER-SUPPLY. 
 
 topographical conditions is exhibited in Mr. Hinton's 
 remarks in the volume under consideration having ref- 
 erence to the " controlling of the continental water- 
 supply " by means of government reservations. What 
 is here contemplated is thus stated : " Another step 
 in the conservation of water within this region has 
 been the passage of the act passed by the last Con- 
 gress authorizing the President to set aside by procla- 
 mation any portion of the public domains as forest 
 reservations as may be desired. It is to be hoped that 
 this measure will be so administered as to include the 
 sources of all interstate waters. The need of such 
 reservation will become at once apparent to any one 
 who will examine a proper map with critical eyes. It 
 will be seen that the controlling power over a conti- 
 nental water supply is held both geographically and 
 hydrographically by the minority in physical area, civic 
 organization, and population. Three States, embraced 
 within the area of the Rocky Mountains, holds the 
 sources of at least 60 per cent of the western waters of 
 the Mississippi system, and at least 90 per cent of all 
 the flowing streams west of the one hundredth me- 
 ridian. It is a subject of profound interest, and one 
 that must command the attention of legislators, state 
 and national/' l 
 
 It is hardly possible to conceive that any statement 
 connected with questions of geography or climatology 
 could be made having a less substantial basis of truth 
 than the above. The three States " embraced within 
 the area of the Rocky Mountains" must necessarily 
 be Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, through which 
 
 1 Loc. cit., p. 17. 
 
THE CONTINENTAL WATER-SUPPLY. 127 
 
 passes the " Continental Divide," or the watershed 
 which separates the sources of the streams flowing into 
 the Gulf of Mexico from those reaching the Pacific 
 Ocean. There can be no other "continental water- 
 supply " intended here than that which heads in the 
 streams which run from this watershed east and west 
 within the limits of these three States. Of this area 
 east of the divide almost the whole is occupied by the 
 basin of the Missouri and its tributaries ; that to the 
 west belongs to the Columbia and the Colorado. Since 
 only a very small part of the basin of the Columbia is 
 included within the limits of British America, (this 
 division of the continent having about the same area 
 as that of the United States, including in the latter 
 half a million of square miles widely separated from 
 the rest of this country, and entirely enclosed within 
 British territory,) and since no part of the Colorado 
 basin has any connection with Mexico and Central 
 America, (which together have an area equal to about 
 one third that of the United States proper,) it is 
 clear that by the term " Continental," as here used by 
 Mr. Hinton, is meant that part of this continent which 
 is drained by the Missouri, the Columbia, and the 
 Colorado, in all a little more than 1,100,000 square 
 miles, or about one third of the United States, and 
 approximately one eighth of the continent of North 
 America ; that is to say, the States of Montana, 
 Wyoming, and Colorado have within their borders 
 the sources of streams draining approximately one 
 eighth of this continent, and one third of the United 
 States. 
 
 The amount or volume of the drainage of any region 
 
128 WHAT IS MEANT BY CONTROLLING 
 
 is dependent not only on the area of the drainage basin, 
 but also primarily on the amount of the rainfall, while 
 evaporation and percolation are also important factors. 
 Thus, the Ohio, with a drainage area of 214,000 square 
 miles, discharges annually into the Mississippi about 
 one fifth more water than the Missouri, which drains 
 518,000 square miles, while the St. Francis River, 
 draining only 10,500 square miles, discharges into the 
 Mississippi considerable more than both the Ohio and 
 Missouri together. 1 
 
 After these preliminary remarks with reference to 
 the extent of the continental area drained by waters 
 heading in the Eocky Mountains, the much more im- 
 portant question comes up for consideration as to how 
 a " controlling power " is to be exerted by the general 
 government over this region, and what the nature of 
 this power or influence may be. 
 
 The first thought in regard to this question would 
 naturally be, that the rivers which head in the region 
 were to be " controlled " by being dammed, so that 
 
 1 These statements in regard to the size of the drainage areas and 
 the volumes of discharge of the streams mentioned are taken from the 
 already cited work of Messrs. Humphreys and Abbot, where it is said, in 
 reference to a table of annual downfall drainage : " This table, taken in 
 connection with a map of the region, shows that neither the size of its 
 basin nor the length of its course is any criterion of the hydrographic 
 importance of a tributary stream." There is no other source of infor- 
 mation than this volume with regard to the discharge of the Mississippi 
 and its various affluents, and these figures are, of course, only approxi- 
 mate, since only observations continued for a long series of years could 
 furnish entirely satisfactory results in such a complicated investigation. 
 The areas of the different basins might now be more accurately com- 
 piled than they could be at the time this work was published ; but such 
 later results would not differ materially from those furnished by Messrs. 
 Humphreys and Abbot, and such differences as might be found would 
 not be large enough to be of any practical importance in reference to the 
 question here under discussion. 
 
THE CONTINENTAL WATER-SUPPLY. 129 
 
 their waters could be accumulated in reservoirs, and 
 thus made available for use in irrigation, or in such 
 other way as might be desirable. Of plans and prepa- 
 rations for this kind of work, and of the enormous 
 expense by which it would be attended, as well as of 
 the other difficulties which would be encountered in 
 the attempt to carry out such a project, notice has 
 already been taken. 1 This, however, cannot be the 
 kind of " influence " intended by Mr. Hinton, for 
 any such enterprises, even if successfully carried out, 
 would only " control the water-supply," and that to a 
 limited extent, within the immediate vicinity of the 
 locality where the work was done. This could by no 
 means be designated as " controlling the Continental 
 water-supply." 
 
 There remains, then, only the conjecture that it 
 was assumed to be in the power of the government 
 to influence the climate in some way, and that any 
 such influence exerted at the heads of the streams of 
 any country would have some special value which 
 it would not have lower down in their courses. This 
 is not a new idea, and it seems reasonable to suppose 
 that this is what was intended by Mr. Hinton, since 
 it has already been repeatedly suggested in other 
 parts of the country, and even acted on, although 
 
 i See ante, pp. 29-33. Since those pages were written some of these 
 difficulties have been practically illustrated by the giving way of one of 
 the dams constructed in Idaho for irrigational purposes, in consequence 
 of the sudden melting of snow in the mountains coupled with heavy 
 rains. The same thing has happened more than once before in the arid 
 region, as well as in the Eastern States, and even in England, sometimes 
 as the result of a " cloud-burst," or of a long-continued heavy fall of 
 rain, but more often in consequence of ignorance or carelessness in 
 building or watching these dangerous structures. 
 
130 EFFECT OF REMOVING THE FORESTS. 
 
 only to a very limited extent. Thus it has been 
 frequently suggested that the sources of the Hudson 
 River should be " protected/' and something has 
 already been done in New York with this end in view 
 by a State reservation of certain forested tracts in 
 the Adirondack Mountains. If, therefore, " protection " 
 or " influence " has any definite meaning in this con- 
 nection, it must be putting a stop to the destruction of 
 the existing forests, or increasing their extent or 
 density. 
 
 In a mountainous region like the Appalachian, 
 for instance where the ranges do not rise to the 
 snow-line, and where, as a rule, they are naturally 
 densely covered by forests, it does do much toward 
 retaining unimpaired the beauty of the landscape 
 to allow the trees to remain untouched by the wood- 
 man's axe ; for after hill and valley have had their 
 natural arboreal growth removed, not only is most of 
 the attractiveness of the scenery gone, but a posi- 
 tive element of ugliness is introduced in the form of 
 blackened stumps, which only after many years have 
 passed become partially concealed by the undergrowth. 
 In a well-watered region a second growth of forest 
 trees gradually takes the place of the original arbo- 
 real covering of the surface, but this, so far as the 
 present writer's observations go in a temperate cli- 
 mate, at least is never so beautiful as the nat- 
 ural growth. In a region of small precipitation, the 
 renewal of the forest goes on with a proportionally 
 less rapidity, or, as appears to be the case in that 
 part of this country which is least favored by rain- 
 fall, so slowly as to be quite imperceptible. 
 
NECESSITY OF REMOVING THE FORESTS. 131 
 
 But the land cannot be settled and cultivated 
 without cutting down the forests, neither is it safe 
 to leave any part of the original arboreal growth 
 standing in an inhabited region, since the trees which 
 have grown naturally in the midst of a dense forest 
 are taller and slenderer than those which develop 
 themselves singly at a distance from others of the 
 same species, and are for this reason much exposed 
 to being blown down or struck by lightning. Hence 
 everything must be cleared away in the vicinity of 
 a settlement, and a cultivated second growth be in- 
 troduced, so far as this is considered necessary or 
 practicable, in order that the settler may be supplied 
 with fire-wood, or with timber for manufacturing 
 purposes. 1 
 
 All New England was once densely covered with 
 forests, and the same is true of the Appalachian 
 region in general, and of the States lying west of 
 New England, as far as the borders of Illinois, where 
 the prairies begin. In New England, New York, and 
 Ohio, and south along the Appalachian belt into 
 Pennsylvania and Virginia, and over a considerable 
 portion of the more southern States, most of the 
 original forest growth has been removed, the land 
 having gone into cultivation to a very considerable 
 extent, while only a comparatively small part of it 
 has been allowed to become covered with a second 
 or still later growth of timber. In no other manner 
 
 1 For information with regard to the economical importance of the 
 forests of the United States as furnishing fuel and lumber, see the present 
 writer's " United States : Facts and Figures illustrating the Physical 
 Geography of the Country and its Material Resources," pp. 216, 217. 
 
132 FORESTS AND RAINFALL. 
 
 could the now comparatively dense population of the 
 North Atlantic and Northeastern Central States have 
 found room to develop itself. 1 There is, however, 
 no proof that this removal of much the larger part 
 of the timber in the now most densely settled parts of 
 the country has had any effect on the climate of this 
 region. Statistics do not show that the clearing of 
 the hills and mountains of New England has dimin- 
 ished the rainfall, or done anything else towards 
 making that part of the country less habitable than 
 it formerly was. Neither is there any reason for sup- 
 posing that a State like Illinois, the surface of which 
 is, in large part, " natural prairie " that is, natu- 
 rally destitute of forest vegetation has, to any per- 
 ceptible extent, had its share of the rainfall lessened. 
 In other words, the distribution of the isohyetal lines 
 in the naturally forested, as well as in the naturally 
 non-forested, regions of the country is in no way 
 influenced by this varied character of the surface vege- 
 tation. It is the direction, frequency, and force of 
 the prevailing winds, the character of the water- 
 surface over which they have blown before reaching 
 land, the topographical features of the region and its 
 distance from the ocean, which are the factors deter- 
 mining the rainfall of any part of the country, as 
 becomes evident on studying the rain-charts of the 
 various regions of the earth, and especially of the 
 United States. 2 
 
 1 The density of the population of the Northern Atlantic States was, 
 in 1890, 102.8 to the square mile; of the Northeastern Central States, 
 51.9 ; of the Middle Atlantic States, 50.3. 
 
 2 The conditions of rainfall throughout the world, the part which 
 forests play in reference to the moisture of the surface, as also various 
 
INFLUENCING THE CLIMATE. 133 
 
 The theory, therefore, that any perceptible change 
 can be effected in the climate of a country, or of any 
 part of it, by the removal or renewal of its forests, seems 
 to have absolutely no basis of fact. The surface of 
 the ground will be moister where it is shaded by trees, 
 and where resort is not had to artificial drainage for 
 the purpose of getting rid of standing water, or for dry- 
 ing up swampy regions. ^ There are also localities where 
 peculiar climatic and topographical conditions make 
 the preservation of the forests a matter of great prac- 
 tical importance, as, for instance, in certain parts of 
 the Alps, where the ravages of torrents can be guarded 
 against, to a very considerable extent, by judicious 
 protection of the forests, aided by suitable engineering 
 works along the banks of the streams, but this has 
 no connection with any permanent increase of the 
 rainfall, nor with the development of a change of 
 climate which could by any possibility benefit a distant 
 region. It may be asserted with truth that the gov- 
 ernment has no power, by anything it can do at the 
 sources of the streams heading in the Rocky Mountains, 
 to influence the climate of that part of the country, 
 or the water-supply of any distant region, to any per- 
 ceptible or in the least degree beneficial extent. 
 
 Facts collected all over the world prove that there 
 has been a diminution in the area of lakes going on 
 for an indefinite length of time, accompanied by a 
 marked but much less easily detected decrease in the 
 volume of rivers, and that this desiccation is still in 
 
 other matters connected with climatological inquiries of this kind, will 
 be found discussed in the present writer's " Climatic Changes of Later 
 Geological Times," Chapter II. 
 
134 DESICCATION IN HISTOKIC TIMES. 
 
 progress, having been continued in historical times. 
 This climatic change is one of the most important 
 events in the earth's history which is known to have 
 taken place, so far at least as the welfare and develop- 
 ment of the human race are concerned. But this desic- 
 cation can be proved to have been begun before man 
 could have exerted any influence over its progress, or 
 have been in any way connected with its initiation, 
 since this dates back to a period of immense antiquity, 
 long before man had made his appearance on the 
 earth ; moreover, this desiccation has been continued, 
 up to the present time, in regions where man is doing 
 nothing, and for ages has done nothing, which could 
 interfere with the operations of natural causes. 
 
 As measured by our ordinary standard of the 
 duration of time, this climatic change proceeds but 
 slowly: it cannot be said that, instrumental observa- 
 tions made since these began to be accurately taken 
 prove that there has been any marked change in the 
 amount of precipitation which has taken place in 
 any particular region; but various natural phenomena, 
 which are more delicate indications of changes of this 
 kind than instrumental observations, prove that such a 
 modification of the earth's climate must now be going 
 on, the results of which are necessarily most easily per- 
 ceived in regions where the precipitation is already 
 so small as to make any decrease in its quantity a 
 matter of considerable importance in reference to the 
 well-being and development of the human race. 
 
 The second part of the " Final Report of the Arte- 
 sian and Underflow Investigation," now under consid- 
 eration, is that of Mr. Nettleton, the Chief Engineer. 
 
PLAN OF WORK FOR FINAL REPORT. 135 
 
 In the introduction to this report it is stated that 
 Congress had extended the time for completing this 
 investigation and making the final reports from July 
 1, 1891, to January 1, 1892. In accordance with this 
 change of plan, it was deemed best to distribute the 
 work which could be done in the allotted time as uni- 
 formly as practicable over the whole section included 
 in the terms of the act designating the areas to be in- 
 investigated. While the geologist, Professor Hay, de- 
 cided to spend his time in Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, 
 Colorado, and Wyoming, Mr. Nettleton took the Dako- 
 tas for his principal field of operations, since there 
 appeared here to be a necessity for an investigation 
 of various engineering questions requiring immedi- 
 ate attention. In pursuance of this plan, examina- 
 tions were made of the underground water along the 
 base of the foothills from Cheyenne to Laramie City, 
 Wyoming. Additional surveys were made of the 
 underflow in the valley of the South Platte, the drain- 
 age valley of the tributaries of the Eepublican River, 
 and across the valley of the Loup. The profiles of 
 the surveyed lines in the Arkansas and Platte valleys, 
 which were given in the Progress Report and of which 
 some notice has already been taken, 1 are again submit- 
 ted, with a few additional facts: in regard to these 
 something will be said farther on. Considerable detail 
 is gone into in the present report with regard to the 
 Dakota Artesian basin, and it is stated that no portion 
 of the engineering investigation has been productive 
 of so much immediate benefit as that carried on in 
 this region, especially in the way of instructing the 
 
 1 See ante, p. 118. 
 
136 CONDITIONS IN PECOS VALLEY. 
 
 people in regard to the proper methods of utilizing 
 the Artesian water. Some details of the work which 
 has been done in accordance with these plans may 
 here be given. 
 
 Under the head of " Pecos Valley Subterranean 
 Waters/' some facts are stated with reference to one of 
 the driest parts of the country, where the annual rain- 
 fall is said to average about twelve and a half inches. 
 Of the amount of rain falling in the Pecos basin, 
 twenty-three per cent is estimated as being carried 
 off by that river, two thirds of which is supposed to 
 come from " spring underflows," and one third from 
 water flowing from the surface. Mr. Nettleton remarks 
 that " the percentage of run-off in the Pecos Valley 
 is considerably less than in Massachusetts and several 
 other places where observations have been made. It 
 is to be inferred that the percentage not accounted 
 for here exceeds the average. This being the case, 
 we then must have an underground flow greater than 
 the average to carry away a portion of the seventy- 
 seven per cent of the quantity not accounted for." 
 Here again we have an entire misunderstanding of 
 the fact that the amount of the rainfall evaporated 
 depends on the character of the climate, and that 
 in a region like the Pecos Valley the portion which 
 percolates the soil must be but a very insignificant 
 fraction of that which actually reaches its surface. 
 
 Borings have been made on the Texas and Pacific 
 Railroad at Pecos City and Toyah, "some eighty or 
 ninety miles south." At the former place there are 
 said to be sixteen flowing Artesian wells, the largest 
 flow from which is sixty gallons per minute. These 
 
PECOS VALLEY AND ADJACENT REGION. 137 
 
 wells are from 150 to 250 feet deep, and are in the 
 drift, " some of them just reaching the conglomerate/' 
 There are also two flowing wells at Toyah. The 
 valley of the Pecos River, which itself heads in a low 
 range of mountains near Santa Fe, is bordered on the 
 west by a broken chain of elevations of considerable 
 topographical importance, since their dominating peaks 
 rise from 7,000 to 12,000 feet above the sea level. 
 It is in these ranges that the tributaries of the Pecos 
 head, all of them coming into the main river from 
 the west. These streams, however, all sink soon 
 after passing out of the foot-hills, at least during the 
 drier part of the year. 1 The quantity of water falling 
 on these high ranges must at certain seasons be con- 
 siderable, and much above the average in the Pecos 
 Valley itself, and as the whole country between the 
 river and the mountains is underlain by limestone, it 
 is natural to suppose that much of this water finds its 
 way beneath the surface, to reappear lower down and 
 nearer the main stream. 2 A reservoir company has 
 
 1 " The melting snows in the mountains and sudden and heavy rain- 
 fall often sends quite a large amount of water through the whole length 
 of the Hondo to the Pecos." Loc. cit., p. 13. The whole of the Pecos 
 Valley is, on the rain-chart of the United States published in 1868, 
 included within the area having from twenty to twenty-four inches of 
 precipitation, the isohyetal of twenty inches reaching up that valley 
 nearly to Santa Fe. 
 
 2 The Rio Penasco, which heads in the Sacramento Mountains, a 
 group of ranges lying between the Guadalupe and Sierra Blanca ranges, 
 and enters the Pecos about fifty miles south of the Rio Hondo, is 
 said to present an interesting instance of what has been done unin- 
 tentionally, in part to prevent the water from sinking and being 
 lost in the soil and limestone of its channel. This river formerly dis- 
 appeared immediately after leaving the mountains, but now it is a run- 
 ning stream for its entire length, even furnishing water for irrigation. 
 This change is believed by Mr. Nettleton to have been caused in part 
 
138 CHINA HOLES IN PECOS VALLEY. 
 
 been organized to build a series of storage reservoirs 
 twelve miles above Roswell, a settlement near the 
 mouth of the Eio Hondo, at an estimated cost of 
 $232,630, there being, as is stated, a large body of 
 fine land below the proposed site of the reservoir, 
 which without water is useless, and which it is pro- 
 posed to reclaim. 1 
 
 In addition to the springs in the Pecos Valley, 
 there are numerous interesting pools of fresh water 
 on the table-lands, lying above any water-course or 
 storm-water channel. These are called by the settlers 
 of the region " China holes," from their supposed great 
 depth. Some of them are but a few feet in diameter, 
 while others cover an area of several acres. Two of 
 them (about twelve miles southeast of Roswell), which 
 had been believed to be unfathomable, were found on 
 being sounded to have a depth no greater than sixteen 
 and thirty-four feet. Water-holes of this kind are not 
 uncommon in various parts of the world, where lime- 
 stone and gypsiferous rocks abound, even in regions 
 where the rainfall is very small, as in the high table- 
 lands of South Africa. 
 
 Mr. Nettleton's report at present under consideration 
 is next occupied with what is stated to be " an investi- 
 
 by a successful attempt to carry the water for a distance of ten miles 
 or more in a new channel, and in part by the continual tramping of 
 the bottom of the river by thousands of cattle that go daily to this 
 stream for water. 
 
 1 There are said to be evidences of an ancient river, with here and 
 there irrigation works, on the west side of the ranges which have been 
 mentioned as lying to the west of the Pecos. This lost river appears 
 once to have "carried quite a volume of water." Its course was 
 southerly through a valley lying between these mountains and the Sa-n 
 Andreas range, fifty miles still farther to the west. 
 
PLATTE AND ARKANSAS VALLEYS. 139 
 
 gation of the extent and availability of the underflow 
 in a. few localities in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and 
 Wyoming," the valleys of the Platte and Arkansas 
 Rivers having been selected "as affording the best 
 opportunities for studying the relations between the 
 surface and underground waters as they exist in these 
 valleys and the higher country on each side." Twelve 
 of these lines were surveyed as follows: five in the 
 valley of the Platte ; three in that of the Arkansas ; 
 one across the valleys of the Loup Rivers (an extension 
 in a northeasterly direction of the Lexington line, pre- 
 viously surveyed l ) ; a line from Sterling east, con- 
 necting with the Big Spring line. 2 These lines are 
 essentially the same, or in the same region, with those 
 the surveys of which were described in Mr. Nettleton's 
 previous report, 3 with the exception of two lines sit- 
 uated farther west, namely, one, called " the Cheyenne 
 line," extending from the head-waters of Duck Creek, 
 on the Colorado- Wyoming boundary line, to the North 
 Platte at Laramie, a distance of 110 miles, and the 
 other, called the Sterling line, running from Akron, 
 Colorado, northward to Lodge Pole Creek in Nebraska, 
 striking at about ten miles west of Sydney, a distance 
 of seventy-five miles. 
 
 Of the above surveyed lines that called " the Chey- 
 enne" is said, taken as a whole, to have been " negative 
 in its results." All the wells in Cheyenne are said to 
 be such that in summer they can be pumped dry with 
 a hand-pump in four or five hours, but not in winter 
 
 1 See ante, p. 118, number of the section (3). 
 
 2 See ante, p. 118, number of the section (1). 
 8 See ante, pp. 117-119. 
 
140 MOVEMENT OF UNDERFLOW. 
 
 or spring. At Fort Laramie itself water is found in 
 the gravel in the delta of the Laramie and North 
 Platte Rivers, and at about the level of that in the 
 rivers themselves. The Sterling line is also said to 
 have furnished only negative results. The facts de- 
 veloped on the other surveyed lines have already been 
 given and commented on, and no farther statements 
 need be made with regard to them. 
 
 Under the head of "Movement of Underflow in 
 River Valleys," an account is given of some unsuc- 
 cessful experiments made for the purpose of throwing 
 light on this question. A strong solution of an aniline 
 dye was poured into a hole, below which, in the sup- 
 posed line of the underflow, trenches were dug at a 
 distance of five feet apart; "this was done with the 
 expectation that traces of the dye would appear in 
 the first trench within an hour or two, but twenty- 
 four hours failed to show any colors even in the first 
 trench." 
 
 In this connection it is stated that " some French 
 engineers place the rate of movement of underground 
 water in the river valleys at one mile in a year, or 
 a little over fourteen feet per day, or one eighth of 
 an inch in a minute," to which statement is added 
 the remark, "I am inclined not to doubt the state- 
 ment." Calculations of this kind, however, cannot be 
 expected to lead to any definite result, or to have any 
 practical value. Everything, in a matter of this kind, 
 must depend on the character of the detrital or sedi- 
 mentary material through which the " flow " is ex- 
 pected to take place, and on the opportunity offered 
 for it to escape at some lower point. In an impervious 
 
MOVEMENT OF UNDERFLOW. 141 
 
 rock, like most of the crystalline formations, there can 
 be no motion of any fluid, except as opportunity is 
 offered by the existence of accidental fissures; and 
 in clay, which is also almost entirely impervious, fis- 
 sures cannot easily be formed, or, if formed, they will 
 soon be obliterated by the movement under pressure of 
 the plastic mass. In a very porous rock, like some 
 kinds of sandstone, wherever water under the influence 
 of gravitation has a chance to escape it will do so, and 
 its place will be taken by the adjacent particles with 
 more or less rapidity according to the texture of the 
 rock and the hydrostatic pressure exerted by the water. 
 This texture, however, is almost always exceedingly 
 variable, especially in the more recent detrital forma- 
 tions, in which beds of clay are commonly intercalated 
 with those of sand, interposing an impassable barrier 
 to the passage of water, unless there is pressure enough 
 to make it rise high enough to flow over the top of 
 the obstacle thus interposed. In consolidated or only 
 partly consolidated sandstone, moreover, fissures will 
 more or less frequently be formed, and these will 
 gradually become filled with clay, and may be of very 
 considerable dimensions, so as completely to obstruct 
 the passage of water for a great distance both verti- 
 cally and laterally. Such being the facts, it is evident 
 that any attempt to measure the velocity of water 
 making its way through rocks under such changeable 
 and indeterminable conditions will be entirely futile, 
 even where short distances are concerned, and much 
 more so where hundreds of miles are to be taken into 
 account. 
 
 The next subject discussed in Mr. Nettleton's final 
 
142 DEEP WELLS OF DAKOTA BASIN. 
 
 report is that of the deep wells of the Dakota basin, 
 of which a tabular statement is given comprising the 
 results obtained from the examination of ninety-three 
 wells, which number, however, does not include all 
 the deep bores made in that basin, some having been 
 omitted because, on account of their isolated position, 
 time was lacking for their examination. Seventy-five 
 of these wells are in South Dakota, and all but five 
 of the others in North Dakota; of these five two are 
 in Manitoba, two in Montana, and one in Minnesota. 
 The valley in which most of these wells are located 
 is that of the James River, a branch of the Missouri, 
 flowing in a nearly southerly direction, between the 
 98th and 99th meridians, across the whole width of 
 South Dakota and nearly all that of North Dakota. 
 The wells of the James River basin are all represented 
 to be "flowing wells/' but there is no uniformity in 
 the amount of their flow : four furnish less than ten 
 gallons per minute; twelve over 1,000 gallons; one 
 over 3,000 ; and fifteen between 500 and 1,000. The 
 elevation of the surface at these wells is, in much the 
 larger number of cases, between 1,200 and 1,600 feet 
 above the sea-level ; the greatest elevation noticed is 
 1,645 feet. The depth of these wells is exceedingly 
 variable : the deepest is 1,901 feet ; the shallowest, 
 229. Farther on, in discussing the report of the geolo- 
 gist of the Survey, Professor Hay, additional remarks 
 will be made with reference to the source from which 
 the water of the James River Artesian basin is de- 
 rived. 1 At present only the following quotation from 
 Mr. Nettleton's report need be appended : " The in- 
 
 1 See farther on, p. 154. 
 
RED RIVER VALLEY BASIN. 143 
 
 vestigations do not show as great uniformity in the 
 position of the upper watercourses or the main water- 
 bearing rock as was first thought to exist, nor does 
 there appear to be a general similarity in the character 
 of the lower rocks." 
 
 Next to what is said in Mr. Nettleton's report about 
 the Artesian wells of the Dakota basin come some 
 statements of his assistant, Mr. Follett, in regard to 
 the Red River Valley basin, north of Fargo, in North 
 Dakota. The extent of the territory covered by this 
 report is about 150 miles north and south, and thirty- 
 five miles east and west: it lies very near the ninety- 
 seventh meridian. The area over which Artesian water 
 is found is on the river, and extends back from it for a 
 distance of twelve or fifteen miles, having a very 
 gentle and uniform descending grade from Fargo to 
 Pembina, the difference of level between these two 
 places, which are 150 miles apart, being only ninety- 
 three feet, or six tenths of a foot to the mile. 
 
 The principal water-bearing stratum in this basin is 
 a clean white sand or sandstone, lying at a depth of 
 from 200 to 300 feet beneath the surface, and im- 
 mediately overlain by red shale or cemented gravel, 
 above which is " quicksand, some limestone in places, 
 shale, clay with granite boulders, and clay, all belong- 
 ing, apparently, to the superficial detrital formation, or 
 drift." Above the main water-bearing bed there are 
 two or three others of much less importance, and hav- 
 ing but little continuity. The total number of wells 
 in this basin is given as 436, nearly all having a 2-inch 
 bore, and the aggregate flow is 4,585 gallons per min- 
 ute. The quality of the water is somewhat variable ; 
 
144 RECURRENCE OF WET AND DRY PERIODS. 
 
 but in much the larger number of cases it is very 
 saline, that from some of the wells being described as 
 "too rank for household use"; but stock, it is said, 
 " will drink it greedily." Of one of the wells of Graf- 
 ton, Walsh County, which is the "centre of the area 
 giving large and free flows," the water is said to have 
 240 grains of salt to the gallon. 
 
 The Red River basin is described by Mr. Follett as 
 being, of those the water of which comes from the 
 drift, more extensive than any other yet discovered in 
 the Dakotas; but there are basins of this character 
 scattered over these two States, the water from some 
 of which is thought to be superior in quality to that 
 from the Red River Valley. 
 
 Mr. Nettleton is of opinion that there has been in 
 the regions over which his investigations extended a 
 "recurrence of wet and dry periods." In regard to 
 this matter he writes as follows : " We have not been 
 able to fix the probable returns of these periods, but 
 they seem to follow each other quite regularly, with 
 intervals of eleven to fourteen years." The evidence 
 on which this statement is based seems very unsatis- 
 factory. There is abundant proof that throughout this 
 western region the lakes are diminishing in area, as is 
 the case all over the world. Proofs of this decrease of 
 the water surface can easily be obtained by examina- 
 tion of the terraces or benches by which the larger 
 lakes are surrounded, which show that Great Salt Lake, 
 for instance, has decreased from 350 miles in length to 
 about sixty. That in the case of small shallow lakes 
 or, more properly, ponds there have been fluctu- 
 ations in the extent of the water surface, corresponding 
 
GEOLOGY OF THE PLAINS. 145 
 
 to the ordinary variations in the rainfall of successive 
 seasons, there can be no doubt ; but this is a phenom- 
 enon of extremely little importance compared with the 
 fact of a general gradual desiccation which has been 
 going on over a large part of the earth's surface and 
 for an indefinite length of time. 1 
 
 The third volume of the series of final reports now 
 under consideration is that of Professor Hay, who 
 was assisted in his work by Professor Culver in the 
 Dakotas, Professor Hicks in Nebraska, and Professor 
 Hill in Texas and New Mexico. The object of this 
 investigation is said in Professor Hill's " Letter of 
 Transmittal," to have been u the source, volume, and 
 availability of the underground waters of most of the 
 area of the Great Plains." 2 
 
 Professor Hay's report begins with a sketch of the 
 geology of the Plains, which is said to be, on the 
 whole, simple, the chief difficulty being that over 
 thousands of square miles certain later formations are 
 spread " in great sheets," hiding the more regularly 
 stratified formations below. The drift formation in 
 the Dakotas and the Tertiary in the more southern 
 region of the Plains are said to have much to do with 
 
 1 See Appendix B for a fuller discussion of this subject. 
 
 2 Each of these officials furnishes, in this volume, a special report, 
 of which the titles are as follows: (1) "Artesian and Underflow 
 Investigation between the Ninety-seventh Meridian and the Foothills of 
 the Rocky Mountains," by Professor Hay ; (2) " On the Occurrence of 
 Artesian and other Underground Waters in Texas, Eastern New Mexico, 
 and Indian Territory, West of the Ninety-seventh Meridian," by Profes- 
 sor Hill ; (3) " The Underflow and Sheet Waters, Irrigable Lands, and 
 Geological Structure of Nebraska, with its Effect upon the Water 
 Supply," by Professor Hicks ; (4) A report of fifteen pages only, and 
 without a special title, by Professor Culver, Assistant Geologist for 
 South Dakota. 
 
 10 
 
146 THE TERTIARY GRIT. 
 
 the water supply/' since "all the phreatic waters 
 available without very deep borings are found in 
 them." It is of importance, therefore, that their 
 lithological and stratigraphical character be well un- 
 derstood, and in regard to these matters the follow- 
 ing statements are made by Professor Hay : " In the 
 Dakotas and Eastern Kansas and Nebraska there is a 
 sandy marly formation known as the Loess, which in 
 large areas overlies the drift and in others rests on 
 bed rock of the district, Cretaceous or Carboniferous, 
 as the case may be. In the plains from the White 
 River of Nebraska to the Panhandle of Texas there is 
 a similar formation, varying slightly in texture and 
 substance, as sand, lime, or clay predominate, which 
 makes the smooth surface and the deep subsoil of the 
 prairie. The oldest parts are undoubtedly of tertiary 
 age, but its formation lasted probably through the 
 drift period, and its latest beds are probably contem- 
 poraneous with the Loess. We call it the plains' marl. 
 Beneath the plains marl with occasional exceptions is 
 a lower tertiary formation of Miocene age, which in 
 this connection we shall call the tertiary grit. It has 
 often been described, it is nowhere quite free from 
 siliceous matter and mostly sand is present in quantity. 
 In places it has become a gravel loosely held together, 
 and again the material is more coherent, being a coarse 
 gravel some pebbles as large as the hand but 
 firmly cemented by lime and iron so as to form a firm 
 conglomerate. Where the lime preponderates it looks 
 when broken like chunks of hard mortar. Here it is 
 known extensively as the ' mortar beds.' Sometimes 
 there is scarcely any sand, and the lime gives it a white 
 
THE TERTIARY GRIT. 147 
 
 smoothness that makes it serviceable for plastering 
 cellars. In the northern parts of the area it is known 
 as ' plaster ' and ' native lime/ and in the south it is 
 the ( terra blanca,' or white earth of New Mexico and 
 the Llano Estacado." 1 
 
 From the above citations it will be seen that, as 
 already noticed, 2 it is entirely impossible, over a large 
 part of the Great Plains, to distinguish the Post- 
 Tertiary from the Tertiary. There is no propriety in 
 designating any part of the superficial formation occur- 
 ring in this region by the name of "Loess," the use 
 of which term by Western geologists can only tend to 
 make the understanding of their superficial geology 
 more difficult than it would otherwise be. 
 
 The " Tertiary grit," as here described, seems to be 
 a formation varying greatly in lithological character, 
 some parts being firmly cemented by lime and iron, 
 while others contain scarcely any sand. In rocks of 
 this character no regular "flow" could with any 
 propriety be looked for. Still, it is said by Professor 
 Hay to be very absorptive of the rainfall, when out- 
 cropping at the surface, and to be, for this reason, 
 "the source of the phreatic waters which supply the 
 wells of the level or gently sloping high prairies, which 
 have for their surface the plains marl, whose less po- 
 rous sheets cover much of the region." As a source 
 of water-supply this grit takes the place of the drift 
 gravels of the more northern part of the area under 
 examination. 
 
 The Tertiary grit is considered by Professor Hay, 
 on account of its porous nature and the impervious 
 
 1 Loc. cit., p. 10. 2 See ante, pp. 119, 120. 
 
148 WELLS IN THE TERTIARY GRIT. 
 
 character of the formations which lie immediately be- 
 neath it, as being a water-holder of great importance 
 for a very extensive region. That it is actually so, he 
 says, " is known by the wells that all over the plains 
 have been dug or bored into it. The level region 
 of the Texas Pan Handle has water from wells ; the 
 plain between the Cimarron and Arkansas has water ; 
 the divides between the Republican and Smoky have 
 hundreds of wells ; away up on the Niobrara the high 
 prairie has wells. They vary in depth, but each divide 
 has a uniform depth for long distances, or they increase 
 gradually in a given direction. At Washburn, Texas, 
 they are 150 feet deep ; at Richfield, Kansas, and east 
 thereof for seventy miles, they are eighty feet deep. 
 North of the Frenchman, in Nebraska, they are over 
 200 feet deep on the Colorado line, increasing to over 
 300 feet forty miles east." 
 
 These wells are "considered inexhaustible," but, in 
 point of fact, they have hitherto been almost exclu- 
 sively used for watering stock. 1 That any considerable 
 amount of irrigation can be effected by their aid 
 seems, even to Professor Hay, hardly possible, for he 
 remarks in regard to this point as follows : " Where a 
 windmill already exists some few acres may be irri- 
 gated. A more powerful windmill pump and a small 
 one or two acres reservoir would allow more water 
 to be raised, and the farm redeemed at once from arid- 
 ity and mortgage. It is not expected that anymore 
 than fifteen or twenty acres can be thus irrigated in 
 any quarter section, and on large areas the average will 
 not be more than ten acres ; but the high divides and 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 118, 119. 
 
WATER-SUPPLY FROM THE TERTIARY GRIT. 149 
 
 the body of the great plains must be thus irrigated if 
 any large part of it is to be redeemed in the next 
 quarter of a century." 
 
 The question of the importance as a source of water- 
 supply of this formation is thus summed up by Professor 
 Hay : " We have thus seen that the water in the Ter- 
 tiary grit, buried from 50 to 300 feet below the plains 
 and cropping on the sides of ravines in gushing springs, 
 is the main reliance of the plains region; it is the 
 sole reliance of the immense areas lying back from the 
 valleys, the only reservoir on which these wells can 
 draw to irrigate the land. We have seen that it is the 
 source of the waters of the rivers of the plains, and 
 adds to the volume of those whose origin is in the 
 mountains. We have shown that its source is the rain- 
 fall of the region varying from eighteen or twenty 
 inches on the one hundredth meridian to twelve or 
 fourteen inches on the one hundred and fifth." l 
 
 The question whether this amount of rainfall is suffi- 
 cient to replenish this reservoir (the Tertiary grit) with 
 sufficient rapidity, and in sufficient quantity to allow of 
 its being drawn upon to an extent sufficient to make it 
 available for irrigation on a large scale, Professor Hay 
 seems to think can be answered in the affirmative ; 
 but at the same time he admits that an approximately 
 correct answer is " only partially possible at present," 
 because " observations on the quantity of rainfall have 
 only been made at comparatively few places widely 
 separated, and no experiments at all have been made on 
 evaporation as related to the absorptive character of 
 the soil." In spite of this fact, however, he quotes 
 
 1 Loc. cit. t p. 18. 
 
150 POSSIBILITIES OF IRRIGATION. 
 
 with approval the opinions of Professor Van Diest that 
 it is not an exaggerated estimate to suppose that half 
 the rainfall in Eastern Colorado, and probably also in 
 Eastern New Mexico, sinks into the ground. With 
 special reference to Eastern Colorado it is thought that 
 this would not be less than five inches over an area of 
 32,000 square miles, and if this " could all be redeemed 
 from the subsoil it would be sufficient for the irrigation 
 of 1,200,000 acres, or one seventeenth of the above- 
 named area." 
 
 The present writer has already expressed the opinion 
 that the amount of rainfall which percolates the soil 
 in the region in question is much less than that here 
 estimated by Professor Van Diest ; and how, by any 
 possibility, all that which actually does thus percolate 
 could be " redeemed " or, in other words, brought to 
 the surface again it is extremely difficult to un- 
 derstand : that more than a very small fraction of it 
 could be made available for irrigational or other pur- 
 poses seems quite clear. 1 
 
 The volume of the rivers heading well up on the 
 high valleys of the main range of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, which are largely fed by the melting snow 
 is considerable, while that of the streams which head 
 below the mountains, which Professor Hay calls 
 "rivers of the plains," is comparatively insignificant, 
 except in times of flood, as might be expected from the 
 small average rainfall of this region. 2 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 105-121. 
 
 2 See page 23 of Professor Hay's report, where the volume of some 
 of these rivers is given, not, however, as the mean of any considerable 
 length of time, but as the result of measurements made on one day only. 
 All these rivers vary greatly in volume at different seasons, and even at 
 
EXAGGERATED IDEAS OF THE UNDERFLOW. 151 
 
 The meaning of the word "underflow," a term 
 used in the act of Congress authorizing the investiga- 
 tion the results of which are here under discussion, the 
 difficulty of defining which has already been sug- 
 gested/ is a matter which receives some considera- 
 tion on the part of Professor Hay, who endeavors to 
 "indicate the right use of the term, as well as the 
 extent of the thing itself." 
 
 In regard to the exaggerated ideas of the underflow 
 current in the arid region, and for which the officials 
 connected with the irrigation investigation are largely 
 responsible, Professor Hay remarks as follows : " We 
 have heard speakers dilating on the advantages of the 
 semi-arid region refer to ' the mighty underflow of the 
 'plains/ In reference to particular valleys, we have 
 met the statement that the ' underground Platte ' and the 
 ( underground Arkansas ' are greater streams than the 
 visible streams that bear those names. The underflow 
 of the latter river is spoken of sometimes as being 
 fifty miles wide, and sometimes the subterrene waters 
 of the plains, both valleys and uplands, have been 
 spoken of as one great underground ocean, with a 
 general movement to the south of east. 2 . . . The most 
 extravagant form under which we have heard the under- 
 flow explained and defined is about as follows : There 
 are heavy snows in the Kocky Mountains and subor- 
 dinate ranges ; these are melted every summer. There 
 is a large body of water supplying wells on the plains 
 
 dates separated by intervals of only a few days. The liability of all these 
 streams to " freshets " that is, to very great and rapid increase of volume 
 is a matter of importance in reference to questions of irrigation, espe- 
 cially where control of the water-supply by means of dams is proposed, 
 adding very greatly to the difficulty and expense of such operations. 
 1 See ante, p. 101. 2 See ante, p. 110. 
 
152 WHAT THE UNDERFLOW REALLY IS. 
 
 in Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, and Texas. 
 There is a general slope of the country from the north- 
 west to the southeast. There are immense springs in 
 a line across the State of Texas. There are springs 
 of fresh water rising on the bottom of the Gulf of 
 Mexico. Therefore, there is a vast body of water 
 under the plains, moving from the mountains toward 
 the sea, capable of irrigating the whole country, and, 
 as one person said, { It is God Almighty's method for 
 the redemption of the arid region/ ' 
 
 Professor Hay thinks that most of the facts alleged 
 in the above statement " are as stated." But, at the 
 same time, he gives sufficient reasons for not adopting 
 this widely spread belief in any underflow such as 
 indicated above. The waters of the great Texan 
 springs, he admits, "are fully accounted for without 
 any recourse to the distant mountains " ; the great vol- 
 ume of the Loup Kivers of Nebraska, and of the wells 
 on the interfluvial upland "may be referred, without 
 any possible contradiction, to the rainfall of the plains 
 themselves." Moreover, " the great body of the area 
 of the plains is cut off from contact with the moun- 
 tains by deep river trenches, which make it impossible 
 for them to receive any benefit from the melting of the 
 mountain snows." Keeping these and other facts of a 
 similar nature in mind, and realizing that the correct 
 use of the term " underflow " has led to exaggerated 
 and erroneous ideas of its quantity and its source, 
 Professor Hay wishes to limit the use of this word " to 
 the waters of the great valleys found in the alluvia 
 under the beds of the streams, and to a limited extent 
 under the fertile bottoms which bound the stream beds." 
 
