METHODS OF DRAINING IRRIGATED LANDS. 



495 



SPECIAL RELIEF WELLS AND DISCHARGE DRAINS. 



Reference has been made to the utility of ''relief wells," as they 

 are commonly called, for reaching and removing water which lies 

 deeper than it is practicable to construct drains. This system is 

 employed with most gratifying effectiveness where a gravelly soil 

 disappears beneath a blanket of loam. The gravel permits a rela- 

 tiAely free flow of waste w^ater into the loam soil lying upon a lower 

 level, where it remains to fill up the soil and produce a boggy condi- 

 tion. Relief-w^ell drainage consists in sinking wells of greater or 

 less diameter into the water-bearing gravel, which is found on the 



PROFILE OF DRAIN A-A" 

 Fig. 7. — Plan and profile showing relief drainage wells as used in Otero County, Colo. 



outer edge of the loam area at points Avhere the gravel ceases or 

 dips under the blanket of loam. Large tile drains are then laid at 

 a convenient depth to connect the wells with a watercourse or large 

 ditch. This plan of drainage has been used by Mr. Albert R. 

 Beymer on the lands of the American Sugar Beet Co., in Otero 

 County, Colo., with remarkable success wherever gravel can be 

 located. The method was first recommended in 1902 by the writer, 

 and has been found successful in other localities wherever the condi- 

 tions are favorable. Figure 7 represents the conditions under which 



