talk with Professor O’Harra, he agreed with me that by 
including certain outside lands to the north and west 
of the Park, ample water, even in the driest season, 
would be assured. 
LARGE SPRINGS AND FLOWING WATER 
The old Taylor Ranch, now owned by Bud Haden, 
but on map A given as the Frederick W. Radicke or 
John R. Daly place, lies about half a mile west of the Park. 
This ranch contains the best water (1) on the Re- 
serve, although the quantity is not as great as the supply 
found in Cold Brook and Beaver Creek, on the northern 
side of the Reserve. It (1) consists of a number of 
springs,—some small and flowing,—and spring pools 
extending for about two hundred yards. 
The ranch secured its water from a dug-out and 
stoned spring four feet in diameter, which on July 14 
contained two and one-half feet of water. The water 
line being below the top of the ground, it came to the 
surface again 100 feet below and formed a pool 100 feet 
long by 30 feet wide, and then a chain of four smaller 
pools from 60 to 20 feet long by 25 to 10 feet wide. It 
is clear and cold and from one to five feet deep, with the 
usual spring sediment on the bottom and floating. These 
pools were full of frogs and pollywogs. 
It would be much cheaper to pipe this water about 
a quarter of a mile rather than run the fence around it, 
as the dashed line now indicates. 
Some of the land on this ranch is cultivated, but 
is not worth harvesting this year. The fences are in 
good condition. The buildings have tumbled down, 
and even the timber is worthless. 
In the southern half of the Reserve, the animals 
would be dependent on these spring pools, if ever the 
water supply in that region became exhausted. There- 
fore, in order to guard against all emergencies, J am not 
in favor of accepting the Wind Cave National Park as 
a game reserve unless this water can be acquired. 
By far the largest water supply is in Cold Brook 
and Beaver Creek, just within the northern boundary 
19 