ARTESIAN BASINS OF GREAT PLAINS. 153 
 
 In regard to the fact that under and near the beds of 
 the large streams of the Plains, water will be found in 
 some quantity in the porous grounds and sands there 
 accumulated, and to a considerable distance from the 
 stream itself both laterally and vertically, there can be 
 no doubt, while it may be questionable whether the use 
 of the word " underflow " as descriptive of so univer- 
 sal a condition of things may be entirely justifiable, 
 especially as its introduction and general application 
 have heretofore had reference to something entirely 
 different and which has been shown not to exist. That 
 in most cases the origin of the water obtained in deep 
 wells on the plains is the rainfall, either of the present 
 or the past, is a fact in support of which it seems 
 hardly necessary to offer farther evidence, and in 
 regard to which sufficient has already been said. 1 
 
 In regard to the proper "Artesian basins" of the 
 Great Plains, Professor Hay remarks that their num- 
 ber had not been increased since the publication of the 
 previous report, while, however, " important increments 
 had been made to the areas of some of the principal. 
 The Artesian regions having the largest wells and the 
 most extensive areas are the James River basin, Dakota, 
 and the Fort Worth-Waco basin, Texas. 2 The Dakota 
 basin is said to have had many additional wells sunk 
 and its area extended by the obtaining of water at 
 Armour and Chamberlain. It is thought that the area 
 of this basin will eventually be proved to extend on 
 the west side of the Missouri toward the Black Hills, 
 and " that the name James Eiver basin must give way 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 118-122, these pages being in type before the Final 
 Report here under consideration had been received. 
 
 2 See ante, pp. 113-116. 
 
154 WATER FROM THE DAKOTA SANDSTONE. 
 
 to the more extensive one of the Dakota Artesian 
 basin." But it is suggested that " it will be wise to 
 use the caution suggested by the wells at Denver and 
 Fort Worth, 1 not to bore the wells too close together, 
 no matter how large the underground reservoir may 
 be, if it can be drained by persistent tapping." 
 
 In regard to the source of the Artesian water-supply 
 of the Dakota or James River basin, it is said that 
 "there is nothing yet learned to suggest any other 
 origin than that given last year, 2 viz. the outcrops of 
 the Dakota and other sandstones on the eastern foot- 
 hills of the Rocky Mountains and subordinate ranges." 
 The theory that the Missouri River is the source from 
 which the water comes is considered untenable, because 
 the pressure at the wells is too great. 
 
 The wells at Coolidge, in the Arkansas Valley, 3 are 
 thought by Professor Hay to have their water also 
 from the Dakota sandstone, but not from the moun- 
 tains to the west, on the flanks of which these rocks 
 crop out with upturned edges. The reason for this 
 idea is, that at Oberlin, in Northern Kansas, a deep 
 boring has penetrated these beds " without getting any 
 supply of water that warrants the supposition of a 
 mountain source." The explanation suggested for the 
 failure to obtain water from the sandstone at that 
 locality is, " that it is not in mountain uplift that we 
 find the best sources of Artesian waters, but rather in 
 the exposure of porous strata lying at comparatively 
 low angles of bedding, giving wide areas in which to 
 absorb rainfall and without breaks of continuity caused 
 
 1 See ante, p. 116. a See ante, p. 113. 
 
 8 See ante, p. 115. 
 
UNDERGROUND WATER. 155 
 
 by the faulting or folding of mountain structure." 1 
 It is suggested by Professor Hay that the water of the 
 wells at Coolidge is forced upward, not by hydrostatic, 
 but by gas pressure, and a little farther on in this 
 report this agency as a cause of the rise of water to 
 and above the surface, where there is no evidence of 
 the existence of the necessary hydrostatic conditions 
 is again alluded to, with the additional statement that 
 " another cause exists for flowing wells which we call 
 rock pressure." 2 
 
 The report of Professor Hill, of which the title has 
 already been given, 3 begins with a brief introduction 
 in regard to the occurrence and availability of under- 
 ground water, in which some interesting facts are given 
 confirming a matter to which reference has already been 
 made, namely, the extraordinary ideas on this subject 
 held throughout the arid regions of the United States 
 " by men of more than ordinary intelligence in other 
 walks of life." The following quotation may be read 
 as an illustration of this condition of things: "The 
 most current of these erroneous ideas is that all under- 
 ground water flows in streams ' like the circulatory sys- 
 tem of the human body,' as an intelligent citizen once 
 
 1 We find here a heavy blow administered to the theory most gener- 
 ally held by the advocates of the " underflow " of the Great Plains, and 
 by Mr. Hinton as well as by Mr. Catlin, namely, that it is the rainfall 
 upon the upturned edges of the formations cropping out at the base of the 
 Rocky Mountains which feeds this moving mass of waters. (See ante, 
 pp. 109, 110.) 
 
 2 This subject of the cause of the rise of water to the surface in 
 regions where there is no proof of the existence of the ordinary Artesian 
 conditions, and where the facts seem to indicate that these are not at all 
 likely to be present, will receive consideration farther on in the present 
 volume. 
 
 a See ante, p. 145. 
 
156 UNDERGROUND WATER. 
 
 expressed it. The underground rivers are thought to 
 supply every well and spring, and it is a curious sight 
 to see the water witch or switch fakir plod over a farm 
 with his forked stick trying to locate the ' current.' In 
 the vast areas between the Rockies and the Mississippi 
 the belief prevails that all the wells are supplied from 
 precipitation upon the mountains, whose waters are 
 supposed to disappear beneath the surface to rise 
 again a thousand miles away along the coastal plain, 
 (The Galveston News, November 7, 1891,) while be- 
 neath the vast intervening regions is an inexhaust- 
 ible store of water, waiting for some intervention of 
 man to bring -it to the surface. The doctrine of the 
 6 underflow/ as it is called, proved so contagious in 
 Kansas a year ago that whole communities indulged in 
 most exaggerated anticipations of its development." l 
 
 In view of these facts, Professor Hill considers that 
 it is desirable to examine the simple laws controlling 
 the distribution of underground waters, the source of 
 which he admits to be the rainfall ; but, he adds, " the 
 underground supply in any region is not proportionate 
 to the rainfall." The unequal distribution of water 
 in the saturated portion of the earth's crust is thought 
 to be " due to the difference in porous texture of the 
 different rocks which compose it, their arrangement 
 relative to one another, the amount of rainfall and 
 surface evaporation and the relative altitude above or 
 below the adjacent drainage level." If the strata are 
 inclined at a high angle, as is the case in most moun- 
 tainous regions, Artesian water will rarely be obtained 
 by boring ; but where the dip of the rocks is but slight, 
 
 i Loc. cit., p. 49. 
 
UNDERGROUND WATER. 157 
 
 there the conditions are most favorable for success in 
 undertakings of this kind. It is in the newer forma- 
 tions that the conditions determining the supply of 
 water are most likely to be satisfactory. In illustra- 
 tion of these general principles various facts are cited, 
 having more especially reference to the conditions pre- 
 vailing in parts of Texas, and an ideal section from the 
 Gulf Coast to the Rocky Mountains is given. 
 
 In concluding these general considerations in regard 
 to water-supply it is said that "It is apparent that 
 the best conditions for securing underground water are 
 not in consolidated or mountain rocks, as shown by 
 the futile experiments of the Government well borings 
 under Capt. Pope in 1858, and the numerous failures 
 of the Southern Pacific road all of which were 
 drilled with the idea that the water came from the 
 mountains. But, on the other hand, the most sterile 
 sandy upland plains, like the great Jornado Muerto, or 
 filled-in-river valleys, like that of the Rio Grande, are 
 the most favorable locations for imbibition and storage 
 of underground water. By taking advantage of this 
 law hundreds of wells, nonflowing it is true, have been 
 obtained upon the greatest of our supposed waterless 
 plains, such as the Llano Estacado and the Franklin- 
 Huerco basin north of El Paso." It is candidly admit- 
 ted, however, that the supply of underground water is 
 sufficient to reclaim for agriculture by irrigation " only 
 a very small fraction of our desert lands." Still it is 
 believed that, "by applying these principles, thou- 
 sands of wells can be obtained upon areas now ab- 
 solutely waterless, which would be of great value to 
 overland commerce and to herders, and would save 
 
158 THE TEXAS -NEW MEXICO REGION. 
 
 large amounts of money now wasted in unprofitable 
 experiments." l 
 
 Professor Hill next proceeds in the report here under 
 examination to give a quite detailed account of what 
 he designates as the "Texas -New Mexico Region." 2 
 This he describes as consisting topographically of " a 
 series of extensive elongated parallel dip plains and 
 plateaus, extending approximately in a north and south 
 direction, and abruptly terminating at each end by a 
 great mountain system, extending at right angles to 
 them an arrangement comparable to a wide stair- 
 way, in which the steps are represented by the plains 
 and the walls by the inclosing mountains." This vast 
 area he subdivides as follows : (1) The Eastern Division, 
 a series of present and ancient coast deposits, occupy- 
 ing the eastern third of Texas and having a total area 
 of no less than 172,800 square miles. The eastern 
 half of this division is essentially similar to the ad- 
 jacent lowlands of the Gulf States ; the western half, 
 including the Black and Grand Prairies is "uniquely 
 Texan," and is the "chalk region of the United 
 States." (2) The " Central Denuded Region" consisting 
 of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic rocks (the latter generally 
 known as the "Red Beds"), which underlie unconform- 
 ably the coast rocks of division (1), and are exposed 
 by the erosion of that formation or by being upturned 
 
 1 The conditions of water-supply as affected by the various circum- 
 stances indicated in this part of Professor Hill's report will be discussed 
 farther on in the present work, in seeking to sum up our knowledge of 
 this complicated and not yet thoroughly understood subject. 
 
 2 Professor Hill had prepared himself for this task by his previous 
 experience in the Geological Survey of Arkansas. See Annual Report 
 of that Survey, Vol. II., 1888 ; and Bulletin No. 45 U. S. Geol. Survey 
 (1887) ; also, The American Geologist, Vol. V. (1890), p. 9. 
 
THE TEXAS -NEW MEXICO REGION. 159 
 
 in the two great mountain systems which limit the 
 region the Ouachita on the north, and the basin 
 ranges of the trans-Pecos country and Northern Mexico 
 on the west. This division lies between the Eastern 
 Division and the Llano Estacado, and is classed in three 
 principal subdivisions, viz. : (a) the region of the Car- 
 boniferous coal measures, with the sandstones, clays, 
 and limestones peculiar to that portion of the geologi- 
 cal series; (&) a region of granite and metamorphic 
 rocks and older limestones, called by Professor Hill 
 the " Burnet-Mason Country"; (c) the Red Bed Re- 
 gion, including the peculiar red lands of the Concho, 
 Abilene, Wichita, and Oklahoma regions. (3) The 
 Mountain Systems, including, (a) the Ouachita system 
 of Arkansas and the Indian Territory, older than the 
 plains of the coastal system, which were laid down 
 against it, and separating the Texas region from the 
 Kansas ; (b) the Basin Mountains, west of the Pecos 
 and south of the Rocky Mountains proper, which end 
 at Santa F. The so-called Basin Mountains are made 
 up " of the uplifted, folded, and crumpled edges of the 
 earlier of these plains, i. e. those formed of rocks of 
 Cretaceous age." (4) Remnental Plains, either later 
 than the Rocky Mountain uplift or allied in age to it. 
 These plains are considered as being the continuation 
 of the Plateau region of the West. In this division 
 are included the Llano Estacado and Raton las Vegas 
 plateau, which were once continuous with the Eastern 
 Division, "but have been separated from it by the 
 great denudation which laid bare the central denuded 
 region." These plains occupy no less than 91,200 
 square miles of Northwestern Texas and New Mexico. 
 
160 THE TEXAS -NEW MEXICO REGION. 
 
 (5) The Basin Plains " which lie between the mountain 
 blocks of the Trans-Pecos region, and are continuous in 
 genesis and every physical aspect with the Great Basin 
 region of Utah and Nevada, and the so-called High 
 Plateau of Mexico." Each of these five grand divisions 
 is said to have "its own peculiar features of topog- 
 raphy, climate, geological structure, and water con- 
 ditions," and each is discussed by Professor Hill at 
 considerable length. 
 
 The Eastern Division, which comprises half of the 
 State of Texas, lies east of a line drawn irregularly 
 from the western edge of Cooke County, southward to 
 the northeastern corner of Burnet County, and from 
 there westward to the trans-Pecos Mountains. The 
 stratigraphieal character is very simple, so that there 
 is not much difficulty in determining, so far as geologi- 
 cal structure is concerned, its conditions with reference 
 to an Artesian water-supply. There is, however, a 
 remarkable difference in the amount of rain falling 
 in various sections of this State. The isohyetal of 
 twenty inches follows, in a general northwesterly 
 direction, pretty nearly the course of the Rio Grande 
 and its most important branch the Rio Pecos as 
 far as the southeastern corner of New Mexico, while the 
 curve of thirty-two inches, starting from Matamoras, at 
 the mouth of the Rio Grande, and only about one 
 degree east of that of twenty inches, follows the coast 
 line, keeping at first at no great distance, but gradu- 
 ally receding from it and passing a little to the west 
 of Austin. Thus the isohyetals, which are very 
 closely crowded together at the southern extremity of 
 the State, recede from each other rapidly in advan- 
 
THE EASTERN DIVISION OF TEXAS. 161 
 
 cing toward the north. The northwestern part of 
 Texas is, therefore, within the semi-arid and arid belt, 
 while the eastern side of the State is a region of very 
 abundant precipitation. 
 
 The Eastern Division of the State is underlain by a 
 series of sedimentary deposits formed in and around 
 the Gulf of Mexico as its surface was elevated or de- 
 pressed, all dipping toward the coast at an angle which 
 is very slight, but a little greater than that of the grade 
 of the surface, so that in going westward, and ascend- 
 ing above the sea-level, older geological formations are 
 being constantly encountered, and as these vary con- 
 siderably in lithological character the consequence is 
 that successive belts of country are crossed, each having 
 its peculiar soil, rocks, and flora. If the underlying 
 formation is a sandstone, the detrital material form- 
 ing the surface is sandy, and covered with timber ; if 
 the underlying rock is marly or clayey, the soil will 
 be " black, sticky, and treeless " ; l moreover, water 
 will be obtained in abundance by sinking wells in the 
 sandy rock, while this will not be the case if the under- 
 lying rock is not of this character. To quote Professor 
 Hill : u Wherever the formation is sandy there are for- 
 ests, as the east Texas pine woods and the lower and 
 
 i The fact that the distribution of the forests, in all countries and in 
 all climates, is more or less dependent on the texture of the soil has been 
 repeatedly insisted on by the present writer, and could have no better 
 illustration than that presented by the conditions prevailing in Texas as 
 described by Professor Hill, as also by others who 1 have made a special 
 study of the surface geology and botany of this State. See Geology of 
 Iowa (1858), Vol. 1. p. 23; The American Naturalist for October and 
 November, 1876; Science for All, VoL V. p. 124; Names and. Places 
 (1888), pp. 174-177; The United States: Facts and Figures illustrating 
 the Physical Geography of the Country and its Material Resources, 1889, 
 pp. 212, 213. 
 
 11 
 
162 FAULT LINES OF EASTERN DIVISION. 
 
 upper cross timbers ; wherever the country is an open 
 prairie it is underlaid by compact formations with little 
 sand, such as clays and chalks. The coastal prairie, 
 the Fayette prairies, the Black prairie belt, the Eagle 
 Ford prairie, the Grand prairie, and the red beds are all 
 of this class. Each of these different strips of country 
 has a soil radically different from that of the others, for 
 the soil is the surface residuum of the underlying struc- 
 tures." The sheets of sand of the Coastal incline, being 
 in a region of considerable rainfall, become receiving 
 areas for water, which, where the conditions are favor- 
 able, will rise above the surface, so that, as Professor 
 Hill asserts, throughout much of the area having this 
 geological character Artesian wells can be obtained 
 without difficulty. 
 
 Two great fault lines are also indicated by Professor 
 Hill as being important features of the geology of the 
 Grand and Black Prairie regions. One of these faults 
 extends from near Dallas through Waco and Austin to 
 Del Rio ; this is a fault running in the line of strike 
 of the formation, and having a downthrow to the east. 
 The other is a dip fault, extending from Marietta, 
 Indian Territory, to the south of Paris, Texas, with a 
 downthrow toward the interior, "reducing the receiv- 
 ing area below the altitude of most of the Red River 
 countries of Texas, where water would be most desired." 
 This, as Professor Hill remarks, is the simple geologi- 
 cal structure of the whole eastern half of Texas and of 
 Southern Indian Territory, embracing an area of over 
 170,000 square miles, and including all the humid and 
 semi-humid regions of the State. The above indicated 
 topographical and geological conditions have developed 
 
ARTESIAN CONDITIONS EASTERN DIVISION. 163 
 
 five groups of Artesian water-bearing strata with corre- 
 sponding Artesian areas, which are located by Professor 
 Hill as follows, the geological age of the water-bearing 
 stratum being appended in each case : 
 
 1. Coastal wells of Galveston, Houston, Gonzales, etc. 
 
 Fayette sands. 
 
 2. East Texas or timber belt wells of Marshall, Robert- 
 
 son, etc. Eolignitic and glauconite sands. 
 
 3. Dallas, Denison, and Pottsboro wells. Lower Cross 
 
 Timber sands. 
 
 4. The Fort Worth-Waco system. 
 
 a. Upper Division. Paluxy sands. 
 1}. Lower Division. Trinity sands and alternating 
 beds. 
 
 Each of these systems is said to be of great im- 
 portance economically, and a minute description of 
 them follows in the report next under examination, 
 of which the more important points will here be in- 
 dicated. 
 
 As stated above, the wells in the vicinity of Galves- 
 ton and Houston are supplied with water from the 
 Fayette sands. The region of the " Coast Prairie," as 
 this division of the State is called by Professor Hill, is 
 said to extend from fifty to one hundred miles into 
 the interior. It is a flat, timberless plain, and not ele- 
 vated at its interior margin more than 200 feet above 
 the Gulf. Its geological age is late Quaternary, and 
 it is underlain by " several sheets of Artesian water- 
 bearing strata, the same as those constituting the 
 surface of the next regions inland, and from which Gal- 
 veston, Houston, and many other places have secured 
 
164 THE WASHINGTON COUNTY PRAIRIES. 
 
 Artesian water." Furthermore it is said, " There are no 
 doubt many of these water-bearing strata beneath the 
 Coast Prairie, for there are several thousand feet of 
 porous sands at slight intervals, of the Fayette sands 
 and Eocene systems, and future experimentation will 
 yield magnificent results as yet unattained." l 
 
 West of the Coast Prairies is another region desig- 
 nated as the "Washington County Black Prairies." 
 This is characterized by a rich, black, sandy soil, de- 
 rived from the disintegration of a friable sandstone, 
 which is a water-bearing formation, and which supplies 
 the cities of Galveston and Houston. This is the 
 formation designated as the "Fayette sands," and it 
 is thought to be of Miocene or Pliocene age. These 
 porous strata are considered by Professor Hill as being 
 able to supply the whole Coast Prairie region with 
 water a matter of great importance in the arid south- 
 western portion of the State. 
 
 Immediately west of the Coast and Washington 
 County Prairies, north of the Colorado, is a region said 
 to be very different in its geological and agricultural 
 character from those previously described. It is desig- 
 nated as the " East Texas or timbered region," and is a 
 continuation of the great "'Atlantic Timber Belt," 
 which marks the interior of the Coastal Plain from 
 New Jersey to Texas, extending to a slight distance 
 
 1 The water-supply from the Artesian wells of the cities of Galveston 
 and Houston has already been noticed in the present volume, (see ante, 
 pp. 84, 86,) the information there given having been taken from a work 
 issued by the State Geological Survey of Texas, and bearing the date of 
 June, 1893. The practical results of Artesian well boring in this part of 
 the State as there described seem far less important than those predicted 
 in Professor Hill's report, especially as concerns the quality of the water 
 obtained from these borings. 
 
THE CROSS TIMBERS. 165 
 
 beyond the Colorado. The soil of this region is said 
 to be the same throughout its whole extent, consisting 
 of loose sands and gravels, with some clay, and there 
 is a great uniformity in its forest and shrubby vegeta- 
 tion. The increasing aridity of the climate toward the 
 southwest prevents the farther development of this 
 forested belt in that direction. The geological age of 
 the formation underlying this belt of country is Early 
 Tertiary : Professor Hill designates it as " Eolignitic or 
 basal Tertiary." The strata, being made up chiefly of 
 loose sand or gravel with alternations of clay, furnish 
 all the conditions necessary for an ample supply of 
 water, the precipitation being very considerable in this 
 belt. " The water comes to the surface, as mineral 
 springs, many to every square mile, while wells are 
 always obtainable, if located with reasonable intelli- 
 gence. Artesian wells have already been secured in 
 many places from this formation, and can be secured 
 throughout its extent." 
 
 Immediately west of the great Atlantic timber belt, 
 of which the principal features have been noticed 
 above, comes the region of the Cretaceous prairies, 
 with which the so-called " Cross Timber " belts are in- 
 cluded. This region is limited on the north by the 
 Washita Mountains, and on the south by the Quater- 
 nary of the Rio Grande Valley; it extends westward 
 " to the Coal Measures and Red Beds west of the Upper 
 Cross Timbers, north of the Colorado River, the Trans- 
 Pecos Mountains, and the basins west of that stream." 
 The topographic features and the vegetation of this 
 region are interesting and peculiar from various points 
 of view. It covers an area of over 73,000 squafe 
 
166 THE BLACK PRAIRIE REGION. 
 
 miles, or more than one fourth of the whole State, and 
 equals all New England in extent. This prairie region 
 is the most fertile and densely populated part of Texas, 
 for on it are situated most of the important inland 
 towns. It is the " rich, black-waxy, and other calca- 
 reous soils " of this region to which this part of the 
 State owes its prosperity. This district is "uniquely 
 Texan, as far as the United States are concerned, con- 
 stituting a distinct geographic region, which in every 
 topographic, economic, and cultured aspect should not 
 be compared with other portions of our country." 
 
 The Main Black Prairie Region, as Professor Hill 
 calls the eastern edge of the Cretaceous Prairie division 
 of the State, extends through the whole length of 
 Texas, having in its widest part a breadth of over a 
 hundred miles. It is a level plain, with a slope toward 
 the east so small as to be almost imperceptible, and 
 an elevation of from 400 to 600 feet. The streams by 
 which it is intersected do not cut deep enough below 
 the general level to destroy the characteristic flatness 
 of the wide divides. Its surface is covered by a deep 
 black clay soil, which when wet becomes excessively 
 tenacious so much so, in fact, that it is usually des- 
 ignated as " black- waxy." 1 
 
 1 Of this soil Professor Hill says, " It is rich in lime, which, acting 
 upon the vegetation by complicated changes, causes the black color." 
 This is an entire mistake, for there is no such reaction of lime on organic 
 matter known. The real cause of this dark color is the fineness of the 
 soil, by which the complete decomposition of the organic matter which 
 it contains, and which has resulted from the growth of vegetation upon 
 it, has been more or less hindered. Of this condition of things we see 
 a most excellent illustration in the " Black Earth " of Southeastern 
 Russia (the so-called tschornozem), which is of very dark color, rich in 
 organic matter, and exceedingly fine in texture. The almost constant 
 presence of organic matter in the bituminous shales of various geological 
 
THE LOWER CROSS TIMBERS. 167 
 
 The geological formations underlying the Black 
 Prairie region are all of Cretaceous age. The sands of 
 its eastern edge are the outcrop of the extreme upper 
 division of this series the so-called " Arenaceous " or 
 " Glauconitic." The Main Black Prairie division has 
 at the surface the " chalky clays," belonging to the 
 "Ponderosa marls." l The " White Rock escarpment/' 
 which is an outcrop of a chalky rock, forming a nar- 
 row strip, averaging two miles in width, which extends 
 along a portion of the western border of the " black- 
 waxy belt," in the northern division of the Black 
 Prairie is the Austin-Dallas chalk, averaging about 
 300 feet in thickness, and lying immediately below the 
 Ponderosa marls. 
 
 The belt called " the Lower Cross Timbers," which 
 extends along the western and northern border of the 
 northern division of the Black Prairie region, is a strip 
 of country nearly 180 miles in length from north to 
 south, and but seldom exceeding ten miles in width, but 
 bending round to the northwest in the northern part of 
 the State, and there having a development east and 
 west of over one hundred miles. " The occurrence of 
 this peculiar ribbon of upland timber between two vast 
 stretches of prairie had long been a subject of in- 
 quiry until the writer, in 1887, investigated and pub- 
 lished its geology, and showed that the cause of this 
 forest growth was the sandy soil and substructure, 
 
 ages is a fact of similar import, while the formation of coal and lignite 
 was unquestionably largely dependent on conditions which favored the 
 burying of vegetation under fine detrital material by which the air was 
 more or less completely excluded, while the process of decomposition 
 was beginning. See " United States," etc., p. 212. 
 
 1 So called from the characteristic fossil of the formation, Exogyra 
 ponderosa. 
 
168 FORESTS OF THE CROSS TIMBERS, 
 
 which was the outcrop of a rock sheet marking the 
 beginning of the Black Prairie series of rocks." 1 
 
 That division of the State of Texas which Professor 
 Hill calls the " Grand Prairie/' and which adjoins the 
 
 1 See an article by Professor Hill in the American Journal of Science, 
 (3), Vol. XXXIII. pp. 291-303, entitled "The Topography and Geol- 
 ogy of the Cross Timbers and surrounding Regions in Northern Texas." 
 This article is accompanied by a sketch map of that State, on which its 
 salient topographical features are indicated. On that map the Upper and 
 Lower Cross Timbers are represented as running parallel with each other 
 for a great distance, maintaining nearly the same width, but uniting 
 toward the north and finally disappearing in that direction. Various 
 theories previously held by writers on the peculiar botanic features of 
 this region are mentioned in this article. One of these is, that they 
 represent arms or inlets of the Tertiary Sea; another is, that they 
 are the beds of extinct lakes; and a third, that they represent the 
 channels of Quaternary rivers, the directions of which indicate the 
 former general slope of the surface of the country. Professor Hill, 
 after explaining that the soil of the Cross Timbers is the detritus of 
 arenaceous strata occupying well-defined horizons in the geological series, 
 gives the following as the reason why the timber confines itself to these 
 arenaceous belts : " They afford a suitable matrix for the penetration of 
 the roots of trees, and a constant reservoir for moisture, thus furnishing 
 two of the greatest essentials to forest growth." The present writer's 
 long-continued study of the conditions favoring the growth or absence 
 of timber in general, and especially in the prairie region of the Missis- 
 sippi Valley, had long ago led him to form conclusions in part similar 
 to those here enunciated by Professor Hill (see references furnished on 
 page 161 of this volume). That the question of the presence or absence 
 of moisture is a matter of importance as bearing on this question can- 
 not, however, be admitted, since abundant evidence can be furnished 
 going to prove that over certain well-defined areas the fineness of the 
 soil is the essential factor in causing the absence of the forests by 
 which these treeless regions are surrounded, and that trees will grow in 
 abundance on a soil which is not at all retentive of moisture, provided 
 it is of so coarse a texture that the air can have easy access to their roots. 
 Of course a certain amount of moisture is essential to the development 
 of arboreal vegetation in general, but the question in regard to the 
 growth of trees in the Cross Timbers is precisely similar to the " prairie 
 question " in general, which is this : Why is there absolutely no forest 
 growth over a certain area, when another adjacent area precisely similarly 
 situated as to the amount of precipitation is heavily timbered, even when 
 the soil in the latter case is evidently less retentive of moisture than is 
 that of the adjacent prairie or treeless region? 
 
THE COMANCHE SERIES. 169 
 
 Black Prairie on the west, is underlain by rocks belong- 
 ing to the Lower Cretaceous, and it is said by him to 
 differ from the Black Prairie region in nearly every 
 physical feature. The strata of this division lie almost 
 horizontally, dipping eastward at a slightly greater 
 angle than the topographical slope. The eastern edge 
 of the Grand Prairie is between 500 and 600 feet in 
 altitude above the sea-level for a distance of 300 miles 
 from its beginning in Indian Territory, while its west- 
 ern edge varies from 1,000 feet at Red River to 3,000 
 on the Rio Grande. 
 
 The "Comanche Series," as this division of the 
 Lower Cretaceous is called by Professor Hill, consists 
 of almost horizontal sheets of rock "of different 
 degrees of hardness, endurance, and chemical composi- 
 tion, as well as different capacities for the imbibition 
 and retention of water." 
 
 The Comanche series varies greatly in thickness, 
 ranging from 500 feet at its northeastern outcrop to 
 3,000 at its southwestern. It is divided into three dis- 
 tinct and well-marked series: (1) the Washita or east- 
 ern and uppermost division; (2) the Middle Chalky, 
 or Comanche Peak division; (3) the Trinity, or basal 
 and western division. Of these the first two are 
 impervious and the last constitutes the " great water- 
 receiving formation of Texas," and is of the greatest 
 importance with reference to the Artesian supply of 
 the State. The above indicated geological divisions of 
 the Grand Prairie region are described in great detail 
 by Professor Hill, and the various topographical forms 
 resulting from the disintegration and erosion of a se- 
 ries of rocks the subdivisions of which differ from one 
 
170 WATER-SUPPLY FROM THE CRETACEOUS. 
 
 another so much in lithological character pointed out 
 and discussed. 1 
 
 In the present volume only some of the more impor- 
 tant facts having reference to the water-supply of the 
 region underlain by these Cretaceous rocks can be 
 given. These " water-features/' as Professor Hill des- 
 ignates this class of phenomena, are said by him to be 
 "of three distinct classes: (1) the Grand Prairie drain- 
 age or river-system ; (2) the Mammoth Springs of San 
 Antonio, San Marcos system; (3) the Waco -Fort 
 Worth and the Dallas-Pottsboro Artesian systems." 
 
 The river systems of the Grand and Black Prairies 
 appear to present such peculiarities as would be ex- 
 pected in a region possessing the topographical and 
 geological characters there displayed, coupled with a 
 considerable but varying amount of rainfall. The 
 valleys of the streams of the Edwards Plateau are said 
 to be among the most beautiful and picturesque fea- 
 tures of our country, and it is thought that a proper 
 use of the waters of these streams "would increase 
 the productivity of the region a thousand fold." The 
 "Edwards Plateau" is that part of the Cretaceous 
 region of Texas which lies north of the Rio Grande 
 embayment, and south of the Central or Fort Worth 
 division of the Grand Prairie, from which it is sep- 
 arated by the Colorado River. It is really the south- 
 eastern continuation of the Llano Estacado, and, like 
 that, lies mostly in the arid region of the State. It 
 is a vast rocky plain of hard limestone covered with a 
 
 1 See not only the Report here under examination, but also various 
 papers by Professor Hill and others in the Reports of the Arkansas and 
 Texas Geological Surveys and in the American Journal of Science for 
 January and February, 1890. 
 
SAN MARCOS -SAN ANTONIO SYSTEM. 
 
 scrubby growth of mesquite, nopal (Opuntia), and "false 
 laurel/' and is said to be "good grazing ground for 
 sheep." In spite of the aridity of its surface, and the 
 small rainfall of the region in general, the Edwards 
 Plateau is considered by Professor Hill as being a 
 " great water reservoir of priceless value to the State 
 of Texas," and it is said that " the time will soon come 
 when it will be considered criminal to permit one drop 
 of its valuable flow to reach the sea wasted." 
 
 The reason for the above extraordinary statement 
 must be sought in the fact that the source of the spring 
 waters which supply the streams running from this 
 plateau is thought to be the " same as that which sup- 
 plies the wonderful Artesian wells and the Mammoth 
 Springs of the San Marcos -San Antonio system/' 
 which are described by Professor Hill in considerable de- 
 tail. Following the boundary of the Grand and Black 
 Prairie regions from Dallas to Del Rio, a distance of 
 400 miles, there is a series of most remarkable springs 
 " which rise out of the ground and flow off as rivers. 
 These springs are often of such magnitude and beauty 
 that it is impossible to convey a proper conception 
 of them. They do not break out from bluffs or fall in 
 cascades, but appear as pools, often in the level prairie, 
 filled with water of a beautiful blue color, which flows 
 silently away by the outlet which drains them." The 
 trend of the line along which these springs are de- 
 veloped coincides almost exactly with that of the great 
 Austin -Del Rio strike fault which also follows the 
 division between the Grand and Black Prairies. It is 
 through the fissures formed along this fault line that 
 the water finds its way to the surface. These springs 
 
172 SPRINGS SAN ANTONIO AND DEL RIO. 
 
 are therefore considered by Professor Hill as being 
 " natural Artesian wells." l 
 
 San Antonio, Del Rio, San Marcos, New Braunfels, 
 and Austin are mentioned as possessing the most con- 
 spicuous of these springs, but there are "magnificent 
 springs " at several other localities. The largest group 
 is at the head of the San Antonio River, near the city 
 of that name. The volume of these springs is said to 
 be nearly 50,000,000 gallons per day, and this outflow 
 forms a lake, from which the river San Antonio flows 
 through the heart of the city, which has 48,000 in- 
 habitants, and is from this source abundantly supplied 
 with water, used not only for ordinary domestic pur- 
 poses, but to a considerable extent for irrigation. 
 The springs at Del Rio are next in importance to those 
 at San Antonio. They break out at the edge of the 
 Edwards Plateau, about two miles from the town and 
 near the Rio Grande. The outflow of the Del Rio 
 springs is not stated with exactness, but it is said to 
 give rise to a " bold rushing stream " which excels the 
 Rio Grande in volume. The outflow of the springs at 
 San Marcos is said to be at least 20,000 gallons per 
 minute. Those of Austin are beautifully situated, and 
 are the favorite resort of the people of that city, being 
 surrounded by "pleasing groves of pecan timber and 
 picturesque rocks." Their outflow equals " many thou- 
 sands of gallons per minute." 
 
 1 This is a misnomer, for just as properly might all springs be called 
 " natural Artesian wells " as these. The essential fact in an Artesian 
 well is that it is artificial. 
 
 2 Around this marvellous group of springs, and upon the banks of its 
 outflow, were located the most ancient Indian settlements, or Pueblos, of 
 Texas. These were six in number, with extensive surrounding farms 
 and gardens. 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS -GRAND AND BLACK PRAIRIES. 173 
 
 An investigation of the waters and their tempera- 
 tures rising along this remarkable line of springs, and 
 comparisons of the facts thus obtained with those re- 
 sulting from the examination of various Artesian wells 
 in that region, prove that these are all of similar ori- 
 gin and nature, and that the source from which their 
 outflow is derived is the Trinity division of the Co- 
 manche sands, which are the foundation of the Grand 
 Prairie, and whose waters are absorbed on an outcrop 
 at a higher altitude along its western edge. 
 
 We next reach the consideration of the Artesian 
 well system of the Grand and Black Prairies, of which 
 an extraordinary development has taken place within 
 the past five years, so that Professor Hill feels justified 
 in saying that in numerous places in that region " mag- 
 nificent flows of water have been secured and what ten 
 years ago was in many places a poorly watered district 
 now abounds in magnificent Artesian wells, which 
 supply water to cities and farms in quantity large 
 enough to make many new industries possible, besides 
 furnishing water to irrigate many thousands of acres." 
 This Artesian area extends from Denton County, near 
 Red River, to Del Rio, on the Rio Grande, a distance 
 of about 448 miles, with an average breadth of forty 
 miles. 1 Over this region the geological features possess 
 great uniformity, but the wells vary greatly in depth 
 and amount of flow. The beginning of this business 
 
 1 These are dimensions of the Artesian area in question as given by 
 Professor Hill, and it is added " that the area over which flowing wells 
 may be obtained is about the size of Minnesota, Nebraska, or North or 
 South Dakota." But the figures here quoted give as the area in question 
 17,920 square miles, while that of Minnesota is 83,365 square .miles, and 
 that of Nebraska 77,510. 
 
174 ARTESIAN WELLS. 
 
 seems to have been at Fort Worth, where, ten or twelve 
 years ago, water was obtained from wells only 300 feet 
 deep, but " not until the past year has Fort Worth 
 discovered that her drills had not yet penetrated the 
 lowest and greatest water-bearing strata." The success 
 of these operations at Fort Worth led to "Artesian 
 experiments " all through the Grand and Black Prairie 
 region. A few wells were failures, but hundreds were 
 successful, " and to-day most of the cities of the State 
 which before this Artesian epoch were without good 
 water are supplied with an abundance. . . . When it 
 is considered that the first water was experimentally 
 reached only twelve years ago, and the greater under- 
 lying sheets only four years ago, the future possibili- 
 ties are beyond estimate." 
 
 The water-bearing formations which furnish the Ar- 
 tesian water of the Black and Grand Prairie region, 
 of the extent of which and of whose presumed possi- 
 bilities, according to the views of Professor Hill, an 
 attempt has been made to give an idea in the preced- 
 ing pages, are as follows, the enumeration being made 
 from above downward : (1) the Lower Cross Timber, 
 or Denison (in part) and Dakota sands ; (2) the Paluxy 
 sands ; (3) portions of the Glen Rose beds ; (4) the 
 Trinity or Upper Cross Timber sands. These all in- 
 cline to the eastward, as already mentioned, and at a 
 slightly greater angle than the topographical slope, and 
 these different water-bearing formations are separated 
 by more or less impermeable or non- water-bearing 
 strata, so that the farther east the borings are made 
 the greater the depth which must be attained in order 
 that any particular water-bearing formation be inter- 
 
BLACK AND GRAND PRAIRIES. 175 
 
 sected in the bore-hole. Thus a drill on the western 
 edge of the Black Prairie would begin in the Lower 
 Cross Timber sands, while on its eastern edge the 
 lowest water beds of the Trinity sands would not be 
 reached until the bore-hole had penetrated to a depth 
 of between 3,500 and 4,000 feet, since it would be 
 necessary to bore through the entire thickness of the 
 Cretaceous. 
 
 The Artesian wells of the Dallas-Pottsboro group of 
 the Black Prairie region all have their origin in the 
 Lower Cross Timber (or Dakota) sands. The wells of 
 Pottsboro, Grayson County, at a depth of 250 feet, fur- 
 nish 25,600 gallons of water per day. At Dallas several 
 wells obtained Artesian water from the Lower Cross 
 Timber sands, at depths varying from 672 to 800 feet. 
 This formation crops out about twenty miles west of 
 that city, and " furnishes, in most instances, an abun- 
 dant supply." The Lower Cross Timber sands are said 
 to have in this vicinity " several veins of water, owing 
 to the fact that they have many clay beds alternating 
 with them." At Denison the same sands are said to be 
 porous and ferruginous, and to have a "great imbib- 
 ing and transmitting capacity." Here a vertical well, 
 twenty-five feet in diameter, has been sunk, and from 
 it horizontal tunnels run, so as to increase the yield 
 of water and at the same time form a reservoir, from 
 which it is pumped and distributed through the city. 
 The total area of the Lower Cross Timber sands in 
 Texas is said to have been determined by accurate 
 survey to be 794 square miles. The rainfall over this 
 area is stated by Professor Hill at thirty-six inches, 
 and it is thought by him that at least one half of this 
 
176 ARTESIAN WELLS FORT WORTH. 
 
 percolates the soil and becomes the source of Artesian 
 water. 1 
 
 Over a considerable part of the Lower Cross Tim- 
 ber area Artesian wells do not exist and are not to be 
 expected from that formation : they can only be ob- 
 tained at points to the eastward of its western outcrop, 
 and at a lower altitude. But "negative or nonflowing " 
 wells, in which the water rises nearly to the surface, 
 can be had throughout the Black Prairie region, and 
 from these the water can be raised by windmills or 
 steam-engines, in quantity sufficient for domestic pur- 
 poses, or even for garden irrigation. But there are 
 other " great sheets < of Artesian water " lying below 
 the Lower Cross Timber sands of the Dallas-Pottsboro 
 area which, when reached by the drill, are expected to 
 furnish a much larger supply than that at present ob- 
 tained, as has been the case at and near Fort Worth. 
 
 At the last-mentioned locality the first successful 
 wells in the Grand Prairie region were drilled, the 
 water from which came from the Paluxy sands. As 
 this formation is of very moderate thickness, and conse- 
 quently having but a limited receiving area, the wells 
 being increased to over a hundred in number, the sup- 
 ply of water soon gave out, and in order to raise it 
 to the surface pumping became necessary. The depth 
 of various wells near Fort Worth obtaining water from 
 the Paluxy sands is usually between 400 and 500 feet. 
 
 1 No experiments seem to have been made anywhere in this or any 
 other part of the United States to determine how much of the rainfall 
 does actually penetrate the soil. The precipitation in the district under 
 consideration in the text is so much larger than that in the arid region 
 of the country in general, that a correspondingly larger percolation is to 
 be expected. (See ante, pp. 105-108.) 
 
ARTESIAN WELLS WACO. 177 
 
 At Waco, also, a flow of water is usually secured at a 
 depth of about 1,100 feet, and this is supposed to come 
 from the Paluxy sands. The importance of the wells 
 from this formation in the Fort Worth - Waco region to 
 the stock-raising industry is said to be " incalculable " ; 
 for irrigation it would appear not to be well adapted, 
 since it is stated that an improper application of it 
 sprinkling the growing plants with water, namely, 
 instead of soaking the soil has created a strong 
 prejudice against it. Professor Hill remarks, however, 
 16 that it would be improvident to stop a well in the 
 Paluxy sands . . . since they are but the beginning of 
 a much more abundant and valuable supply that every- 
 where underlies them." 
 
 Waco on the Brazos River, at an elevation of 431 
 to 500 feet above the sea-level, is the place where the 
 first successful attempt was made to obtain water from 
 the Trinity sands, the geological position of which 
 water-bearing formation has already been indicated. 
 The volume of the flow from this well is nowhere 
 distinctly stated in the Report here under examination ; 
 it is said, however, that " it was so great (estimated at 
 from 500,000 to 1,000,000 gallons per day) that it 
 created great rejoicing and has been the cause of un- 
 told value in the development and improvement of 
 the industrial and hygienic conditions of the city." 
 Further, it is said that " the discovery of this flow im- 
 mediately led to the drilling of other wells, flowing an 
 aggregate of many million gallons per day, and sup- 
 plying water not only for all public and domestic pur- 
 poses, but power for various industries, such as clothing 
 factories, wood-working machinery, and irrigation." 
 
