THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



979 



FIGURE 4. Diagram to illustrate the structure of the artesian basin and 

 the alluvial slope and to indicate the relation of the glacial 

 moraines to the slope. 



ditch water. In the absence of such actual figures of 

 acreage irrigated from artesian water, some estimate, such 

 as has been made of the possible irrigation from artesian 

 water, must serve. The only wells not used at all in irri- 

 gation, a small percentage of all the wells of the valley, 

 are those used for stock purposes. They are scattered 

 here and there over the unfilled land, and the water from 

 them usually sinks within a short distance of the well. 

 The larger wells are almost without exception used for 

 purposes of irrigation. In 1904 there were in the valley 

 76 6-inch wells, with an average flow of over 300 gallons 

 a minute, and 77 wells over 3 inches and under 6 inches 

 in diameter, with an average flow of about 175 gallons a 

 minute. The total flow of these larger wells was ap- 

 proximately 80 second-feet. 



However, the true value of artesian water for irriga- 

 tion purposes is not to be reckoned by the flat acreage it 

 is capable of irrigating. The special value of artesian 

 water lies in the steady, unfailing supply in times of 

 drought when the ditch water is wanting. 



Flowing Weils. 



This district includes the wells in the town of Ala- 

 mosa and those southeastward along the Rio Grande -for 

 several miles, as well as those north and east of the town, 

 within a radius of 6 or 7 miles. The district contains some 

 of the largest and most of the deep wells in the valley. 

 Within the town itself, covering 1 square mile, there are 

 140 wells, the greater number of which are about 700 

 feet deep or within 50 feet more or less than that depth. 



The Bucher well, on the other side of the Rio Grande 

 from Alamosa, but in the northeast corner of the same 

 setcion, is one of the oldest as well as one of the deepest 

 wells in the valley. This well, sunk in 1889, is nearly 

 1,000 feet deep. The main flow was secured at a depth of 

 932 feet and the smaller flow at 500 feet, the combined 

 flow in 1891 being reported by Professor Carpenter to be 

 about 600 gallons a minute, or I 1 /} second-feet. The 

 diameter of the well is 6 inches at the bottom. Reduced 

 to 3 inches, it throws a jet of water 48 inches high. The 

 temperature is 74.7, according to Professor Carpenter, 

 who reports that the pressure indicates a head of 56 feet. 

 No record was kept of the geologic section of the well. 

 The water is without taste, like that of shallower flows. 

 It is caught in a large reservoir and used in a small way 

 for irrigation. 



The town well situated in the northwest corner of 

 Alamosa, a mile west of the Bucher well, is 865 feet deep 

 and 6 inches in diameter and is cased to a depth of 852 

 feet. The flow in 1891, as measured by Professor Car- 

 penter, was 400 gallons a minute. The temperature is 

 72 F. The water from this well, with additions from the 

 various private wells, is carried in ditches through the 

 streets of the town, irrigating the shade trees and grass 

 plats along the way. 



The Denver & Rio Grande well at the water tank is 

 938 feet deep and 4 inches in diameter at the bottom. 

 It has a flow of 60 gallons a minute at the surface of the 

 ground, or 20 gallons a minute where it empties into th'e 

 tank at a height of 37 feet above the ground. The pres- 

 sure, when finished, indicated a head of 46 feet. A small flow 

 was struck at 630 feet, and at 838 feet a flow of 90 gaU 

 Ions a minute, the pressure of which indicated a head of 32 

 feet. The purpose of going on to the deeper though 

 smaller flow was to get sufficient head to lift the water 

 into the top of the water tank at 37 feet. The flow at 

 937 feet is the same flow that is struck by the Bucher well. 

 These two are the only wells having this flow in the vicin- 

 ity of Alamosa, though there are a few other wells deep 

 enough to reach it. 



A CAMPAIGN OF INSTRUCTION. 



