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DEVELOPMENT OF WATERING PLACES 



ports are much to be preferred to logs or other materials that are 

 subject to more or less rapid decay. It is best to lay the rock 

 in cement. The foundation should always be deep enough in 

 the ground to avoid freezing and heaving, and it should be made 

 sufficiently wide to prevent settling when the site becomes satu- 

 rated with water. 



Care should be taken to keep the ground about the troughs 

 reasonably dry. The trough should be built fairly low; other- 

 wise, after some use, the ground about the trough is worn away 

 by the animals, and the trough is left so high that only the 

 mature stock can reach the water. 



ARTIFICIAL WATERING PLACES 



As the demand for range increased and the better natural 

 sources of water were occupied, " artificial " watering places 

 were developed. A simple device of this kind was that of dam- 

 ming up the water from intermittent streams. This plan, how- 

 ever, was seldom successful, as the reservoir formed was soon 

 filled with silt. Gradually the present-day reservoirs, now so 

 commonly seen on adobe fiats in the Southwest, became popular. 



Reservoirs. — Small reservoir sites, especially where adobe 

 soil is found, are not difficult to locate. Such reservoirs are 

 usually not costly and are to be depended upon to supplement 

 the natural water supply to a large extent. 



If there is a natural slope to the land, as when it is surrounded 

 by hills, comparatively little work is required to elevate the 

 sides by means of a plow and scraper. When the sides and bot- 

 tom are thoroughly trampled and puddled the reservoir will hold 

 sufficient water to take care of a large number of stock. Drain- 

 age into the reservoir is perfected by furrows running diag- 

 onally across the slopes, which collect the rainfall or melting 

 snow water and transport it to the storage reservoir. 



It is most economical to locate a reservoir site along some 

 natural drainage basin or canyon where the narrowing channel 

 and a substantial earth dam will hold the water. A reservoir so 

 located makes possible the storage of a large amount of water. 

 The danger that the dam may be destroyed by torrential floods 