 12 
 
178 ARTESIAN WELLS WACO. 
 
 A statement from the Secretary of the Waco Board 
 of Trade, dated July 7, 1891, is to the effect that 
 there were at that time in and around Waco eleven 
 overflowing wells and two approaching completion. 
 The depth of these wells is given as being from 1,607 
 to 1,896 feet, nine of them being between 1,800 and 
 1,900 feet deep ; the diameter of the bore is in most 
 cases eight inches, and the temperature of the water is 
 from 97 to 103. The flow of these wells seems in no 
 case to have been measured, but the estimate for the 
 most copious one is 1,200,000 gallons per day, and for 
 the least 300,000, while the flow of seven is estimated 
 at 1,000,000 gallons or over. Professor Hill says the 
 water of the Waco wells is " soft and tasteless." In 
 the communication from the Waco Board of Trade it 
 is said the water of the Bell well (one of those of 
 which the statistics are furnished) was analyzed by the 
 " leading chemist of Chicago," and that it was found 
 to contain 53.8201 grains to the gallon of foreign 
 matter, of which 23.9583 grains were "sodium potas- 
 sium sulphates" and 20.6597 grains "sodium carbonate 
 and bicarbonate." Furthermore, it is remarked that 
 "there is no appreciable difference in the taste of the 
 water of any of these wells ; therefore we must as- 
 sume that one analysis governs all." 1 From an exam- 
 ination of the records kept by the borer of one of the 
 Waco Artesian wells (the " Padgett," 1,886 feet deep) 
 Professor Hill concluded that the main flow was really 
 from strata 876 feet below the horizon of the Paluxy 
 
 1 The composition of this water, as stated above, is very remarkable, 
 and it is desirable that the results of this analysis should be confirmed, if 
 possible, by other analyses. 
 
DEEP WELLS FORT WORTH. 179 
 
 sands, and " especially the lowest ninety-eight feet 
 of sands." 
 
 After these results had been attained at Waco 
 which was in 1890, the City Council of Fort Worth 
 determined to " fully test the possibilities of the Arte- 
 sian water-supply for the city waterworks' use." For 
 this purpose a boring was begun "at about the highest 
 point in the city," and water struck at various levels : 
 of these results it is said that " could all of these 
 flows have been put together, then they would have dis- 
 charged fully 500 gallons per minute, or 720,000 per 
 day, and at a point 142 feet above the Trinity River." 
 But the last flow (struck at 1,127 feet below the sur- 
 face) not having sufficient pressure to carry it to a 
 standpipe one hundred feet high, it was cased off, and 
 the boring continued in search of a still stronger flow. 
 At the time Professor Hill's report was handed in this 
 experimental well had reached a depth of nearly 2,800 
 feet, and it was intended to continue the bore to a 
 depth of 3,000, if an increased flow should not be ob- 
 tained before that depth was reached. 
 
 Professor Hill's comments on this enterprise and his 
 sanguine expectations with regard to its probable results 
 may perhaps be best given in his own words : " This 
 remarkable discovery has been farther demonstrated. 
 First, the Texas Brewery, whose location is fifty feet 
 lower than Tucker's Hill, 1 sank their well to the first 
 or top Artesian vein, and obtained a flow of upwards 
 of 240 gallons per minute, with a pressure which car- 
 ries the water to the top of their immense building 
 
 1 It was on this elevation that the City Council's experimental well, 
 mentioned above, was bored. 
 
180 ARTESIAN WELLS FORT WORTH. 
 
 ninety feet above the ground. Encouraged by this 
 success, the packing-house company began a well at 
 their house on the north side at a point 120 feet lower 
 than the top of Tucker's Hill, and it has now been 
 drilled through the first and second Artesian veins, 
 and it is flowing at the rate of over 800,000 gallons 
 in twenty-four hours. They will continue the well to 
 and through the lower Artesian vein, when the flow 
 will (if the Tucker Hill discoveries hold good for the 
 north part of the city) be fully 1,500,000 gallons in 
 twenty-four hours. The packing-house well is undoubt- 
 edly flowing more water in twenty-four hours than any 
 other Artesian well in the State of Texas by at least 
 one third, and when the third Artesian vein is reached 
 it will be the ' Jumbo/ the geyser well of the State. 
 The city experiment has demonstrated that Fort Worth 
 has the Artesian water in quantities sufficient to sup- 
 ply a city of 1,000,000 people should occasion ever re- 
 quire it. Ten wells located down in the valley, above 
 high-water mark, will supply over 10,000,000 gallons 
 of pure Artesian water each twenty-four hours, and 
 the water is pure; there is no mineral of any kind in 
 solution in it ; it is as clear as a diamond, as pure as 
 melted snow} Surely if there is an Artesian city in 
 Texas it is Fort Worth." 
 
 Under the heading " The Limits of the Fort Worth - 
 
 1 The water in regard to which these statements are made is water 
 which had not been obtained at the time this paragraph (Italicized by 
 the present writer) was written, so that no analysis of it could have been 
 made. The water from the same geological position as that from which 
 that of Fort Worth was expected to be obtained held in solution, ac- 
 cording to the analysis of Chicago's " leading chemist," cited on page 
 178, fifty-three grains to the gallon of mineral matter. 
 
EDWARDS PLATEAU. 181 
 
 Waco System " an attempt is made by Professor Hill 
 to fix the position of the line in Texas beyond which 
 the dip of the strata of the principal water-bearing 
 formation of Texas will carry it to such a depth that 
 it will be u beyond practical reach for economic use." 
 From 2,500 to 3,000 feet seems to have been fixed 
 upon as this depth, and this limit, it is said, will be 
 found in the eastern belt of the Black Prairie region, 
 between the great Atlantic Timber belt and the line 
 of outcrop of the Austin-Dallas chalk. The only por- 
 tion of the Grand and Black Prairie regions between 
 the Colorado and the latitude of Denton where water 
 cannot be made to flow is on the tops and slopes of the 
 high mesas (" mountains" in local parlance) which form 
 the high divides of the stream valleys of the western 
 half of the Grand Prairie, and are higher in altitude 
 than the receiving area of the Upper Cross Timbers. 
 
 The Black and Grand Prairie regions south of the 
 Colorado are separated from those to the north of that 
 river, in respect to their Artesian conditions, for two 
 reasons. In the first place, the great fault which ex- 
 tends from north of Austin to beyond Del Rio breaks 
 the continuity of the stratification, and, secondly, this 
 fault is accompanied by a series of protrusions of ba- 
 saltic rock, which appears in more than twenty places 
 along the line of fracture. These conditions render it 
 impossible to " predict the continuity of any area of 
 flowing wells in the region, although the latter are 
 numerous and abundant, while the great Artesian 
 springs here attain their greatest development." 
 
 The mass of the Edwards Plateau is mostly com- 
 posed of the " spongy strata of the Glen Rose and 
 
182 UTILIZATION OF ARTESIAN WATER. 
 
 Trinity beds, capped on the summits of the impervious 
 Caprina limestone." The surface of this plateau is, 
 therefore, dry and poorly adapted for agriculture, and 
 the region has a very scanty population. The sides of 
 this table-land are, however, deeply scored with ravines 
 or " canons," which usually have water and numerous 
 springs, and constitute the agriculturally valuable por- 
 tion of the region ; but this is said to be " not more 
 than one per cent of the vast area for which the springs 
 might be available." It is along the eastern edge of 
 the plateau, where the rainfall is considerable, that 
 these so-called " Artesian springs " are numerous and 
 of considerable volume. They all flow from the Trin- 
 ity sands. On the surface of the Edwards Plateau 
 water is obtained by means of wells which at a depth 
 of from 300 to 500 feet penetrate the Trinity sands. 
 " All experiments thus far have failed to reveal Arte- 
 sian conditions on this Plateau." 
 
 In reference to the utilization of the Artesian waters 
 of the Black and Grand Prairies, in general, it is said 
 that the discovery of this source of supply has had an 
 incalculable influence upon the material prosperity of 
 an extensive region, to which it has given " new life." 
 Not only are these waters remarkable for their purity, 
 but some of them possess " superior medicinal virtues, 
 resembling the celebrated Spas of Germany, which are 
 found in somewhat similar rocks. . . . The hygienic 
 aspect of these waters, both the pure and the medi- 
 cinal, will also prove of great value to the live-stock 
 interests." In reference to the utilization of these 
 waters for irrigation Professor Hill remarks as follows : 
 " It is not my intention to convey the idea that the 
 
RED BEDS REGION. 183 
 
 Black Prairie region is subject to drought; for crops 
 of corn and cotton are often rich and abundant, but all 
 admit that it has seasons of rain and drought, and that, 
 if rich now, it could be made immensely richer by irri- 
 gation, and all the fruits and vegetables now imported 
 from the irrigated lands of Utah and California could 
 be produced at home." As no analyses or detailed 
 statements of any kind are given with reference to the 
 amount and character of the saline substances which 
 these waters some of which are confessedly " medi- 
 cinal " contain, it is difficult to form any idea of how 
 extensively, or for how long a period, they are likely 
 to be used for irrigation. Professor Hill's sanguine 
 expectations of their future value for this purpose are, 
 however, expressed in the following glowing terms : 
 " Every drop of water from these springs and wells 
 can be utilized for irrigation, and when the people of 
 the region appreciate the fact that each gallon of water 
 has a specific value in agriculture, as has a pound of 
 coal in industrial enterprise, not one drop of this water 
 will be allowed to escape unutilized, and the agri- 
 cultural wealth will be enormously increased." 
 
 That part of Texas which is occupied by Carbonif- 
 erous and older Palaeozoic rocks lies to the east of the 
 " Red Beds region," and it is said to have a " structure 
 unfavorable for any large flow of water." In Burnet 
 County " one or two small flows have been secured out 
 of hundreds of borings made with the diamond drill by 
 mineral prospectors." 
 
 The so-called " Red Beds region " is, both from 
 a topographical and geological point of view, one of 
 the most interesting parts of the Southwestern United 
 
184 RED BEDS REGION. 
 
 States, since the formation thus designated occupies fully 
 100,000 square miles of area in Oklahoma, Texas, and 
 New Mexico. In Texas the Red Beds lie between the 
 Carboniferous region and the Llano Estacado, beginning 
 near San Angelo, and widening rapidly toward the 
 north. The name by which this part of the State is 
 known is derived from the fact that the " surface of 
 the whole country underlain by these rocks is of con- 
 spicuous red colors, glaring vermilion, or deep-brown 
 chocolate sometimes prevailing, varied only here and 
 there by a bed of snow-white gypsum." It is in the 
 Indian Territory that this peculiar formation is devel- 
 oped in its greatest width, occupying there and in 
 Northwestern Texas a district 350 miles long from 
 north to south, and with an average width of 150 
 miles, all an unbroken prairie, with the exception of 
 " small areas occupied by the Wichita Mountains, and 
 a few remnant buttes of the Grand Prairie and Llano 
 Estacado formations which have been preserved to re- 
 mind us of the vast erosion the region has undergone." 
 The geological age of the Red Beds ranges from the 
 Permian to the base of the Comanche series, thus rep- 
 resenting or occupying the place in the geological 
 series of the Permian and Triassic, and probably of 
 the Jurassic. While thus comprehensive in their geo- 
 logical range, the Red Beds have everywhere the same 
 remarkable characteristics of color and consolidation, 
 and, according to Professor Hill, " are probably a single 
 unbroken formation, representing the sediments of an 
 ancient inland sea, which extended from the ninety- 
 eighth meridian westward to the Sierras and from the 
 Northern United States nearly to Mexico." 
 
THE LLANO ESTACADO. 185 
 
 Although that part of the country occupied by the 
 Red Beds is one of very scanty precipitation, yet " sud- 
 den and excessive rainfalls " do occur there during the 
 summer months, at which times the streams which rise 
 in or flow through this region "are all characterized 
 by their phenomenal vermilion colored freshets known 
 as ' red rises.' ' These rivers have no permanent sup- 
 ply of water from the Red Beds themselves, but all 
 are fed from the underground drainage of the Llano 
 Estacado or from the adjacent mountains. This whole 
 region presents very unfavorable conditions for water- 
 supply, springs being few in number and wells " deep 
 and scant," except along the less arid eastern border of 
 the formation. Neither are there any known Artesian 
 wells in the Red Bed area. It is thought, however, 
 that water may be obtained from wells dug in certain 
 lower areas, and an instance is cited of one twenty- 
 five miles west of Eddy, on the Pecos, in New Mexico, 
 from which 3,000 cattle are daily watered by a pump 
 operated by horse-power. From the peculiar saline and 
 gypsiferous character of the formation in question, it is 
 to be expected that water, however obtained, will be 
 very impure ; and, as Professor Hill states, " all deep 
 wells in the Red Beds strike salt." 
 
 The water conditions of the Llano Estacado are, in 
 the Report under consideration, next discussed. 1 This 
 
 1 Professor Hill remarks that " the name Staked Plains should be 
 dropped from geographic nomenclature as the name for the great mesa 
 to which it is applied." This remark is based on an entire misunder- 
 standing of the meaning of the Spanish term Llano Estacado on the 
 part of that author, who says that " a glance at the Spanish dictionary 
 will show that it will be impossible to translate the word ' estacado ' to 
 mean a stake, but upon the contrary it means exactly the opposite, a pal- 
 isade or wall, which is a most appropriate term for the Llano Estacado, 
 
186 THE LLANO ESTACADO. 
 
 region is said by Professor Hill to be the " greatest 
 continuous and least studied plateau of our country." 
 It embraces an area of at least 50,000 square miles, 
 and is practically so smooth " as to resemble the level 
 of the ocean at a dead calm, and unbroken by trees or 
 bushes or deep drained channels, and carpeted with a 
 rich growth of gramma grass." 
 
 The Llano Estacado, once so remote and difficult of 
 access, can now be easily reached by means of the 
 Texas Pacific Railroad, which intersects it, crossing 
 the Pecos River at the town of that name. The Den- 
 inasmuch as it alludes to the sharp declivity or face of the escarpment 
 which in many places marks the edge of these plains. " " Estaca " is the 
 Spanish for " stake," and " estacado " is a participle, meaning " staked," 
 while " estacada " is a " stockade," of which term the meaning is nearly 
 the same as "palisade" ("palissade" in French). This last term is 
 used in the plural in the United States, especially ou the Hudson, and 
 also in Nevada, as a topographical designation, with the meaning of a 
 line of precipitous cliffs; but the present writer has not been able to 
 obtain any evidence that the Spanish " estacada " or the French " palis- 
 sade " has ever been used in this way. " Estocade " in French means a 
 thrust with the point of a sword, and there is no use of this word in the 
 language analogous to our " stockade," which is the exact equivalent of 
 the Spanish "estacada." General Marcy, in his "Exploration of the 
 Red River," says : " I was told in New Mexico that, many years since, the 
 Mexicans marked out a route with stakes across this plain, where they 
 found water; and hence the name by which it is known through- 
 out Mexico of 'El Llano Estacado,' or the * Staked Plain.'" General 
 Marcy's graphic description of the Llano Estacado may here with pro- 
 priety be quoted. He says : " The approximate elevation of this plain 
 above the sea, as determined with the barometer, is 2,450 feet. It is 
 much elevated above the surrounding country, very smooth and level, 
 and spreads out in every direction as far as the eye can penetrate, with- 
 out a tree, shrub, or any other herbage to intercept the vision. The 
 traveller, in passing over it, sees nothing but one dreary and monotonous 
 waste of barren solitude. It is an ocean of desert prairie, where the 
 voice of man is seldom heard, and where no living being permanently 
 resides. The almost total absence of water causes all animals to shun 
 it : even the Indians do not venture to cross it, except at two or three 
 points, where they find a few small ponds of water." 
 
GEOLOGY OF THE LLANO. 187 
 
 ver, Texas, and Fort Worth Railroad, also passes over a 
 small arm of this great plain, crossing the Canadian 
 River at Tascosa, and from there finding its way in a 
 northwesterly direction to an intersection with the 
 Atchison system at Trinidad, in Colorado. The Llano 
 Estacado is bounded on the north by the Canadian 
 River and on the west by the Pecos, both of which 
 streams run in valleys sunk nearly a thousand feet 
 below the level of its surface. Down its eastern edge 
 flow in deep canons, with almost vertical walls, various 
 streams which are the head-waters of the Red, Brazos, 
 and Colorado Rivers. The canons at the head of the 
 Red River, at the northeast corner of the Llano, are 
 said by Professor Hill " to be excelled in beauty by 
 only those of the Grand Canon of the Colorado, which 
 they much resemble in color and stratigraphy." Neither 
 the Canadian nor the Pecos receives any surface drain- 
 age from the Llano Estacado. 
 
 The surface of the Llano is said by Professor Hill 
 to be composed of unconsolidated porous sediments 
 water-worn sand, pebbly gravel, and the like which 
 average 200 feet in thickness throughout its whole 
 extent, but which are thinnest toward the east. These 
 sediments are thought by some to have been the de- 
 posit of a vast lake which occupied this region in late 
 Tertiary times, but Professor Hill inclines to consider 
 them as being marginal deposits of the Gulf of Mexico. 
 This surface formation is believed once to have covered 
 the whole of the Edwards Plateau, from which it has, 
 however, been removed by erosion. 1 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 146, 147, for a description of these surface deposits, 
 which are there shown to be widely spread over the region of the Plains. 
 
188 WATER-SUPPLY OF THE LLANO. 
 
 These superficial deposits rest on a quite different 
 series of rocks, which are of importance with refer- 
 ence to the' question of water-supply. The rainfall 
 in the Llano Estacado is estimated by Professor Hill 
 at from twenty to twenty-five inches, and, as is the 
 case over a large part of the semi-arid region, it 
 almost all takes place during the summer months. 1 In 
 spite of the somewhat large precipitation on the Llano 
 there is no surface water to be found on it, unless it be 
 in the form of small pools immediately after a heavy 
 shower. The porosity of the surface deposits is con- 
 sidered by Professor Hill as the principal cause of the 
 absence of water on the surface of this vast plain; 
 but, in point of fact, the rapid evaporation which takes 
 place under the climatic conditions there prevailing is 
 a still more important agent in producing the phenom- 
 enon in question. 2 
 
 According to the statements of Professor Hill and 
 
 1 The statistics of rainfall on and near the Llano Estacado are by no 
 means sufficient to justify any precise statement as to its amount. 
 
 2 See ante, pp. 105-108. As already stated in the present volume, the 
 amount of rainfall which actually percolates the surface detritus in the 
 semi-arid and arid regions of the United States seems everywhere to be 
 overstated by the engineers and geologists engaged in the irrigation 
 surveys : this is the conclusion reached by the present writer after a 
 study of the results of experiments made in other countries, such data 
 being for the United States entirely wanting. The following statements 
 in reference to the rainfall on the Llano Estacado are extracted from 
 Mr. Roessler's Report (Ex. Doc. No. 222, 51st Congress, 1st Session, 
 p. 291) on the Artesian Wells of Texas : " The rainfall of the Staked 
 Plain varies between eighteen and thirty inches, falling mainly between 
 the 21st of April and the 15th of September, apparently at the right 
 time to perfectly. mature crops. But this is not the case, as the rain 
 comes in tremendous showers at comparatively long intervals and with- 
 out regularity. Some locality will receive fine local showers at short 
 intervals, while some other point not thirty miles distant will alternately 
 have a deluge or a drought." 
 
ARTESIAN WATEE ON THE LLANO. 189 
 
 Mr. Roessler, water can be obtained over any part of the 
 Llano Estacado by means of wells, from which it can 
 be pumped with the aid of wind-mills, and this has 
 been done in many localities and pasturage obtained 
 for thousands of cattle. This water, as Professor Hill 
 asserts, " is stored in the mortar beds and grits of the 
 Llano Estacado, and is the most remarkable sheet of 
 water in our land." This statement is said to be true 
 for the northern and northwestern part of the Llano, 
 where the " Llano formation " rests directly on the im- 
 pervious "Red Beds," but farther south and southeast 
 the well water and springs come from the Trinity 
 sands, which are intercalated between these two forma- 
 tions. 
 
 While Artesian water has not yet been obtained on 
 the Llano Estacado, Professor Hill is not without hopes 
 that over some portions of its surface flowing wells 
 may be secured. In regard to this point he remarks 
 as follows : " Without committing myself to prophecy, 
 it is my opinion that when the portion of the Llano 
 along the Texas -New Mexican line is thoroughly 
 prospected, somewhere in that region will be found an 
 abundant Artesian supply from the underlying Dakota 
 and Trinity sands which outcrop so abundantly at a 
 higher altitude in the northwest escarpment." 
 
 The published statements in regard to the quality of 
 the water obtained from the wells of the Llano Esta- 
 cado, or from those of the adjacent region, are extremely 
 imperfect and unsatisfactory. 
 
 Professor Hill, in the report here under considera- 
 tion, passes next to a description of the water condi- 
 tions of the " Trans-Pecos or Basin regions." That 
 
190 THE GREAT BASIN. 
 
 part of Texas and New Mexico which lies west of the 
 Pecos River is topographically and climatologically a 
 portion of the Basin region of the United States, 
 and is continued to the south in the Mexican High 
 Plateau or Table Land. The " Great Basin/' as this 
 term is generally used, comprises an area of about a 
 quarter of a million of square miles, no portion of 
 which has a drainage to the sea. As thus limited, the 
 Basin has as its northern boundary the watershed of 
 Snake River ; as its eastern, that of Green River ; as 
 its southern, that of the Colorado ; and as its western, 
 the crest of the Sierra Nevada. From no part of this 
 region does any river find its way to the sea, nor is 
 it traversed by any stream while doing this, even if 
 receiving no tributaries from the region through which 
 it runs. The Great Basin is an elevated plateau, trav- 
 ersed by numerous ranges of mountains, which have 
 a general north and south trend, and many of which 
 are considerably elevated above the intervening val- 
 leys, each of which is, as a general rule, by itself an 
 independent basin, having no drainage or water con- 
 nection with any adjacent valley. The chief exceptions 
 to this condition of things are the basins of Great 
 Salt Lake and of the Humboldt River, of which the 
 former receives the drainage of quite an extensive area, 
 while the latter terminates in a lake or sink, into which 
 flow, after a succession of unusually rainy winters, va- 
 rious streams originating on the eastern slope of the 
 Sierra Nevada and generally sinking before reaching 
 Humboldt Lake. 1 The bottoms of the. valleys between 
 
 1 The Humboldt River flows near the extreme northern edge of the 
 Great Basin, in a break or depression extending along the southern edge 
 
THE GREAT BASIX. 191 
 
 the numerous ranges of the Great Basin are usually 
 themselves sinks, the lower portion of which are occu- 
 pied by bodies of water which vary in size according 
 as the preceding winter has been more or less dry, 
 and of which many are hardly anything more than 
 saline incrustations resting on a muddy bottom. 1 
 
 Since the chief cause of the basin character of the 
 area of which the outlines have thus been indicated is 
 the small amount of the rainfall, it is evident that 
 the adjacent areas which are similarly conditioned with 
 regard to precipitation, but which are traversed by 
 rivers heading in regions receiving a comparatively 
 large rainfall, must partake to a certain extent of the 
 characters of the Great Basin itself. Thus the country 
 lying north of the Colorado, below the junction of the 
 Green and the Grand, furnishes hardly any tributaries 
 to that river, so that the southern boundary of the 
 Basin must be drawn close to its right bank. The 
 Colorado River, therefore, derives its water from the 
 Rocky Mountains, its numerous affluents draining an 
 extensive area of quite large precipitation on the west- 
 ern slope of that system of ranges, and thus collecting 
 water sufficient to enable the main river, after their 
 junction, to maintain itself as a powerful stream, al- 
 
 of the great northern volcanic plateau. It intersects the valleys of the 
 Basin Ranges at right angles to their trend, and as the whole region rises 
 in altitude toward the south, the Humboldt Valley is the natural recipient 
 of the drainage of a very extensive area, the climatic conditions of which, 
 however, are such as to cause the volume of this drainage to be very small, 
 and extremely variable in amount. Carson Lake, the sink of the Carson 
 River, is sometimes so united with the sink of the Humboldt that the 
 two become in fact one continuous sheet of water. 
 
 i See "The United States," etc., pp. 82-89, in which the physical 
 geography and geology of the Great Basin are briefly described. 
 
192 OROGRAPHY OF THE GREAT BASIN. 
 
 though receiving no tributary of importance in a 
 course of more than a thousand miles. 
 
 In the Great Basin proper, the ranges of mountains 
 are so high and the valleys between them so narrow 
 that the latter are the less conspicuous topographical 
 features of the region; but as we leave this area which 
 is strictly destitute of any drainage to the sea, and 
 especially in advancing in a southerly and southwest- 
 erly direction, we come to a part of the country where 
 the valleys broaden out and become relatively more 
 important than the mountain ranges, these diminish- 
 ing considerably in breadth and elevation, as well as 
 in regularity of development. This is especially the 
 Case with the region which lies south and west of the 
 great mass of the Rocky Mountains which extend 
 through Colorado with such a breadth and with so 
 much regularity of trend, but which is with difficulty 
 traceable beyond Santa Fe, so that some have con- 
 sidered the eastern division of the Cordilleras as ter- 
 minating at that point, the real condition of things 
 being that this great system of ranges continues indef- 
 initely to the southward into Mexico, while the indi- 
 vidual masses of which it is made up become more and 
 more broken and irregular, so that their connection is 
 much less easily traced, especially as this want of con- 
 tinuity or absence of a dominating range is accom- 
 panied by a falling off in height, isolated volcanic 
 masses more or less conical in outline beginning to 
 form the highest summits. 1 
 
 In New Mexico and Western Texas, as well as in 
 
 1 The name " Rocky Mountains " is not in general use for any part of 
 the Cordilleran system farther south than Santa Fe. 
 
MESAS AND BASIN PLAINS. 193 
 
 Southern Arizona, there is an immense development of 
 this type of topography : the valleys become u mesas " 
 or " basin-plains/' and occupy extensive areas behind 
 which the mountains seem almost to lose themselves. 
 These wider and more table-like plains, however, differ 
 but little from the valleys of the Great Basin itself, 
 so far as climate is concerned ; if there is any differ- 
 ence, it is that the former are still drier and hotter 
 than the latter. The narrower the valley and the 
 higher the mountains, the greater the chances of ob- 
 taining water from melting snow or from underground 
 sources fed by precipitation, which is naturally greatest 
 where the ranges are broadest and most elevated. 
 
 The region which lies south and southwest of El 
 Paso, and which belongs to Northwestern Texas, South- 
 ern New Mexico, and Southern Arizona, is precisely 
 that part of the United States of which the topog- 
 raphy has been least studied, and where the names 
 of the various mountain ranges are most uncertain. 
 Professor Hill gives various details in regard to the 
 geological structure of what he considers one of " the 
 most extensive and characteristic of these great inner 
 mountain basins/' namely, the " Organ-Hueco Basin," 
 as he calls it, and which lies between the Organ- 
 Franklin and Hueco-Sacramento ranges, in extreme 
 Western Texas and Southern New Mexico. This, he 
 says, is a " vast expanse of dead level plain, extending 
 from the Rio Grande, between El Paso and Fort Han- 
 cock, northward some 150 miles." It is ninety miles 
 in width at its sputhern end, and narrows to less than 
 forty at its northern, having a slope to the south suffi- 
 cient to make a difference of 1,000 feet in the altitudes 
 
 13 
 
194 THE ORGAN-HUECO BASIN. 
 
 of its southern and northern ends. The soil of this 
 " mesa," which is entirely unfurrowed by any drainage 
 channel other than that of the Rio Grande itself, is a 
 sandy loam, " resembling that of the Llano Estacado, 
 and is the residuum of the substructure of stratified, 
 alternating, or unconsolidated sands (grits), clays, and 
 water-worn gravel, often cemented by the white chalky- 
 looking material known in the region as tierra blanca, 
 or white earth." These beds, like those of the Llano 
 Estacado, are said to be " chiefly marked by excessive 
 lack of consolidation, the sands, clays, and gravels be- 
 ing almost as loose as when first deposited." As in 
 all the other valleys and basins of the region, this area 
 is surrounded by numerous terraces proofs of the 
 former existence of a lake of large dimensions, but 
 which has now become entirely dried up. The streams 
 which flow down the slopes of the mountains by which 
 this basin is irregularly surrounded all sink the moment 
 they reach the porous materials which cover its floor ; 
 for, as Professor Hill observes, " they do not evaporate, 
 as has been alleged, nor do they sink into caverns, as 
 most people think, but they are imbibed, literally drunk 
 up, by the soft sponge-like formation of the plain, and 
 are stored below the line of saturation. The shedding 
 of its rain waters by the impervious mountain rock 
 and its imbibition by the spongy plains, is the key 
 to the whole water question in the arid region." 
 
 West of the Organ-Franklin range is another ex- 
 tensive basin, called the Mesilla, through which runs 
 the Rio Grande, on which are the towns of Mesilla 
 and Las Cruces, "two of the most flourishing places 
 in New Mexico," agriculture being carried on by irriga- 
 
WATER ON THE MESAS. 195 
 
 tion from the river. The lake which once occupied the 
 Mesilla was continuous with that of the Hueco-Frank- 
 lin basin. The Jornada del Muerto is another of these 
 mesas, extending parallel with the Rio Grande, but 
 separated from it by a series of low ranges, and 
 bounded on the east by the northern continuation of 
 the Sierra de los Organos or Organ Range. 
 
 All these and many other similar basins appear to 
 have nearly the same geological and climatic char- 
 acteristics, and all, in the opinion of Professor Hill, are 
 supplied with a great amount of underground water. 
 The evidence on which this statement is based seems 
 to be of a very unsatisfactory character. Thus it is 
 stated that "Wherever upon this apparently sterile 
 plain [the Franklin-Hueco basin] an experiment has 
 been made, abundant water has been secured at depths 
 below 232 feet, and windmills pump it for irrigation." 
 Records of seven wells on the Lanoria Mesa, 1 fur- 
 nished by B. D. Russell of El Paso, give the depth at 
 which water has been obtained at that locality as 
 varying from 210 to 621 feet, nothing being said as to 
 its quantity or quality, but to this record is appended 
 the statement by Professor Hill that " the success of 
 these wells, together with their inexhaustible supply 
 of water, demonstrates the fact that the capacity of 
 the Franklin-Hueco basin formation for water is very 
 great, notwithstanding the slight rainfall and excessive 
 evaporation which has driven the line of visible moist- 
 
 i The position of the "Lanoria Mesa" is not given by Professor 
 Hill, but as he uses the records furnished by Mr. Russell to justify 
 the statement that there is a great amount of underground water in the 
 Franklin-Hueco basin, it is to be presumed that it forms a part of that 
 mesa. 
 
196 WELLS AT PECOS CITY. 
 
 ure nearly 150 feet below the surface." To this is 
 added the remark, that, "relatively speaking, this 
 basin is one of the great water-bearing areas of the 
 West, where, if irrigation can be properly conducted by 
 pumping, an agricultural community will eventually 
 thrive. Already several large fruit farms are being 
 irrigated in this basin, and if they prove profitable 
 there is no reason to suppose but that much of this 
 country, apparently a hopeless desert, will be made into 
 a fertile region." 
 
 The Mesilla Basin, the Jornada del Muerto, part of 
 the Pecos Valley, and various other " basins " of this 
 region, are all considered by Professor Hill as being 
 essentially alike in their water conditions, although but 
 little definite information in regard to this matter is 
 reported. Of the flowing wells at Pecos City, on the 
 authority of Mr. Roessler, it is stated that their depth 
 varies from 185 to 315 feet, that their flow is from 
 " very light " to sixty gallons per minute, and that the 
 water in all of these wells is slightly brackish, " some 
 being better than others." On the same authority it 
 is said of two wells at Toyah, 514 and 834 feet deep, 
 that the shallower one yielded nine gallons per minute, 
 and the deeper 310, the water from both being " white 
 sulphur with a salty taste." It is added that "the 
 wells of this subdistrict are as a rule very deep and 
 the water in many of them is practically unfit for 
 use." 1 In regard to Deming, the point of junction of 
 the Atchison, the Southern Pacific, and the Silver City 
 and Pacific Railroads, and near the eastern border of 
 
 i For information from another source in regard to the water condi- 
 tions in the Pecos Valley, see ante, pp. 136-138. 
 
THE JORNADA DEL MUERTO. 197 
 
 Mimbres Basin, it is said that water can be obtained 
 in inexhaustible quantity at about fifty feet in depth, 
 the whole plain being covered with cattle ranches and 
 windmills. 1 
 
 In summing up in regard to the water conditions of 
 these basins in general, Professor Hill remarks as fol- 
 lows : "These vast inter-mountain plains, or basins, 
 or ancient lake valleys, have, until lately, been abso- 
 lutely void of surface water, and so synonymous with 
 sterility that they have been considered often the syn- 
 onym of death, like Death's Valley in California, or 
 the Jornado del Muerto of New Mexico. 2 That they 
 should now be found to be underlain by an abundance 
 of fresh water is a fact which is of the greatest value 
 in the economic conditions of the arid region, where 
 water is worth more than land, and where a drop to 
 even quench the traveller's thirst is usually unobtain- 
 able, except in rare localities. The far greater extent 
 of these basins than the mountains over New Mexico, 
 Texas, and Mexico, seems to have been overlooked or 
 considered unimportant by national surveys as well as 
 its underground water conditions." 
 
 1 This statement is made on the authority of Mr. Warren Bristol. 
 See " Report of Special Committee," etc., Senate Document, Report 928, 
 Part 4, 51st Congress, 1st Session, pp. 64, 65. Mr. Bristol declares that 
 as soon as forestry is systematically cultivated here [in the Mimbres 
 Basin], and trees are planted so as to break the prevailing winds, it will 
 be a wonderful country with water for productiveness." 
 
 2 " Death Valley " was so named because a party of immigrants on 
 their way to California, in 1849, perished there from want of water. 
 " Jornada [not Jornado] del Muerto " (day's journey of the dead man) 
 is a term not unfrequently given by the early Spanish settlers in the 
 Cordilleran region, and having reference to the fact that a long day's 
 march must be made without water, and of course not without diffi- 
 culty and danger. 
 
198 GEOLOGY OF NEBRASKA. 
 
 That similar sanguine expectations in regard to the 
 future of the basin region of the Cordilleras are held 
 by others, as well as by Professor Hill, will become 
 evident on reading a statement made by a citizen of 
 the driest part of the State of Nevada, who not only 
 asserts that the water-supply of that region is "im- 
 mense," but that the climate is undergoing a rapid 
 change for the better : " In relation to the water sup- 
 ply beneath the surface, I believe it to be simply im- 
 mense. Flowing w r ells can be found by boring a 
 short distance in many of our valleys. . . . Nature is 
 evidently preparing this section of country for great 
 things in the near future. . . . Our great alkali flats, 
 or dry lakes, are also being filled up to a level with the 
 surrounding plains, and many of them are also being 
 gradually covered with vegetation. . . . Cloud bursts 
 and high winds are becoming less frequent, and many 
 other things are looking favorable for a brighter 
 future." 1 
 
 The report of Professor Hicks, of which the title 
 has been given on a preceding page, 2 begins with some 
 general remarks on the geological structure of the 
 State of Nebraska, and the relations of this structure 
 to the problem of water-supply, as introductory to a 
 somewhat detailed account of the results of a survey 
 of the Loup Valley. Certain points in this report, 
 which are worthy of notice as throwing light on some 
 of the questions already raised in the present volume 
 having reference to the climatic and irrigational con- 
 
 1 From an article headed " Phreatic Waters in Nye County, Nevada, 
 by George Nichols, Agent of the Nevada State Board of Trade," in 
 Hinton's Report on Irrigation, Part I., 1891, pp. 210, 211. 
 
 2 See ante, p. 145. 
 
TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS. 199 
 
 ditions of this part of the country, may next be taken 
 up for examination. 1 
 
 Two formations are said by Professor Hicks to 
 " dominate the circulation of moisture, both on the 
 surface and beneath it ; these are the Cretaceous and 
 the Tertiary, which lie in the form of a synclinal 
 basin, the western rim of which is 3,000 feet higher 
 than the eastern." These formations rest on rocks of 
 Permo-Carboniferous age, but practically, with refer- 
 ence to the question of water-supply, this formation 
 is of no importance, since the upper member of the 
 Cretaceous is a shale " almost perfectly impervious or 
 water tight." Above this shale is a series of porous 
 Tertiary rocks " grits, conglomerates, gravels, sands, 
 vesicular limestones, and marls" which fill this syn- 
 clinal basin, forming the surface of the country, and 
 having a general slope to the east of about ten feet 
 to the mile. The formation designated by Professor 
 Hicks as " Tertiary " in reality includes the Post-Ter- 
 tiary or Quaternary deposits, or that which might 
 properly be designated as " superficial detritus," since, 
 as already remarked, the Tertiary and Quaternary can- 
 not in this region be distinctly separated from each 
 other. 2 Since the rainfall of a large part of Nebraska 
 is considerable in amount, that of the eastern half of 
 the State being between twenty and thirty inches, 3 it 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 117-122 and 138-141. 
 
 2 See ante, p. 119. 
 
 8 On a map showing the " normal annual precipitation " in Nebraska, 
 which is contained in a government publication bearing the date of 1890, 
 (Executive Document No. 115, 51st Congress, 1st Session,) and entitled 
 " Climate of Nebraska, particularly in Reference to the Temperature and 
 Rainfall," the isohyetal of twenty inches runs from near the intersection 
 of the 101st meridian with the south boundary of the State, in a nearly 
 
200 RIVERS OF NEBRASKA. 
 
 is evident that under the geological conditions here 
 existing, the Tertiary and superficial deposits being as 
 a rule all porous, springs should be common at the 
 junction of the overlying permeable with the under- 
 lying impermeable formation. These springs add to 
 the volume of the rivers, " which sometimes become 
 larger as followed downward, independently of the in- 
 flux of tributaries." This is a matter of common 
 occurrence in all well watered regions, and the greater 
 the thickness of the superficial unconsolidated (and 
 hence permeable) deposits, the more regular will be the 
 flow of the streams and the less rapidly will they be 
 affected by sudden changes in the amount of the pre- 
 cipitation. But, as Professor Hicks remarks, " in other 
 parts of the Great Plains, however, not infrequently the 
 result is precisely opposite ; that is, the volume of the 
 stream will be less at the lower point." This also is 
 in regions of small rainfall a matter of common oc- 
 currence, many streams disappearing altogether during 
 a part of the year or sometimes even for several 
 hours of the day at certain seasons of the year and 
 for considerable distances. 
 
 Professor Hicks considers that the rivers of Nebraska 
 are now flowing in valleys " which were cut by older 
 rivers, generally with a depth and breadth far greater 
 than the present valley." These old valleys, he goes 
 on to remark, "were silted up during the Pliocene 
 submergence, which was the latest phase of the Ter- 
 
 northerly direction, but bending slightly to the eastward so as to cut 
 the north boundary at its intersection with the 99th meridian. A part 
 of the southeastern corner of Nebraska is comprised between the isohy- 
 etals of twenty-eight and thirty-four inches, and a small portion of its 
 southwestern corner has less than sixteen inches of rainfall. 
 
RIVERS AND VALLEYS OF NEBRASKA. 201 
 
 tiary age." This submergence he considers as having 
 been the result of the formation of a "great inland 
 lake," the disappearance of which was a very recent 
 event "so recent that the present rivers have nob 
 had time to restore their valleys to the former depth 
 by washing out the sands, clays, and gravels deposited 
 there." This accumulation of silt, or detrital material, 
 will, he thinks, if sufficient time be given, be mastered 
 by the rivers, which " will push or roll it along the 
 bottom to a new resting place nearer the sea " ; for, as 
 he adds, " it requires a very strong volume of water 
 to maintain a perennial current in such a silt-gorged 
 valley. Even the regal strength of the North Platte is 
 insufficient for these arduous conditions. Coming out 
 of the mountains with a flow of over 10,000 cubic feet 
 per second, it is often swallowed up in its own sands 
 between North Platte and Columbus. The same thing 
 happens to the Republican River in certain parts of 
 its course. Many of the small streams entirely dis- 
 appear after a course of a few miles, never reap- 
 pearing." 
 
 The theories held by Professor Hicks in regard -to 
 the nature and epoch of the formation of the older 
 deep and broad valleys in which the present diminished 
 streams are running, and of the ability of these 
 streams to carve out new valleys similar to those of a 
 former age, if sufficient time be allowed, have no scien- 
 tific basis on which to rest. The present streams do 
 flow in valleys quite out of proportion, as regards 
 dimensions, with the streams themselves. In other 
 words, the volume of the rivers has diminished, while 
 there is no proof that this change has been compen- 
 
202 DIMINUTION OF THE RIVERS. 
 
 sated, to any perceptible degree, by a change of grade 
 in the region which they traverse. But this has 
 nothing to do with the disappearance of any "great 
 inland lake" formerly existing there as a feature of 
 the Pliocene epoch. The diminution, or even entire 
 disappearance, of many lakes, both large and small, 
 and the general decrease in the volume of the rivers, 
 are phenomena not limited to any special region or 
 to any geological period, except that it may be said 
 with truth, that if such events had been taking place 
 during any period of indefinite length, and had also 
 been continued during the present epoch, their effects 
 would be more and more distinctly perceived in pro- 
 portion as a nearer approach was made to our own 
 times. Observations extended over a large part of the 
 earth's surface demonstrate, beyond all possibility of 
 doubt, that this phenomenon of the diminution of lakes 
 and rivers is not peculiar to Nebraska, nor to the Cor- 
 dilleran region in general, but that it has manifested 
 itself all over the world, and that it had its beginning, 
 not in Pliocene times, but earlier than that how 
 much earlier it is impossible to say and that it is 
 something which is still going on, or, in other words, 
 that it belongs to the present or historic epoch as well 
 as to the past, or to times of which there is no other 
 record than the geological. 1 It is the small precipita- 
 tion in the region drained by the rivers of Nebraska, 
 the very slight grade of the surface over which these 
 rivers run, and, finally, the fact that there has been, 
 in later geological times, a general diminution in the 
 
 1 See the present writer's "Climatic Changes of Later Geological 
 Times," Chapter II. ; also ante, pp. 133, 134. 
 
THE UNDERFLOW. 203 
 
 amount of the rainfall in this as well as in other 
 regions, which are the real causes of the condition of 
 things which Professor Hicks describes : this will re- 
 main unaltered unless some orographic disturbance 
 should take place by which the grade of the surface 
 should be disturbed, or unless there be some change in 
 the climatic conditions, accompanied by an increase or 
 diminution in the amount of the rainfall, of which 
 last two suggested events the latter is, so far as 
 present evidence goes, the one most likely to happen, 
 although any such climatic change cannot be expected 
 to be rapid, or easily detected by instrumental obser- 
 vations. 
 
