6oo 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



V 



A 



lands. Large sums of money have also been wasted in vainly 

 bombarding the skies for rain, contrary to every known law of 

 Nature. The Department of Agriculture has investigated the 



underground waters of the Great Plains 

 region east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 but the underground supply of the true 

 American Desert lying between the 

 Rockies and the Sierras has been little 

 3 studied. 



I This section includes one fifth the 



3 total area of the United States and most 

 f of the great central plateau of Mexico. 

 |> It is marked by peculiar geographic, 

 3 geologic, and climatic phenomena alto- 

 » gether different from those of the rest 

 s of the country, chief of which is the ab- 

 J sence of surface water. Streams are rare 

 Ssf «o [ """ i J-'-'-Kv even in the mountains, and, with the ex - 



1 ception of the Colorado, the Snake, and 

 5 the Rio Grande, not a drop of its sur- 

 ' face water reaches the sea, so great is 

 , the evaporation and the capacity of the 

 3 porous desert soils for absorption. Al- 

 ] most any Eastern State has a greater 

 area of surface water than has all the 

 I arid region ; and the smallest New Eng- 

 \ land brook, could it be transported 

 ' West, would be a great blessing. In 

 * this arid section there are many thou- 

 : sand square miles without a drop of wa- 

 ' ter even for drinking purposes. Nearly 

 ' every available stream has been appro- 

 ; priated for irrigation by the present 

 \ population, and all improvement in the 

 | water supply must come from under- 

 ' ground sources. 



It is wrong to encourage anticipa- 

 ^r.'AXA \ ,« tions of enormous supplies of under- 



ground water where rainfall is so slight ; 

 but when we remember that in this re- 

 gion water is of greater value than land, 

 or rather that land is worthless without 

 water, the procurement of even small 

 supplies, sufficient for stock, for irrigating small areas, or for sup- 

 plying the thirsty locomotive, will be of great value. In view of 

 these facts it is well to understand the laws of the occurrence 



