PLAYA DE LOS PIMAS AS A WATER SOURCE. 177 



Penascitas. The quantity of water is too small, and the position too far removed from the 

 plain, to render it worthy of investigation. 



Valle de las Playas, page 152. This arid flat cannot be depended upon for water; during the 

 rainy season it collects in pools in depressions on the surface, and after the rains water may he 

 had in the arroyo beds, by sinking from eighteen to twenty-four inches in the sand ; but during 

 the warm and dry weather even this fails ; and in midsummer, before the middle of August, it 

 is rare that any water is to be met with on the plain. This valley is imperfectly divided into 

 two by the Pyramid hills. On each of the secondary troughs thus formed the detrital accumu- 

 lation is greatest upon the eastern side, and it is in such situations, and somewhat toward 

 the mountain, that sinking for ordinary wells should be attempted. 



Valle del Sauz, page 150. This flat trough of land had no brook flowing through at the time 

 of visiting it ; there were merely pools of standing water, and no springs were found near the 

 line of trail on this plain. The clay of the valley is of great depth, and it is likely that sinkings 

 made through the clays in the line of the river bed, north of the Cienega, would be attended 

 with success ; but it is not probable that any large or permanent supply of water can be had 

 from this plain. 



Playa de los Pimas, page 147. After the supply which the Mimbres river is capable of yield- 

 ing, that which this plain can afl'ord ranks second. The permanent springs of the Playa are on 

 its north extremity, in which direction the Playa slopes. They are in the alluvial clays, and 

 arise from accumulations therein, derived from the rain fall upon the slopes of the valley, above 

 the Playa level. The springs along the trail were numerous, and congregated within an area of 

 a half mile square. The supply was large, and when drawn upon it readily filled up again. 

 From these, or from new sources in the neighborhood, sunk a few feet deeper than the present 

 wells, a large body of water is attainable ; and not from this source alone, but from the large 

 sheet of water which in autumn covers over the Playa throughout almost its whole extent, de- 

 rived from the summer rains. An immense volume of water is at command for three months of 

 the year, which, if stored in large reservoirs or tanks, would form a supply sufficient to carry 

 through the remainder of the year, until the return of the annual rains. In these latitudes 

 there is little fear about the preservation of the water, as it does not appear to undergo changes 

 of decomposition such as occur in colder latitudes. • 



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