 Professor Hicks next proceeds to consider the subject 
 of the " underflow," in regard to which so much has 
 been said by other officials of the Irrigation Surveys, 
 and which has already more than once been the sub- 
 ject of comment in the present work. The following 
 quotation will illustrate the opinion held by the author 
 of the report here under consideration with regard to 
 the nature of the underflow : " The streams thus be- 
 coming entangled in the silt of their own valleys are 
 indeed lost to view, but they are not really lost, they go 
 to feed the underflow. No physical feature of the Great 
 Plains is more impressive, when once fully realized, 
 than the fact that a mighty invisible river accompanies 
 each visible one. The underflow is vastly broader and 
 deeper than the visible river, and it is always there, 
 while the river in sight may cease to flow. The only 
 point in which the river excels is velocity." In regard 
 to the question what this velocity is, no definite ev- 
 idence is offered, but it is stated that, in some places 
 
204 SHEET WATERS AND UNDERFLOW. 
 
 in the valley of the Platte, the underflow is so copious 
 that when tapped at the distance of several miles from 
 the channel " it responds to powerful pumps almost as 
 freely as if the supply were drawn from a subterranean 
 lake." The exact locality where this response takes 
 place is, however, not specified, nor has the present 
 writer been able to find in the statistics of the wells of 
 this region any facts substantiating this statement. 1 
 
 From the consideration of the " underflow/' Professor 
 Hicks proceeds to that of the " sheet waters," and it 
 is evident that he makes no real distinction between 
 the two ; it is only when the " sheet waters " are con- 
 sidered from a theoretical point of view as flowing, that 
 they become the "underflow." 
 
 The facts in regard to the region under discussion in 
 Professor Hicks's report are simply as follows. The 
 underlying rocks, which are of Cretaceous age, are 
 impervious to water ; over these is a covering of Ter- 
 tiary and Quaternary, it being impossible to make any 
 distinct line of separation between these two forma- 
 tions, and this superficial detrital material varies in 
 thickness from being a " mere skin cover " to a thou- 
 sand feet ; moreover, it is as variable in its lithological 
 character as it is in thickness, since its " texture runs 
 from clays and tolerably compact marls to coarse 
 gravels and conglomerates"; but, on the whole, the 
 gravelly element seems to predominate, since the entire 
 formation is described as being "a great mass of po- 
 rous materials, forming the surface and filling the old 
 
 1 See ante, p. 119, where it is stated in regard to the wells of Nebraska 
 and the adjacent States that those yielding a considerable volume of 
 water are in the immediate vicinity of a river. 
 
THE LOUP VALLEY. 205 
 
 valleys/' and this it is in which " the waters are ab- 
 sorbed, hidden, drawn away from the surface out of 
 sight, but not lost/" These porous rocks " absorb and 
 occlude " the rainfall, the deficiency of which is not so 
 much the cause of the absence of surface drainage as 
 are the peculiar geological conditions here existing, the 
 consequence of which is that " a porous and uneven 
 surface drinks up the waters that fall from the heav- 
 ens " ; but this is compensated by the fact that " the 
 underflow and sheet waters are copious." 
 
 It is not necessary that any more space should here 
 be given to the examination of the underflow question, 
 since no new evidence of importance bearing on this 
 subject is brought forward by Professor Hicks, who 
 himself admits that the data are meagre. He does, 
 however, draw some conclusions from a comparison of 
 the time of the annual rise of the Loup Rivers, which 
 he says is " slight but quite perceptible," and which 
 generally takes place in September, with the seasonal 
 distribution of the rainfall in the region drained by 
 that stream. 1 
 
 In the Loup Valley the annual precipitation is said 
 to average 23.74 inches, but its seasonal distribution is 
 very irregular. During the half-year beginning with 
 October and ending with March the rainfall is less 
 
 1 The Loup River system consists essentially of three streams of about 
 the same length, which flow in channels which are nearly parallel with 
 one another, and are from ten to twenty-five miles apart, having a 
 length of from a hundred to a hundred and fifty miles. These streams, 
 which are tributaries of the Platte, are known as the North, Middle, 
 and South Loup Rivers, and they unite about fifty miles above their 
 junction with the main river. Hence this system of parallel streams 
 is sometimes designated as the " Loup River," but more frequently as 
 the " Loup Rivers." 
 
206 MOVEMENT OF THE UNDERFLOW, 
 
 than a quarter of that of the whole year, the maxi- 
 mum being in June, July, and August, from the middle 
 of which last named month the diminution is rapid 
 and pretty regular to the time of the minimum in 
 November. From these data Professor Hicks draws 
 the inference that the rate of movement of the under- 
 flow is about one third of a mile per day. This result 
 he obtains by estimating the distance through which 
 the " subterranean waters " flow to be twenty miles, and 
 the time occupied by this movement to be two months 
 " from July to September." It is hardly necessary to 
 point out how very unsatisfactory estimates based on 
 such data must be. The maximum rainfall occurring 
 in midsummer after a long period of almost drought, 
 during which, as we are told, the rivers of the re- 
 gion in most years disappear entirely for months, the 
 line of saturation must necessarily have descended very 
 low in consequence of evaporation from the surface 
 and draining of the porous rock to supply the springs 
 which continue to flow for a considerable part of the 
 year. After the rainfall increases to such an amount, 
 and becomes so continuous, that percolation begins to 
 exceed evaporation, the rocks which have become 
 drained of their moisture must be again filled before 
 the rivers can receive any farther supply of water than 
 that which runs off the surface in the immediate vicin- 
 ity of their channels. That there should be an interval 
 of a few weeks between the period of maximum rain- 
 fall and that of the annual rise of the rivers is what 
 would naturally be expected. That this rise should be 
 gradual and unattended with disastrous freshets is the 
 natural result of the combination of maximum rainfall 
 
IRRIGATION OF THE PLATTE VALLEY. 207 
 
 occurring after a long period of what may almost be 
 called drought, and a soil consisting of a very porous 
 material developed to a very great thickness. 
 
 The seasonal distribution of the rainfall of Nebraska 
 is admitted to be highly favorable to agriculture to 
 that carried on by the aid of irrigation as well as to 
 that unassisted by it. It is acknowledged, however, by 
 Professor Hicks, that practically the only irrigable lands 
 of Nebraska are those lying in the valleys, and being 
 thus adjacent to the rivers and nearly on the same 
 level with them in short, the river bottoms. Only 
 very exceptionally can the higher lands between the 
 river bottoms be irrigated, and that, so far as known, 
 only by pumping from wells. Indeed it is quite doubt- 
 ful whether the water of the rivers brought on to the 
 valley lands by means of gravity ditches, will suffice 
 to irrigate the whole area thus situated. An estimate 
 is given of the number of acres occupied by the bot- 
 toms' of the Platte, which are said to form the largest 
 body of irrigable land in Nebraska. The length of the 
 valley is taken at 441 miles, and the average breadth, 
 not including the channel of the river, at five and a 
 half miles, giving an acreage of one and a half mil- 
 lions. This, however, it is said, is " much beyond the 
 capacity of the Platte to irrigate unless we count upon 
 a very high duty of water." It is admitted that some 
 of the valley lands are the poorest in the country, 
 being both sandy and alkaline, " because the rivers sel- 
 dom overflow their banks." It is thought, however, 
 that a remedy may be found for this in " artificial 
 flooding " in other words, by diking the fields and 
 keeping them covered by water during the non-growing 
 
208 THE PLATTE VALLEY. 
 
 season, by which means the alkali will be dissolved out 
 and the sands covered with fertilizing mud for the next 
 crop. How, and at what expense, this might be ef- 
 fected, is not explained. It is admitted, however, that 
 the Platte " actually goes dry some two months almost 
 every year at the very point where I [Professor Hicks] 
 found it sweeping along like a moving sea. Hence it 
 would appear that the changes in the volume of the 
 Platte Kiver, from season to season, are much more 
 considerable than those of the Loup one of its prin- 
 cipal tributaries for of this the annual rise is said, as 
 has been stated above, to be but small in amount." 1 
 
 A considerable part of Professor Hicks's report is 
 devoted to a detailed description of the Loup Valley, of 
 which a more careful survey was made than of the 
 Platte and of the other large rivers of Nebraska. This 
 was done because the Loup was considered as being " a 
 typical river of the plains," in which it heads, and to 
 which its entire course is confined ; hence it naturally 
 exhibits in the highest degree those peculiarities which 
 characterize the drainage of the treeless belt. This 
 valley is also of interest because it lies " in the debat- 
 able zone, the subhumid, where the question is forever 
 recurring <to irrigate, or not to irrigate'; where the 
 rainfall is copious enough to encourage the farmer to 
 plant, and in most seasons fills the land with plenty, 
 but sometimes fails at the critical moment." 
 
 The Loup Valley has a well defined watershed 
 on the south and east, but to the north and west the 
 
 1 Professor Hicks remarks that "the main Loup is distinguished 
 among the rivers of the treeless belt for the large and constant volume 
 of water which it maintains throughout the year." 
 
THE LOUP VALLEY. 209 
 
 " drainage merges gradually into an undrained region 
 of sand hills and lagoons where it is impossible to draw 
 an exact boundary line." Of the whole Loup area, 
 which equals a little over thirteen thousand square 
 miles, about thirty-five per cent is without drainage, 
 the surface being destitute of streams and even of dry 
 channels of streams, but chiefly occupied by lagoons, 
 sand-hills, and valleys of an old drainage system now 
 filled with silt. These topographic forms are such as 
 would naturally be found in a region very nearly level, 
 having a decidedly moderate rainfall, and covered by a 
 considerable but variable thickness of sandy detritus, 
 the result of a long continued erosion and disintegration, 
 in which both atmospheric and pluvial agencies have 
 taken part. From this undrained area streams gather 
 the moisture, at first almost imperceptibly, but after 
 they have pursued their course for a sufficient distance 
 they have gained in strength so that they are able to 
 form regular channels, bordered by low bluffs, and 
 having the ordinary cross-section of the valleys of 
 those Western rivers which flow with varying volume 
 and inconsiderable depth over a region which has a 
 very slight but regular gradient and great uniformity 
 of geological structure. In the higher and drier region 
 the sands are more or less shifted by the wind, the 
 action of which becomes, with the general gradually 
 increasing desiccation of the region, sufficiently marked 
 to give rise to topographical features which, in a 
 country which is so nearly a dead level, may become 
 of comparative importance. 
 
 In the valley of the Loup the region of sand-hills 
 and table-lands is said to present unsurmountable ob- 
 
 u 
 
210 THE LOUP VALLEY. 
 
 stacles to irrigation, but the bottoms lie near enough 
 to the drainage level to be easily supplied with water 
 by means of short ditches, and one eighth of the 
 whole Loup area is believed to be capable of being irri- 
 gated in this way. With the usual sanguine expecta- 
 tions of the officials of the Irrigation Surveys, however, 
 Professor Hicks has large views with regard to the 
 future of what seems to inhabitants of a region more 
 favored than the Loup Valley to have many and very 
 decided disadvantages for settlers. " The occupation of 
 the country," it is said, " and all the operations of 
 agriculture will augment and intensify the excellent 
 combinations of natural conditions in this valley. . . . 
 Deep and frequent tillage of the table lands and hill 
 slopes will secure more immediate and complete ab- 
 sorption and retention of the rainfall. Irrigation in 
 the valleys will spread out the waters and retain them 
 longer, permitting them to escape only by evaporation, 
 which will increase the humidity of the air and pro- 
 mote precipitation, or by slow percolation through the 
 soil and subsoil. Lastly foresting of the sand hills, if 
 this shall ever be happily accomplished by combined 
 and persistent efforts of individuals, or by a liberal 
 policy on the part of the national or State govern- 
 ment, will do more than all other artificial operations 
 to ameliorate the climate." 
 
 The report of Professor Culver, which follows that 
 of which an analysis has been given in the preceding 
 pages, 1 is chiefly devoted to a recapitulation of the 
 geological conditions of the Dakota Basin, in regard to 
 which some information has already been given in the 
 
 1 For the title of Professor Culver's report, see ante, p. 145. 
 
THE DAKOTA BASIN. 211 
 
 present volume. 1 This basin consists of a low broad 
 synclinal, of which the eastern edge is in the eastern 
 part of the Dakotas, and the western near the foothills 
 of the Rocky Mountains. The water-bearing forma- 
 tion of the Dakota Basin is the Dakota sandstone, 
 which is exposed along the Big Sioux River in South 
 Dakota, and farther south dips gently to the north- 
 west, while the surface rises in the same direction. In 
 the valleys of the Missouri, Big Sioux, James, and Ver- 
 milion the covering of this sandstone is so thin that 
 the water escapes upward, giving rise to springs, which 
 extend from Chamberlain, on the Missouri, to Sioux 
 City, in Iowa, this causing, as is thought, a diminution 
 in the pressure in the southeastern part of the basin. 
 The eastern border of the Dakota Basin in South 
 Dakota follows approximately the divide between 
 the Big Sioux and James Rivers ; farther north, in 
 North Dakota, it is not clearly defined. Neither the 
 Artesian wells of the Red River Valley nor the shallow 
 wells of Southeastern South Dakota are connected with 
 the Dakota Artesian basin. The region where the 
 Dakota sandstone receives its supply of water is along 
 the base of the Rocky Mountains, where this formation 
 comes to the surface, or is so thinly covered that the 
 rainfall finds its way into it. It has not yet been 
 proved that the water from this formation will rise 
 to the surface in the more elevated parts of the basin, 
 the pressure in the best wells in the James Valley 
 not being sufficient to cause it to reach an elevation 
 greater than 2,000 feet above the sea level. 2 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 113, 114, 142. 
 
 2 The hypsometric maps of this region are not sufficiently detailed 
 to make it possible to fix with any approach to accuracy the limits of 
 
212 THE DAKOTA BASIN. 
 
 In the southeastern part of the Dakota Basin the 
 water-bearing sandstone lies directly on the Archaean 
 or Azoic series ; to the north and west the wells have 
 rarely been drilled to a sufficient depth to prove the 
 nature of the underlying rock. The uniformity of the 
 stratification of the Cretaceous series in the Upper 
 Missouri region is a very marked feature of its geology, 
 the formation being not only continuous and developed 
 with similar characters over a very wide area, but 
 being also unbroken by faults, and only in the extreme 
 western part of the area disturbed by the intrusion of 
 volcanic masses, the effect of which on the water condi- 
 tions is only local. This feature of the geology is 
 considered as being highly favorable to Artesian de- 
 velopment, removing much of the uncertainty which 
 exists in many regions where this source of water- 
 supply is sought to be introduced. 
 
 In regard to the quantity and quality of the water 
 obtained in the Dakota Basin, the information given 
 in Professor Culver's report is by no means as satis- 
 factory as could be wished. As to quantity, the most 
 satisfactory evidence is said to be that furnished by the 
 wells themselves. The fact that many of these have 
 been flowing for five years " points to an abundant 
 supply, but does not prove it." 
 
 In concluding his report Professor Culver adds some 
 remarks in regard to the geology and water condition 
 
 the Dakota Basin. On Mr. Gannett's latest map the 2,000-foot hypso- 
 metric curve follows pretty closely the right bank of the Missouri, and 
 at no great distance from it, through South Dakota, in which State it 
 does not appear on the eastern side of the river ; but a considerable 
 part of North Dakota, including all the area west of the Missouri, and 
 a broad belt to the east of that river in the northern half of the State, 
 lies above that curve. 
 
THE BLACK HILLS. 213 
 
 of the Black Hills, of which a hasty reconnaissance was 
 made. The central or axial area of this outlier of the 
 Rocky Mountains consists of ancient schists (Archaean 
 or Azoic), extending for a length of about sixty miles 
 north and south, and having a width of from ten to 
 twenty-five. These rocks have been very extensively 
 eroded, and as a consequence are cut into ridges with 
 prominent elevated peaks, and intersected by valleys, 
 which are wooded in the northern part of the area, and 
 are diversified with park-like openings toward the south. 
 This older axial mass is surrounded by a series of 
 rudely oval concentric valleys representing the various 
 formations which encircle the nucleus, and which are 
 made up of stratified rocks of Palaeozoic, Triassic, Ju- 
 rassic, and Cretaceous age. Next to the central Azoic 
 peaks, the Red Valley (Triassic) and an outer wall of 
 the Dakota sandstone (the lowest member of the Creta- 
 ceous) are the most prominent topographical features of 
 the Black Hills. The drainage of this area is almost 
 entirely toward the east, and the streams are all formed 
 by springs which rise at the lower edge of the Azoic 
 nucleus. Most of these sink on reaching the Carbon- 
 iferous limestone, which forms the upper division of 
 the Palaeozoic. Several streams are mentioned which 
 do not now sink, although they formerly did so, and 
 this is believed to be the result of the active mining 
 operations which have been going on for some years 
 in the region above, and which have caused large 
 quantities of sand and mud to be carried down the 
 creeks. The area of the Black Hills region is about 
 5,000 square miles, and the average rainfall is said to 
 be twenty inches, of which one seventh is supposed to 
 
214 TEST WELLS NEEDED. 
 
 fall on the Dakota sandstone, so that the drainage of 
 this region must " contribute quite largely to the Ar- 
 tesian supply [of those districts in which the water is 
 obtained from this formation (?)] ; and the Black Hills 
 in this relation may be considered as an outlier of 
 the Rocky Mountains." 
 
 Professor Culver, in closing his report, suggests that 
 there are several districts which need more careful 
 examination, and in which " test wells " are desirable. 
 The region between the James River district and the 
 Missouri River is said to have been only hastily ex- 
 amined, and two wells here would settle the question 
 whether water will rise to the surface or not for a 
 large area. Two test wells are also recommended for 
 South Dakota west of the Missouri, and one for the re- 
 gion lying between the forks of the Cheyenne and the 
 Black Hills. A fourth district needing examination 
 is found in Western North Dakota and Montana, the 
 question here being whether there is a higher water- 
 bearing rock than the Dakota sandstone, in regard to 
 which it is said that " it is not to be expected that flows 
 like those of the James River district will be found, but 
 water sufficient for domestic and stock use may be in 
 the sands of the Laramie." 
 
 The question of the adequacy of the supply is said 
 to be "one of prime importance," but to which particu- 
 lar region this remark is specially applicable is not 
 stated. It may, however, be presumed that it relates 
 to the water-supply of the Great Plains in general, or 
 as perhaps is more probable to that of the Dakota 
 Artesian Basin, the special subject of Professor Cul- 
 ver's report. A twelve-inch well is mentioned as being 
 
THE UNDERWATERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS. 215 
 
 in progress of construction at Yankton, in South Da- 
 kota, and appended to this statement is the remark 
 "that no basin has yet been found in which a limit 
 to the number of wells it would furnish was not soon 
 reached; the Dakota basin has a limit, and if it is 
 possible to determine approximately what that limit 
 is, no better work can be done than that." 
 
 The fourth part of the Final Report here under con- 
 sideration is comparatively brief, and but a limited 
 amount of space needs here to be devoted to it. 1 Here 
 again we find the subject of the underflow or, as it 
 is here called, the "underwaters" of the Great Plains 
 the principal topic discussed. In fact Mr. Gregory 
 the author, with the title of Special Agent, after 
 stating the boundaries 2 of his field of work which, 
 as he remarks, "contains more than 200,000 square 
 miles and about 130,000,000 acres of territory " 
 proceeds to explain that "the subject of investigation 
 is the subterranean water resources of the division." 
 
 As introductory to this discussion the " surface char- 
 acteristics " of the region are described, which is said to 
 consist, "in general terms, of a broad, treeless plain"; 
 but this when examined in detail is found to be made 
 up of alternating shallow valleys and low divides, 
 extending from the mountains eastward, with a gradual 
 downward slope in the same direction. This slope on 
 
 1 This document occupies sixty-one pages. For its title and contents 
 see ante, p. 123. 
 
 2 These boundaries are, substantially, the thirty-sixth and forty-third 
 parallels of latitude, and the ninety-seventh and one hundred and fourth 
 meridians of longitude. The region thus enclosed embraces nearly all 
 of Nebraska, the western two-thirds of Kansas, the eastern third of 
 Colorado, and a narrow strip along the northern border of the Indian 
 Territory and Texas. 
 
216 SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLAINS. 
 
 the 100th meridian is about seven feet per mile, but it 
 increases gradually westward, so that on the 104th 
 meridian it is about fifteen feet per mile. As a rule 
 its divides are broad, and the valleys narrow and 
 shallow. The rise from valley to upland is gradual, 
 and the highest portions of the divides are from 200 
 to 500 feet above the nearest streams or valleys. 
 " Eough country '' and sand-hills occur, but constitute 
 only a small portion of the whole area. " Except a 
 small spot, here and there, containing a few square feet 
 or rods, at rare intervals, in river bottoms, there are 
 no swamp lands in the division." * The soil of this 
 region is described as being " a tertiary marl, of great 
 average depth and extraordinary fertility, of fine and 
 even texture, arid containing few or no bowlders." 
 This marl is said to be " laid down in vast beds form- 
 ing almost unbroken areas thousands of square miles 
 in extent " ; its depth varies from three or four feet to 
 upward of a hundred, but " a depth of forty or fifty 
 feet is not above the average." 2 
 
 The Special Agent next turns his attention to the 
 climate of the region which forms the subject of his 
 report. This he describes as being " equable, sunny, 
 healthful, and invigorating," while the winters are 
 "dry and mild." It is said to be a winter of rare 
 severity when farm-ploughing cannot be done in each 
 month of it, at least as far west as the 102d meridian. 
 
 1 But compare what Professor Hicks says of the swamps on the head- 
 waters of the rivers of the Loup region. See ante, pp. 209, 210. 
 
 2 This is the " plains marl " of Professor Hay, a description of which, 
 as given by him, will be found in preceding pages {ante, pp. 146-148) 
 This formation is there described as being underlain by the " Tertiary 
 grit," which rock is considered as being of great importance over an 
 extensive area as a source of water-supply. 
 
THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT. 217 
 
 The only thing needed "to make this region both 
 densely populous and wonderfully rich and productive 
 ... is a sufficiency of moisture to mature crops." 1 
 
 1 Mr. Gregory here introduces some remarks in regard to the propriety 
 of the designation of " Great American Desert " by which, he says, this 
 region for decades was known, adding that it had been pronounced by 
 well informed persons to be unfit for the habitation of civilized people ; 
 but, he proceeds to remark, " it was afterwards thrown open to settlement 
 as agricultural land and actually settled as such by home-seekers upon 
 the invitation of the General Government. There must have been, 
 therefore, mis judgment on one side or the other." In point of fact, the 
 name " Great American Desert " was originally given to the unexplored 
 region lying beyond the Mississippi without any special designation of its 
 limits. Later, and as early as 1840-45, after some knowledge of this part 
 of the country had been acquired, the use of the word " desert " began 
 to be limited to what we now call the Great Basin, which is frequently 
 spoken of by Fremont in his reports as " the Desert," and sometimes as 
 the " Great Desert Basin." During the past twenty years or more the 
 name Great American Desert has been limited to the tract of country 
 lying south and west of Great Salt Lake which was covered by its waters 
 at the time of their greatest extension. This region is with propriety 
 so named, since it is not only uninhabited but entirely uninhabitable. 
 The meaning of the word " desert " has undergone a change since it 
 was first introduced into the English language. Properly, according 
 to its etymology (deserere, to abandon), it does not mean an uninhabitable 
 but an uninhabited place, or a locality abandoned or deserted, either per- 
 manently or temporarily, by its inhabitants. But since the most exten- 
 sive and best known regions which are very scantily populated are in 
 this condition because of the lack of water, it is natural that the word 
 " desert," in the ordinary acceptation of the term, should have become 
 specialized with the meaning which it has when the Desert of Sahara and 
 the Arabian Desert are spoken of, these being regions very thinly popu- 
 lated, nearly destitute of vegetation, and scantily supplied with water. 
 As bearing on this question the following quotation from Fremont's 
 " Geographical Memoir upon Upper California " (p. 13) may be appended : 
 " Such is the Great Basin, heretofore characterized as a desert, and in 
 some respects meriting that appellation; but already demanding the 
 qualification of great exceptions, and deserving the full examination of 
 a thorough exploration." Areas over which a low temperature, rather 
 than the lack of moisture, is the prime cause of the scanty development 
 of an arboreal vegetation, are rarely designated as " deserts." They are 
 called in North America " barrens," or " barren lands," and in Northern 
 Europe and Asia " tundras." Both barrens and tundras are very thinly 
 inhabited. 
 
218 
 
 RAINFALL ON THE PLAINS. 
 
 Mr. Gregory next proceeds to give some statistics of 
 the rainfall of his district, from which it appears that 
 he considers himself justified in drawing the conclusion 
 " that this region has enough and to spare under aver- 
 age conditions." This subject has already received 
 attention in this volume ; l but as the form in which 
 he arranges his statistics is different from that adopted 
 by the present writer it will be worth while to give 
 an abstract of Mr. Gregory's results. 2 
 
 The following table, compiled by Mr. Gregory, shows 
 the mean annual precipitation along the various merid- 
 ians from the 99th to the 104th, as also the amount 
 of rainfall from April to September inclusive, and the 
 percentage of the summer rainfall. 
 
 Meridian. 
 
 Mean Annual 
 Precipitation. 
 
 Rainfall from April 1 to September 1, 
 inclusive. 
 
 99th 
 
 Inches. 
 25.48 
 
 Inches. 
 
 18.57 
 
 Percentage. 
 
 73 
 
 100th 
 
 21.45 
 
 15.33 
 
 72 
 
 101st 
 
 17.85 
 
 14.42 
 
 81 
 
 102d 
 
 17.30 
 
 12.97 
 
 75 
 
 103d 
 
 16.40 
 
 12.61 
 
 76 
 
 104th 
 
 14.85 
 
 11.06 
 
 73 
 
 The average annual precipitation of the whole dis- 
 trict is said to be 18.89 inches, of which three fourths 
 fall in the summer, or from April to September, 
 inclusive. 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 37, 38. 
 
 2 One important difference between the results presented on a preced- 
 ing page of this volume and those contained in Mr. Gregory's report is, 
 that the former depend exclusively on observations made at stations 
 during a period of at least ten years, while the latter embrace many 
 localities where observations were continued for only a little more than 
 twelve months. 
 
THE ARID REGION LIMIT. 219 
 
 Here follows a discussion as to the minimum amount 
 of rainfall necessary for the successful pursuit of agri- 
 culture, and the opinion of A. W. Greely, Chief Sig- 
 nal Officer, published in 1889, is quoted in support of 
 the idea that the " arid region limit " should be fixed 
 at fifteen inches, and not at twenty, as had been pre- 
 viously done by the Director of the United States 
 Geological Survey ; for, as Mr. Greely observes in 
 support of this idea, " the fact that wheat can be grown 
 without irrigation where the annual rainfall is less than 
 twenty inches is evidenced by official statistics from 
 Dakota, which show that wheat is grown by tens of 
 millions of bushels yearly in sections where the rainfall 
 ranges.from twenty inches downward. To this state- 
 ment is added another, quoted from a report made by 
 the same official, to the effect that " regions where the 
 annual rainfall ranges from thirty to fifty inches 
 have been visited by the most serious and protracted 
 droughts," and this is adduced as a reason why the 
 arid region limit should be reduced from twenty to 
 fifteen inches. Furthermore the Chief Signal Officer 
 "does not hesitate to express the opinion that the 
 trans-Mississippi and trans-Missouri rainfall is slightly 
 increasing as a whole, though in certain localities it 
 may be slightly decreasing." l 
 
 In the report here under examination the subject of 
 the " need of irrigation " is next taken up for considera- 
 tion, and various statements are made with reference 
 to this matter, having for their object to prove that 
 irrigation is not an absolute necessity in the region 
 
 1 Quoted from a report on " Rainfall in Washington, Oregon," etc., 
 p. 15. This matter will receive attention in Appendix B. 
 
220 IDEAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAINS. 
 
 under consideration. Various localities are mentioned 
 where " timber-culture experiments " have been carried 
 on without irrigation, and with success, and one is speci- 
 fied near Denver, where also, except for a short time 
 at the very beginning, without irrigation, " there is to- 
 day a magnificent young orchard of bearing fruit trees 
 at the one hundred and fifth meridian, upon the western 
 extreme of the ' Great American Desert,' where the 
 annual average rainfall for a period of eighteen years 
 has been but 14.6 inches." 
 
 What might have taken place in the arid and semi- 
 arid region of the United States, if the resources of 
 the region had been developed by settlers in a manner 
 such as it is only possible that they should have -been in 
 a region favored ~by an abundant precipitation is thus 
 fancifully depicted by Mr. Gregory, who says : " If 
 it could have been brought about that the whole of 
 this region [the Great Plains] could have been settled 
 in a single season, or two or three, by a class of people 
 each one of whom should have been possessed of the 
 discernment, training, natural aptitude, and knowledge 
 of what he wished to do, which characterize the super- 
 intendent of the forestry station referred to, each able 
 and willing to practice the industry and frugality of the 
 Germans of the Thurman Colony, each having the sur- 
 plus means with which to provide all needful buildings, 
 seeds, plants, and farming tools to emulate the Ken- 
 tucky settlers in Stevens County, and to enable them to 
 continue work three or four years, if need be, at large ex- 
 pense, before any returns could begin, as in the case of the 
 nursery-men who have grown the unirrigated orchards 
 at Denver, then there can be little doubt that the sudden 
 
ACTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAINS. 221 
 
 cessation of prairie fires, the wide-spread planting of 
 groves and orchards and belts of timber as windbreaks, 
 the upturning and thorough cultivation of a large pro- 
 portion of the surface soil on every habitable quarter 
 section, and the covering of millions of acres of land, 
 theretofore almost as bare as a slate roof, with green, lux- 
 uriant, and succulent vegetation would have worked 
 an almost miraculous change ; the desert would have 
 blossomed and borne fruit often enough, without the 
 aid of irrigation, to make the Plains as a whole hab- 
 itable after a fashion." That, however, the wealth and 
 intellect of the country should have been concentrated 
 for years on the task of making a region which was 
 distant, not easily accessible, destitute of timber for fuel 
 or building, and poorly supplied with water, " as a 
 whole habitable after a fashion," was something hardly 
 to be expected. On the contrary, the natural result of 
 these adverse conditions has been entirely different, and 
 what has really happened can best be described in Mr. 
 Gregory's own graphic words : " The semi-arid region 
 has been, and unless proper efforts shall be made to 
 prevent will still be, an absorbent of wealth and energy ; 
 a famine-breeding, heart-breaking zone ; a mirage to 
 tempt men to ruin ; and the question is asked whether 
 it should not be made certainly habitable or settlement 
 there, under ordinary conditions, prevented." 
 
 The manner in which the settlement of the semi-arid 
 region could be prevented by the General Government 
 is not indicated by Mr. Gregory, neither is the possi- 
 bility of such a thing being done even hinted at by 
 him, any further than it is done in the paragraph 
 quoted above. On the contrary, that author proceeds 
 
222 HOW THE PLAINS MAY BE RECLAIMED. 
 
 at once to assert that " all of the arable land of the 
 Great Plains may be, and ultimately undoubtedly will 
 be, reclaimed and made habitable " : not only, however, 
 does he make this assertion, but he adds that " an ex- 
 ceptionally dense and prosperous population may be 
 supported thereon." 
 
 That this extraordinary development of the agricul- 
 tural capacity of the Great Plains will take place is 
 a theory said to be based on three facts : 1st, the 
 great retentiveness of moisture by the marly soil of 
 that region ; 2d, the large proportion of the annual 
 rainfall which occurs during the growing season, or 
 from the beginning of May to the end of August ; 3d, 
 the existence of " stores of accessible water underly- 
 ing and overflowing the entire Plains region." The 
 means by which the semi-arid lands may be reclaimed 
 are classified as follows : " 1st, the recovery of under- 
 ground water by gravity, by mechanical means, and 
 by Artesian wells ; 2d, the storage and conservation of 
 other waters ; this involves not only the construction 
 of reservoirs, but the protection and extension of 
 forests ; 3d, the greatest economy and care in the 
 use of the water supplies." The methods suggested 
 by means of which this economy may be put in prac- 
 tice are the gradual saturation of the soil, experience 
 in the application of water to the soil, and the adop- 
 tion of the most highly economical methods of its use, 
 the growing of crops best adapted to the climate, and 
 largely increased thoroughness of cultivation. The pre- 
 vention of prairie fires is looked upon, in this con- 
 nection, as a most important element in the work of 
 reclamation, but no method is suggested by which this 
 
THE GOVERNMENT MUST DO IT. 223 
 
 can be accomplished. It is admitted that "working 
 people with families to support and educate and others 
 with accumulations of debt instead of surplus property 
 are not prepared to await for years the changes 
 which are necessary to convert desert lands into 
 farms." 
 
 Finally, the Special Agent falls back on the opinion 
 so generally held by the settlers on the Plains, that it 
 is the duty of the General Government to interfere in 
 their behalf, and the following statement to that effect 
 is made : " The opinion prevails among the common 
 people throughout the division that the Government 
 should cause a few practical demonstrations of the ex- 
 istence, availability, and economical conservation of 
 water supplies, so that private capital may be induced 
 to invest in the work of development to the fullest 
 extent and upon an assured footing. This opinion is 
 founded upon the fact that not only have the settlers 
 upon such lands paid for the same, into the United 
 States Treasury, very large sums of money this 
 alone constituting, as they believe, a sufficient reason 
 for the active intervention of the Government in mat- 
 ters of irrigation development for their benefit but, 
 further, such action upon the part of the General 
 Government as would take the lead in the provision 
 of general systems of irrigation works would confirm 
 to the National Government, fully and unquestionably, 
 the right to make such regulations for their use as will 
 inure most largely to the benefit of the people. And 
 such are the intermingling, interdependent interests of 
 individuals, communities, and States in the general 
 development of the means of irrigation upon the Great 
 
224 ARTESIAN WELLS ON THE PLAINS. 
 
 Plains, that the regulation of such works and the 
 settlement of the grave questions arising from the use 
 of the same may proceed, it is believed, only from the 
 National Government; that there is no other possible 
 source of such regulation/' 
 
 After this somewhat introductory matter, Mr. Greg- 
 ory proceeds to take up in some detail the subjects of 
 Artesian wells and the underflow in his district. It is 
 candidly admitted, at the outset, that Artesian wells, 
 " must, in the nature of things, remain an insignifi- 
 cant factor in the problem of arid land reclamation so 
 far as concerns this division." Various small Artesian 
 areas are enumerated, one of which (in Meade County, 
 Kansas *) irrigates at present about 1,200 acres of land ; 
 another (in Stevens County, Kansas), will " probably 
 be developed"; and seven more in the same State 2 
 have " a flow too weak to render them of appreciable 
 value for irrigation." To this enumeration of actual 
 results is added the statement that " there is, at present, 
 nothing to indicate that the supply of water from such 
 sources, considering the cost of procuring the same, 
 will be of appreciable value to the general irrigation 
 of the lands of the district. 3 
 
 In regard to a subject which has already more than 
 once been brought up in the present volume for dis- 
 cussion the underflow, namely Mr. Gregory has 
 much to say, and with the consideration of this phenom- 
 enon his report is chiefly occupied. " Since the begin- 
 
 1 See ante, p. 116. 
 
 2 See ante, pp. 154, 155. 
 
 8 Yet a few pages earlier in this report Artesian wells are specified 
 as one of the important means by which the semi-arid lands are to be 
 reclaimed. 
 
THE UNDERFLOW. 225 
 
 ning of settlement of the Plains/' it is said, " people 
 have been familiar with the fact that, throughout the 
 whole region, excepting in isolated cases and in certain 
 small areas, wells obtain their supply from what is 
 popularly known as ' sheet water/ and that this has 
 proven a copious and inexhaustible supply." Two 
 diagrams are furnished illustrating the mode of occur- 
 rences of this " sheet water"; in one it is represented 
 as saturating sand or gravel, or both, which occupies 
 large depressions scooped out in the underlying imper- 
 vious strata, these sand-filled cavities having little or 
 no apparent communication with one another ; the 
 other diagram shows the water-bearing strata as form- 
 ing a continuous mass underlain by impervious rocks 
 and overlain by soil, and this latter condition is 
 thought to obtain " at least locally," because " all the 
 larger streams and most of the small ones traversing 
 the Plains from west to east flow over beds of water- 
 bearing grit, ranging from a few feet to hundreds of 
 feet in depth, and of unknown lateral extent." That 
 there must be a current throughout large portions of 
 these same beds is said " to be evident upon the most 
 cursory examination of the facts." In contradiction 
 to what has been asserted by other irrigation officials 
 in regard to the difficulty of establishing the fact of 
 the existence of such a current, and especially of deter- 
 mining its rate of flow/ Mr. Gregory maintains that 
 " in some cases the flow of the water may be plainly 
 seen, while in others the existence of a current is 
 indicated only by the fact that bits of wood, paper, 
 straw, etc., blown into the wells, gather closely against 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 140, 141. 
 15 
 
226 EVIDENCES OF AN UNDERFLOW. 
 
 the eastern wall in the course of a few hours." Vari- 
 ous other statements are made, based on information 
 obtained from residents of Kansas and Nebraska, in 
 regard to the ease with which artificial ponds can be 
 formed " by scraping away the surface soil, and enough 
 of the underlying sand to make basins for the sub- 
 water." No less than thirty citizens of the semi-arid 
 region furnish statements, the general character of 
 which may be inferred from the perusal of one of 
 them, which is here given in full, and which reads as 
 follows : " We are located on an ocean of water, which 
 can easily be made to flow to the surface perpetually 
 in sufficient quantities to flood the whole country at 
 any and all times." This is from C. H. Longstreth, of 
 Lakin, Kearney County, Kansas. In addition to this 
 testimony that of twelve other residents of Kansas and 
 Nebraska is furnished, to the effect that, when water is 
 struck in the wells of this region, it rises to a consider- 
 able height above the bottom of the bore-hole. 
 
 More remarkable still is the statement by Mr. Gregory 
 that there are " known to be many and large subter- 
 ranean streams throughout the region of country to the 
 southeastward, even to the Atlantic coast, and inter- 
 esting stories are told of immense fresh water springs 
 off the South Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, 
 which send up from beneath such floods of water that 
 it may be dipped up fresh and drinkable from the 
 midst of the sea." In corroboration of this statement 
 a letter is inserted from the Superintendent of the 
 United States Coast Survey from which it appears 
 that there is a spring " actually furnishing fresh water, 
 about three miles off the coast abreast of St. Augus- 
 
UTILIZING THE UNDERFLOW. 227 
 
 tine," and that there are rumors of a similar spring near 
 the mouth of the Mississippi River, " but our surveying 
 parties have never happened to find it." The connec- 
 tion of a submarine spring of fresh water near the 
 Atlantic coast, entirely to the east of the Gulf of 
 Mexico, with the drainage of the Rocky Mountains, as 
 " evidence of the existence of great stores of subter- 
 ranean waters in the region of the Great Plains," as 
 is done by Mr. Gregory farther on in his report seems 
 to imply the possession on his part of an extremely 
 vivid imagination. That, in spite of the denial by the 
 Coast Survey authorities of there being any proof of 
 the existence of such springs off the Gulf Coast, they 
 should also be used in a similar way to support the 
 theory of the underflow in its most exaggerated and 
 extravagant form, is a fact in regard to which comment 
 is unnecessary. Only Mr. Catlin has gone one step 
 farther in the same direction, and utilized this subterra- 
 nean current for the formation of the Gulf Stream. 1 
 
 Among the various methods for utilizing the " sheet 
 waters " of the Plains, that depending on the use 
 of mechanical means (hoisting machinery driven by 
 steam, wind, or horse power) needs no explanation ; 
 the method " by force of gravity," to use the term em- 
 ployed by Mr. Gregory, is somewhat peculiar, and is 
 worthy of notice. 
 
 This " recovery of under water by gravity " is said 
 to be " up to the present time that which is attract- 
 ing attention and to which experimentation has been 
 
 1 See, for Mr. Catlin's theory of the origin of the Gulf Stream, ante, 
 p. 110; and for Professor Hay's remarks on the exaggerated ideas of the 
 underflow current in the arid region, ante, pp. 151-153. 
 
228 THE FOUNTAIN METHOD. 
 
 confined." It is called by Mr. Gregory " the fountain 
 method " ; 1 and is said to consist " of simply drifting 
 from the surface of the ground into the water-bearing 
 strata by means of an open-cut or ' fountain/ having 
 a less rate of inclination than has the surface of the 
 ground, and of the water-bearing stratum penetrated." 
 This method of securing water from the underflow is 
 said to be under test in a number of places. Dodge City, 
 Kansas, on the Arkansas River, is mentioned as being 
 the first place where this method of obtaining water 
 was tried, and the main canal served by this fountain 
 is thirty-five miles long, carrying about one hundred 
 cubic feet per second, a quantity considered sufficient to 
 irrigate 15,000 acres. On the opposite side of the river 
 is the so-called Eureka Canal system, which has a length 
 of ninety-six miles and has cost about $2,000,000. The 
 "fountain" to supply this canal was, at the time Mr. 
 Gregory's report was made, in process of construction, 
 a cutting twenty feet wide, 500 feet long, and eighty 
 feet deep having been made, from which water was to 
 be pumped into the canal by centrifugal pumps. 
 
 It does not appear that the construction of these 
 sub-canals has been attempted anywhere except in the 
 immediate vicinity of a considerable river, with the 
 course of which they are parallel, the object seeming 
 to be to obtain a permanent flow of water from the 
 saturated sand and gravel even when the river bed 
 itself is entirely dry owing to the greater evaporation 
 
 1 To a description of this method in Mr. Gregory's report the following 
 note is appended : " The word ' fountain ' was adopted and is used by Mr. 
 Gregory ; the l investigation ' decided on the word * sub-canals,' and has 
 used it everywhere else in the reports." 
 
THE FOUNTAIN METHOD. 229 
 
 of the shallow stream when not concentrated in a deep 
 channel. 1 
 
 Several cities are said by Mr. Gregory to pursue 
 essentially the same plan in securing their water 
 supply, " but generally in such cases, the open fountain 
 is replaced by sub-canal or pipe line piercing the under 
 water. Denver, Colorado, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, 
 have systems of this sort. Such works are necessarily 
 expensive and could rarely be profitably employed for 
 irrigation purposes." 2 
 
 It has been generally held by climatologists and 
 others, that water raised from below and spread out 
 
 1 Thus, in a statement by the engineer of a system of canals belonging 
 to the Southwestern Irrigating Company, having its headquarters at 
 Garden City, Kansas, it is mentioned that when this work was begun the 
 Arkansas River was dry. At the highest stage of water in the river, it 
 was from seven to nine feet higher than the water in the ditch for a period 
 of two months, during which time the latter increased in flow about one 
 third, as would naturally be expected since the ditch and river ran parallel 
 with each other for a distance of 1,000 feet, and were only one hundred 
 feet apart. Yet the engineer considers this a proof that the water in 
 the ditch is substantially obtained from the underflow. The method of 
 obtaining water for city use by excavating filter chambers in the gravelly 
 bed of a river not far distant from the river itself is not uncommon in the 
 Eastern States, but this seepage has never there been called an " under- 
 flow," nor considered part of a great sheet of water running from the 
 crest of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 2 This method of water-supply is somewhat like one extensively em- 
 ployed in Persia. In that country, which so much resembles the Ameri- 
 can Great Basin in topographical character and climate, subterranean 
 canals are cut often for considerable distances (Elphinstone speaks of one 
 thirty-six miles in length) in the limestone gravels. These conduits are 
 often at great depths beneath the surface, and are reached by large wells, 
 down which a descent is made by steps. The skill with which by this 
 method water is brought from the mountains in such a way as to insure a 
 minimum of evaporation is indeed wonderful, and has been the object of 
 comment on the part of travellers and historians from Polybius down to 
 the most modern times. These subterranean canals or conduits are 
 called by the Persians Kandts or Kondts. 
 
