264 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



extremes — one or the other must be the final result. If this be so — and 

 I think it will be conceded by all who have given the subject any seri- 

 ous reflection — then it is very important that the agricultural capacity 

 of the Territories, where they are to be found, should be ascertained as 

 soon as possible, and the extent and locality of the arable district 

 adapted to such settlement determined. But these roving sons of the 

 Plains know nothing of agriculture, they know nothing of the princi- 

 ples of irrigation, and hence they must be taught, and to do this the 

 locality for each tribe must be fixed, and the experiment tried. Some 

 of the Indian agents, I believe, have entered upon this work, which, if 

 properly managed, will in all probability result in more good than any 

 other that has been tried. But if persuasion, after a thorough trial, 

 fails to bring a tribe to terms, then compel them to it ; for one restless, 

 roving band may destroy all the good that might be effected with half 

 a dozen others. Lend a helping, fostering hand to all that are willing 

 to enter upon permanent settlements, but make no treaties and grant no 

 annuities to those that refuse to come to these terms. If extermina- 

 tion is the result of non-compliance, then compulsion is an act of mercy. 

 The how, I leave to others to decide. But looking at it from the agri- 

 cultural side of the question, I certainly conceive it to be a necessity. 



ARTESIAN WELLS. 



The possibility of obtaining water upon the plains by means of arte- 

 sian wells has engaged the minds of many persons for a number of years, 

 but thus far the attempts have not proved successful. The one made by 

 General Pope on the Llano Estacado, in New Mexico, is well known, but 

 the failure in this case, if it can truly be called a failure, has not been suffi- 

 cient to decide the question, especially in regard to that portion of the coun- 

 try lying north of the " Staked Plains," where the conditions are different. 



The latest attempt of which I have any knowledge is the one recently 

 made at Kit Carson, on the line of the Kansas Pacific Bailway. The 

 following account of this work I take from a recent communication on 

 the subject to Dr. F. V. Hayden, from Mr. E. S. Elliot, industrial agent 

 of this railroad company : 



Strata passed, through (including the wood conductor near the surface) are as follows : 



Feet. Feet. 



Conductor of wood from the surface. 40 



Blue mud 260 



Gray slate 700 



Magnesian limestone 70 



Gray sand rock 30 



Black slate 100 



Slate and shale mixed 100 



Black slate, fin which the boring stop- 

 ped) 160 



Total depth -' 1.460 



Captain Grant, who has charge of the work, states that at the depth of three hundred 

 feet a crevice was reached, another at three hundred and forty feet, and another at four 

 hundred feet ; and that at the depth of four hundred and fifty feet a flow of salt water 

 was obtained, but that at no point has any fresh water been found. From the crevices 

 struck, and from the size of the pieces of shale, slate, &c, brought up, he infers that the 

 strata are inclined at a high angle. When the work stopped the water arose above the 

 point at which it comes in, but how near the surface it stands has not been ascertained. 

 Whether the company will continue its operations here, or not, has not been determined. 



Although this experiment does not decide the question, yet on the 

 whole the result is unfavorable, and indicates, to say the least, that to 

 obtain flowing fresh water a great depth will be required. I am there- 

 fore inclined to think it is best not to count upon these as a means of 

 increasing the breadth of tillable land. 



I believe an attempt has been made at Lincoln, in Nebraska, but am 

 not informed as to its progress or probability of success. 



