25 



but what thickness the same strata have attained at the point of boring 

 it is impossible to say. 



I have the honor again to invite the attention of the department to 

 the suggestions for the further prosecution of this work contained in 

 my letter of June 4, 1858. 



I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 



JOHN POPE, 

 Captain Topo(jraphical Engineers. 

 Captain A. A. Humphreys, 



Corps of Top' I En(f rs in charge 



Office ExpV s and Surveys, Washington, D. C. 



Camp on Pecos River, 



July 27, 1858. 



Sir: I regret to be obliged to report that the operations at this 

 place have not advanced in the least since the date of my last report, 

 and that in my judgment and in conformity also with the opinion of 

 Mr. Brown, the superintendent and principal mechanic of the arte- 

 sian well boring, it will be impracticable without largely increased 

 facilities and consequent expenditures to prosecute the work further. 

 The difficulties resulting from extreme singularity and extent of geo- 

 logical structure, together with the extremely injurious action of the 

 Pecos river water upon iron machinery I have already explained to 

 the department. 



The boiler of the steam engine has been completely devoured by 

 the acids of the water so that iron nuts half an inch thick crumble in the 

 hands like clay. The plungers of the supply pump and steam chest 

 are completely honeycombed, and every part of the engine accessible 

 to the water has been more or less injured by it. It has been neces- 

 sary to procure a new boiler in view of any future work, and I have, 

 therefore, sent three wagons to Indianola to bring one up. I en- 

 deavored after the complete destruction of the boiler to carry on the- 

 work by hand, but after a depth of nine hundred feet, boring by hand 

 even under favorable circumstances is nearly impracticable, in the 

 present case it is wholly so. 



The utmost that 1 am able to do to complete this work has been 

 done, and but for the specific orders of the Secretary of War, I should 

 move at once from this place to a point east of the Rio Grande and 

 west of the Pecos, where the structure is more favorable, and where 

 the work could be carried on with some prospect of success. 



I hardly consider it possible under any circumstances to keep this 

 party another winter in this plain. The past winter was severe, and 

 the men suffered much. It w^as entirely unexpected by every one 

 familiar with this bleak and exposed plain, that this command would 

 attempt to winter upon it exposed as they must be with very insuf- 

 ficient shelter, and I have no idea that any of the civil employes who 

 are absolutely necessary for the work could be induced to remain thus 

 exposed another winter. The military, of course, could be coerced 