230 UTILIZATION OF THE UNDERFLOW. 
 
 upon the surface for irrigational purposes was in this 
 manner brought under favorable conditions for rapid 
 evaporation, and that consequently a large part of it 
 would be lost ; hence, as Mr. Gregory remarks, there 
 has been some apprehension expressed by people in 
 the lower part of the Arkansas and Platte valleys 
 " that the use of the underflow for irrigation in the 
 regions west of them may deplete their supply of water 
 for domestic use." This fear, the Special Agent thinks, 
 is groundless. On the contrary, " the widest possible 
 utilization of the underflow, gradually brought about, 
 will largely add to the subterranean waters instead of 
 exhausting them." How this reversal of the conditions 
 prevailing in other parts of the world is to be effected 
 for the benefit of the people of the Plains is not men- 
 tioned ; it is simply stated as a fact, that " a fountain 
 may produce water sufficient to irrigate 50,000 acres 
 of land, which may be utilized within a distance of 
 fifty miles, and the water, spread out over the ground 
 and percolating through the soil back into the under- 
 flow, be ready for use upon the next fifty-mile stretch 
 below." It is admitted, however, that there will be 
 losses of the water " by evaporation, saturation, and 
 diversion, but these have their compensations." Of 
 what nature these compensations are, it is said, " there 
 is not now time to discuss." All the practical infor- 
 mation given in regard to these points is comprised 
 in the statement that the elements entering into the 
 development and constant renewal of such water sup- 
 plies are : " the recovery of phreatic waters, storage, 
 the growth of trees and other vegetation, irrigation, 
 and the gradual saturation of the soil." 
 
BY VARIOUS METHODS. 231 
 
 Furthermore, this recovery of the sub-waters, accom- 
 plished " by gravity through the ' fountain method/ by 
 sunk dams, by sub-canals, and by driving or laying 
 perforated or other permeable pipes and conduits ; by 
 pumping and hoisting by steam, wind, and water power, 
 the last eventually employing electricity as an impor- 
 tant auxiliary " will have certain results which are 
 enumerated, and among which the following may be 
 considered as being the most surprising : " Very great 
 power for use in manufacturing, etc., may be devel- 
 oped " ; the now bare and arid plains may be made to 
 enter largely into the growth of timber and the produc- 
 tion of fish ; and, finally, " the Great Plains region de- 
 veloped and utilized to the fullest extent may become in 
 an economic sense, as well as geographically, the centre 
 and heart of the nation, such breadth and depth of 
 fertile soil supplied with water for irrigation being a 
 steadfast safeguard against famine ; and it will be, or 
 can be made, a region impenetrable by any foreign foe 
 and capable of sustaining the entire nation throughout 
 the duration of any probable foreign war." 1 
 
 A publication of the United States census of 1890, 
 bearing the date of September 9, 1892, and edited by 
 F. H. Newell, has come to hand since the preceding 
 pages were written, and, although it gives statistics 
 for no later period than that embraced within the year 
 ending May 31, 1890, it really contains the latest 
 accessible general information in regard to the actual 
 results of irrigation for the country at large, that 
 is for that part of the country in which irrigation is 
 
 1 See farther on (pp. 242-244) for the latest opinions of the officials of 
 the U. S. Geological Survey in regard to the importance of the underflow. 
 
232 
 
 LATEST STATISTICS OF IRRIGATION. 
 
 employed in agriculture to an important extent, and 
 considered a matter of State or national importance. 1 
 
 In this Bulletin it is said that there were irrigated in 
 the Census Year ending May 31, 1890, within the arid 
 and subhumid region on the western half of the United 
 States 3,631,381 acres, or 5,674.03 square miles, which 
 is approximately four tenths of one per cent of the 
 total land area west of the 100th meridian. Of this irri- 
 gated area 61.31 per cent was devoted to the raising 
 of various kinds of forage. The following table gives 
 the more important items of the irrigation business 
 for each State and Territory in which this was carried 
 on, as also for the States " lying largely within the 
 subhumid region to the east," the statistics for these 
 being grouped under the designation of " subhumid 
 
 region. 
 
 States and Territories. 
 
 Area irrigated. 
 
 Percentage Character of 
 Irrigated Crops. 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Per cent of 
 entire Laud 
 Surface. 
 
 Forage. 
 
 Cereals. 
 
 Arizona .... 
 California .... 
 Colorado .... 
 Idaho 
 
 65,821 
 1,004,233 
 890,735 
 217,005 
 350,582 
 224,403 
 91,745 
 177,944 
 263,473 
 48,799 
 229,676 
 66,965 
 
 0.09 
 1.01 
 1.34 
 0.40 
 0.38 
 0.32 
 012 
 0.39 
 0.50 
 0.23 
 0.37 
 
 65.82 
 47.22 
 70.25 
 70.97 
 78.01 
 93.32 
 36.78 
 69.99 
 56.35 
 57.99 
 91.73 
 
 34.18 
 52.78 
 29.75 
 29.03 
 21.39 
 6.68 
 63.22 
 30.01 
 43.65 
 42.01 
 8.27 
 
 Montana .... 
 Nevada . . . 
 
 New Mexico . . . 
 
 Utah . . . 
 
 Washington . . . 
 Wyoming .... 
 Subhumid Region . 
 
 1 This is called an " Extra Census Bulletin, No. 23," and, although bear- 
 ing the date of September 9, 1892, it appears not to have been given to the 
 public much, if any, before the end of 1893. The statistical information 
 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY IRRIGATION REPORT. 233 
 
 In discussing the attempts of the General Govern- 
 ment to throw light on the irrigation problem in the 
 United States, it was mentioned in previous pages 
 that, with this end in view, various appropriations had 
 been made by Congress, the expenditure of which was 
 intrusted to the Geological Survey. 1 Three reports of 
 this department of the Irrigation Survey are there 
 enumerated, and a synopsis given of their contents, 
 and from this an idea can be had of what had been ac- 
 complished in this work up to that time. Since those 
 pages were in type, a fourth report of this survey has 
 been received, and it will be next in order to state what 
 additions have been made in this volume to that which 
 had been previously published, 2 this being, so far as 
 known to the present writer, the latest official publica- 
 tion relating to the subject of irrigation in the United 
 States. 
 
 The report here to be examined consists of three 
 parts : the first of these, by F. H. Newell, is entitled 
 
 embodied in this Bulletin appears to be essentially the same as that which 
 is contained in the House Executive Document No. 1, Part 5, 52d Congress, 
 2d Session, 1892, which also will form a part of the Thirteenth Annual 
 Report of the U. S. Geological Survey, and having the sub-title " Water 
 Supply for Irrigation," also by Mr. F. H. Newell. 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 29-31. 
 
 2 This fourth of the series of Irrigation Reports issued by the United 
 States Geological Survey is contained in the " Report of the Secretary of 
 the Interior, communicated to the two Houses of Congress at the Beginning 
 of the Second Session of the Fifty-second Congress," of which it forms 
 Volume IV. Part 3, bearing the date of 1892. Following the precedent 
 already set in this matter, this report will, it is supposed, form Part II. of 
 the Thirteenth Annual Report of the U. S. Geological Survey. The 
 volume of the report of the Secretary of the Interior was obtained by 
 purchase at Washington in April of the current year. The Twelfth 
 Annual Report of the U. S. Geological Survey was received at the Museum 
 of Comparative Zoology about the same time. 
 
234 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY IRRIGATION REPORT. 
 
 " Water Supply for Irrigation " ; the second, by Herbert 
 M. Wilson, is devoted to "American Irrigation Engi- 
 neering," and to the " Engineering Results of Irriga- 
 tion Survey " ; the third, by A. H. Thompson, to the 
 " Construction of Topographic Maps, and the Selec- 
 tion and Survey of Reservoir Sites in the Hydrographic 
 Basin of the Arkansas River," and " Location and Sur- 
 vey of Reservoir Sites during the fiscal year ending 
 June 30, 1892." 
 
 Mr. Newell has already been mentioned as being the 
 author of " Extra Census Bulletin, No. 23," which 
 relates to Agriculture and Irrigation, and brief extracts 
 from the document have been given. In the present 
 report, some general remarks on various subjects con- 
 nected with irrigation and water-supply form an in- 
 troduction to a more detailed description, from the 
 hydrographic and irrigational point of view, of the 
 basins of the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Platte rivers. 
 At the outset the same statement is made which 
 appears in the Extra Census Bulletin, namely, that the 
 area on which crops were raised by irrigation, during 
 the year ending May 31, 1890, was 5,674.03 square 
 miles, this being approximately four tenths of one 
 per cent of the total land surface of the United States 
 west of the 100th meridian. " In other words, for 
 every acre from which crops were obtained by irriga- 
 tion there were nearly 250 acres of land most of which 
 was not utilized in any way except for pasturage." 
 The area of land surface west of the 100th meridian, 
 not including thirty-six counties of western Oregon 
 and Washington, is given as being 1,371,960 square 
 miles, and this is divided with reference to the amount 
 
VEGETATION OF THE ARID REGION. 235 
 
 of moisture received or the water supply available, as 
 shown principally by the character of the vegetation, 
 as follows : 
 
 Square Miles. Per Cent. 
 
 Desert 100,000 7.3 
 
 Pasture 961,960 70.1 
 
 Firewood 180,000 13.1 
 
 Timber 130,000 9.5 
 
 The term " desert land " is defined by saying that 
 " it is that within which the water supply is so small 
 that the cattle cannot obtain sufficient for drinking pur- 
 poses, and the vegetation is too scanty to be of value 
 for pasturage." It hardly needs to be suggested that, 
 where water cannot be obtained even for drinking 
 purposes, there vegetation must necessarily be scanty ; 
 and that, however luxuriant it might be, it would be 
 of no use. The land designated as " firewood " is 
 mainly that fringing the streams ; and that classed as 
 "timber" includes the forested areas upon the high 
 mountains. A large part of this " timber " has been 
 burned over at different times, so that much of its 
 original value has been lost ; while but a very small 
 part of it would in its natural condition bear any com- 
 parison, as to value, with the timber lands of the well 
 watered part of the country, most of it being soft 
 wood, and the individual trees usually quite small, and 
 very rarely large. The arboreal vegetation along the 
 streams is mostly wood of a very inferior character, 
 and only scantily covering the soil. 1 As most of the 
 
 1 For a somewhat detailed description of the nature and distribution of 
 the forests over the area included between the two heavily timbered regions 
 of the country the Appalachian and the Pacific Coast see the present 
 writer's " United States," etc., pp. 201-213. 
 
236 QUANTITY OF WATER AVAILABLE. 
 
 area coining under the designation of " firewood " is 
 too low and sandy, and too much exposed to be swept 
 by freshets, and as a large part of the timber land is 
 too rough and rocky for cultivation, it is evident that 
 the irrigated and irrigable lands are mainly included 
 within those divisions which in their natural state are 
 classed as " desert " and " pasture," any sharply drawn 
 distinction between these two classes of land being 
 manifestly impossible. 
 
 The proportion of the desert or pasture land which 
 can be brought under irrigation in the future is next 
 discussed by Mr. Newell in the report under considera- 
 tion, and it is remarked that " it is obvious at the out- 
 set, that this proportion must be small, probably tinder 
 three per cent, but its exact amount can be determined 
 only when the available waters of the region have been 
 accurately measured." 
 
 The method in which Mr. Newell endeavors to arrive 
 at an approximate idea of this amount, which by no 
 possibility could be exactly determined, is not easily 
 explained, and is in absolute conflict with the views 
 which in the preceding pages have been shown to be 
 held by most of the officials of the Irrigation Surveys. 
 The greater part of the available water supply is said 
 by him to come from the high mountains with precipi- 
 tous slopes, this including the greater part of the areas 
 covered by timber and firewood, while from the remain- 
 ing land, namely, the pasture and the desert, there is 
 very little water available for irrigation, " for although 
 there is a large amount of water falling on these tracts, 
 yet the conditions are such that streams valuable to 
 agriculture are seldom formed, for the greater part of 
 
STANDARD DUTY OF WATER. 237 
 
 the moisture sinks into the ground, and is subsequently 
 lost by evaporation, or, when coming in heavy showers, 
 flows off in the streams whose beds are nearly or quite 
 dry for the rest of the year, and thus is plentiful only 
 at times when there is no need of irrigation." 
 
 The total area considered, in accordance with these 
 views, as furnishing water available for irrigation, is 
 said to have been ascertained to be 360,000 square miles, 
 and on this the average amount of water, taking one 
 year with another, is said to be seldom greater than 
 one second-foot per square mile. This figure was 
 obtained by determining the average run-off of twenty- 
 three streams, said to be " well distributed through the 
 mountainous area of the arid region," and on that 
 account " fairly representative of the discharge from 
 the higher mountains of the West." This gives 
 360,000 second-feet as the whole amount of water 
 available for irrigational purposes in the arid region, 
 and it is said that the area which can be irrigated 
 by it "can be approximately ascertained by assuming 
 a standard duty of water." What may fairly be taken 
 as a standard duty is, however, not stated : it is 
 simply suggested that, if one second-foot will irrigate 
 one hundred acres, the total irrigable area will be 
 about 36,000,000 acres, or about ten times that on 
 which crops were raised by irrigation, in the census 
 year, and if the duty of one second-foot be taken as 
 150 acres " the area irrigable will be 54,000,000 acres, 
 and so on, according to the duty of water assumed." 
 These computations do not appear to throw any light 
 on the main question of how large a portion of the 
 arid region of the country can really be irrigated. 
 
238 FLUCTUATIONS OF RIVERS AND LAKES. 
 
 The matter is an exceedingly complicated one, and it 
 is doubtful whether it can ever be ascertained in any 
 other way than by actual experiment. 
 
 The subject of the fluctuation of rivers and lakes 
 comes up next for discussion, and here again the 
 uncertainties are great, and it is candidly admitted 
 that " the quantity of water flowing in a river is the 
 resultant of so many variables, that it is impossible 
 to predict with any degree of certainty what will be 
 the amount flowing in the stream during the next 
 crop season." Two classes of fluctuations in rivers 
 and lakes are briefly considered by Mr. Newell. The 
 first is the periodic or seasonal oscillation, which, in 
 the case of a river, depends mainly on the climate, and 
 secondarily on the topography of the region through 
 which the river runs : in the case of a lake, especially 
 if it be one of large size, these seasonal oscillations 
 
 O ' 
 
 are in general much less strongly marked than they 
 are in rivers, and in very large lakes are almost or 
 quite imperceptible. Hence, a comparison of the peri- 
 odic oscillations of lakes and rivers such as that 
 furnished by Mr. Newell is of no value, since we have 
 here results given for lakes of closed basins as well 
 as those having free drainage, and for rivers differing 
 from one another as far as possible in reference both 
 to the climate and topography of the region which 
 they drain. Thus, in the diagram furnished, Great Salt 
 Lake and Lake Champlain, and the Missouri and the 
 Savannah rivers, figure together. 
 
 Much more important from the point of view of 
 both the engineer and the irrigator, as well as that 
 of the climatologist, are the non-periodic oscillations 
 
SECULAR CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 239 
 
 both of lakes and rivers, but especially of the former, 
 since these can be much more easily and satisfactorily 
 registered and studied than those of the latter. Some 
 interesting facts selected from various sources, and 
 bearing on this question, are brought together by 
 Mr. Newell, but the data at present available do not 
 appear to furnish a satisfactory basis for any conclu- 
 sions which would be of value as helping to solve 
 the irrigational problem. A diagram showing the 
 discharge in second-feet of the Cache la Poudre and 
 Arkansas rivers for several consecutive years ending 
 in 1891, and the height of Great Salt Lake from 
 1876 to 1891 and of Utah Lake from 1884 to 1891, 
 is said to indicate that, " taking the country as a 
 whole, there was an extraordinary amount of precipi- 
 tation during 1884." To this is added the statement, 
 that "about this time the great increase in rainfall 
 was noticed and popularly attributed to the effects of 
 cultivation and to other causes under the control 
 of man. That these fluctuations are widespread, and 
 wholly remote from human influence even in the 
 slightest degree hardly needs discussion at present." 3 
 
 1 The subject of the extent and causes of the secular changes in the 
 areas of lakes and the volume of the rivers of the globe is one which has 
 excited much attention, and which has been investigated more or less thor- 
 oughly by various climatologists during the past few years. An elaborate 
 discussion of the climatic fluctuations (Klimaschwankungen) which have 
 taken place since the year 1700 was published by Professor Eduard 
 Bruckner, of the University of Bern, in 1890, and a reference is made to 
 this work by Mr. Newell, who does not, however, give any of Professor 
 Bruckner's results, or draw from them any general conclusions. The 
 present writer has also devoted much time to an investigation somewhat 
 similar in character to that of the Professor of Geography at Bern (see 
 ante, pp. 122, 132, and 202, for the title of a work published by him on this 
 subject, and references to its contents). Professor Bruckner's conclusions 
 
240 SUBSURFACE WATER. 
 
 Again we are told by Mr. Newell, in connection with 
 his discussion of this subject that " the principal fact 
 taught by the examination of the fluctuations of the 
 rivers and lakes of not only the arid regions, but of 
 the United States as a whole, is that these are due to 
 climatic forces, not only continental, but even world- 
 wide in extent. . . . These matters cannot be regu- 
 lated or affected, except perhaps in a very slight 
 degree, by any action on the part of mankind. There 
 is an idea widely current that the removal of the 
 forest cover at the head waters of a stream acts inju- 
 riously in many ways and causes greater fluctuations 
 in the quantity discharged, especially in times of flood. 
 This is a matter, however, exceedingly difficult to 
 prove on account of this enormous variation in vol- 
 ume which takes place in every stream, whether in 
 a forested country or not, the fluctuation due to cli- 
 matic changes being enormously greater than that 
 which can be attributed in any way to the result of 
 forest destruction." 
 
 The subject of the underflow, so often mentioned in 
 the present volume, is discussed by Mr. Newell under 
 the heading of " Subsurface Waters." The statistics of 
 
 may be briefly summed up in his own words (translated from the German) 
 as follows : " We have enumerated since the year 1020 twenty-five complete 
 oscillations, and computed from these a mean duration of 34.8 0.7 years. 
 In the last two centuries the years 1700, 1740, 1780, 1815, 1850, and 1880 
 appear as centres of cold and moist periods, and 1720, 17GO, 1795, 1830, and 
 1860 as centres of warm and dry periods." How little these results apply 
 to the secular changes of climate which have taken place in this country will 
 be made evident by a study of the curves of secular oscillations, and of the 
 other data presented in the work here cited. The present writer's inves- 
 tigations have led him to conclusions very different from those of Professor 
 Bruckner, as may be inferred from what has been said in regard to this 
 subject in the present volume. 
 
THE UNDERFLOW. 241 
 
 Artesian wells given by him in the report here under 
 discussion are essentially the same as those already ab- 
 stracted from the Census Bulletin No. 193, issued June 
 11, 1892. 1 Only on 1.43 per cent of the total area irri- 
 gated in the United States during the census year was 
 the water used obtained from Artesian wells. To this 
 statement is added the remark, that " no statistics have 
 been obtained concerning the ordinary wells from which 
 water is pumped or drawn by various means, but there 
 is found in nearly every locality water saturating po- 
 rous rocks near the surface in all places except on 
 desert areas. On the Great Plains, for example, in 
 Western Nebraska and Kansas, it is sometimes neces- 
 sary to go to depths of from 100 to 300 feet or more 
 before water-bearing strata are reached, but throughout 
 the arid region as a rule wells are successfully dug to 
 a less depth." 2 The theory of an underflow, as upheld 
 by various officials whose opinions have been set forth 
 and criticised in the preceding pages of the present 
 volume, meets with no favor on the part of Mr. 
 Newell, who remarks as follows in regard to this mat- 
 ter : " The widespread occurrence of water in pervious 
 layers of the earth's crust, and sometimes in such 
 quantities as to appear almost inexhaustible, has given 
 rise to the notion that it flows in great channels very 
 much as do the rivers of the surface, but covered from 
 sight by rocks and soils. There are a few instances 
 where underground watercourses actually occur, but 
 these are extremely rare and are extraordinary in 
 their nature, being found only in the great limestone 
 deposits or among the lava flows of recently extinct 
 
 1 See ante, p. 91. 2 See ante, pp. 117-121, 145-153. 
 
 16 
 
242 SUBSURFACE WATER. 
 
 volcanic regions." In the majority of cases the sub- 
 surface water is said to be " merely moisture saturating 
 the rocks," but the behavior of this water is admitted 
 to be "still a matter of inquiry, and is not clearly 
 understood." 
 
 That this " subsurface jwater " is a matter of impor- 
 tance over a very extensive region, as furnishing the 
 only means of obtaining a more or less permanent and 
 satisfactory water-supply, cannot be denied. All that 
 part of the Great Plains not in the immediate vicinity 
 of a river must remain dependent on water obtained 
 from wells sunk to the water-bearing rock; but this 
 matter, in regard to which so much has been said by 
 most of the irrigation officials, is passed over by Mr. 
 Newell almost in silence. A " leading question " in 
 regard to the subsurface waters is admitted to be : Are 
 they stationary, or do they flow freely from place 
 to place ? To this no more definite answer is given 
 than that "it is probable that to a certain degree 
 both these conditions are found in nature." In 
 short, it is admitted that we are here confronted by 
 a problem of which a satisfactory solution cannot be 
 given, only experience in each locality can determine 
 the rate with which the moisture beneath the surface 
 will move to take the place of that removed by the 
 stroke of the pump. This will depend on the nature 
 of the rock in the immediate vicinity and for some 
 distance away, and on the extent and manner in 
 which its homogeneity is interrupted by bars of clay, 
 faults filled with that or some other impervious mate- 
 rial, and on a variety of similar conditions of which 
 nothing definite can be known until after an actual 
 
THE FOUNTAIN METHOD. 243 
 
 trial has been made by boring or well-sinking. Further- 
 more, there is another all-important question : How 
 much of the moisture drawn from a great depth be- 
 neath the surface will be replaced by water derived 
 from the rainfall of the present, and how much of it 
 is that which has been stored up in the depths during 
 a former period of more copious precipitation than that 
 which now prevails in the arid and semi-arid regions, 
 and will therefore not be replaced after it has once 
 been raised to the surface and become exposed to 
 evaporation ? 1 In regard to this important point Mr. 
 Newell is silent. 
 
 As respects the " fountain method " of obtaining 
 water, considered by Mr. Gregory to be of so much im- 
 portance, and of the nature and application of which 
 some details have been furnished in the preceding 
 pages, 2 Mr. Newell is very outspoken. The follow- 
 ing quotation will sufficiently set forth his opinions 
 in reference both to the underflow and the method 
 of making it available by sub-canals or " fountains " : 
 " The somewhat misleading and indefinite term ' under- 
 flow ' has been applied to these waters [the subsurface 
 or underground waters], and many persons awakening 
 for the first time to a realization of their -presence 
 have received exaggerated impressions, or have mag- 
 nified the importance of phenomena previously known 
 to engineers and geologists. Extravagant reports have 
 been made as to the results of rude experiments, and 
 many persons have been induced to believe that it was 
 practicable to irrigate large portions of the subhumid 
 
 1 See, in regard to this point, ante, pp. 120-122. 
 
 2 See ante, pp. 227-229. 
 
244 COST AND VALUE OF WATER-SUPPLY. 
 
 region by means of the ground waters conducted to 
 the surface of the gently sloping plains through long 
 tunnels or open channels. Acting on this belief, 
 thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars 
 were expended, mainly in the years 1890 and 1891, 
 in the construction of such projects, principally along 
 or in the valleys of the Platte and Arkansas rivers. 
 So far as can be ascertained by examination and 
 measurement, none of these projects can be said to be 
 successful, although in a number of cases small quan- 
 tities of water are obtained from the long deep channels 
 which penetrate the pervious beds of sand and gravel. 
 . . . The projectors of these irrigating schemes often 
 failed to appreciate not only the fact that ground 
 waters must in their very nature move slowly, but 
 also that even in comparatively humid countries large 
 volumes of water are necessary to conduct irrigation 
 on an extended scale." 
 
 The following figures are given by Mr. Newell, under 
 the head of " Cost and Value of Water Supply.'' The 
 average first cost of water for irrigation throughout 
 Western United States is at the rate of $8.15 per acre, 
 while its value, wherever the rights can be transferred 
 without the land, is $26. Applying these figures to 
 the total acreage, as ascertained by the last census, the 
 total cost of irrigating the lands from which crops were 
 obtained in 1889 was $29,611,000, and the total value 
 of the water rights $94,412,000, the increase of value 
 being $64,801,000, or 218.84 per cent of the invest- 
 ment. The average annual expense of maintaining 
 the water supply was $1.07 per acre, or an aggregate 
 of $3,794,000, this being the amount expended in 
 
COST AND VALUE OF WATER-SUPPLY. 245 
 
 keeping the canals and ditches in repair and free from 
 sediment. The estimated first cost of lands from which 
 crops were obtained in 1889 was $77,490,000, and their 
 present value, including improvements, $296,850,000, 
 showing an increased value of $219,360,000, or 233.08 
 per cent of the investment in the land, not taking into 
 consideration the water. The average value of the crops 
 raised was $14.80 per acre, or a total of $53,057,000. 
 These figures have 'been introduced to exhibit the cost 
 and value of irrigation in the arid regions. The value 
 of the unutilized water supply can scarcely be estimated 
 until more accurate information is obtained concerning 
 the total amount of water and the acreage that it can 
 be made to cover. By making certain assumptions, 
 however, a rough estimate can be arrived at. 
 
 Taking the average first cost of water at $8.15 per 
 acre, and its present value at $26 per acre, the differ- 
 ence, $17.85, may be assumed as the value of the water 
 as it flows in the stream. If one cubic foot per second 
 will water one hundred acres, then the value of one 
 second-foot is $1,785. As previously stated, 1 the total 
 quantity of water probably available is 360,000 second- 
 feet, and the total value of this water would thus be 
 $642,000,000. These figures, as Mr. Newell remarks, 
 " have no claim to accuracy, but merely indicate that, 
 calculated on the most conservative basis, the water 
 supply of the arid country must be ranked among the 
 most important of its undeveloped mineral resources." 
 It is hardly necessary to point out, in addition to what 
 has been already said on this subject, how many sources 
 of error there are in these computations. One of the 
 
 1 See ante, p. 237. 
 
246 DISCHARGE OF PRINCIPAL STREAMS. 
 
 most important ones is this : that the data employed 
 must have been almost exclusively obtained from the 
 statements of parties interested to magnify the success 
 of their operations, and especially to place the value 
 of both irrigated land and crops at as high a figure as 
 possible. The estimate which Mr. Newell makes of 
 the total quantity of water probably available for irri- 
 gation seems to the present writer not to have any 
 really sound basis of fact on which to rest. Indeed, the 
 only entirely reliable statistics which can ever be ob- 
 tained which will to a certain extent at least 
 throw light on the real success of the irrigational un- 
 dertakings in the arid and semi-arid regions will be 
 their actual population and products as shown by 
 the various censuses of the United States, or of the 
 individual States, if such should ever be made. 
 
 The remainder of Mr. Newell's report is devoted to 
 a discussion of the principal drainage basins of the 
 insufficently watered portions of the country. The 
 Missouri, Yellowstone, and Platte River basins are 
 taken up in order, and various items of information 
 concerning them are given, especially such as bear 
 more particularly on the irrigation business. The 
 material here gathered together forms an important 
 beginning of a more accurate knowledge of the hy- 
 drography of the Cordilleran region. 
 
 This report ends with a tabular statement of ,the 
 mean monthly and annual discharge of the principal 
 streams gauged by the Irrigation Survey. The most 
 striking feature of this table is the extraordinary dif- 
 ference in the case of almost all the rivers measured 
 between their maximum and minimum daily discharge. 
 
AMERICAN IRRIGATION ENGINEERING. 247 
 
 Tims, for the Rio Grande at El Paso the maximum 
 daily discharge for the year ending December, 1891, 
 was 16,620 ; for 1892 it was 10,050 second-feet ; the 
 minimum daily discharge for both these years was 0. 
 For Salt River the maximum for the year ending 
 December, 1890, was 143,288 ; the minimum for the 
 same time was 397 second-feet. The difficulties which 
 such conditions present to the hydraulic engineer need 
 not be enlarged on. 
 
 The second division of the report here under discus- 
 sion was furnished by Mr. H. M. Wilson, and consists 
 of two parts. The first of these is a technical discus- 
 sion of the methods of American irrigation engineer- 
 ing, and is illustrated by a large number of plates, 
 showing, more or less fully, various engineering con- 
 structions existing in the Cordilleran States. Of these 
 works, Mr. Wilson says : " There are under construc- 
 tion to-day, or already completed, a number of great 
 irrigation systems in the West which, while costing 
 much less than those of equal magnitude in Europe 
 or in India, are the equals of these in the quality and 
 excellence of their workmanship and design. These 
 works embody all the peculiar characteristics which 
 distinguish American works from those of Europeans." 
 The literature of irrigation from the general legisla- 
 tive and economic side is said to have become volumi- 
 nous within the last few years, but " nothing worthy 
 of note has as yet been written descriptive of the 
 engineering features of our works. It is to fill this 
 want that this report has been prepared." 
 
 In the introduction to his report Mr. Wilson touches 
 briefly on various matters connected with the subject 
 
248 ARTESIAN WELLS AND UNDERFLOW. 
 
 of irrigation. It is said, he remarks, to be now gen- 
 erally agreed that the recent experiments to produce 
 rain artificially will not result in any benefit to the 
 arid regions. Artesian wells for irrigation are disposed 
 of in a few words : " Much useful information bearing 
 upon the extent and distribution of the various Artesian 
 belts has been written, and numerous wells have been 
 sunk as a consequence, but the discharge and value of 
 these is relatively insignificant. It is doubtful if a 
 hundred thousand acres over and above the area 
 already irrigated by Artesian wells will be supplied 
 from this source for many years to come. The average 
 well is capable of irrigating but a comparatively small 
 acreage, and until water becomes more scarce than it is 
 at present, their chief value will be for domestic pur- 
 poses and for watering cattle." 
 
 The subject of the underflow is handled with equal 
 brevity by Mr. Wilson, who defines it as being " the 
 seepage or ground water which is at a short depth 
 beneath the surface, and which is tapped by the 
 common well. It is claimed that the volume of this 
 underflow water, especially on the great plains sloping 
 eastward from the Rocky Mountains, is such as to 
 render irrigable in the near future vast tracts of the 
 region. But it has been discovered by experiment and 
 investigation that the discharge from such sources is 
 extremely limited." Of the " fountain method " it, is 
 said, " Tunnels and trenches of sufficient depth may 
 be sunk into the ground and run along it for great dis- 
 tances to intercept this water of percolation, though the 
 volume obtained by them is very limited, and their 
 multiplication impossible, as each work of this kind 
 
UTILIZATION OF THE GREAT RIVERS. 249 
 
 materially affects the output of any similar work which 
 may lie below it." Pumping by means of windmills or 
 steam is looked upon with more favor by Mr. Wilson, 
 and it is admitted that this method will ultimately be 
 largely resorted to, and it is believed that the areas thus 
 irrigated " will be enormously increased as the country 
 becomes more settled. There are cases, however, in 
 which ground water is a matter of considerable im- 
 portance, and this statement is said to be especially 
 true in regard to the dry beds of certain streams in 
 California and Colorado, under which tunnels have been 
 run, or dams resting on impervious foundations built 
 across their channels, by which means subterranean 
 reservoirs have been created, supplying water enough 
 for purposes of irrigation. Similar works are now 
 being constructed in a few of the gulches on the eastern 
 slopes of the Rocky Mountains, the most notable of 
 which is for the water supply of the city of Denver." 
 
 The source from which water is to be obtained in 
 sufficient quantity for irrigation, in the opinion of Mr. 
 Wilson, is the utilization of the great rivers, such as 
 the Columbia, Sacramento, Colorado, and Rio Grande. 
 The smaller streams are now almost all utilized, and on 
 many of those of the larger, but not of the largest size, 
 irrigation works are either being planned or. are in 
 actual process of construction. The time will soon 
 arrive, he thinks, when the waters of the great rivers 
 will be diverted, and when that is attempted " the en- 
 gineering problems which their utilization will raise 
 will far surpass in magnitude anything of the kind yet 
 undertaken in America." Moreover, much of the water 
 collected in the smaller streams in the mountains is lost 
 
250 DUTY OF WATER. 
 
 by seepage and evaporation shortly after it reaches the 
 plains, while the greater portion of that which flows 
 throughout the year is not utilized during the long 
 period from August to April when irrigation is not 
 practised. But this is the time of the year when the 
 rivers carry the largest volume of water, which can 
 only be saved by the construction of extensive storage 
 reservoirs. Such works, it is said, "will add enor- 
 mously to the volume of water available for irrigation." 
 It is thought also that the duty of the water, or, in 
 other words, the area which a given volume of water 
 will irrigate, will be constantly increased as the proper 
 methods of handling it become better understood, and 
 as the dry earth becomes saturated by successive seasons 
 of irrigation. In this way Mr. Wilson conceives that 
 the value of the present available sources of supply 
 " may become nearly doubled, and the area irrigable 
 from these sources be correspondingly increased. " No 
 proofs of the correctness of this statement are offered, 
 but it appears to be of the same character as that of 
 various other generalizations of the officials of the 
 Irrigation Survey. It does not seem as yet to have 
 been discovered, in other countries where irrigation is 
 practised, that with the more thorough cultivation 
 of the soil, there arises less need of water, although 
 this may in some cases be the result of the intro- 
 duction of more expensive irrigational methods. 1 
 
 1 Further on in his report, under the heading " Duty of Water," Mr. 
 Wilson discusses this subject more at length. He admits that " the duty 
 of water as at present accepted in the various portions of the West is a 
 matter of extreme variability and doubt," but he thinks that during the last 
 ten years it has nearly doubled in Colorado, and more than quadrupled in 
 portions of California. The duty of water flowing from wells in Utah, 
 according to Mr. Newell, as reported in the Census Bulletin, is 80.3 acres 
 

 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. 251 
 
 The subject of irrigation in India is briefly touched 
 upon by Mr. Wilson, and, while admitting that there 
 are difficulties in the way of deciding what can be suc- 
 cessfully undertaken in the United States by reference 
 to- experience gathered in another country of which 
 the prevailing conditions are so different, yet on the 
 whole he makes light of these difficulties. 1 
 
 The striking contrast between the density of the 
 population of the arid region of the United States and 
 that of the irrigated districts of India is recognized, 
 and it is said that, " in the central Western States, it 
 is not the feasibility of a project from a theoretically 
 financial point of view that stands in the way of its 
 construction ; it is the lack of people to inhabit and 
 cultivate the lands served by the project, for this forces 
 a large proportion of the water furnished to remain 
 uncalled for. The great problem to be confronted by 
 most irrigation projectors at present is immigration, 
 not irrigation. If but a few good projects were started 
 in the entire West, sufficient settlers could probably be 
 found to make these interest-paying, but as there are 
 many projects on foot, they divide up the number of 
 
 per second-foot ; but Mr. Wilson, immediately after citing this statement, 
 adds, " There is little doubt, however, that the duty of water in Utah aver- 
 ages about one hundred acres." Under special conditions the duty of water 
 may be made very high, as in some localities in California, where it is taken 
 to the land in wooden flumes and allowed to run over it from holes in their 
 sides, or where in some orchards each tree is supplied from a separate 
 outlet pipe. In this manner a duty as high as 1,000 acres has been realized. 
 Professor Carpenter, of the State Agricultural College of Colorado, on the 
 other hand, says fifty-five acres is the duty ordinarily taken in that State, 
 and is " the safer guide." 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 34-46, where this matter is discussed, and facts pre- 
 sented showing how entirely different the conditions prevailing in the two 
 countries are. 
 
252 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. 
 
 settlers to such an extent that many must prove finan- 
 cial failures for many years to come, and until valuable 
 lands become more scarce and settlement more dense." 
 Another most important matter, namely, the dif- 
 ference in the relations of the government to the 
 people, the land, and the irrigation enterprises in the 
 two countries, is not stated by Mr. Wilson in a suffi- 
 ciently explicit manner. It is true that he admits that 
 " in India all land and all water belong to the gov- 
 ernment, and the irrigation works are designed, con- 
 structed, maintained and operated by the government," 
 and that, in consequence of this, " the legal questions 
 involved are comparatively simple." Hence " the 
 question of profit is not always paramount, and, while 
 the direct money return is often small, the indirect 
 return to the government is always large, in enhanced 
 revenues from the rental of the land, in immunity from 
 famine, and the consequent heavy drain on the treasury 
 for relief and charity, and in the general benefit to the 
 people resulting from increased government resources 
 and exports." Then again, in the United States, as 
 the lands are all private property, and the water the 
 property of the public until appropriated, the con- 
 structors do not benefit by the enhanced value of the 
 land consequent on irrigation unless they purchase and 
 own it. This matter of the ownership of the water 
 sought to be appropriated by an irrigation company is 
 admitted to have given rise " to some of the most 
 troublesome and expensive legal complications with 
 which the Western people have had to deal." In gen- 
 eral, to be successful in this country in an irrigation 
 enterprise, the managers must begin by purchasing the 
 
IRRIGATION IN INDIA. 253 
 
 land, then construct the works and provide that land 
 with water, and finally sell, in greater or less quanti- 
 ties, as occasion offers, the tracts to which they by their 
 operations have given an enhanced value. If such sales 
 are made to intending settlers, as a rule the land will 
 have to be sold on mortgage, with often a necessarily 
 great delay in the final receipt of the money. 
 
 How different in this respect the whole condition 
 of things in India ! There the government has the 
 power to plan and to carry out any irrigational enter- 
 prise it may deem to be for the best interests of the 
 region to be more especially benefited, while not dis- 
 regarding the welfare of the country as a whole. 
 When finished, the work will be properly taken care 
 of and kept in repair, and the water equitably dis- 
 tributed, so far as it is in the power of disinterested 
 and skilful engineers to bring this about. The interest 
 on the investment, or such part of it as the government 
 may see fit to provide for in this way, will be paid in 
 the form of an increased rental of the land irrigated, 
 and this charge cannot be evaded. The country is 
 densely inhabited, and the people cannot migrate from 
 one district to another with the hope of bettering 
 their condition, as is so commonly done in the United 
 States. 
 
 But besides the difference between India and the 
 Cordilleran States in the density of the population, the 
 climatic conditions, and the relations of the govern- 
 ment to irrigational enterprises, there is another im- 
 portant matter which must not be left out of account 
 in comparing the two countries. This is the formation 
 of an alkaline deposit, or " reh " as it is called in 
 
254 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. 
 
 India, 1 on and within the soil as a result of long- 
 continued irrigation. In regard to this much debated 
 subject, Mr. Wilson makes the following remarks : 
 " There is no doubt that irrigation, if practiced igno- 
 rantly and carelessly, may result in the production 
 of a film of alkaline salts on the surface of the 
 ground, though it is equally certain not only that 
 the intelligent practice of irrigation need not be 
 accompanied by these results, but that lands which 
 were originally alkaline may be made arable. With 
 an increased knowledge of the necessity of natural or 
 artificial drainage as an adjunct to any well-planned 
 irrigation project, and a better understanding of the 
 proper method of locating and constructing canals so 
 as to produce a minimum rise of the subsurface water 
 level, the production of alkali may be reduced to a 
 minimum or wholly stopped." 
 
 A comparison of this statement with what has been 
 said in previous pages of the present volume, in which 
 the experience of the irrigation engineers of India is 
 cited in reference to the alarming condition of things 
 in that country, will show at once how incorrect and 
 imperfect Mr. Wilson's treatment of the " reh " question 
 is. It is not true that any method has as yet been 
 discovered by which " the production of alkali may be 
 reduced to a minimum or wholly stopped." It has not 
 yet been proved possible to continue irrigation for a 
 great length of time without filling the soil with alka- 
 line or earthy salts to such an extent as eventually to 
 render it unfit for cultivation, unless it be in certain 
 highly favored regions. Where the average precipi- 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 39-46. 
 
THE REH QUESTION. 255 
 
 tation is large, and there are occasional seasons of 
 very heavy and long-continued rains, there the excess 
 of alkali is washed out of the soil, at least to a consid- 
 erable extent ; and here it is that the " remedying of 
 defective water circulation " may be of importance. 1 
 Under such climatic conditions, if every facility is 
 offered for the cleansing of the soil by the passage 
 through it of the superfluous water, carrying with it 
 the alkaline particles with which the soil is saturated, 
 the evil will be entirely overcome, or at least greatly 
 lessened. This seems to be the condition of things over 
 a considerable portion of irrigated India. Where, on 
 the other hand, the average precipitation is very small, 
 and seasons of over-abundant rainfall are either very 
 few or even entirely wanting, then it is difficult to see 
 how the accumulation of alkali in an irrigated soil can 
 be prevented by any kind of artificial drainage. Here, 
 however, comes in another question. If perfectly pure 
 water were used in irrigating, there would be no alka- 
 line or other matter left from its evaporation, and the 
 nearer the approach to absolute purity in the water 
 the longer the time would be delayed before the evil 
 effects of over-irrigation began to be felt. That irriga- 
 tion has been practiced along the borders of the Nile 
 for an indefinite length of time without injurious 
 results would seem to be due in large part, at least 
 to the extraordinary purity of the water used, which, 
 even as low down as Cairo, contains only about five or 
 six grains of foreign matter to the gallon. The bene- 
 ficial effect of the water covering the low lands of the 
 Nile Valley, as a consequence of the annual rise of the 
 
 i See ante, p. 45. 
 
256 THE REH QUESTION. 
 
 river, is due in part to the deposit of sediment which is 
 formed. This, coming in large part from the decompo- 
 sition and erosion of granitic rocks, acts as a fertilizer, 
 and neutralizes to a certain extent, at least any 
 injurious effect which might otherwise result from 
 long-continued irrigation. 
 
