MOEE OF IRBIGATION. 277 



dimensions placed over this well will be rarely stop- 

 ped for want of impelling power : Wind being, 

 next to space, the thing most abundant on the 

 Plains. A reservoir or pond covering three or four 

 acres may be made adjacent to the well at a small 

 cost of labor, by excavating slightly and using the 

 earth to form an embankment on the lower side. 

 The windmill, left alone, will fill the reservoir during 

 the windy Winter and Spring months with water 

 soon warmed in the sun, and ready to be drawn off 

 as wanted throughout the thirsty season of vegetable 

 growth and maturity. Carefully saved, the product 

 of one well will serve to moisten and vivify a good 

 many acres of grass or tillage. 



Such is the retail plan applicable to the wants of 

 solitary farmers ; bnt I hope to see it supplemented 

 and invigorated by the extensive introduction of 

 Artesian wells, whereof two, by way of experiment, 

 are now in progress at Denver and Kit Carson re- 

 spectively. 



I need not here describe the Artesian well, farther 

 than to say that it is made by boring to a depth 

 ranging from 700 to more than a 1000 feet, tubing re- 

 gularly from the top downward until a stream is 

 reached which will rise to and above the surface, 

 flowing over the top of the tube in a stream often as 

 large as an average stove-pipe. Such a well, after 

 supplying a settlement or modest village with water, 

 may be made to fill a reservoir that will sufficiently 

 irrigate a thousand cultivated acres. Its water will 



