122 KANSAS UNlVERSIlV QUARTERLY. 



Loco, a place about 40 miles south of Garden City. The surface of 

 the water is shown from the wells along this line to be inclined south 

 at a nearly uniform rate of 2.4 feet to the mile, the difference in 

 elevation of the water surface at the ends of the line being 220 feet. 

 North of Garden City the surface of the country slopes south so that 

 this water is quite near the surface. South of Garden City the sur- 

 face slopes in the opposite direction to that of the water surface, 

 hence the wells are deep. Near the south end of the line they are 

 200 feet deep. 



The Dodge City line extends from a point on the Pawnee Fork, 

 about 34 miles north of Dodge to a point 10 miles south, thence 

 southwest 25 miles to Fowler, Meade Co. North of the river the 

 wells on this line show no well defined water-bearing stratum. In a 

 few of them the water is a little above that in the river, in most of 

 them it is below river level. South of the river this water surface is 

 well defined and slopes a little to the south. The wells are deep, the 

 surface of the country being high. 



This water-bearing stratum is sand or gravel, or a mixture of these. 

 Its thickness varies a good deal. In some places it is so thin that the 

 wells pass through it, in others it is of unknown thickness. An 

 experimental well at Garden City showed it to be 320 feet in thick- 

 ness at that place. 



From observations at a few places it appears that this body of 

 water is moving very slowly from northwest to southeast. 



The source of this undertlow is important, for this water-bearing 

 stratum is a vast reservoir fdled with water; when the ipiantity of water 

 taken from it yearly is greater than that supplied to it, its surface 

 must lower, and eventually the supply will give out. It was formerly 

 thought that this water comes from the mountains, brought down by 

 streams. The underflow investigation, referred to above, seems to 

 show that such is not tlie case. Take the Gartlen City line, for ex- 

 ample, the water in the wells north of the Arkansas is at a greater 

 elevation than that in the river, hence this water cannot come from 

 the Arkansas. The water at the north end of this line is more than 

 200 feet above that in the Platte river, hence it cannot come from 

 this mountain stream. It is believed by some to come from the rain- 

 fall on the Plains. Some streams which rise in Eastern Colorado 

 and Western Kansas disappear in a low area in Scott, Finney and 

 Kearney counties and are thought to supply the unrlerflow of this 

 area. It cannot, however, be said to be proved that all the under- 

 tlow of the Plains comes from the rainfall on the Plains. Be the 

 source of this underflow what it nia\', wells in it which have furnished 