 When, therefore, Mr. Wilson says that " neglect and 
 ignorance of the principles governing the production of 
 alkali have been most serious, and in a few portions 
 of the San Joaquin Valley in California, and in India, 
 it has cost millions of dollars in the loss of lands and in 
 the diminished demand for water," he evidently mis- 
 understands the nature of the problem, representing it 
 as one easily solved, which is by no means the case, as 
 will become evident from the consideration of what has 
 been attempted to be done in India, and of how little 
 has been accomplished toward diminishing the evil of 
 the " reh." 
 
 Mr. Wilson himself recognizes the fact that " there 
 are some classes of water which it is not advisable to 
 use for purposes of irrigation." Yet he seems to con- 
 sider this condition of things as exceptional, and as 
 being one which can be easily remedied. This is far 
 from being true, and some of the methods proposed 
 by him would aggravate the difficulty rather than 
 diminish it. 
 
 From what has been stated in the preceding pages, it 
 will be evident that we are as yet much in the dark as 
 regards the composition of the water obtained from the 
 various wells and rivers of the Cordilleran region, which 
 are already to some extent employed for irrigation, and 
 of which it is proposed and expected that a far larger 
 
EARLY IRRIGATION IN ARIZONA. 257 
 
 use will be made in the future. That much of this 
 water is of a quality such that it cannot be expected to 
 benefit the soil to which it is applied, seems already 
 to have been clearly demonstrated. That animals can 
 sustain life on an exceedingly impure water, and that 
 some crops can be raised where the soil is irrigated 
 with a strong solution of various mineral salts, is a well 
 known fact, as witness the thriving of the date-palms 
 in the water procured by means of the Artesian borings 
 in the Sahara, as well as the willingness of the camel to 
 drink it. But to what extent very impure water can 
 be used for irrigation in general agriculture, or how 
 long animals will thrive under conditions which seem 
 so abnormal to those who are accustomed to see stock 
 watered with a fluid holding in solution not more than 
 ten or twenty grains of solid matter to the gallon, 
 remains as yet to be ascertained by actual experiment. 1 
 Under the head of " History and Legislation," Mr. 
 Wilson gives a brief historical sketch of the introduc- 
 tion of irrigation into this country. Several valleys in 
 Arizona are said to show unmistakable signs of former 
 cultivation. " In nearly every portion of the Salt and 
 Gila river valleys the close observer will find traces of 
 early habitation and of systems of irrigation, by means 
 
 1 The subject of the composition of the water obtained from the various 
 wells, springs, rivers, and lakes of the western part of this country is one 
 of great scientific as well as practical importance. In the reports of the 
 officials of the Irrigation Survey this matter seems to have been by far too 
 much neglected. From some of the State Geological Reports more satis- 
 factory information may be obtained, as has been seen in the preceding 
 pages. Some of the analyses which these reports contain, however, are 
 manifestly unreliable, and the whole body of information on this subject is 
 of too uncertain a character to make it worth while to attempt to enter into 
 any generalization with regard to the quality of the water furnished under 
 different geological conditions throughout the Cordilleran region. 
 
 17 
 
258 EARLY IRRIGATION IN CALIFORNIA. 
 
 of which the broad plains and mesas were brought to 
 the highest state of productiveness." This develop- 
 ment of the agricultural resources of a region now 
 so dry and thinly inhabited 1 dates back to a period 
 long antecedent to the arrival of the Spaniards in 
 Mexico ; but when these irrigation works were con- 
 structed is entirely a matter of conjecture. Mr. Wilson 
 seems to think that it was solely owing to the skill 
 with which this region was irrigated and cultivated by 
 the early inhabitants that its former productiveness 
 was brought about, the natural inference being that 
 this condition of things may be restored by a return to 
 the ancient practices, improved, it may be, in certain re- 
 spects by modern methods. This is doubtful, for there 
 is abundant evidence that the climate of this part of 
 the country has been changed for the worse within a 
 not very remote period. The topographical features of 
 the Colorado River and its tributaries prove unmistak- 
 ably that these streams once flowed with much larger 
 volume than they do at the present time, and the same 
 is true of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, 
 where there is ample geological evidence that this 
 desiccation was begun at least as early as the later 
 Tertiary epoch, the gravels deposited by the once much 
 larger rivers of that region containing abundant fossils 
 of Miocene and Pliocene age. 
 
 The founders of the missions of California were the 
 first persons historically known to have practiced irri- 
 gation within the limits of the United States, and this 
 they were led to do by knowledge of the business 
 
 1 See ante, p. 89, for statistics of the area at present under irrigation, 
 and of the density of the population of Arizona. 
 
CALIFORNIA AND COLORADO. 259 
 
 brought from Mexico and even from Spain. Mr. 
 Wilson considers that the old mission of San Juan 
 Capistrano, near San Diego, was " the site of probably 
 the oldest irrigation development by civilized people in 
 this country." The Mormons, immediately after their 
 settlement in Salt Lake Valley, became aware of the 
 necessity of irrigation in that region, and the practice 
 of bringing water from the mountains above for use in 
 gold-washing led the miners along the western base 
 of the Sierra Nevada to similar results in that region, 
 the ditches first constructed for mining purposes being 
 soon utilized, to a greater or less extent, for "rrigation. 1 
 Very much the same condition of things occurred in 
 Colorado, where more than twenty-five years ago those 
 who began by mining for gold and failed of success 
 were led to take up agriculture, and soon found out 
 that they could not succeed without obtaining an 
 artificial supply of water. 
 
 The statistics given on a preceding page 2 show that 
 it is only in California and Colorado that more than 
 one per cent of the entire land surface is irrigated, 
 while Utah stands third in the list, these three being 
 the only States or Territories of which the irrigated 
 area amounts to as much as half of one per cent of the 
 whole. The great superiority of the States of Califor- 
 nia and Colorado with respect to the development of 
 agriculture by means of irrigation is easily accounted 
 for. In both mining is and has been actively and suc- 
 cessfully pursued, and a home market thus secured ; 
 both are favorably situated for the establishment of 
 extensive and successful irrigational works, since both 
 
 1 See ante, p. 28. 2 See ante, p. 232. 
 
260 LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 include broad and lofty ranges of mountains on which 
 snow falls in large quantity, and from which flow 
 perennial streams of pure water. California, however, 
 possesses an additional advantage in that its irrigable 
 lands do not lie at a high elevation above the sea level, 
 as is the case in Colorado, so that they are more favor- 
 ably situated with regard to climate, and especially well 
 suited to the raising of fruit, large quantities of which 
 are shipped to the Eastern States to supply a region 
 where semi-tropical products cannot be raised, so that 
 in this way a very extensive business has been devel- 
 oped, which the early settlers in California could not 
 have foreseen. The less favorable conditions of Utah 
 in these respects are manifested in the diminished area 
 of that territory cultivated by the help of irrigation, 
 this being about one fourth of that thus cultivated in 
 California and one third of that in Colorado. 
 
 Under the head of " Legislation and Administration" 
 Mr. Wilson next proceeds to give a brief sketch of what 
 has been done in this direction by State legislatures and 
 by Congress. In California and Colorado, and more 
 notably in Wyoming, it appears that " legislation has 
 been enacted which covers many important features 
 calling for attention," while the government of the 
 United States is said "to have enacted little legisla- 
 tion for the protection of irrigators or of corporations 
 intending constructions." To this, however, is added 
 the statement, that " government has in recent years 
 done a great deal for the encouragement of irrigation 
 by directing investigations in various channels, and 
 making provisions for surveys and experiments on the 
 more important abstract questions relating to irriga- 
 
SEGREGATION OF IRRIGABLE LANDS. 261 
 
 tion." The work of the Agricultural Department, of 
 which considerable has been said in the preceding pages 
 of the present volume, is also alluded to, as well as the 
 investigations ordered to be made by the United States 
 Geological Survey, the nature of which has already been 
 indicated. 1 
 
 In regard to the present status of the work executed 
 under the direction of the United States Geological 
 Survey, and the action of Congress in that connection, 
 the following statement is offered by Mr. Wilson : 
 " Appropriations were made for the fiscal years ending 
 in June, 1889 and 1890, and the work prosecuted with 
 vigor. The following Congress, however, failed to 
 make appropriations for the continuance of this work, 
 and little has been done since beyond the completion of 
 reports and the segregation of reservoir sites by the 
 topographic field parties of the Geological Survey. 
 The clause contained in the bill above cited, which 
 provided for the segregation and withdrawal from sale 
 or occupation of irrigable lands, was repealed by act of 
 Congress passed in the spring of 1891. A further act, 
 however, passed during the same Congress and ap- 
 proved March 3, 1891, made some regulations and 
 provisions regarding the mode of obtaining and set- 
 tling on public lands, which, while it does not go as far 
 as the act segregating irrigable lands, prevents the 
 wholesale occupation of the same by corporations or 
 speculators." 
 
 As the law seems to stand at present, no one settler 
 can acquire a title to more than 320 acres, the amount 
 having been reduced from 1>120 acres, which it would 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 29-31. 
 
262 AMERICAN IRRIGATION ENGINEERING. 
 
 seem that a settler previous to that change could have 
 acquired by means of an ordinary pre-emption act and 
 the so-called " timber-culture act." The present enact- 
 ments make it possible for settlers to obtain title to 
 reservoir sites and right of way for irrigation works 
 over government lands without payment for the same, 
 and by merely filing on the land and fulfilling the 
 requirements of the law, of which the most important 
 seems to be the expenditure of three dollars per acre, 
 or one dollar per year for three successive years, on 
 each acre claimed. 
 
 Following the above more general considerations in 
 regard to irrigation comes a detailed description of 
 various irrigation works, such having been selected for 
 this purpose as embody all the principal features dis- 
 tinguishing American irrigation engineering. Under 
 the head of " Perennial Canals," illustrations of works 
 of this class are furnished from California, Colorado, 
 Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, and Idaho. 
 Most of the works described are intended for irriga- 
 tion, but a few furnish water for mining also, and one 
 has been built to supply power for the state prison at 
 Folsom, in California. These latter works are described 
 by Mr. Wilson as being " the most substantial and elabo- 
 rate of their kind that have been constructed, either in 
 this country, Europe, or India." Furnishing water-power 
 for the prison is the main object of this canal, but it is 
 also intended that the water shall be used for irrigation 
 and for hydraulic mining. Some of the difficulties of 
 this enterprise may be inferred from the facts reported 
 by Mr. Wilson, that a depth of thirty-one feet of water 
 has passed over the crest of the weir, on the occasion 
 
WATER STORAGE. 263 
 
 of one high spring flood, and that in this same year a 
 depth of thirty feet of wet silt was deposited in the 
 
 reservoir. 1 
 
 Following the chapter devoted to perennial canals in 
 Mr. Wilson's report comes one in which certain techni- 
 cal details connected with their construction are dis- 
 cussed, under the heads of " Headworks," " Weirs," 
 " Diversion Dams," " Regulators," " Escapes," " Falls 
 and Rapids," and " Drainage Works, Flumes, Siphons, 
 etc." Next comes a chapter the several sections of 
 which are entitled, " Distribution and Measurement of 
 Water," "Application of Water," and "Maintenance 
 and Supervision." 
 
 This matter is purely technical, and its discussion 
 does not fall within the province of the present volume, 
 neither could its results be epitomized in such a manner 
 as to be intelligible and useful. 
 
 The chapter next to those cited above, which is en- 
 titled " Water Storage," presents interesting features, 
 some of which may here be indicated, especially as this 
 department of irrigation engineering is that in which 
 falls most of the work done under the direction of the 
 United States Geological Survey, and which is evidently 
 considered by its officials as being much more important 
 than any other. Storage reservoirs are constructions 
 with which Eastern engineers are familiar, since it is 
 by them that many of the largest cities at the East 
 are supplied with water, although this is not there 
 used for irrigational purposes. 
 
 1 How irrigation works of any kind can be built which will stand such 
 a freshet as that of the year 1861-62, which extended over the whole 
 Sacramento Valley, the present writer confesses himself not able to under- 
 stand. 
 
264 STORAGE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 In regard to this matter Mr. Wilson makes the fol- 
 lowing remarks : " Since the passage of the Act of 
 Congress signed October 2, 1888, providing for the 
 survey by government engineers and the withdrawal 
 from occupation of lands included within reservoir 
 sites, and since the passage of a subsequent act, ap- 
 proved March 3, 1891, regulating the methods of 
 disposal of these reserved storage sites, the growth 
 of the popular interest in the subject of water storage 
 in the West has led to the development of a great 
 number of storage projects, a few of which are already 
 under construction. Many of these are within them- 
 selves excellent and feasible projects, and will some 
 day be undertaken, while a large proportion will in 
 the course of time prove impracticable and be aban- 
 doned." l 
 
 Mr. Wilson next proceeds to give descriptions, with 
 considerable engineering detail, of various reservoir 
 projects which have already been more or less com- 
 pletely carried out. There are seven of these. The 
 first mentioned is the reservoir and canal system of the 
 " San Diego Flume Company," which is said to contain 
 nearly all of the typical features of a combined storage 
 and irrigation system. It consists of a storage reser- 
 voir situated high up in the Coast Ranges of California, 
 and of the bed of the San Diego River, down which the 
 storage waters flow for some distance, and are then 
 diverted to a wooden flume, which conducts them to 
 the irrigable lands. The reservoir is about seventy 
 
 1 See ante, p. 31, where the location of the sites for reservoirs selected 
 by the Geological Survey is indicated, and various other particulars men- 
 tioned in regard to them. 
 
STORAGE RESERVOIRS. 265 
 
 miles east of San Diego, and is situated at an altitude 
 of 5,500 feet. It has a capacity of 11,500 acre-feet. 
 There are in all about thirty-six miles of wooden flume 
 and trestle-work, the number of trestles being 315, and 
 there are eight tunnels, the longest of which is nearly 
 2,000 feet long. The total cost of the work, to the 
 end of the year 1888, is stated at $958,790. The 
 water-supply as yet provided for it is said by Mr. 
 Wilson to be insufficient ; but an enlargement of the 
 works by the diversion of the head-waters of other 
 streams and the construction of additional storage 
 reservoirs is contemplated. 
 
 The next project mentioned is the " Merced Reser- 
 voir," which consists of a temporary diversion weir on 
 the Merced River, about twenty-five miles above the 
 city of Merced, in California, and a canal twenty-seven 
 miles long, which leads to the distributing canals and 
 pipes through which the town and the irrigable lands 
 are supplied. The reservoir has a surface area of 500 
 acres, and is closed by a dam 4,000 feet in length 
 and fifty-four in maximum height, which is con- 
 structed entirely of earth. The total expenditure has 
 been about $1,500,000 ; but this includes the cost of 
 most of the land owned by the company, amounting 
 in all to about 60,000 acres. The irrigable lands 
 commanded by this canal system are said to be well 
 adapted to raising fruit and vegetables. 
 
 " Long Valley Reservoir,'* the third of Mr. Wilson's 
 projects, is in Honey Valley, in Northern California. 
 The plan, which seems as yet to exist only on paper, 
 includes a storage reservoir having an area of 1,080 
 acres, and closed by an earthen dam ninety-six feet 
 
266 STORAGE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 in maximum height and 950 feet in length. The cost 
 is estimated at about $100,000. 
 
 The " "Walnut Grove Reservoir/' on the Hassayampa 
 River, in Arizona, is the next project discussed by Mr. 
 "Wilson. The locality is about thirty miles south of 
 Prescott, and the object of the storage reservoir formed 
 there was to furnish water for mining gravel in the bed 
 of the river, and for irrigating the land in the valley 
 below. This dam is described in considerable detail, 
 the object being apparently to illustrate its defective 
 construction, since it was carried away by a cloud- 
 burst with great loss of life in 1890. It was of the 
 type known as the " rock-filled dam," which is said to 
 be " essentially the product of Western engineering." 
 
 The " Castlewood Reservoir," of which a description 
 follows next in Mr. Wilson's report, is said to be a 
 very interesting scheme which combines two different 
 systems of water storage. The system comprises a 
 main storage reservoir known as Castlewood Lake, 
 situated on Cherry Creek, Colorado, at a narrow point 
 in the canon, about thirty miles southeast of the city 
 of Denver, and of a diversion weir a mile and a half 
 lower down on the creek which receives the water that 
 has been turned into it from the reservoir, and passes 
 it into a canal which heads at the weir and by which it 
 is conveyed to the irrigable land lying southeast of 
 Denver. There are also four secondary reservoirs, 
 situated in different parts of the tract to be irrigated, 
 and these are natural depressions in the surface. The 
 design of the dam is said to be peculiar, and to have 
 been the cause of alarm to the people living below it, 
 so that it was not allowed to be filled, and a heavy 
 
BEAR VALLEY RESERVOIR. 267 
 
 earth embankment has been planned to be placed above 
 for its reinforcement, and this is said by Mr. Wilson to 
 be "under construction and now nearly completed." 
 The capital of the company is $2,500,000, and from, 
 the proceeds of a portion of the stock sold land has 
 been purchased, and about $425,000 spent on the 
 dam. 
 
 " Bear Valley Reservoir " is situated in the San 
 Bernardino Mountains, a little east and north of the 
 town of that name, its purpose being to irrigate the 
 land in that vicinity. Bear Valley itself is a large 
 basin in the heart of the mountains, at an altitude of 
 about 6,200 feet, where the rainfall is very large. 1 The 
 lands to be irrigated are said to have shown such a 
 remarkable development, and the value of water for 
 irrigation to have increased so rapidly within the pa^t 
 few years, that the company has extended its scope 
 and operations, and is constructing a new and larger 
 dam to replace the existing one, which, as Mr. Wilson 
 remarks, " has been frequently described because of the 
 peculiarly bold cross section given to it." 2 The new 
 dam is to be a much larger and more substantial struc- 
 
 1 According to observations made in the year 1883-84, the rainfall 
 amounted to 93.3 inches, and in the months of February and March it was 
 respectively twenty-four and thirty-five inches. That year was an excep- 
 tional one, and the annual average is presumably less than this. In 
 February, 1890, a fall of nineteen inches in twenty-four hours was 
 measured at the dam site. 
 
 2 This dam, built of rough ashlar masonry on both faces, filled with 
 coursed rubble masonry in the interior, laid in uniform beds of Portland 
 cement, is 3.2 feet wide at the top, the lower face being vertical for forty- 
 eight feet, while the upper face has such a batter that at a depth of forty- 
 eight feet from the crest it is only eight and a half feet in thickness, while 
 the foundation is twenty-feet thick only. The total height of the dam is 
 sixty-four feet. 
 
268 STORAGE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 ture than the old one. It will be about 120 feet in 
 extreme height, fifteen feet wide at the top, and seventy- 
 three and a half at the bottom, and built of the best 
 granite masonry throughout. 
 
 The " Sweetwater Reservoir " is a storage reservoir 
 for the waters of a creek of that name about twenty- 
 five miles east of San Diego, in the suburbs of which 
 town, as well as for irrigation in the vicinity, these 
 waters are used. The dam is ninety-four feet high, 
 forty-six feet thick at the base, and twelve feet at the 
 top, the extreme length being 380 feet. This dam, 
 like some others in this region, is arched up stream, 
 and Mr. Wilson says of it that its cross section is 
 " much lighter than theory would call for in a struc- 
 ture expected to stand by gravity alone," but " great 
 reliance has been placed on its curved plan and the 
 shortness of the radius of this curvature." 
 
 Various other reservoir projects are now briefly 
 described by Mr. Wilson, among which that of the 
 Lake Hemet Water Company may be mentioned, since 
 of this it is said that when completed " the reservoir 
 will form one of the largest of its kind, while the dam 
 closing it will be nearly the highest and probably the 
 best constructed ever built." The water is to be used 
 for irrigating land in the San Jacinto Valley, California. 
 The height of the proposed dam is 150 feet ; its length 
 on top at 120 feet will be 220 feet, and at 160 feet 400 
 feet ; the top width is ten feet, and the thickness at 
 bottom 100 feet. The dam is arched up stream, with a 
 radius of 300 feet, and is constructed throughout of the 
 largest uncoursed rubble masonry. The estimated ca- 
 pacity of the reservoir at a depth of 150 feet will be 
 
WATER STORAGE. 269 
 
 26,000 acre-feet, and with a depth of 160 feet 32,500 
 acre-feet, sufficient for a constant discharge for 180 
 days of about 100 second-feet. The cost of the dam 
 is estimated at $250,000, and the pipes, flumes, and 
 distribution system will cost $250,000 more. 
 
 Another somewhat similar work, now in process of 
 construction, is " Reservoir No. 1 of the Arrowhead 
 Reservoir Company," which is to gather the head 
 waters of the Mohave River on the northern slope 
 of the San Bernardino Range, to be used for irriga- 
 tion in the valley of that name. On this work will be 
 six tunnels aggregating three miles in length, and about 
 sixty miles of conduits. The dam will be 150 feet 
 high, arched in plan, with a radius of 575 feet. " Its 
 cross section will be unusually slight, its length on top 
 being 680 feet, and its width at top ten feet and at the 
 base only forty-seven and a half feet." Its total ca- 
 pacity is expected to be about 68,000 acre-feet, and its 
 catchment area is seventy-five square miles, on which 
 the annual precipitation is about forty inches. The 
 estimated cost of the entire work is $1,500,000. 
 
 Under the head of "Water Storage," Mr. Wilson 
 next proceeds to describe the great reservoir for the 
 storage of water to be used chiefly for the supply of 
 the city of Denver, although it is expected that a small 
 portion of it will be taken for irrigation in and about 
 that city. The water is to be collected in " subsurface 
 gathering galleries " under the South Platte River, 1 and 
 two storage reservoirs are to be constructed, closed by 
 "mammoth earth dams," one below the other, built 
 across two valleys near Wheatland, a few miles above 
 
 i See ante, p. 229. 
 
270 SUBSURFACE SOURCES OF SUPPLY. 
 
 Denver. As the catchment area of the reservoirs is 
 relatively small, the water to fill them is to be brought 
 from nineteen miles farther up the river in a wooden 
 pipe line thirty inches in diameter. The upper reser- 
 voir will have a surface area of 322 acres, with a mean 
 depth of fifty-seven feet and a capacity of 23,000 acre- 
 feet; the lower will have a surface area of 157 acres, 
 and a capacity of 12,000 acre-feet. The upper dam, 
 which at the time of Mr. Wilson's writing, was in pro- 
 cess of construction, is 705 feet long on the crest, and 
 261 feet in maximum height ; its width at the top 
 being thirty feet, and at the base 986 feet. The lower 
 dam will be similar to the upper one in construction, 
 and not very different from it in dimensions, its width 
 at the base being 989 feet. 
 
 The next subject taken up by Mr. Wilson in his 
 report is " Subsurface Sources of Supply/' under which 
 designation he includes " all those sources of water-sup- 
 ply which are obtained by mining, digging, or boring/' 
 It is a well-known fact, he says, that in many regions 
 the subsurface water level rises very nearly to the 
 surface, while nearly everywhere water is to be found 
 at some greater or less depth. This ground water in 
 some cases may be nearly inexhaustible ; in others, of 
 very limited amount. In regard to the " underflow," 
 Mr. Wilson remarks as follows : " Where there is a suf- 
 ficient slope, as in the plains east of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, this ground water is so well distributed and so 
 great in amount that it is frequently, though incor- 
 rectly, spoken of as the 'underflow.' This is not an 
 accurate description, as the water does not flow under 
 the soil, though there is a slow and constant creeping 
 
SUBMERGED DAMS. 271 
 
 motion along the general slopes, due chiefly to capillary 
 attraction, and to a much less extent to the action of 
 gravity." 
 
 Passing rapidly over this branch of his subject, with 
 the remark that " wells from which water must be 
 raised by pumping are as yet employed in this coun- 
 try to such an extremely limited extent as to deserve 
 no more than a passing mention," Mr. Wilson proceeds 
 to speak of the subsurface waters which flow under 
 the dry beds of the mountain torrents and streams 
 of the southern arid region ; these, he thinks, " will in 
 the future furnish a moderate supply for irrigation," 
 and are extremely interesting " because of the engineer- 
 ing devices employed in rendering them available." 
 The development of the ground water under stream 
 beds, the hillsides, or the prairie slopes in California, 
 Colorado, and similar regions, is said to offer " the 
 greatest field for engineering ingenuity." 
 
 To this class of undertakings may be referred the 
 building of submerged dams, with the object of cutting 
 off the subterranean flow and bringing the water to the 
 surface. As a specimen of this source of supply, the 
 works of the American Water Company of Denver are 
 described. These consist of a submerged open crib 
 dam in the gravel and sand bed of Cherry Creek, 
 resting on solid rock, which is about seventy-three feet 
 below the bed of the stream. Its total width, across 
 the channel of the stream, is 700 feet, which is less 
 than half the width of that channel. The dam is ten 
 feet wide at its crest, and seventeen feet at the bottom. 
 A pump pit or well is sunk from the hill to nearly the 
 same level as the bottom of the dam, and the water is 
 
272 ENGINEERING RESULTS. 
 
 to be pumped to a storage reservoir located on a hill 
 near by. 
 
 The most interesting submerged dam yet constructed 
 is said to be that of the San Fernando Land and Water 
 Company on Pacoima Creek, in Southern California. 
 The object of this dam is to develop the water which 
 is known to flow under the dry gravel bed of the stream 
 during most of the irrigating season. For this purpose 
 the dam is built in a straight line in such manner that 
 it completely shuts off the flow of subterranean water, 
 and forms a submerged reservoir in the gravel about 
 half a mile in width and several miles in length, av- 
 eraging thirty feet deep. The subsurface water is 
 gathered by means of cement pipes, which lead it into 
 two wells of masonry forming part of the structure of 
 the dam, and from these it runs under ground to the 
 towns of Pacoima and San Bernardino, furnishing a 
 supply for irrigation as well as for domestic use. 
 
 Various methods of raising the subsurface water by 
 means of pumps are next described by Mr. Wilson ; 
 but, as he remarks, the percentage of irrigation which 
 is effected in this way is "so small as to be scarcely 
 appreciable when compared with gravity supplies." 
 Still he thinks " there is little doubt that the employ- 
 ment of pumps and other lift apparatus will steadily 
 and rapidly increase." 
 
 The concluding portion of Mr. Wilson's report, en- 
 titled " Engineering Results of Irrigation Survey," 
 begins with a brief description of the methods by which 
 that work was conducted, the principal factors of which 
 are said to be : " (1) the delineations and segregations 
 of the irrigable lands within each basin; (2) the study 
 
ENGINEERING RESULTS. 273 
 
 of the sources of supply and hydrography of the basins 
 from which these lands should be watered ; (3) detailed 
 surveys indicating the methods by which the best use 
 should be made of this water supply for the irrigation 
 of the land." After a summary of what had been 
 accomplished in each of these departments up to the 
 date of closing his report, Mr. Wilson proceeds as fol- 
 lows : " It is a matter deeply to be regretted that in no 
 case was the work of these various branches completed, 
 owing to the discontinuance of the appropriations for 
 continuing the work. The topographic work is still 
 being carried on under appropriations for that purpose, 
 and valuable preliminary information is being collected 
 and published as rapidly as obtained. This work is 
 complete within itself as far as it goes. A certain 
 amount of hydrographic work, consisting chiefly of 
 stream gaugings and the discussion and study of them, 
 is still being conducted, and this work already furnishes 
 us with a great deal of information relative to the 
 hydrography of the arid region and the various hydro- 
 graphic basins contained therein. This work will in 
 the course of a series of observations extending over a 
 period of years be complete within itself so far as it 
 goes, though many correlated studies, especially those 
 relating to evaporation, seepage, and the duty of water, 
 and similar problems, should be investigated before the 
 study of the hydrographic basins approaches absolute 
 completion." 
 
 Finally, after enumerating all the factors required to 
 be known before the engineering work of the Irrigation 
 Survey could be considered as being complete, (and this 
 department is said in particular to have suffered from 
 
 18 
 
274 ENGINEERING RESULTS. 
 
 lack of appropriation,) five of the drainage basins, in 
 which " all these factors have been obtained in a pre- 
 liminary and incomplete manner/' are reported on, and 
 a statement given in regard to each, with accompanying 
 diagrams and sections, so that the exact condition of 
 the work may be clearly understood. 
 
 These surveys are grouped in the description under 
 the following heads: (1) Arkansas Basin, Colorado; 
 (2) Sun River system, Montana ; (3) Truckee and 
 Carson River systems, Nevada ; (4) California Divis- 
 ion, including seven reservoirs in the High Sierra, 
 and a survey of Clear Lake in the Coast Ranges ; 
 (5) El Paso Reservoir; (6) Pocatello Canal, Idaho. 
 
 Having in the preceding pages passed over in review 
 the more important publications of the various irriga- 
 tion surveys, and given a synopsis of the opinions held 
 and theories advocated by the officials who have, under 
 government authority, been employed in the different 
 departments of the work, a few general remarks bear- 
 ing on some of the problems which have presented 
 themselves will properly be here appended. 
 
 It cannot fail to have been noticed how much the 
 views of those who have written about the water- 
 supply of the arid region differ in many important 
 points, and how far the present writer is from agreeing 
 with some of the authors whose opinions he has sub- 
 jected to criticism. It will also have been seen that 
 with the progress of the irrigational investigation some 
 of those employed in the work have themselves been 
 led to adopt much less exaggerated ideas of the possi- 
 bilities of irrigation than they were inclined to hold at 
 the time of beginning their labors. The present writer 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 275 
 
 in the earlier pages of this volume (the later works 
 reviewed by him not having then appeared or come 
 into his possession) occupied more space in controvert- 
 ing some of the views then generally advocated by the 
 government officials than would be necessary at the 
 present time, because the earlier exaggerations have in 
 a measure been relinquished, and a more sober mental 
 condition has begun to prevail. This is especially the 
 case with the later contributions of the irrigational 
 department of the United States Geological Survey. 
 The views of those employed in that work do not differ 
 very essentially in reference to the most important 
 points from those advocated by the present writer. 
 
 It is not necessary to enter into any long discussion of 
 the matter in order that it may be made clear that an 
 inadequate supply of water must necessarily be a great 
 drawback to the prosperity of a region laboring under 
 this disadvantage. The density of the population of 
 that part of the earth which is not uninhabitable on 
 account of extreme cold is more affected by this cause 
 than by any other. There is no nation which holds a 
 commanding position in respect to population, wealth, 
 and political influence which is not occupying in 
 large part, at least - a region of adequate precipita- 
 tion. All the drier portions of the earth's surface are 
 thinly populated, and the very dry regions are almost 
 uninhabitable. That this may not always have been 
 the case in former times must, however, be admitted, 
 for the countries bordering on the Eastern Mediterra- 
 nean, where was once the focus of enlightenment, were 
 probably somewhat scantily supplied with water when 
 at the height of their power. That this region is now, 
 
276 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 or could easily be, entirely controlled by nations occu- 
 pying areas of abundant rainfall is not a matter of 
 accident : there is good reason for believing that this 
 more favorable climatic condition is a powerful factor 
 in these changed relations of intellectual development 
 and political power. 
 
 It is safe to say that the part of the United States 
 which is inadequately supplied with moisture will never 
 compare in density of population with that more favor- 
 ably situated in this respect. There are portions of the 
 arid region, however, which are important on account 
 of the deposits of the metals and their ores which they 
 possess. This is especially the case with that region of 
 small precipitation, but of large mineral resources, which 
 lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Ne- 
 vada, and embraces a large part of both those great 
 mountain systems. The metallic treasures which the 
 Cordilleran region contains, however, are not inexhaust- 
 ible, and the prosperity of a region dependent on their 
 development will not be of indefinite continuance. 
 The energy, or even recklessness, with which these 
 mineral resources of the Western United States have 
 been and are likely to continue to be developed forbids 
 the idea of their long duration. The statistics which 
 have been presented in the preceding pages of this 
 volume show plainly how great the contrast is between 
 the well watered and the arid portions of the United 
 States, although the mines of the drier metal-producing 
 region have been in process of development for nearly 
 half a century. 
 
 The region which lies east of the base of the Rocky 
 Mountains, and is not metalliferous, belongs in part to 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 277 
 
 the arid and in part to the semi-arid belt. Under the 
 name of the " Great Plains/' much has been said of 
 its topographical character and its conditions of water- 
 supply in the preceding pages. In spite of the sanguine 
 expectations of some of its inhabitants, backed by 
 the opinions of various irrigation officials, it may confi- 
 dently be asserted that it will remain as it is a thinly 
 inhabited pastoral region, in which the water-supply 
 will chiefly be drawn from deep wells, by the aid of 
 steam in some cases, but mostly by means of wind- 
 mills. The use of this water for irrigation will be very 
 limited, and what is raised for that purpose will be for 
 small gardens. It is impossible that people never seeing 
 a river or a lake, or water running except from the 
 spout of a pump, never seeing a mountain or a ledge of 
 solid rock, never seeing what with any propriety could 
 be called a forest it is impossible that those liv- 
 ing deprived of all these natural advantages can ever 
 rise to even a moderately high plane of civilization. 
 Whether the population of this part of the country 
 will ever become so dense as materially to affect the 
 supply of water is a question which cannot be easily 
 answered. The difficulties which may arise, as respects 
 the quantity and quality of the water obtained from 
 the deep wells on the Plains, have already been alluded 
 to in the preceding pages, and more need not be added 
 in regard to them. That the "fountain method" of 
 utilizing " subsurface water " will ever be of importance 
 in irrigation seems hardly probable, although in certain 
 cases some of the ingenious engineering works con- 
 structed for this purpose, and which have been described 
 in the preceding pages, may be successful in providing 
 
278 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 water for use in those favorably situated towns which 
 are natural centres of travel or of raining develop- 
 ment. 
 
 The importance of Artesian wells, not only in gen- 
 eral, but especially with reference to their use in irriga- 
 tion, has been much exaggerated. Only on four tenths 
 of one per cent of the total land area west of the 100th 
 meridian were crops raised by the help of irrigation at 
 the time the last census was taken, and only on 1.43 
 per cent of the irrigated area was Artesian water used. 
 In the well-watered part of the country Artesian wells 
 are never used for irrigation, and of the many deep- 
 bored wells on the Atlantic coast and in the Mississippi 
 Valley the water of very few is of value for any pur- 
 pose, unless it be medicinal. The regions in which 
 Artesian water can be obtained are few in number, and 
 of small dimensions as compared with the total area of 
 the country. Much the most important of these seems 
 to be that of the Grand and Black Prairie region of 
 Texas ; but in regard to the composition of the water 
 which there comes to the surface in such large quantity 
 more information is much to be desired. 
 
 There does not seem to be anywhere in the United 
 States an Artesian area possessing the ideal basin struc- 
 ture which is so typically presented by the wells in and 
 near Paris, which draw their supply from the Lower 
 Greensand. In the Artesian districts of the Atlantic 
 coast and of Texas the assemblage of strata has a uni- 
 form dip toward the sea, and is made up of alternating 
 permeable and impermeable beds. The necessary pres- 
 sure, which in the case of a complete basin is furnished 
 by the water seeking to descend from all sides toward 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 279 
 
 the centre, is, when only one leg or one side of the 
 synclinal is present, derived from the inability of the 
 water to find any escape below. This condition is due, 
 in most cases, to the fact that the pervious beds which 
 hold the water become less and less capable of allowing 
 it to pass through them, because their particles are finer 
 and more clayey .material is mixed with them, in pro- 
 portion to the distance over which the sediment of 
 which the rocks are formed has been carried from the 
 place where it originated. In a somewhat similar man- 
 ner, Artesian conditions may be produced by a fault or 
 fissure which has become filled with clay, or by a dike 
 of impermeable volcanic material which intersects the 
 basin, the function of this being to intercept the pas- 
 sage of the water to a lower level at which it might 
 escape in the form of springs, but where, if no opportu- 
 nity for its discharge in this way is offered, it must 
 accumulate under pressure, which will cause it to rise 
 whenever the stratum in which it is thus confined is 
 penetrated by the borer. 
 
 The theory which has been sometimes advocated by 
 geologists, that, where an examination of the strati- 
 graphical character of the region fails to reveal the ex- 
 istence of the requisites for an Artesian flow, but where, 
 notwithstanding this, water does rise to the surface 
 when a water-bearing stratum has been reached by the 
 drill, there the pressure of the rock is the cause of this 
 anomalous condition of things, cannot be accepted as 
 being a satisfactory solution of the problem. When 
 examined in the light of our knowledge of the physical 
 characters of rocks, this theory is found to have no 
 basis of truth. Neither gas, oil, nor water can escape 
 
280 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 from the strata in which, they are confined without 
 some other cause than the simple gravity of the par- 
 ticles between which they are enclosed. Gas, however, 
 does escape under great pressure, and this is often ac- 
 companied by oil and water, either mixed or separately. 
 That the pressure which this gas exerts is the result 
 of the manner of its formation is generally admitted. 
 Generated under conditions which are not clearly un- 
 derstood, but which result from the transformation of 
 organic matter, the gaseous particles are held impris- 
 oned between formations through which they are unable 
 to pass, until a chance of escape is offered through the 
 hole made by the drill. But of course the gas may 
 exert its pressure, and force either oil or water to rise 
 to the surface without being itself able to escape, its 
 exit being prevented by interposed accumulations of 
 either or both of these substances. Oil, water, brine, 
 and gas are all products of various wells sunk in the 
 pretroleum-producing regions of the country, and it is 
 necessary to admit that there may be areas over which 
 the pressure of gas is exerted to raise water to the 
 surface without itself appearing in any considerable 
 quantity. Most of the localities where water rises 
 above the surface, but where the ordinary Artesian 
 conditions seem to be wanting, are at no great distance 
 from gas or petroleum producing regions. 
 
 The subject of water-supply for irrigational purposes 
 by means of storage reservoirs, which has been the 
 chief field in which the officials of the United States 
 Geological Survey have labored, is a difficult one. 
 There can be no doubt that water can be obtained in 
 large quantity by this method ; and as there are locali- 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 281 
 
 ties where it is already in use, so others will be found 
 where it may properly and profitably be introduced. 
 But these appear to be regions where the conditions 
 are exceptionally favorable. That the construction of 
 storage reservoirs is a kind of improvement which 
 demands very large capital cannot be denied, and the 
 responsibility and expenditure by no means end with 
 the completion of the necessary dams and reservoirs : 
 these must be kept in order and constantly watched 
 with a vigilant eye, the more so because over much of 
 the area where works of this nature have been projected 
 the irregularities of the precipitation are extraordinarily 
 great, while the disastrous effects of such events as 
 cloud-bursts can only with difficulty be guarded against, 
 even with the exercise of the greatest engineering skill 
 in the original construction, and of constant vigilance 
 after the delivery of the water has begun. 
 
 Up to the present time there does not seem to have 
 been any serious attempt made to turn over the busi- 
 ness of building dams and reservoirs for water-supply 
 of the arid region to the General Government, as has 
 been done, to a certain extent, with reference to sup- 
 posed improvement of the navigation of certain rivers. 1 
 That something of this kind may eventually be asked 
 for by the settlers in the Cordilleran States is by no 
 means impossible. An idea of the amount of expen- 
 diture which such a policy would necessarily involve 
 can be formed by investigating the history of the 
 water-supply of the large cities at the East ; as, for 
 instance, New York and Boston, which depend on 
 storage reservoirs, in the construction of which (in>- 
 
 i See ante, pp. 32, 33. 
 
282 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 eluding the necessary mains and service pipes) many 
 millions have been expended. 1 
 
 1 The cost of land taken for the enlargement of the Croton Reservoir 
 and for the new dam building at Quaker Bridge to hold back the water 
 which this artificial lake will contain, has been estimated at from $8,000,000 
 to $10,000,000. 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. Since the preceding pages were in type, an 
 article has been received entitled "Artesian Well Prospects in Eastern 
 Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware," by N. H. Darton. (See " Transac- 
 tions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers," Virginia Beach 
 Meeting, February, 1894.) In this article it is said that "the success of 
 a number of wells, scattered widely over the middle Atlantic coastal plain 
 region, indicates in itself the strong probability of the existence of subter- 
 ranean waters throughout the region." Considerable information is given 
 by Mr. Darton with reference to the geological character of the coastal 
 plain on which these wells have been bored, the conditions being somewhat 
 similar to those which have been described in the present volume as char- 
 acterizing the Southern Atlantic and Gulf Coast. There are beds of sand 
 and gravel, alternating with clays, which are of various ages, from Creta- 
 ceous to Recent, and these rest on a floor of granitic and gneissic rocks, 
 which has a gentle slope to the east. A few of the Artesian wells which 
 have been bored are described as affording abundant water, "but their 
 number at present is very limited." There is great need, it is said, all 
 over the coastal region, of purer and more abundant supplies of water. 
 Reference may also be made to the New Jersey Geological Reports for 
 the years 1889 to 1892, in each of which there is information given in re- 
 gard to wells of various kinds in that State, where the subject of water- 
 supply from this source seems to have begun, within the past few years, 
 to excite considerable attention. In general, the details which are given 
 in regard to the quantity and the quality of the water which these wells 
 furnish are very meagre. As might .be expected from the geological 
 conditions of the region, the volume of water is never very large, and in 
 most cases the wells are not what could properly be called "Artesian," 
 pumping being necessary. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A. 
 
 LATEST STATISTICS OF IMMIGRATION, WITH ADDITIONAL 
 REMARKS ON IMMIGRATION IN GENERAL, AND ON THE 
 PRESENT STATUS OF THE CHINESE IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tabular statement on the following page is a continuation 
 . of that on a preceding one, 1 and brings the statistics of im- 
 migration into the United States down to the middle of the year 
 1894, with a detailed statement of the various nationalities repre- 
 sented; and to make this more complete, the figures are given for 
 each month of the current year. 
 
 The number of immigrants arriving on our shores during the 
 year 1893 was large, as will be seen, although somewhat less than 
 in the year 1892; but it was much less than it was in the year 
 1882, when the figures reached a maximum of 788,992, although 
 more than it was in 1885, 1886, 1887, 1889, or 1890. 
 
 The reasons for these very considerable fluctuations in the num- 
 ber of immigrants cannot usually be stated in a very satisfactory 
 manner: they depend on varying conditions in the countries from 
 which the immigrants come, as well as in that to which they are 
 attracted and where they hope to make a new home. In the case 
 of the present year the very considerable falling off in the immi- 
 gration indicated by the figures of the first half of the year, which 
 sum up only a little more than one fourth of those of the year 
 1893, and only about one fifth of those for the year 1892, must 
 without doubt be regarded as the result of the unfavorable con- 
 dition of things in this country, into the nature and causes of which 
 it is not necessary here to inquire. The movement of immigrants 
 from a foreign land is influenced largely by the more or less favor- 
 able reports of friends or relatives who have already established 
 themselves in the country toward which their thoughts are in- 
 
 1 See ante, p. 18. 
 
286 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
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IMMIGRATION. 287 
 
 dined. Any important change in the amount of demand for labor, 
 or any other circumstance likely to affect the success of new-comers, 
 is quickly made known at the home of the intending emigrant, 
 who, thus advised, either relinquishes his plan altogether, or post- 
 pones his departure for a time. In the case of the present year, at 
 all events, there has been no change of any importance in the 
 condition of things likely to influence emigration in the countries 
 from which our immigrants come, so that it seems to be only causes 
 originating here which have reduced the figures to so considerable 
 an extent as is shown in the table given above. 
 