To demonstrate that wet ditches through the swamp land 

 areas of the south and east are of as great economic impor- 

 tance as are the dry ditches created by the government to 

 lead water to arid lands in the irrigated west, the manage- 

 ment of the Illinois Central and the Yazoo & Mississippi Val- 

 ley railroad companies, co-operating with the government, is 

 to operate through the south a train, to be known as the 

 Reclamation Special, carrying lecturers representing the 

 United States Reclamation Service and the Geological Survey, 

 the tour being the initial campaign this year of the Illinois 

 Central to arouse the interest of the south in its reclamation 

 possibilities. 



C. J. Blanchard, statistician of the Reclamation Service, 

 and M. C. Leighton, chief hydrographer of the Geological 

 Survey, will accompany officials of the road during the tour. 

 Mr. Blanchard will tell of the work done by the government 

 in the west, while Mr. Leighton will tell the southerners of 

 the agricultural benefits to be derived through the improve- 

 ment of swamp areas and also of the importance to the 

 national health of such development. 



The tour, during which lectures will be delivered at 

 sixty-one towns and cities, has been designed to give impetus 

 to a movement launched recently by the National Irrigation 

 Congress for swamp land improvements. Statistics of the 

 government show there are 80,000,000 acres of such lands 

 capable of drainage and one of the undertakings of the irri- 

 gation congress, which meets in Chicago this year, will be 

 to obtain such legislation as will make possible swamp recla- 

 mation by the government. 



The railway campaign will continue from towns in S'li'ih- 

 ern Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, taking in, besides Illinois, 

 Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and 

 Arkansas. Thousands of booklets telling of the reclamation 

 movement as it relates to swamp lands have been prepared 

 and will be distributed by the railway. 



The train consists of a baggage car, one coach and a busi- 

 ness car. The coach will be employed as a meeting hall by 

 the government lecturers. Two stereopticon outfits will be 

 taken, a smaller one to be used in the coach and the other for 

 bigger halls. Besides many smaller places, the train \vll 

 reach such points as Cairo, 111., Memphis, Covington and 

 Jackson, Tenn., Birmingham, Ala., Jackson, Vicksburg and 

 Xatchez, Miss., and New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La. A 

 special effort is to be made to interest farmers, merchants and 

 manufacturers and arrangements are to be made for largely 

 attended gatherings at the more important points. 



"Reclamation in the south can best be furthered under 

 plans prepared, financed and executed by the government, 

 just as our arid lands in the west were developed," said W. L. 

 Park, vice-president and general manager of the Illinois Cen- 

 tral. ''Any project to reclaim our vast areas of swamp lands 

 is so tremendous as to seem at first glance almost to be 

 Utopian, but such is not the condition at all. Swamp lands 

 are more readily transformed into farms, as the reclamation 

 work constitutes a simpler engineering undertaking than is 

 the placing of water on arid lands. It is easier to lead water 

 away from swamp lands, from an engineering point of view, 

 tJ^in it is to reclaim any other lands which for physical rea- 

 sons are impossible of cultivation. 



"I believe that now is the time to become energetic in 

 this work. We have the National Irrigation Congress here 

 to work with and this organization is of much influence in 

 furthering any undertaking of this character. The Irrigation 

 Congress meets Dec. 5 to 9 and at that time it is certain the 

 south will be represented by strong delegates to further the 

 swamp land reclamation movement." 



In anticipation of the interest likely to be aroused by the 

 train, officials of the railway have stocked a special department 

 with information concerning swamp lands and from this in- 

 quiries for such data will be answered in the future. During 

 the trip of the special persons attending the meetings are to 

 be invited to address the road for information on any subject 

 of swamp land reclamation that has not been made clear. 



The Cotton Land & Water Company of Tucson, Ar- 

 izona, announce that work will begin on the reclamation 

 of 50,000 acres of irrigable land in Mojave valley, Cali- 

 fornia. Concrete channels will be built from the Colorado 

 river and pumping plants will be established. 



