Artesian Wells. 



The most practical artesian well is one having a casing diameter of 10, 12 or 14 

 inches. The cost of a 10-inch artesian well from 350 to 400 feet deep will be ordi- 

 narily somewhere between $1,000 and $1,250. Taking the higher figure as the cost of 

 the well, a flow of 375 gallons per minute would be sufficient to irrigate 100 acres of land 

 on the basis of one-half acre foot per month per acre. The cost of the water right would 

 be, therefore, $12.50 per acre. On the other hand, a flow of but 125 gallons per minute 

 would afford sufficient water for but 33 acres, making the cost of the water right $37.50 

 per acre. Shallow wells are proportionally less expensive, and many of the best wells 

 so far drilled in the State are not over 250 feet. The flows of 10-inch wells range from 

 as low as 50 gallons per minute to as high as 1 ,350 gallons per minute, in the case of the 

 Passno well at Las Vegas. 



With the factors of depth and flow indeterminable, except by actual drilling, and 

 varying not only in each locality but with each well, it is obviously impossible to give 

 other than a qualified estimate of the probable average cost of artesian water rights per 

 acre of land. This is likely somewhere in the neighborhood of $20. But such estimate 

 is not submitted other than as an approximation. The chief point to be considered is 

 that artesian well drilling to reclaim arid lands is receiving such increasing impetus since 

 its inception into Nevada as to preclude any thought that the average results are other than 

 economically profitable. Where two years ago there was little or no drilling being done, 

 at the present time there are perhaps twenty or more drilling outfits in active commission in 

 different parts of the State. 



Cheap Power for Pumping. 



That cheap power is available in western and parts of southern Nevada will surprise 

 many. Such, nevertheless, is the fact. The tremendous development of mining and its 

 demand for power has stimulated the construction of hydro-electric power plants on the 

 streams flowing from the eastern slopes of the Sierras, particularly on the Truckee and 

 Owens rivers. About 20,000 horse-power is at present generated and conveyed by pole 

 and wire lines for hundreds of miles in western and southern Nevada, supplying light and 

 power for cities, towns and villages, mines, mills and manufactories, and traversing in 

 their courses mountains and valleys, farming sections and arable wastes. These power 

 lines have excess power in the spring and summer during 19 hours of the day, or other 

 than between 6 and 1 1 o'clock in the evening, the time of the "peak load." Rates for 

 power pumping for irrigation for 19 hours a day can be obtained at from 1.2 cents to 1.5 

 cents per kilowatt hour. This is equivalent to gasoline power at about 8 cents per gallon. 



Cost of Electric Power Pumping. 



On the basis of 50 per cent, efficiency for the pumping plant, the power cost of 

 pumping one acre foot of water 10 feet elevation, with electric power at 1.5 cents per 

 kilowatt hour, will be 31 cents; 20 feet elevation, 62 cents; 30 feet elevation, 93 cents; 40 

 feet elevation, $1.24, and 50 feet elevation, $1.55. On the basis of three acre feet of 

 water required to irrigate the land, the power charge per acre would be at 10 feet pumping 

 elevation, 93 cents per season; at 20 feet pumping elevation, $1.86; at 30 feet, $2.79; at 

 40 feet, $3.72, and at 50 feet, $4.65. These figures do not include allowance for 

 deterioration, replacements and maintenance. With electric power the cost of maintenance 

 is largely negligible, since the plant requires but little attention. The annual charge for 

 deterioration and replacements may be estimated ordinarily at about 1 5 per cent, of the 

 cost of the pumping plant. 



A New Field for Reclamation. 



It will be at once apparent that where water in sufficient quantity may be obtained 

 at a pumping elevation not greater than 50 feet with electric power at such rates, pumping 

 water for irrigation is economically feasible even for the growing of ordinary farm staples 



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