 The character of the immigration, so far as it relates to the 
 nationalities represented, did not differ much in 1893 from what 
 it had been in the years 1890 and 1891, so that the remarks hereto- 
 fore made 1 still hold good. The immigration from the United 
 Kingdom on the whole is slowly decreasing; that from Ireland, 
 however, remained at very nearly the same figure during the years 
 1890 to 1893; while a falling off in the number from Germany in 
 1893, as compared with 1892, is quite marked. Italy furnished 
 about the same number in 1893 as in the previous year, while 
 from Russia came only half as many. The figures for the first 
 half of 1894, making allowance for their diminished number, as 
 already noticed, do not indicate any considerable change in the 
 nationality of the immigration as having occurred during that 
 short interval. 
 
 The question of Chinese immigration has been before Congress 
 repeatedly since the passage of the act excluding them entirely 
 (with few exceptions, and under certain strict regulations, as pre- 
 viously stated 2 ), but up to the present time no essential change 
 has been made in their status. 
 
 The history of legislation and of judicial action relating to the 
 question of the exclusion of the Chinese from the United States is 
 briefly as follows. The Congressional acts of 1888 aimed at entirely 
 excluding the Chinese from this country, although those who were 
 already here when those acts were passed were allowed to remain. 
 The number in the country, however, did not appear to diminish 
 rapidly enough to suit the views of the opponents of Chinese im- 
 migration, and it was assumed (there being no positive information 
 on the subject available) that the places of those who had died or 
 who had returned to China in consequence of the manifest dislike 
 of their race on the part of the majority of the citizens of those 
 States where Chinamen are chiefly located, had been surrepti- 
 1 See ante, pp. 18, 19. 2 See ante, p. 23. 
 
288 APPENDIX. 
 
 tiously taken by others of their race who had obtained an entrance 
 into the country in spite of the laws by which this had been pro- 
 hibited. 1 
 
 Agitation was therefore begun in Congress, and, in spite of very 
 strong opposition from the Eastern States, a law was passed, and 
 approved May 5, 1892, which is generally known as the Geary 
 law. Under the provisions of this Act, which is entitled "An 
 Act to prohibit the coming of Chinese into the United States," 
 every " Chinese person or person of Chinese descent convicted and 
 adjudged to be not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the United 
 States shall be imprisoned at hard labor for a period of not exceed- 
 ing one year and thereafter removed from the United States." 
 Moreover, every Chinaman in the country is required to prove that 
 he is lawfully entitled to remain here, that is, that he was here 
 prior to the passage of the acts of 1888, and to take out a certificate 
 of residence to that effect: those found here without this certifi- 
 cate after the expiration of one year from the passage of the act of 
 1892 were to be adjudged unlawfully in the country, and to be 
 imprisoned and deported accordingly. 
 
 Many friends of the Chinese, however, relying on the treaties 
 existing between China and the United States, believed the Geary 
 law to be unconstitutional, and, encouraged by these and by the 
 managers of the immigration business at San Francisco, the Chinese 
 in this country very generally refused compliance with the law 
 requiring registration. In consequence of this, and in view of the 
 fact that Congress had made only a very insufficient appropriation 
 to carry out the project of deporting the Chinese, the authorities at 
 Washington assumed the responsibility of neglecting the pro- 
 vision of the Geary law, or at least of delaying action until the 
 constitutionality of that law had been investigated by the Supreme 
 Court. A case was, however, very speedily made up and submitted 
 to that tribunal, by which it was decided, May 15, 1893, that the 
 law was constitutional. The difficulty with regard to the provid- 
 
 1 Mr. Geary, author of the " Geary law," made the following statement (in 
 an article in the North American Review for July, 1893, Vol. CLVIL, p. 60) : 
 " It is claimed that the Act of 1892 was unnecessary, because more Chinese were 
 leaving the country than entered it, and the number entering and leaving the 
 port of San Francisco is cited to show that 48,000 more Chinese left the United 
 States than entered it during the past decade. But the census shows the false- 
 ness of this argument. In 1880 there were 105,000 Chinese in the United States ; 
 in 1890 there were 106,000, or instead of decreasing 48,000 the number had 
 actually increased. The only conclusion deducible is that 49,000 entered in 
 defiance of our laws." 
 
IMMIGRATION. 289 
 
 ing of the funds necessary to pay the expenses of deportation, how- 
 ever, had not been overcome, and the Chinese still remained in this 
 country. Meantime Congress passed another act, which was ap- 
 proved November 3, 1893, by which certain not specially important 
 changes were made in the act of 1892, and the limit of time after 
 which deportation was to take place was fixed at six months after 
 the passage of this new amendatory act. 1 
 
 The time of enforcing the Geary law, as thus prolonged, has 
 already arrived, and a considerable number of Chinese have com- 
 plied with its provisions, but it does not appear that the business 
 of deportation has begun. In the absence of official information 
 in regard to this matter, it may be assumed that lack of funds 
 applicable to this special purpose stands in the way of the fulfil- 
 ment of the requirements of the Geary law. 
 
 In the mean time, however, a new treaty has been negotiated 
 between China and the United States, which, after being sev- 
 eral months before the Senate, was confirmed August 13, 1894. 
 According to the provisions of this treaty, the coming to the United 
 States of Chinese laborers is absolutely prohibited for a period of 
 ten years from the time of the ratification of the treaty. The 
 exceptions of this absolute prohibition are chiefly that it shall not 
 apply to the return to the United States of any " registered Chinese 
 laborer who has a lawful wife, child, or parent " in this country, or 
 " property therein of the value of $1,000 or debts of like amount 
 due him and pending settlement." The provisions of the treaty, 
 moreover, "shall not affect the rights at present enjoyed by Chi- 
 nese subjects being officials, teachers, students, merchants, or 
 travellers for curiosity or pleasure, but not laborers, coming to the 
 United States, and residing therein." Furthermore, it is agreed by 
 the terms of the treaty, "that Chinese laborers, or Chinese of 
 any other class, either permanently or temporarily residing in the 
 United States, shall have for the protection of their persons and 
 property all rights that are given by the laws of the United States 
 to citizens of the most favored nations, excepting the right to be- 
 come naturalized citizens." And the government of the United 
 States affirms its obligations to exert all its power to secure protec- 
 tion to the persons and property of all Chinese subjects in the 
 United States. 
 
 1 While the provision of the Geary law authorizing the imprisonment of the 
 Chinese for the crime of being in this country was not formally repealed by the 
 amendatory act, no mention is made of anything else than deportation in it. 
 
 19 
 
290 APPENDIX. 
 
 B. 
 
 BRIEF DISCUSSION OF THE QUESTION WHETHER CHANGES 
 OF CLIMATE CAN BE BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE AGENCY 
 OF MAN, AND ON SECULAR CLIMATIC CHANGES IN GEN- 
 ERAL, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE ARID REGION 
 OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 OF the various phases which the discussion of the irrigation 
 question in the Far West during the past few years has 
 assumed, one of the most interesting is the belief very generally 
 felt and expressed throughout that part of the country where the 
 rainfall is insufficient, that the climate of that region is undergoing 
 a change for the better as regards this most serious defect. This 
 idea is not only very generally advocated by the settlers themselves, 
 but it has received support not only from government irrigation 
 officials, but also from those who from their connection with educa- 
 tional and scientific institutions might naturally be supposed to be 
 qualified to speak with authority in regard to this matter. It 
 requires, however, but a very limited amount of study of climatic 
 questions to become convinced that there is no subject in regard to 
 which the public is more easily deceived, or more willing to allow 
 itself to be deceived, than that of the ability of man to control 
 climate. There are certainly few if any subjects which have been 
 so much discussed, and about which such positive statements have 
 been made and theories advocated by those who were not in posses- 
 sion of any facts on which to base them, as this very question of the 
 possibility of the modification of the climatic conditions of a greater 
 or less extent of the earth's surface through the agency of its 
 inhabitants. 
 
 As an illustration of the desire to generalize on this subject with 
 absolutely no knowledge of that which would give to such gen- 
 eralizations any value, Gibbon's remarks on the changes which have 
 taken place in the climate of Northern Europe within the historical 
 period, and on the causes of the difference in the temperature of 
 regions on the same parallel of latitude on the two sides of the 
 Atlantic, may be cited. This painstaking and ordinarily so accu- 
 rate writer on historical subjects in general had absolutely no 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 291 
 
 knowledge of the real causes of the difference between the climates 
 of Europe and Eastern North America. His ideas on this subject 
 will become apparent on reading the following quotation from what 
 he says when discussing the influence of the climate of ancient 
 Germany over the minds and bodies of the natives : " In the time 
 of Caesar, the reindeer, as well as the elk and wild bull, was a 
 native of the FTercynian forest, which then overshadowed a great 
 part of Germany and Poland, but at present he cannot subsist, 
 much less multiply, in any country south of the Baltic. The 
 modern improvements sufficiently explain the causes of the dimi- 
 nution of the cold. These immense woods have been gradually 
 cleared, which intercepted from the earth the rays of the sun. The 
 morasses have been drained, and, in proportion as the soil has been 
 cultivated, the air has become more temperate. Canada, at this 
 day, is an exact picture of ancient Germany. Although situated 
 in the same parallel with the finest provinces of France and Eng- 
 land, that country experiences the most rigorous cold. The rein- 
 deer are very numerous, the ground is covered with deep and 
 lasting snow, and the great river of St. Lawrence is regularly 
 frozen, in a season when the waters of the Seine and the Thames 
 are usually free from ice." l 
 
 Not long after the last volume of Gibbon's " Decline and Fall 
 of the Roman Empire " had been issued, the climate of the 
 United States began to be written about with some detail, for that 
 which had been published prior to the appearance of Volney's im- 
 
 i See " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," Vol. I. Chap. IX. The 
 order of the sentences has been slightly changed in the quotation for the sake of 
 clearness. The problem as stated by Gibbon involves two considerations of a 
 very different order. The difference between the climates of the two countries 
 on the opposite sides of the North Atlantic depends on various natural causes 
 easily understood, and these must have always been in operation, or, at least, 
 they have not essentially changed in character since the continental land masses 
 occupied the same position and had the same area which they now have. (See 
 the present writer's work, "The United States," etc., pp. 137-139.) The former 
 existence of various arctic mammals, among which the reindeer is included, over 
 a part of Central Europe, and even as far south as Southern France, is a prob- 
 lem of another order, the solution of which connects itself with the complicated 
 conditions of the so-called " Glacial Epoch," the precise character and causes of 
 which have not yet been satisfactorily made out. That man was in existence at 
 the time of the spread of the reindeer over Northern Germany is not denied, but 
 no geologist, at the present time, claims that human agency had any share in 
 bringing about that change of the climate of Northern Europe which led to the 
 disappearance or retreat to the North of the reindeer, arctic fox, and various 
 other species, which are now only met with in high northern latitudes. 
 
292 APPENDIX. 
 
 portant work 1 was exceedingly fragmentary and imperfect. There 
 seems to have been a striking unanimity of opinion among these 
 earlier writers, however, in regard to the condition of things in 
 this country as respects the changing character of its climate. It 
 was almost universally believed that the winters were becoming 
 less severe, the summers warmer, and the climate in general more 
 variable, but on the whole decidedly more favorable, than it was 
 when the country first began to be settled by the whites. The 
 current ideas on this subject are well exemplified in the following 
 quotation from Jefferson's Virginia: 2 "A change in our climate 
 is taking place very sensibly. Both heats and colds are becoming 
 much more moderate within the memory even of the middle-aged. 
 Snows are less frequent and less deep. . . . The elderly inform me 
 that the earth used to be covered with snow about three months 
 every year. The rivers, which then seldom failed to freeze over 
 in the course of the winter, scarcely ever do so now." Volney 
 himself tells the same story: " Every where, throughout the entire 
 extent of my journey, whether on the Atlantic coast, or in the 
 West, I collected testimony to the same effect, everywhere I heard 
 the same story; longer summers, later setting in of autumn, har- 
 vest similarly delayed; winter shorter, snows not so deep, nor 
 lasting so long, but cold spells not less severe; and in all the new 
 settlements they have described these changes not as being gradual 
 and progressive, but rapid and almost instantaneous, in proportion 
 as the country is cleared [proportionnes a 1'etendue des deboise- 
 ments]." Equally certain were various writers on the climate of 
 this country that the rainfall was diminishing. Mease, in his 
 " Geological Account of the United States," says: " Within a 
 few years the quantity of rain has certainly diminished." And a 
 little farther on he adds: "It is highly probable that our climate 
 is undergoing a change in regard to the quantity of rain." 
 
 That these presumed climatic changes had been brought about 
 chiefly, if not solely, by cutting down the forests, seems to have 
 been generally admitted by those who attempted to offer any expla- 
 nation of this most remarkable phenomenon. 
 
 Views very similar to those adopted by Volney were, just a 
 
 1 " Tableau du Climat et du Sol des Etats-Unis," a work containing observa- 
 tions made by the author during a three years' residence in this country, from 
 1795 to 1798. 
 
 2 Written, as the author states, in 1781, and somewhat enlarged and modified 
 in the winter of 1 782 ; but the edition from which the quotation here offered was 
 taken bears the date of 1787. 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 293 
 
 century ago, advocated by Samuel Williams in his History of Ver- 
 mont, from which indeed the former obtained a considerable portion 
 of the information contained in his work on the climate of the 
 United States. 1 Mr. Williams maintained that, although it could 
 not be determined, for want of meteorological observations, whether 
 there have been any alteration in the annual quantity of rain in 
 any part of America, yet a change had been manifested "in the 
 apparent decrease of the snow in all the ancient cultivated parts of 
 the United States. " "Snows," he says, "are neither so fre- 
 quent, deep, or of so long continuance, as they were formerly: 
 And they are yet declining very fast in their number, quantity, 
 and duration." He further considers it proved that "the east 
 winds, which half a century ago seldom reached farther than thirty 
 or forty miles from the sea shore, have now advanced as far as the 
 mountains, which are generally eighty or a hundred miles from the 
 ocean." That these changes of climate are " much connected with 
 and greatly accelerated by the cultivation of the country cannot be 
 doubted." "But, "he wisely adds, "whether this cause is suf- 
 ficient to account for all the phenomena which have attended the 
 change of climate in the various parts of the earth seems to be 
 uncertain." 
 
 The above citations from works published at the time when the 
 climate of this country first began to be written about are given 
 that it may be distinctly seen at how early a period positive asser- 
 tions began to be made in regard to the changes which were 
 
 1 Williams's "Natural and Civil History of Vermont" was published at 
 Walpole, N. H., in 1794, and a second edition in two volumes appeared in 1809, 
 which was printed at Burlington, Vt. This later and larger edition con- 
 tains, in an Appendix, " Observations on the Change of Climate in Europe and 
 other Places." In this discussion Mr. Williams endeavors to show that the cli- 
 mate " in the course of several centuries has remarkably changed at Palestine, 
 in Italy, around the Euxine Sea, at the Alps, and throughout all Germany." 
 Furthermore, he feels justified in fixing with some approach to exactness the 
 amount of the change of temperature which has taken place in that part of the 
 world, for he proceeds to state that " through all this vast extent of country 
 the climate has now become sixteen or seventeen degrees warmer than it was 
 eighteen centuries ago." After discussing and commenting on this statement, for 
 proof of the truth of which he mainly relies on the authority of Gibbon, sup- 
 ported by that of Moses, whom he regards as having been the author of the Book 
 of Job, as also by that of David the Psalmist, he inquires " Whether cultivation 
 is sufficient to account for these changes ? " To this question he furnishes no 
 answer, but adds: " For whatever the cause may be, the fact seems to be certain, 
 the heat of all that part of the earth, of which we have any exact accounts, has 
 been increasing from the earliest ages." 
 
294 APPENDIX. 
 
 believed to have taken place, although but an extremely small 
 portion of our vast territory had been invaded by the white man, 
 while even in the most densely populated areas meteorological 
 observations were almost entirely wanting. This tendency to gen- 
 eralize without any sufficient basis of fact was, however, by no 
 means peculiar to this country. In Europe many years ago specu- 
 lations on climatic changes began to assume a character which, to 
 a large extent, they have maintained up to the present time. The 
 removal of the forests has, during the past half-century, again and 
 again been declared to have wrought unutterable woe over a large 
 part of the earth's surface. The undeniable fact that during the 
 historic period there has been a considerable diminution in the 
 amount of water flowing in rivers or standing in lakes in many 
 countries, and notably in Central Asia and Northern Africa, as 
 well as in various parts of both North and South America, has 
 been repeatedly commented on, and, almost without exception, the 
 cause of this condition of things has been declared in the most 
 positive manner to have been the destruction of the forests. 1 
 
 Within a very few years, however, the opinions of scientific in- 
 vestigators of climate have undergone a change. Few, if any, of 
 those who have made a thorough study of this subject will now be 
 found maintaining that the phenomena of desiccation can be ex- 
 plained by appealing to deforestation as their cause. 3 The news- 
 papers and popular writers in general, however, almost unanimously 
 remain advocates of the idea that man can exert a powerful influx 
 ence as a controller of climate, and that this nation is rapidly 
 advancing toward ruin through " forest devastation." 8 
 
 1 See the present writer's " Climatic Changes," in which this subject is dis- 
 cussed at considerable length, and a large amount of evidence brought forward 
 showing the fallacy of this idea, and proving that this general desiccation began 
 in geological times before the human race made its appearance, and has been 
 and is being continued during the historic period, and most certainly without any 
 reason to believe that it has been brought about by the agency of man. 
 
 2 See, for instance, the views of Mr. Newell in regard to the cause of the 
 non-periodic oscillations of lakes and rivers, noticed on a previous page (ante, 
 p. 239.) 
 
 8 As an illustration of this, the following may be quoted from a popular 
 periodical, published during the present year : " The results of Canadian wood- 
 chopping made themselves felt in the Middle and Eastern States many years ago, 
 and now the evil is sweeping across the ocean. Has Great Britain the same cli- 
 mate that she had not many years ago, before forest denudation in Canada had 
 denuded the surface of the province and given increased violence to the storms 
 which crossed the Atlantic ? The shores of Europe have, during the past season, 
 shown the effects of this improvident work." 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 295 
 
 The form which the idea of man's ability to control climate has 
 taken of late years in the arid region of the United States is that 
 which concerns us most in connection with the present work ; but 
 before making an investigation of this it will be convenient to give 
 a rapid sketch of the development of systematic meteorological 
 work in this country, and to inquire what light this has thrown on 
 the question of secular changes of climate in the region over which 
 observations of this kind have extended. 
 
 A really serviceable thermometer did not exist until Fahrenheit 
 invented his in 1714 ; but, in point of fact, thermometric observa- 
 tions made prior to about the year 1822 are of no value for use in 
 any investigation such as that of a secular change of the climate 
 at any specified locality. 1 Observations of rainfall, of the real 
 accuracy of which we have little knowledge, but which we cannot 
 so summarily reject as we can the earlier thermometric ones, seem to 
 have been begun at Charleston, S. C., as early as 1738, and there 
 is a continuous series from that year to 1759, from which time 
 on there is a break lasting until 1840. The longest consecutive 
 series of rainfall observations in this country is that taken at New 
 Bedford, Mass., beginning in 1813. At New Haven, Conn., there 
 was a continuous record from 1804 to 1829, and at Brunswick, Me., 
 from 1808 to 1818 ; also at Philadelphia from 1824 on. At Bos- 
 ton, Mass., and at Marietta, Ohio, the record is nearly continuous 
 from 1818 on. This list comprises nearly all the stations for which 
 a long continuous record of the rainfall is available, either for the 
 later years of the past century or the earlier of the present. 
 
 In 1825 the first regular systematic series of meteorological 
 observations in any part of the United States began to be taken : 
 this work was under the supervision of the New York State Uni- 
 versity. In 1836 the system of meteorological observations at the 
 United States military posts, under the direction of the Medical 
 Department of the Army, was begun. In 1849 the system of obser- 
 vations by volunteers, planned and directed by the Smithsonian 
 Institution, was inaugurated. In 1870 the system of meteorologi- 
 cal observations and of storm warnings, forming a part of the 
 
 1 " It was in 1822 that Bellani, a Milanese observer, recognized the fact that 
 all thermometers are liable to a change exactly such as would result if the bulb 
 began to grow smaller soon after it was blown, and continued to do so for a long 
 time. Of course observations made previous to this discovery, and indeed all 
 observations made without special examination, from time to time, of the 
 accuracy of the zero-point, are of no value for use in any such inquiry as that 
 now before us." (Climatic Changes, p. 224.) 
 
296 APPENDIX. 
 
 work of the Signal Service of the United States was organized, 
 and at the present time this is the source from which most of our 
 statistics of temperature, rainfall, and of climatic conditions in 
 general are derived. But there is, in addition, a small amount 
 of information to be obtained in various other ways. 
 
 The meteorological material thus available for an investigation 
 of the kind here contemplated is far from being homogeneous, or of 
 the same degree of accuracy throughout. Observations taken at 
 the great astronomical observatories by the assistants, who are 
 usually practiced observers, are likely to be trustworthy, but these 
 are few in number and of short duration. Observations, especially 
 of rainfall, made in connection with the various sources of water- 
 supply for our principal cities may perhaps be considered the most 
 valuable of all, since in these localities such records are of the 
 greatest practical importance, and are likely, therefore, to be most 
 carefully attended to. This will in time become a source of in- 
 formation of great value ; but at present series of this kind are 
 short and not numerous. 
 
 The observations at the United States military posi/s seem to the 
 present writer the least reliable of all, and this statement is based 
 on personal knowledge acquired at visits to various posts in former 
 years, and also on the fact that the observations were and prob- 
 ably still are not made by the officers themselves, but usually by 
 the hospital stewards, to whom this addition to their daily duties 
 is, with few exceptions, decidedly unwelcome, and who certainly 
 have no scientific interest in the work. 1 
 
 The value of the records of the volunteer Smithsonian observers 
 is, of course, very different in different cases. Some, no doubt, 
 worked conscientiously ; others did not, as is shown by the very 
 great discrepancies between their results and those of other ob- 
 servers in the immediate neighborhood. The present writer can 
 testify from personal knowledge that at some stations the instru- 
 ments have been defective and the observations slovenly. In this 
 connection it should be borne in mind that negligence or careless- 
 ness in keeping the record of the precipitation would be most likely 
 to furnish results too low in value, so that we might expect 
 (assuming what is in general likely to be true, namely, that the 
 
 1 This is particularly unfortunate in connection with the determination of 
 secular changes in the climate of the arid region of the United States, because 
 almost all the earlier material which could possibly be made available for this 
 purpose is that coming from the military posts. 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 297 
 
 idea of the necessity of accuracy has gained ground in modern 
 times) to find that there has been, in some localities, an apparent 
 increase in the amount of precipitation, which, however, is really 
 due to the fact that the later observations have been taken with 
 more care than were the earlier ones. 
 
 Another important fact must be borne in mind in considering 
 whether our present mass of statistics is available for a discussion 
 of possible secular change of climate. It is this: the observations 
 of rainfall taken under various systems or for various institutions 
 have not been made with gauges placed at a uniform height above 
 the ground. At the United States military posts the gauges were 
 required to be elevated eight feet above the surface; but the Smith- 
 sonian observers were directed to place theirs at a height of six 
 inches. The later observations of the Signal Service, in fact, are 
 taken at all elevations from a few inches up to 162 feet, and the 
 height of the gauge is not always given in the published records. 
 Here is an element of uncertainty introduced which entirely vi- 
 tiates any conclusions which one might be inclined to draw from 
 the comparison of records of rainfall in various localities. That the 
 amount collected in the gauges will be less in proportion as the in- 
 strument is elevated above the ground up, at least, to a certain 
 height would be admitted by all: but that this amount could 
 be estimated and allowed for without long continued observations 
 at each locality with gauges at various elevations, is extremely 
 improbable. 
 
 There is another great difficulty in regard to rainfall which 
 relates especially to our Western arid belt. It is this : that the 
 smaller the rainfall the more irregular it is. In San Francisco the 
 rainfall of one year is recorded as having been seven times as great 
 as that of another; in New England in the driest recorded year it is 
 about one half that of the wettest. In very dry regions the rainfall 
 is extraordinarily capricious. " Cloud-bursts " are of by no means 
 uncommon occurrence. One such event, covering perhaps only a 
 few square miles, but happening at a locality where a rain-gauge 
 is kept, would probably hopelessly vitiate the record for that region, 
 for an amount of rain might fall in a few minutes more than equal 
 to the ordinary annual average of the region. 1 
 
 1 Occurrences of this kind are more frequent in the arid region than is com- 
 monly supposed. The present writer has more than once visited localities where 
 cloud-bursts have recently occurred. In one case, on the western border of 
 Nevada, a family riding in a buggy was drowned from sheer inability to drive 
 
298 APPENDIX. 
 
 All the meteorological material which had been collected at the 
 Smithsonian Institution in the manner indicated above was, in 
 1870, placed in the hands of Charles A. Schott, for examination 
 and elaboration, and the first results of this investigation were laid 
 before the public in the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 
 bearing the date of March, 1872. l This work, which was devoted 
 to the subject of precipitation, was soon followed by a second 
 volume, which related to temperature. This was issued in 1876. 2 
 
 In 1875 a new edition of the volume on rainfall was determined 
 on, and Mr. Schott was authorized to include in it "all the material 
 derived from the direct labors of the Institution, together with all 
 the accessible material from other sources up to the time of prepa- 
 ration for the press." As a consequence of this, this later 
 volume devoted to the rainfall was " enriched with the addition of 
 eight years of observations, from the beginning of 1867 to the end 
 of 1874, for the greater portion of the stations, and in some instances 
 includes observations to the end of 1876." 3 
 
 fast enough to escape the rush of water through the canon which they were 
 trying to cross. In another place, not far distant from this, a stamp-mill was 
 torn to pieces, and a steam-boiler weighing five tons carried by the raging torrent 
 two miles down the bed of a stream which a few minutes before was almost 
 entirely dry. 
 
 1 The full title of this work is " Tables and Results of the Precipitation, in 
 Rain and Snow, in the United States : and at some Stations in adjacent Parts of 
 North America, and in Central and South America. Collected by the Smithso- 
 nian Institution, and discussed, under the Direction of Joseph Henry, Secretary. 
 By Charles A. Schott, Assistant U. S. Coast Survey," etc. 
 
 In the Introduction to this volume it is said that "the following memoir con- 
 tains in tabulated form the abstracts of all the records of observations of the 
 rainfall which have been made from the early settlement of this country down to 
 the close of the year 1866, so far as they could be obtained." 
 
 2 The following statement appears in the "Advertisement," signed by the 
 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, which accompanies Mr. Schott's second 
 published volume of the results of this investigation : " The object now of the 
 Smithsonian Institution is to render the results of these observations accessible to 
 meteorologists by their reduction, discussion, and publication ; but to give greater 
 value to this work it has been thought advisable to incorporate in it all accessible 
 and reliable meteorological observations that have been made in the United 
 States since the early settlement of the country." The full title of this volume 
 is: "Tables, Distribution, and Variations of the Atmospheric Temperature in 
 the United States, and some adjacent Parts of America. Collected by the 
 Smithsonian Institution, and discussed under the Direction of Joseph Henry, 
 Secretary." 
 
 8 This volume, which bears essentially the same title as the preceding one on 
 the same subject, with the addition of the words " Second Edition," appeared in 
 May, 1881. 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 299 
 
 From the manner in which the materials utilized in these vol- 
 umes were collected, and from the well known ability of the person 
 to whom their elaboration was intrusted, it is clear that we have 
 here a source of information in regard to questions connected with 
 the subject of the climate of this country the value and authority 
 of which cannot be disputed. Various important memoirs have 
 been published by the Signal Service since the meteorology of the 
 United States became a branch of the public service, but nothing 
 has appeared which could take the place of Mr. Schott's elaborate 
 volumes, of which the only defect is the unavoidable one of 
 the imperfection of the observations, as indicated in the preced- 
 ing pages. That, if any rapid change were taking place in the 
 climate of this country, as so positively asserted by the early 
 writers on this subject, some proofs of this would have been discov- 
 ered in the working over of observations extending from the time 
 of its early settlement down to as late as the year 1875 or 1876, 
 can hardly be doubted. At all events, the results of a systematic 
 examination of a long series of records of temperature and rainfall 
 must necessarily be accepted in preference to random assertions 
 unsupported by any other testimony than that of general statements 
 which have no basis except the recollections of the " elderly" and 
 the " middle-aged/ ' Mr. Schott's results may now, therefore, be 
 taken up for brief examination. 
 
 The subject of " Secular Variations of the Atmospheric Temper- 
 ature " was taken up in the volume relating to temperature, 1 and, 
 to ascertain what these variations might have been, a number of 
 stations were selected " possessing the requisite length of series, 
 or from which by proper combination from several stations at no 
 great distance apart, such a series could be produced having as few 
 interruptions as possible." The stations thus selected for reduc- 
 tion and combination embrace localities extending from Maine to 
 California, and the results are exhibited in the form of " curves of 
 secular change in the mean annual temperature." Of these Mr. 
 Schott remarks that their character "is that of a series of irregular 
 waves representing a succession of warmer and colder periods, dur- 
 ing which, however, the mean temperature deviates only about one 
 or two degrees, in excess or defect. . . . These undulations, when 
 compared for a number of stations exposed to similar climatological 
 conditions, approach to parallelism over large tracts of country, and 
 
 1 See pages 302-320 of that work. 
 
300 APPENDIX. 
 
 exhibit considerable uniformity in their general character. . . . 
 There is nothing in these curves to countenance the idea of any 
 permanent change in the climate having taken place, or being 
 about to take place ; in the last ninety years of thermometric records 
 the mean temperatures showing no indication of a sustained rise 
 or fall." 
 
 Mr. Schott remarks that the degree of parallelism of the curves 
 is sufficiently close to warrant an additional consolidation of results 
 for a few characteristic stations, and for this purpose he forms 
 two typical curves, one for the Atlantic coast, and another for the 
 Mississippi Valley. For the former curve the undulations are 
 longer than for the latter. The longer waves of the Atlantic 
 stations show principal maxima in 1802, 1826, 1846, and 1865, 
 and principal minima in 1785, 1816, 1836, and 1857, the average 
 interval being about twenty-two years. The shorter waves of the 
 interior States show principal maxima in 1827, 1833, 1839, 1845, 
 1854, and 1860, and principal minima in 1831, 1836, 1843, 1848, 
 1856, and 1867. These undulations are not sufficiently regular nor 
 sufficiently distinct to serve as a basis of prediction, since they are 
 too much mixed with subordinate fluctuations. All that Mr. 
 Schott claims for them is that they are "a general exponent of 
 secular change." 1 
 
 1 Here it becomes necessary to introduce a few remarks in regard to the 
 meaning of the term " secular," both as used by Mr. Schott in his volumes on 
 temperature and precipitation, and by others engaged in similar investigations. 
 The term " secular " is properly used to designate some phenomenon continuing 
 through an indefinite but long period of time, and which, so far as known, is 
 not recurrent or periodical. Thus the cooling of the earth, according to the 
 theory generally adopted by geologists, from a condition of igneous fluidity 
 is properly designated as "secular." It has been going on for an indefinite 
 length of time, and there is no reason for believing it to be a recurrent phe- 
 nomenon. As used by astronomers, however, in the term " secular inequality," 
 as applied to the motion of a planet, the meaning of the term "secular" is not 
 exactly the same as that given above, since this inequality is periodic, although 
 the period is one of excessively long duration. Mr. Schott, in his volume on 
 temperature, a synopsis of the principal results of which has been given above, 
 under the head of " Secular Variation of the Atmospheric Temperature," in point 
 of fact does not attempt anything more than a discussion of the periodic oscilla- 
 tions (the " Klimaschwankungen " of Bruckner), or, in other words, recurrent 
 changes of temperature, which are periodic but of excessively short period as 
 compared with the secular inequality of a planet. Farther on, however, he speaks 
 of a " permanent change " of the climate, as mentioned above, and in such a way 
 as to prove that by this phrase he means what with a strictly correct use of the 
 word " secular " would be called a secular change, or a permanent, non-periodic 
 increase or decrease of the mean temperature, not necessarily from year to year, 
 but at all events from age to age, the fact that periodic oscillations of any or 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 301 
 
 In the volume devoted to the subject of precipitation there come 
 first the records of the observations of rainfall at each station, 
 arranged so as to show the mean amount of precipitation in rain 
 and melted snow for each month and season, and for the year, as 
 well as the length of each series of observations, and the time of 
 its beginning and ending. This is followed by tables exhibiting 
 the actual precipitation at each station for every year during which 
 observations were made. It is from these data that the " rainfall 
 charts " were prepared which accompany the volume, of which there 
 are five, one of which shows the average annual precipitation in the 
 United States, while the other four exhibit the seasonal distribu- 
 tion of the rainfall, or the average precipitation during the spring, 
 summer, autumn, and winter months over the same area. 
 
 There follows next in order a discussion of the " Annual Fluctu- 
 ation in the Rainfall," and by this term is understood, as we are 
 told, "the changes from month to month, " the data for this part 
 of the investigation having been obtained "by selecting those 
 stations where the rain record extends over the longest series of 
 years." From these selected series of observations nine type- 
 curves of the annual fluctuations, or the distribution of the rainfall 
 through the year, were prepared, and the inspection of these will 
 show at once how very differently different parts of the country are 
 conditioned in this respect. Thus, along the Atlantic coast, from 
 Portland to Washington, there are three nearly equal maxima, 
 which occur about the middle of May, of August, and of December, 
 and there is one principal minimum about the beginning of Feb- 
 ruary, while the range between the monthly values is small. On 
 the Pacific coast, however, there is a most decided minimum 
 (amounting in fact along a large extent of the coast to an almost 
 entire absence of rainfall) during the summer months, and a well- 
 marked maximum late in December, the range being excessive. 
 
 The question whether this distribution of the rainfall through 
 
 all the factors of climate may take place not conflicting at all with the coexist- 
 ence of a permanent or really secular change of these same climatic conditions. 
 In Mr. Schott's volume on precipitation, however, under the head of " Secular 
 Change of the Rainfall," the following points are proposed for discussion : 
 " Whether the annual rainfall is gradually increasing or diminishing, stationary, 
 of a periodic character, or apparently irregular," and this inquiry is said to be 
 " one of great interest, scientifically as well as practically." It will be more con- 
 venient and conducive to clearness to call the recurrent or periodic changes in 
 any factor of the climate " oscillations " or " fluctuations," and any permanent 
 non-periodic change a " secular change," as will be done in the course of the 
 present discussion of the subject of climatic change in general. 
 
302 APPENDIX. 
 
 the year or annual fluctuation, as Mr. Schott prefers to call it 
 can be proved to have undergone any change during the period 
 through which the record extends was also investigated by him, 
 and his conclusions in regard to this point are thus stated: "The 
 material collected which mainly refers to our own time, and hardly 
 reaches back into the past century, is evidently insufficient for a full 
 investigation, and obliges us to be satisfied with a less complete 
 proof. 77 It can, however, he adds, be shown " that the secular 
 change, if any, in the annual distribution, must be very small." 
 This he proceeds to do by an examination of the records at Charles- 
 ton, by means of observations taken from 1738 to 1759, and from 
 1841 to 1861, the equations representing which "give nearly iden- 
 tical results, 77 the differences being within the probable error of 
 observation, as shown by a comparison of modern results among 
 themselves by means of Station Fort Moultrie, in Charleston 
 Harbor, for which locality there is a series extending from 1842 
 to 1859. 
 
 The discussion which follows next in Mr. Schott 7 s volume, and is 
 headed " Secular Change of the Rainfall, 77 begins with the remark 
 that comparatively few of the records extending over a number of 
 years at any station are free from occasional interruptions, this 
 greatly increasing the labor of reduction, and impairing the value 
 of the investigation. The difficulties arising from carelessness 
 and lack of skill in the observers are well illustrated by a table of 
 rainfall observations for the same years (1853 to 1860), and at the 
 same place (San Francisco), in which the discrepancies are very 
 large. 1 
 
 To facilitate an investigation of the evidence bearing on the 
 question of an oscillation or of a secular change in the amount 
 of precipitation, a table was prepared containing a number of 
 selected stations in different parts of the country, as far as possible 
 those of long record being taken, and for each of these stations the 
 probable error in the amount of rain fallen in any one j^ear, and 
 also the ratio of this quantity to the average yearly amount, this 
 furnishing an index of the amount of uncertainty which attaches 
 to the resulting average rainfall as made out from the present 
 record. Furthermore, another table is appended in which the 
 
 1 The observations taken at the United States military post at San Francisco, 
 for instance, indicate an amount of rainfall differing from that shown by the 
 records of various scientific observers in that city by as much as from one to 
 seven inches for various years. The figures of the observers at the military 
 posts are always less than those given elsewhere. 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 303 
 
 ratio of each annual amount to the mean is given, in order that 
 in different localities these may be made comparable. To free 
 these ratios, as given in the last-named table, from the accidental 
 irregularities, and to exhibit the nature of the fluctuations from 
 year to year more distinctly, they were united into groups formed 
 of stations where the annual rainfall appears to be subject to the 
 same laws. 
 
 There are nine of these groups, of which three are said to be 
 " tolerably trust worthy, " while the others can only be accepted as 
 being rough approximations on account of the insufficient number 
 of stations. The groups considered as being sufficiently accurate 
 to be made the subject of generalization are (1) that representing 
 the Atlantic coast from Maine to Maryland ; (2) the State of New 
 York, with some adjacent localities ; (3) the valley of the Ohio, 
 or Ohio to Eastern Missouri. For these three regions the tabular 
 mean results are graphically exhibited in diagrams, while for all 
 nine of the typical groups curves are furnished which facilitate 
 examinations made with reference either to an oscillation or a 
 permanent secular change of the rainfall. 
 
 Of the diagrams given exhibiting the " fluctuations in the annual 
 rainfall " in the three regions for which the data are designated as 
 being "tolerably trustworthy," it is said, that "the irregularities 
 in the successive annual amounts of rain are very great, yet they 
 do not wholly obliterate the indications of a conformity to general 
 laws." The diagrams representing the Atlantic seacoast from 
 Maine to Maryland and the State of New York "distinctly indi- 
 cate an increase of rain, on the average, since 1835, and show a 
 certain tendency to an arrangement of groups of years of drought, 
 followed by unusually wet years. For these regions, which are 
 geographically so near each other, the fluctuations are shown to be 
 so similar that these groups might have been combined and treated 
 as one. Of the fluctuations exhibited in the third diagram (those 
 of the Ohio Valley) it is said that they "are of quite a different 
 character. 77 The essential difference would seem to be, that there 
 is no such indication of a secular increase of the rainfall since 
 1835 as is exhibited in the Atlantic Coast and New York diagrams, 
 while the irregularities of the western region seem to be more 
 marked, and less indicative of the existence of any general law by 
 which they might be governed than is the case on the eastern edge 
 of the country. 
 
 In regard to the peculiarities of the curves drawn to illustrate 
 
304 APPENDIX. 
 
 the character of the rainfall of the nine groups mentioned above, 
 and which include the three thought worthy, on account of their 
 superior reliability, to be specially and more elaborately treated, it 
 is said that " the curve of Type I. (the Atlantic coast) points to a 
 gradual increase of the precipitation from about 1818 to the present 
 time ; whether or not we have reached the maximum of this long 
 fluctuation or secular change cannot yet be determined, but it is 
 probable that we have passed it. Besides this greater change, 
 which extends over several decades, and which undoubtedly is of a 
 periodic character, there are smaller undulations covering a period 
 of but a few years ; these latter waves are superposed upon the 
 larger one, and appear of variable parameter, those near the mini- 
 mum of the greater period being greatest, and decreasing gradually 
 to the present time.' 7 
 
 In further illustration of the generalizations which Mr. Schott 
 felt authorized in making with regard to secular changes of climate 
 as indicated by these curves, the following may be quoted : " The 
 variations in the rainfall, from year to year, in the Ohio Valley, 
 and as far west as Missouri, are different from those just quoted, 
 though they are not of an opposite character. Type IV. [Ohio to 
 Missouri] indicates no secular increase, and the secondary waves 
 appear larger than in Type I. ; the remarkable period of drought 
 about 1836, as well as the less conspicuous or relative one about 
 1855, are common to the two regions. A comparison with Type 
 VII. of the Mississippi delta and Alabama leads to the inference 
 that the law of succession of dry and wet years partakes largely of 
 the character of that on the Gulf coast. On our Southern Atlantic 
 coast the distribution is different from any of the above types ; the 
 rainfall here seems to have been on the decrease. Type IX., for 
 the coast of California, is too limited to be analyzed. " 1 
 
 Finally, the results of Mr. Schott's investigations are summed 
 up by himself in these words : "It must be admitted that, while 
 they [these investigations] exhibit, in a concise form, the broader 
 features of the laws of distribution of rain in the United States, 
 they must still be regarded as but first approximations, considering 
 
 1 These statements in Mr. Schott's memoir are followed by some remarks in 
 regard to a possible correspondence of the sun's activity in the production of 
 spots with the variations in the annual rainfall. His conclusions are to the effect 
 that " either there is no such connection between the two phenomena as has been 
 supposed, or else the accidental and local irregularities in the rainfall are not 
 sufficiently eliminated to allow of the recognition of the law regulating the 
 secular changes." 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 305 
 
 the irregularity of the phenomenon itself, and the comparative 
 scantiness and frequent discontinuity of our records.' 7 
 
 One of the most interesting results of Mr. Schott's investiga- 
 tion is the conclusion to which he leads us, that for the earliest 
 settled part of the country the part where the observations of 
 precipitation have been longest taken and are most reliable an 
 increase of the rainfall during the past seventy or eighty years is 
 ''distinctly indicated. " That this is the period of time during 
 which this part of the country has been ruthlessly (to use the term 
 most frequently employed by the advocates of the idea that the 
 "devastation of the forests 7 ' is everywhere the dominant cause of 
 climatic changes) stripped of its timber. All that had been done 
 in this direction, in this region, previous to the beginning of the 
 present century, is as nothing compared with what has been 
 accomplished since that time. Along the Southern Atlantic coast, 
 on the other hand, where during the same period much has been 
 accomplished toward denuding the country of its forests (although 
 by no means as much as has been done in this direction in the 
 Northern and Middle Atlantic States), the indications point to a 
 secular decrease of the rainfall, while in the Ohio Valley, where 
 settlement and an active deforestation began with the present 
 century, there is no special indication either of increase or decrease 
 of the rainfall since that epoch. It can be safely stated, therefore, 
 that over that part of the United States which was originally 
 densely covered with forests, and where more has been accom- 
 plished by settlers to change the face of the country by cutting 
 them down than either has been or could be done over any other 
 area of similar extent within the limits of the country, there a 
 most thorough investigation of the records of the precipitation 
 affords no proof that any sensible change of its climate has been 
 effected, either with regard to temperature or the amount or dis- 
 tribution of the rainfall, during the present century, either by 
 natural causes or by the hand of man. 
 
