GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 451 



traverse the Plains near the thirty-ninth parallel at their pleasure, with- 

 out serious inconvenience from lack of water, ought of itself to establish 

 the habitable character of the country. 



Descending west from First View Station, we are in 10 miles at Eureka 

 Creek ; only an arroyo, but marking a depression in the plain, where, 

 over an area of several miles square, water can be had in wells at the 

 depth of a few feet ; the water in the railway well at Eureka tank being 

 within 10 feet of the surface. Five miles farther we are at Kit Carson, 

 where, in addition to constant pools in Big Sandy, and unfailing sup- 

 plies to a limited extent in the arroyo of Wild Horse, the large but 

 shallow wells sunk for railway uses are apparently inexhaustible. 



The artesian well at Kit Carson penetrates the clays and shales 

 of cretaceous age, below the level of the percolations from the surface. 

 It was undertaken before the abundance of the stores near the surface — 

 resting on the clays, under the loam, sand and gravel — were known or 

 supposed to exist. Its main object was a flowing stream, and this not 

 being realized at 1,460 feet, and there being no necessity for more 

 liberal supplies than are now enjoyed, the work has been suspended. 

 The geological features developed by the well have been discussed in a 

 former letter, and need not be treated here. 



FROM KIT CARSON WESTWARD. 



Along the railway for nearly 70 miles we have the Big Sandy and 

 its tributary arroyos. Then at Cedar Point we cross the northern 

 trend of the " great divide," and thence to Denver we are on the waters 

 of Beaver, Comanche, Kiowa, Bijou, and Bear Creeks, and some minor 

 streams. It is true that there are seasons when the water is not visible 

 in the broad sandy troughs of these creeks, yet it is never absent, but 

 is always in large quantities under the surface, accessible by shallow 

 wells. Nature has kindly given it the shield of sand, as a protection 

 against the warm air of summer ; and thus saved from evaporation, it 

 is with little labor brought into usefulness. In addition to the streams 

 there are numerous springs between Kit Carson and Denver, some near 

 and some distant from the track, and wells even on the high flanks 

 of the divides would in most cases be successful. In the Godfrey coal 

 mines, 5,505 feet above the level of the sea, water is encountered at 

 various depths, in a shaft 108 feet. 



The immense coal-field, which appears to clip gently to the westward 

 from Cedar Point, in addition to supplying fuel in unlimited quantities, 

 may yet, in the slope of the tertiary strata, afford successful artesian 

 wells between Cedar Point and Denver. Having written of this coal- 

 field in a previous letter, I only allude to it briefly in these passages 

 as relating to coal supplies. While its coal treasures are beyond 

 computation, it is possible that this " tertiary basin " may in time bear 

 some resemblance to the Paris basin, so far as flowing wells are con- 

 cerned. With the timbered region of the great divide on the south, 

 water supplies in all its parts, I look for a rapid extension of settle- 

 ments in the country between Cedar Point and Denver. 



The foregoing presents, so far as it goes, a fair view of the water 

 supplies along the Kansas Pacific Eailway. Though in particular 

 regions not abundant, water is yet greatly more copious in supply than 

 the popular belief, and even some grave works of science, have hereto- 