 It cannot fail to have been noticed that Mr. Schott furnishes 
 no type curves for any part of the United States where the rainfall 
 is deficient, and enters into no generalizations with regard to the 
 region specially connected with the subject of the present volume. 
 The reason for this is obvious : if the data for more thickly settled 
 and older States are by no means sufficient for the purposes of an 
 exhaustive investigation of their climate, much more is this the 
 case over that part of the country where the density of the popula- 
 
 20 
 
306 APPENDIX. 
 
 tion only averages two and a half to the square mile, and where, 
 until within a very few years, there were no available records of 
 temperature or rainfall other than those kept at the military 
 posts. 1 As, however, thirteen years have elapsed since Mr. 
 Schott's latest work was published, it will be desirable that there 
 should be an examination of what has been published during that 
 time, for the purpose of ascertaining whether this new material 
 may possibly be utilized so as to throw any light on the prob- 
 lem of man's ability to influence climate. 
 
 It must also have been noticed by the reader of the preceding 
 pages that the most sanguine expectations in regard to a pos- 
 sible amelioration of the climate of the arid region have been 
 and still are maintained by many of the residents of that part 
 of the country, and that these have been encouraged, to a very 
 considerable extent, by some of the officials of the irrigation 
 surveys. 
 
 The ponderous volumes of the "Report of the Special Commit- 
 tee of the United States Senate on the Irrigation and Reclamation 
 of Arid Lands, " 2 are largely occupied with statements made by 
 the citizens of the arid region, the chief object of which is to sub- 
 stantiate the theory that "as settlement advances the climatic con- 
 ditions will be very much improved." 8 The evidence brought 
 forward in support of this theory is, in large part, so vague in 
 its character that it defies analysis : some of the chief points only 
 can be briefly touched upon. 
 
 Of course " reforestation " is one of the principal methods by 
 which this climatic change is to be brought about. The term "re- 
 forestation" is used, without regard to its real meaning, to signify 
 covering a region with trees where none grew before ; for there 
 is no evidence that the Great Plains have ever been covered with 
 an arboreal vegetation: it is certain that they have not been 
 since the Tertiary epoch, or at any time during the epoch desig- 
 nated by geologists as "Recent." Yet Mr. Fernow, " Chief of the 
 Forestry Division, " in a long preamble to a paper which he sub- 
 mits, and which is published as part of the evidence laid before the 
 
 1 Among the forty-eight selected stations "of long record" taken by Mr. 
 Schott to form the basis of his investigation of the secular changes in the rain- 
 fall, there are only two which are included within the arid region. These are of 
 course both United States military posts, at one of which there was a series of 
 observations extending over seventeen years, and at the other over twelve years. 
 
 2 See ante, p. 92, for the titles and a synopsis of the contents of these volumes. 
 8 See loc. cit., Vol. I. p. 2. 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 307 
 
 committee, 1 thus expresses himself: "The forest, by its growth, 
 creates its own favorable conditions of growth. The treelessness 
 of the plains, and of much of the arid region, may possibly explain 
 itself in this way. By the destruction of the forest which origi- 
 nally covered this region, the very condition of its existence and of 
 its natural recuperation was destroyed; and thus, in a reverse man- 
 ner, reforestation of parts by artificial means may make natural 
 reforestation over the whole area possible by and by." As a con- 
 clusion from this, he maintains that " reforestation on the plains 
 and forest preservation on the mountains is of greater national 
 concern than the location of irrigation reservoirs. " 
 
 More incorrect views than these were never expressed, even by 
 a United States government official. Portions of the earth's sur- 
 face are naturally densely covered by forests ; other parts are very 
 thinly wooded; and still others are, and have been during long 
 ages that is, during the whole of the present epoch entirely 
 bare of arboreal vegetation. Climate and soil are the regulators of 
 this condition of things. The tundras, steppes, plains, and deserts 
 are not the work of man's hand, any more than are the tropical 
 forests. Where nature designed trees to grow, there, as fast as these 
 decay and die, they are replaced by a new growth, unless this be 
 artificially hindered. So, on the other hand, the regions naturally 
 bare of forests can only with great difficulty be covered with them. 
 Indeed it may be said with truth that an " artificial forest " does not 
 anywhere exist, that is, in any other sense than as a continuation 
 of a previously existing natural forest. Groves of trees may be 
 planted, and, with sufficient care and with great expense, these 
 may be kept alive, but no large area naturally destitute of arboreal 
 vegetation has ever been converted into a forest, and it is safe to 
 say that no such area ever will be. 
 
 The experience of the General Government in endeavoring, by 
 means of " timber-culture laws," to cover the non-forested parts of 
 the country with a growth of trees, is sufficient evidence of the 
 difficulties encountered in attempting this reversal of nature's 
 laws. As early as 1873, Congress passed an act "to encourage 
 the growth of timber on the Western prairies," under the pro- 
 visions of which any settler might obtain, without cost, a quarter- 
 section of land "for the purpose of the cultivation of timber 
 thereon." This act was several times amended, and finally 
 repealed in 1891, for the reason that it accomplished nothing 
 
 * Loc. cit., Vol. IV. p. 112. 
 
308 APPENDIX. 
 
 toward a reforestation of the country, but only (like the swamp-> 
 land laws) opened the door to wholesale fraud. 1 
 
 Scientific observations have also been relied on, to a considerable 
 extent, to support the theory that the climate of the arid region is 
 improving as a consequence of the occupation of the land by set- 
 tlers. It is true that, under the direction of the Signal Service, 
 the number of stations at which meteorological observations are 
 taken has been considerably increased since the date of Mr. 
 Schott's investigations; but many more than now exist are needed, 
 and especially in the Cordilleran region. Here the topography 
 of the country is extremely diversified. High mountain ranges 
 alternate with much lower valleys ; and the amount of rainfall 
 being to a considerable extent dependent on the altitude of the 
 stations, as shown beyond doubt by the observations taken on the 
 few high points which have been occupied, 2 it follows that, before 
 there can be any satisfactory rain-charts showing even the general 
 features of the annual distribution of the rainfall over a large part 
 of the arid region, a long series of observations must have been 
 accumulated at a great number of stations, and the results laid 
 down on accurate maps, which must necessarily be on a much 
 larger scale than is required for the region lying to the east of 
 the Rocky Mountains, where the topography is extremely simple. 
 
 Notwithstanding these difficulties, the Signal Service did re- 
 cently prepare a work in which an attempt was made to furnish 
 later and more reliable information with regard to the amount and 
 distribution of the rainfall in the arid region. This volume bears 
 the date of 1891, and was furnished in accordance with a resolution 
 which passed the House of Eepresentatives, May 23, 1890, and 
 which was thus worded : "That the Secretary of War be, and is 
 hereby, requested to transmit to the House of Representatives the 
 reports that have been prepared under the direction of the Chief 
 Signal Officer of the Army upon the climate of Arizona and New 
 Mexico and other parts of the arid region, together with such 
 tables, particularly of rainfall, temperature, evaporation, and other 
 
 1 The present writer, after the timber-culture act had been several years in 
 force, made a journey through Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana, partly 
 with the object of ascertaining whether anything had been accomplished toward 
 reforesting that part of the country by this kind of encouragement. Nowhere 
 could it be seen that anything worthy of notice had been accomplished. Most of 
 the trees set out, along the railroads chiefly, appeared to be but little more flour- 
 ishing than so many broomsticks. 
 
 2 See " Table of Annual Precipitation," etc., ante, p. 37. 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 309 
 
 matters as relate thereto, with such corrections, alterations, and 
 additions as may be deemed advisable by the Chief Signal Officer, 
 who will also express his views as to the value and importance of 
 said tables of temperature, evaporation, etc., and their bearing 
 upon the subject of irrigation and water storage." 
 
 The volumes published as authorized by the above resolution 
 relate to California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and 
 Arizona. For each of these States and Territories a series of maps 
 is given, on which are shown the normal annual and seasonal 
 precipitation, as also the normal annual temperature, and the tem- 
 perature curves for January and July. In the introductory remarks 
 prefixed to these maps, the subject of irrigation and water storage 
 in the arid region is discussed in a very general way, without 
 giving any information of special value to those desirous of en- 
 gaging in an irrigational enterprise. Such information was indeed 
 hardly to be expected in a work of this kind. To be of practical 
 value the details for any specified locality where capital is to be 
 expended must be given with the greatest fullness, and with a high 
 degree of accuracy, as has been candidly admitted by those officials 
 of the United States Geological Survey who are engaged in the 
 irrigational department of that work. 
 
 The rainfall charts accompanying the Signal Service report are 
 necessarily very imperfect. Their scale is small not much over 
 fifty miles to an inch and they show only the roughest indica- 
 tions of topography. Indeed, accuracy, or even a moderate amount 
 of detail of this kind, was not to be looked for, since only small 
 portions of the arid region have ever been mapped except in the 
 roughest possible manner. But even if accurate topographical 
 maps did exist, and it were deemed possible to utilize them as a 
 basis for rain or temperature charts, the lack of accurate observa- 
 tions at a sufficient number of stations is, as has already been 
 explained, so great, that it would be impossible to arrive at any 
 satisfactory result. This condition of things may be illustrated 
 by reference to the Territory of Arizona, which has an area of 
 about 113,000 square miles, and over much the larger part of which 
 the topography has never been studied in any detail. 1 In the list 
 of stations at which meteorological data have been obtained for the 
 construction of the temperature and rain charts, there are only five 
 
 1 Of this Territory what is called " an orographic and climatic chart " is 
 given, but the meaning of the colors and lines displayed upon it is nowhere 
 explained ! 
 
310 APPENDIX. 
 
 places mentioned at which observations have been kept up for more 
 than twenty years, and these are all military posts, the deficiencies 
 of the observations at which, especially in the earlier years, has 
 already been the subject of remark. At forty-five of the stations 
 the records are of less than two years' duration, and this in a region 
 of which the variability of the rainfall may be estimated from the 
 fact that at one of the stations (Fort Mojave) the precipitation was 
 in one year (1886) 2.20 inches, and in another (1889) 21.38 inches. 
 It is not an exaggeration to say that charts based on such a slen- 
 der stock of information have neither a scientific nor a practical 
 value. 
 
 More surprising as respects insufficiency and inaccuracy is the 
 table given in the Signal Service volume, 1 which is headed " An- 
 nual Rainfall," and which professes to give the annual average 
 precipitation in inches in the States and Territories of the arid 
 region over belts lying between certain contour lines, and the 
 number of cubic miles of annual rainfall on each of these belts. 2 
 Such a table, if accurate, would be of great scientific interest, but 
 it is difficult to see how it could be made of practical value. Based 
 on such imperfect data as at present exist, it is simply a snare and 
 a delusion. 8 
 
 The desire existing on the part of the authorities at Washington, 
 at least at the time most of the various documents which have been 
 noticed in the present volume were issued, to make things pleasant 
 for the inhabitants of the arid region, cannot fail to have been 
 noticed. This condition of things could receive no better illustra- 
 tion than that already mentioned; 4 namely, that the Chief Signal 
 Officer considered it a sufficient reason for placing the "arid region 
 limit " at fifteen, instead of twenty, inches of rainfall, that seri- 
 ous and protracted droughts occur where the average precipitation 
 ranges between thirty and fifty inches. Again, a similar inclina- 
 tion to present facts under a more favorable light than is consistent 
 
 1 See page 19 of that work. 
 
 2 Thus for Colorado the areas specified are : 4,000 feet and less ; 4,000 to 5,000 
 feet; 5,000 to 7,000 feet ; 7,000 feet and over. 
 
 3 That this statement is not one made at random may be inferred from the 
 fact that in the Signal Service " Table of Annual Rainfall " here under discussion 
 the amount of precipitation at 7,000 feet and over, in Nevada, is given in inches 
 and fractions of an inch, and the number of cubic miles of rainfall over the area 
 in fractions of a cubic mile, while there is not a single meteorological station in 
 that State at an elevation of over 7,000 feet, and only five over 6,000 feet, the 
 area of the State being 109,740 square miles. 
 
 * See ante, p. 219. 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 3H 
 
 with truth is manifested on the part of the same officer when he says 
 that, in his opinion, "the trans-Mississippi and the trans-Missouri 
 rainfall is slightly increasing as a whole, though in certain locali- 
 ties it may be slightly decreasing," and adds: "It seems most 
 proper for him to put forth his strong conviction, even though it 
 be not a certainty, when, as in this case, it will tend to reassure 
 the agricultural population of the lately drought-stricken districts 
 of the West." 
 
 It will be well to inquire what is the basis of the Chief Signal 
 Officer's happy anticipations with regard to the future of the arid 
 region, as thus formulated by him, and as also indicated in the 
 following additional passage quoted from the same source: "There 
 appears no possible reason to believe that the scanty rainfall of the 
 past year or two will not be followed by increasing precipitation in 
 the next few years, which will maintain the annual rainfall of these 
 sections at the average, or even increase it." 1 The evidence for 
 the truth of this opinion appears to be the following. The later 
 rainfall charts of the Signal Service, prepared in the manner indi- 
 cated above, show the area on which the mean annual precipitation 
 is less than ten inches as being considerably less than that so 
 represented on the statistical maps of the tenth census, and a 
 similar reduction of area is indicated for the part of the country 
 where the rainfall is between ten and fifteen inches. By the use of 
 what entirely insufficient data these later maps have been prepared 
 has already been shown, and it is not necessary to dwell further on 
 this matter. But the changes which have already been made on 
 the rain charts for the benefit of the settlers on the arid lands are 
 likely to be exceeded by those which the future has in store for 
 them, since the Chief Signal Officer thus expresses himself in 
 regard to the climatological probabilities of this region: "When 
 Idaho, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona have been covered 
 with rain gauges as completely as New York or New England, the 
 final outcome of observations will indicate that the actual average 
 of rainfall for this arid region is now understated by the census 
 charts (Census of 1880) from twenty to forty, and by these [the 
 latest ones of the Signal Service, namely] from ten to fifteen per 
 cent." 2 And this is the kind of material furnished by our scien- 
 
 1 See " Report on Rainfall in Washington, Oregon," p. 15. 
 
 2 The number of rain gauges regularly observed in New England, in April, 
 1894, was 210, its area being somewhat more than one eighth of that of the States 
 and Territories here designated by the Chief Signal Officer; about 1,700 stations 
 
312 APPENDIX. 
 
 tific bureaus, of late years, to meet the demands for information 
 made on them by politicians ! 
 
 It is not difficult to understand how it is that Professors in Uni- 
 versities near the borders of the arid region of the United States 
 should from time to time have advocated the theory that the 
 rainfall of that part of the country was increasing, and that this 
 presumed increase should be attributed to the settlement and culti- 
 vation of the land was quite natural. 1 The deficiency of accurate 
 and long continued observations, which Mr. Schott found to be a 
 sufficient reason for not attempting to generalize in regard to the 
 climate of the country any farther west than Eastern Missouri, 
 did not deter others from trying to discover evidence that would 
 justify them in supporting a theory the firm establishment of which 
 would be so desirable. 
 
 As early as February, 1880, or shortly before the publication of 
 the second edition of Mr. Schott's volume on Precipitation in the 
 United States, Messrs. Aughey and Wilbur, of the University of 
 Nebraska, addressed a communication to the Governor of that State 
 in regard to the climatic conditions of the region west of the 100th 
 meridian, in which, after the preliminary statement that the soil 
 of that part of the country is " chemically equal to any similar 
 area of soil taken in any part of the American continent,' 7 water 
 being "the only element lacking to insure complete productive- 
 ness, 77 they proceed to assert that they hold it to be proved 
 beyond reasonable question that "the present rate of increase in 
 rainfall will in a comparatively short time fit this region for agri- 
 culture without the aid of irrigation." The actual increase of 
 rainfall, thay say, "is clearly demonstrated by observations taken 
 over a period long enough to give consecutiveness to the deduc- 
 tions made." Farther on, it is added: "Observations, experiment 
 and the highest scientific authority demonstrate that climates in 
 the West are becoming moister and that rainfall is increasing 
 steadily. This increase must extend steadily until the plains east 
 of Denver and Laramie receive sufficient rainfall to produce farm 
 products. 77 2 
 
 must therefore have been established in that part of the arid region before its 
 average rainfall will be found to have been raised from twenty to forty per cent 
 above that indicated on the charts of the census of 1880. 
 
 1 See ante, p. 239, for Mr. Newell's remarks in regard to the large rainfall of 
 1884 over certain districts, as having been "noticed and popularly attributed to 
 the effects of cultivation and to other causes under the control of man." 
 
 2 The present writer has never been able to procure a copy of the original 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 313 
 
 Without attempting to analyze the evidence on which these 
 statements of Messrs. Aughey and Wilbur are based, it is sufficient 
 to remark that this desired increase of rainfall has, up to the pres- 
 ent time, not taken place; but, on the other hand, the fourteen 
 years which have elapsed since these predictions of a more satisfac 
 tory condition of things on the Great Plains were made have been 
 constantly occupied by endeavors to increase the water supply of 
 that region in the various ways indicated in the preceding pages, 
 and by irrigational surveys and investigations made at the expense 
 of the General Government, and loudly called for by the inhabit- 
 ants, who are by no means contented with the assertions made by 
 the Professors of their Universities that the demonstrated increase 
 of rainfall "must extend steadily, 7 ' and that "any evidence of 
 present dryness, where dryness exists, is evidence only for the 
 present." 
 
 Since general experience justifies us in asserting that everywhere 
 there is considerable irregularity in the rainfall of successive years, 
 or, as Mr. Schott expresses it in discussing the conditions prevail- 
 ing on the Atlantic coast, "a tendency to an arrangement of groups 
 of years of drought, followed by unusually wet years/ 7 nothing 
 could be more natural than that some regularity in the recurrence 
 of these wet and dry periods should be sought for, since if any such 
 proof of a conformity to general laws could be obtained, there would 
 be reason to hope that a sound basis for prediction might be se- 
 cured a matter certainly of great scientific and practical impor- 
 tance. That up to the present time no positive result of this kind 
 has been reached so far at least as the working over of the Smith- 
 sonian material by Mr. Schott is concerned has already been 
 explained. 1 The same is the case with reference to the climatic 
 conditions of various foreign countries w r here long series of mete- 
 orological observations exist and have been elaborately investigated. 
 Nowhere has it been proved that these alternations of wetter and 
 dryer periods were subjected to any law of periodicity. 2 ffcaacjoft Lib 1 
 
 communication of Professors Aughey and Wilbur to the Governor of Nebraska, 
 and is obliged therefore to content himself with extracts from it which have 
 been given repeatedly in various government irrigational publications. (See 
 Hinton's "Irrigation in the United States," p, 146.) 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 303, 304. 
 
 2 The most thorough climatic investigation ever made, unless we except that 
 of Mr. Schott, is one relating to the climate of Geneva, in Switzerland, by Pro- 
 fessor E. Plantamour, which forms the second part of the twenty-fourth volume 
 of the " Memoires de la Socie'te' de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve," 
 and was published in 1875-76. For this investigation fifty consecutive years of 
 
314 APPENDIX. 
 
 Notwithstanding these facts, various meteorologists in the West- 
 ern States have endeavored to show that the rainfall of certain 
 regions was, as respects its distribution through a series of years, 
 a phenomenon of regular recurrence. Thus, Mr. E. C. Murphy 
 maintains, not only that the rainfall of Kansas is increasing in 
 quantity, hut also that periods of more and less abundant precipita- 
 tion succeed each other at intervals of seven years. 1 There are 
 only three stations for which there is a continuous record of the 
 rainfall extending over a period of any considerable length ; these 
 are Fort Leavenworth, Manhattan, and Lawrence, which places all 
 lie considerably to the east of the 100th meridian, and are by no 
 means within the arid belt. 2 The Fort Leavenworth series is the 
 longest, extending with a few breaks from 1836 on; at Manhattan 
 observations have been made continuously since 1854, and at Law- 
 rence since 1868. The series at Fort Leavenworth is divided by 
 Mr. Murphy into eight periods of seven years each, alternately dry 
 and wet, the first dry period beginning with 1836. There are 
 five of these periods in the Manhattan series, and three in that of 
 Lawrence, all ending with the year 1891. The differences between 
 the means of the wet and dry periods are in all cases but one very 
 small; this one being the years 1871-1877, the] mean of which is 
 5.27 inches larger than that of any other period. In the case of the 
 Fort Leavenworth series the mean rainfall of the last dry period 
 (1878-1884) was 0.62 inch greater than that of the next succeed- 
 ing wet period; in the Manhattan series the mean rainfall of the dry 
 period 1878-18$4 was 3.60 inches more than that of the next fol- 
 lowing wet period; in the Lawrence series the mean of the dry 
 period 1878-1884 is 2.17 inches more than that of the next pre- 
 ceding wet period. More extraordinary than this, however, is the 
 fact revealed in these records of the great irregularity in the rela- 
 tion of the annual rainfall of stations near each other, and topo- 
 graphically similarly situated. This condition may be illustrated 
 by the statement that the rainfall at Manhattan during the two 
 years 1874 and 1875 was about the same in amount (17.61 and 
 
 elaborate and accurate meteorological observations were available. A searching 
 analysis of this accumulated material gave no support to any theory of a regular 
 recurrence of groups of years of larger rainfall and comparative drought. 
 
 1 See " Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science," Vol. XIII. (1891-92), 
 pp. 16-19. 
 
 2 The longitudes of these three stations are, according to Mr. Schott, respect- 
 ively 94 54', 96 39', and 95 12'; the average rainfall being 33.38, 29.89, and 
 33.10 inches. 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 315 
 
 17.96 inches), and only a little more than half what it was at Fort 
 Leavenworth during those years (33.81 and 31.26 inches); while 
 during the next year (1876) it was actually greater at Manhattan 
 than it was at Fort Leavenworth. Again, at Wallace the rainfall of 
 the year 1880 was 34.10 inches, and that of 1881 was 8.38 inches. 
 With such irregularities in the precipitation, records covering short 
 periods of observation would seem to be of very little value in 
 reference to a settlement of the question of a secular change of the 
 climate. The general impression in Kansas, however, is that the 
 rainfall in that State has increased considerably within the past 
 quarter of a century, although there are some persons who do not 
 admit this, but maintain that it has become more equally distrib- 
 uted through successive years, and believe that this has resulted 
 from the increased cultivation of the soil. 1 
 
 It will be seen from the facts which have been presented in the 
 preceding pages how far we are as yet from having any precise 
 knowledge of the secular changes which the climate of this or any 
 other country may be undergoing. Instrumental records up to 
 the present time do not authorize us to say that the average tem- 
 perature or rainfall of any part of the earth has either permanently 
 increased or diminished since accurate observations began to be 
 taken. Nor has any regular periodicity been made out for those 
 oscillations of the climate which are of short period, and which, 
 though not wandering very far from the means, are yet in many 
 regions of decided importance, where a basis for prediction would 
 certainly be highly desirable. Still further, it may be stated with 
 truth that the many efforts which have been made to prove that 
 climate is something within the control of man have all proved 
 failures. Some minor inconveniences have, in certain regions, 
 been more or less effectually remedied by human effort : damp and 
 marshy regions have been drained, the ravages of mountain tor- 
 rents prevented, snow avalanches checked, and even the inroads 
 of the sea restrained over limited areas, although not without im- 
 mense expenditures; but no great modification of the natural physi- 
 cal conditions of any considerable part of the earth's surface has ever 
 been brought about by the hand of man. 
 
 1 Professor G. F. Becker thinks that he perceives " indications of what seems 
 to be a 13-year periodicity" of the rainfall in California, "there being decided 
 minima in the seasons of 1850-51, 1863-64, and 1876-77." See " Bulletin of the 
 University of California," No. 31, for February, 1878. But at the same time he 
 admits that " the data discussed are too few, both as to time and geographical 
 distribution, for any very reliable generalization." 
 
316 APPENDIX. 
 
 We are, however, not without abundant evidence that there have 
 been great climatic changes during the geological ages. The 
 zonal distribution of life, a condition so largely dependent on 
 temperature, has been developed with the progress of time, and 
 this, from the geological point of view, is a comparatively modern 
 event. Furthermore, the past and present distribution of vegetable 
 and animal life the latter, however, in a much less satisfactory 
 manner than the former proves that there has been on the whole 
 a decided diminution of temperature, the evidences of which change 
 are naturally most marked in high northern latitudes, where once 
 flourished the vegetation of a temperate or even semi-tropical cli- 
 mate. The nature and cause of this phenomenon have been the 
 object of much investigation and discussion, but we are up- to 
 the present time far from having arrived at any satisfactory and 
 generally admitted solution of the problem. 
 
 Still more difficult of explanation is the complicated series of 
 climatic changes which belongs to the latest period of the earth's 
 history, and which are grouped together as characterizing the 
 i ' Glacial Epoch, ' ' during which over a considerable part of Northern 
 and even Central Europe the glaciers had a much greater exten- 
 sion than they have at the present time, and when large areas in 
 Northeastern North America, where now no permanent glaciers 
 exist, were heavily covered by ice. While this glacial develop- 
 ment connects itself in certain regions at least with the 
 present epoch, and was perhaps everywhere synchronous with the 
 existence of human life on the globe, yet no geologist or clima- 
 tologist maintains that it was in the slightest degree the result 
 of human agency. The causes are obscure, and the more difficult of 
 explanation in that it was, although widespread, by no means a 
 phenomenon of universal occurrence, and seemingly not in harmony 
 with the more gradual and general refrigeration which the earth 
 had been undergoing during the ages by which it was preceded. 
 
 There is a phenomenon which has been manifesting itself for an 
 indefinite length of time, having been begun before the initiation 
 of the Glacial Epoch, and which is still in progress, and of which 
 the causes are as obscure as those of that epoch. Although making 
 itself felt over a much larger part of the earth's surface than was 
 covered by the ice at the time of its greatest glacial extension, 
 this phase of the earth's history has thus far received but little 
 attention, much less having been done towards its investigation 
 than has been with reference to an understanding of the nature 
 
DISCUSSION OF CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 317 
 
 and causes of the Glacial Epoch. The phenomenon in question is 
 this : over all the great continental masses, and especially in the 
 closed basin regions, many lakes have long been and still are dimin- 
 ishing in area, while the volume of the water carried down by the 
 rivers has in many cases been proved, either by direct measurement 
 or by geological observations, to have very considerably lessened. 
 The causes of this hitherto but little investigated, but highly im- 
 portant, phenomenon have not yet been explained in any way 
 meeting with general acceptance. That it was and is a " climatic 
 change " seems highly probable. It can hardly be otherwise than 
 that some modification of the earth's meteorological conditions has 
 brought about, and is still causing, this secular desiccation, the 
 nature and extent of which have only just begun to be studied, but 
 to which the attention of climatologists cannot fail to be more 
 generally directed in the near future. 
 
318 APPENDIX. 
 
 C. 
 
 LIST OF UNITED STATES OFFICIAL REPORTS RELATING TO 
 IRRIGATION, AND MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH. 
 
 Congressional. 
 
 Keport of the Special Committee of the United States Senate on the 
 Irrigation and Eeclamation of Arid Lands. 51st Congress, 
 1st Session. Report 928, in six parts. 1890. 
 
 Part 1. Keport of Committee, and Views of Minority, pp. 178. 
 
 Part 2. The Northwest, pp. 459. 
 
 Part 3. The Great Basin Kegion and California, pp. 573. 
 
 Part 4. Rocky Mountain Region and Great Plains, pp. 608. 
 
 Part 5. Statements of the Director of the United States Geo- 
 logical Survey. Reports of United States Consuls in Coun- 
 tries using Irrigation. Miscellaneous Papers on the subject 
 of Irrigation, pp. 384. 
 
 Part 6. A Second Edition of Miscellaneous Document No. 15, 
 49th Congress ; essentially a reprint of Hinton's First Report 
 on Irrigation in the United States. 
 
 Report of the Select Committee of the House of Representatives on 
 Irrigation of Arid Lands. 52d Congress, 1st Session. Report 
 No. 569. pp. 12. 
 
 Department of Agriculture. 
 
 ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS : 
 1854. Gardening (Watering or Irrigation, p. 332). 
 
 1858. Browne, D. J. Drainage, its History, Principles, Ad- 
 
 vantages to the Agriculturist, pp. 273-280. 
 
 1859. Clemson, Thorn. G. Fertilizers, pp. 136-178 (Irrigation, 
 
 pp. 146, 147.) 
 
 1860. Smith, E. Goodrich. Irrigation, pp. 166-224. 
 
 1861. Bliss, Edward. Territory of Colorado : its Soil, its Cli- 
 
 mate, its Mineral Products and Resources, pp. 154- 
 157 (Irrigation, p. 156). 
 
 
LIST OF IRRIGATION REPORTS. 319 
 
 ANNUAL KEPORTS OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE : 
 
 1862. The Agriculture of Morocco. By V. D. Collins, pp. 
 499-508. 
 
 1867. Irrigation. By Chas. D. Poston, pp. 193-200. 
 
 1868. Irrigation (on a farm at Brattleboro, Vt.), p. 502. 
 
 1869. Irrigation and Agriculture in Utah, pp. 431, 432. 
 1869. Irrigation. By Horace Greeley, pp. 510, 511. 
 1869. Irrigation as a Renovator of Pasture Lands, p. 526. 
 
 1869. Irrigation in San Luis Park, Colo., p. 603. 
 
 1870. Irrigation in many Parts of Europe, pp. 501, 502. 
 1870. Irrigation Canals in California. Geo. Barstow, p. 517. 
 
 1870. Modes and Results of Irrigation, pp. 576-584. 
 
 1871. Practical Irrigation in Colorado, pp. 254-275. 
 
 1871. Irrigation Systems of Different Countries, pp. 275-287. 
 
 1872. Irrigation in England, pp. 559, 560. 
 
 1873. Irrigation, pp. 282, 283. 
 
 1873. Agriculture in Japan. By Horace Capron, pp. 364-374 
 (Irrigation, pp. 366-374). 
 
 1873. Irrigation and Cotton Culture in California, p. 378. 
 
 1874. Irrigation in California, pp. 352-362. Irrigation : its 
 
 Evils, Remedies, and Compensations. By Geo. P. 
 
 Marsh, pp. 362-381. 
 1876. Irrigation in Maine. D. M. Dunham, abstract, pp. 380, 
 
 381. 
 1881-82. Irrigation as a Eemedy for Chinch Bug, pp. 88, 89. 
 
 1885. Wheat Culture in India : Irrigation, pp. 580, 581, by 
 
 Rev. J. L. Hauser, pp. 569-582. 
 
 1886. Irrigation, p. 40. 
 
 1887. Irrigation, pp. 44, 45. 
 
 1888. Irrigation in Victoria, Australia, p. 469. 
 
 1889. Irrigation Problems, p. 268. Influence of Forests on 
 
 Water Supplies, by B. E. Fernow, pp. 297-330. Anal- 
 yses of Water, p. 497. 
 
 1890. Report of the Special Agent in Charge of the Artesian 
 
 and Underflow Investigations and of the Irrigation 
 Inquiry. By Richard Hinton, pp. 471-488. 
 
 1891. Report of the Special Agent in Charge of the Artesian 
 
 and Underflow Investigations, and of the Irrigation 
 Inquiry, pp. 439-450. 
 
320 APPENDIX. 
 
 Keport on the Climate and Agricultural Features and the Agricul- 
 tural Practice and Needs of the Arid Regions of the Pacific 
 Slope, etc. By E. W. Hilgard, T. C. Jones, and R. W. Fur- 
 nas. Washington, 1882, 182 pp. 
 
 Artesian Wells upon the Great Plains ; Report of Geological Com- 
 mission appointed to examine a portion of the Great Plains east 
 of the Rocky Mountains, and to report upon the Localities deemed 
 most favorable for making Experimental Borings. Washington, 
 1882. (C. A. White and Samuel Aughey.) 38 pp. 
 
 Preliminary Report on the Forestry of the Mississippi Valley and 
 Tree-planting on the Plains. By F. P. Baker. Washington, 
 1883. 
 
 Irrigation in the United States. A Report prepared by Richard 
 J. Hinton, under the Direction of the Commissioner of Agricul- 
 ture. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887. 240 pp. 
 
 Letter from Secretary, transmitting Report of Preliminary Inves- 
 tigation to determine proper Location of Artesian Wells within 
 the Area west of the 97th Meridian and east of the Foothills of 
 the Rocky Mountains. Government Printing Office, Washing- 
 ton, 1890. 
 
 Progress Report on Irrigation in the United States. Part I. Pre- 
 pared under the Direction of the Secretary of Agriculture by 
 Richard J. Hinton, Special Agent Artesian Underflow and Irri- 
 gation Investigation. Washington, Government Printing Office, 
 1891. 337 pp. 51st Congress, 2d Session, Senate Ex. Doc. 
 No. 53. 
 
 Progress Report of Artesian and Underflow Investigation between 
 the 97th Degree of West Longitude and the Foothills of the 
 Rocky Mountains, with Maps and Profiles. Part II. Prepared 
 under the Direction of the Secretary of Agriculture by Edwin S. 
 Nettleton. Washington, Government Office, 1891, 14 pp. 51st 
 Congress, 2d Session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 53. 
 
 A Report on Irrigation and the Cultivation of the Soil thereby, 
 with Physical Data, Conditions, and Progress within the 
 United States for 1891. By Richard J. Hinton, Special Agent 
 in Charge. 52d Congress, 1st Session. Executive Document 
 No. 41. 459 pp. 1892. 
 
 This forms the first volume of a series of four, the titles 
 and contents of the other three being as follows : 
 
 Volume 2. Final Report of the Chief Engineer, Edwin S. Nettle- 
 ton, C. E., to the Secretary of Agriculture, with accompanying 
 Maps, Profiles, Diagrams, and Additional Papers. 116 pp. 
 
LIST OF IRRIGATION REPORTS. 321 
 
 Volume 3. Final Geological Reports of the Artesian and Under- 
 flow Investigations, between the Ninety-seventh Meridian of 
 Longitude and the Foothills of the Rocky Mountains, made by 
 Prof. Robert Hay, F. G. S. A., Chief Geologist, 209 pp. [This 
 volume contains sub-reports by the Assistants, Messrs. Hill, 
 Hicks, and Culver (see p. 145 of present volume).] 
 
 Volume 4. Final Report of the Mid-Plains Division of the Arte- 
 sian and Underflow Investigations between the Ninety-seventh 
 Meridian of Longitude west of Greenwich and the Foothills of 
 the Rocky Mountains, by Special Agent J. W. Gregory of 
 Garden City, Kansas, and a Special Report on certain Artesian 
 Conditions in the State of South Dakota, by Fred. F. B. Coffin, 
 Engineer for South Dakota. 61 pp. 
 
 WEATHER BUREAU : 
 
 Certain Climatic Features of the two Dakotas. By John P. Fin- 
 ley, First Lieutenant, Ninth U. S. Infantry. Washington, 1893, 
 204 pp. 
 
 Department of the Interior. 
 
 UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP 
 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION : 
 
 Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States, 
 with a more detailed Account of the Lands of Utah, with Maps, 
 by J. W. Powell. 2d Edition. Washington, 1879, 195 pp. 
 (Irrigable Lands of the Salt Lake Drainage System, by G. K. 
 Gilbert, pp. 117-126; Irrigable Lands of the Valley of the 
 Sevier River, by Captain C. E. Dutton, pp. 133-144; Irrigable 
 Lands of that Portion of Utah drained by the Colorado River 
 and its Tributaries, by Professor A. H. Thompson, pp. 152- 
 164; Land Grants in Aid of Internal Improvements, by Willis 
 Drummond, Jr., pp. 165-182.) 
 
 UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: 
 
 First Annual Report of the United States Irrigation Survey; pub- 
 lished as "Part II. Irrigation " of the Tenth Annual Report 
 of the United States Geological Survey. Washington, 1890, 
 123 pp. (Preliminary.) 
 
 Second Annual Report of the United States Irrigation Survey; 
 published as "Part II. Irrigation" of the Eleventh Annual 
 Report of the United States Geological Survey. Washington, 
 
 21 
 
322 APPENDIX. 
 
 1891, 395 pp. ( Water-Supply; Surveys of Reservoirs; Bibli- 
 ography of Irrigation.) 
 
 Third Annual Report of the United States Irrigation Survey; pub- 
 lished as "Part II. Irrigation" of the Twelfth Annual Report 
 of the United States Geological Survey. Washington, 1891, 
 576 pp. (Reservoir Sites; Hydrography; Irrigation in India.) 
 
 Fourth Annual Report of the United States Irrigation Survey; 
 published in Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 52d Con- 
 gress, 1st Session, Executive Document 1, Part 5; Vol. IV., 
 Part 3. Washington, 1892, 486 pp. (Water-Supply for Irriga- 
 tion; American Irrigation Engineering; Engineering Results 
 of Irrigation Survey; Construction of Topographic Maps and the 
 Location and Survey of Reservoir Sites in the Hydrographic 
 Basin of the Arkansas River; Location and Survey of Reservoir 
 Sites during the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1892.) 
 
 ELEVENTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1890: 
 
 Bulletin No. 35, Irrigation in Arizona; No. 60, in New Mexico; 
 No. 85, in Utah; No. 107, in Wyoming; No. 153, in Montana; 
 No. 157, in Idaho; No. 163, in Nevada; No. 178, in Oregon; 
 No. 193, Artesian Wells for Irrigation; No. 198, Irrigation in 
 Washington. Extra Bulletin, No. 23, Irrigation in the West- 
 ern United States (containing condensed statistics of areas, 
 values, and water-supply). 
 
 All the above were prepared by F. H. Newell. A final 
 report is now in preparation, and will form a part of the 
 Census Heport on Agriculture. 
 
 Navy Department. 
 
 Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China 
 Seas and Japan, performed in the Years 1852-1854, under the 
 Command of Commodore M. C. Perry, U. S. Navj r , Vol. 2. 
 Contains irrigation in Lew Chew. Washington, 1856. pp. 
 19, 20.) 
 
 Department of State. 
 
 Letter to the Honorable Secretary of State on the General Outline 
 for a proposed Scheme for an International Dam and Water 
 Storage in the Rio Grande River near El Paso, Tex., for the 
 Control of the annual Floods, etc., and Preservation of the 
 
LIST OF IRRIGATION REPORTS. 323 
 
 National Boundary to the Gulf, and for other Purposes. Wash- 
 ington, December 10, 1888. 
 
 Report of the United States Commissioners to the Centennial 
 International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1888. Published under 
 Direction of the Secretary of State, by Authority of Congress. 
 Washington, 1890, 452 pp. (Report on Irrigation, T. B. Merry, 
 pp. 291-294.) 
 
 SPECIAL CONSULAR REPORTS : 
 
 Canals and Irrigation in Foreign Countries. Washington, 1891. 
 (Irrigation, pp. 255-494.) 
 
 Treasury Department. 
 
 BUREAU OF STATISTICS : 
 
 Report on the Internal Commerce of the United States for the 
 Fiscal Year 1889, Part 2. Commerce and Irrigation, by Wm. 
 F. Switzler. Washington, 1889, 897 pp. 
 
 Report of the Internal Commerce of the United States for the Year 
 1890, Part 2 of Commerce and Navigation. The Commercial, 
 Industrial, Transportation, and other Interests of Alaska, Ari- 
 zona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washing- 
 ton. Washington, 1891, 1174 pp. 
 
 UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY: 
 
 Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting, in Answer 
 to a Senate Resolution of May 19, 1876, a Copy of the Report of 
 George Davidson, on the Methods employed in irrigating Lands 
 in India and Southern Europe. Washington, 1876, Government 
 Printing Office, 73 pp. 
 
 War Department. 
 
 Irrigation in Egypt, by J. Barrois, Paris, 1887. Translated by 
 Major A. M. Miller, U. S. A. Washington, 1889, 113 pp. 
 
 Irrigation in New Mexico and Arizona, by Colonel B. H. Grierson, 
 in Report of Secretary of War for 1888-1889. Washington, 1890, 
 Vol. I. pp. 180-188. 
 
 UNITED STATES SIGNAL SERVICE: 
 
 Charts and Tables showing the Geographical Distribution of Kain- 
 fall in the United States, prepared under the Direction of Brig. 
 
324 APPENDIX. 
 
 and Bvt. Maj. Gen. D. B. Hazen, Chief Signal Officer of the 
 Army, by H. H. C. Dunwoody, First Lieutenant in Fourth Ar- 
 tillery, Acting Signal Officer. Published by Authority of the 
 Secretary of War. Washington, 1883, 51 pp. No. 9 of Profes- 
 sional Papers of the Signal Service. 
 
 Tables showing Monthly Precipitation at various Points through-' 
 out the Dry Area, by Captain S. M. Mills (in Report on the 
 Internal Commerce of the United States). Washington, 1885, 
 pp. 212-216. 
 
 Report on the Interior Wheat Lands of Oregon and Washington 
 Territory, by Lieutenant Frank Greene. Washington, 1888, 
 25pp. 
 
 The Climate of Nebraska, particularly in Reference to Temperature 
 and Rainfall, and their Influence upon the Agricultural Inter- 
 ests of the State. Washington, 1890, 60 pp. Senate Executive 
 Document No. 115, 51st Congress, 1st Session, and is called a 
 " Report of the Chief Signal Officer," and was transmitted by 
 the Secretary of War, in compliance with Senate Resolution of 
 April 22, 1890. 
 
 Irrigation and Water Storage in the Arid Regions. Letter from 
 the Secretary of War transmitting a Report of the Chief Signal 
 Officer of the Army, in Response to House Resolution dated 
 May 23, 1890, relating to irrigation and water storage in the 
 arid region. Washington, 1891, 356 pp. House of Repre- 
 sentatives, Executive Document No. 287, 51st Congress, 2d 
 Session. 
 
 [This document is prefaced by a brief report on the Climatol- 
 ogy of the Arid Region of the United States with reference to 
 Irrigation, by Gen. A. W. Greely, Chief Signal Officer U. S. 
 Army, followed by tables of precipitation and rainfall for Ari- 
 zona, California, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah, all bound in one 
 volume, and also issued separately for the various States and 
 Territories named, but with the same introductory matter for 
 each.]