40 
GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
town but for many fields and orchards in the surrounding region. 
Two electric-power plants furnish power for pumping at a low rate, 
At several places in the valley individuals and the. beet-sugar 
company have been pumping water from shallow wells for irrigating 
crops and in general the results are satisfactory. Some of the wells 
yield 2,000 gallons a minute, and the supply appears adequate. 
Near Garden City an irrigation project of the United States Recla- 
mation Service, utilizing the underflow, or water contained in the sands 
and gravels of the low lands along the river, has been carried out, 
The plant is installed at Deerfield, 15 miles west of Garden City, where 
a number of shallow wells sunk in line across the valley are pumped 
to supply water for a ditch that extends along the north slope of the 
valley to Garden City and beyond. The cost of pumping is low 
because the surface of the water is not far beneath the bottom of 
the valley and the volume is large. Of late, however, the persons 
for whom the water was provided have found that it costs more 
than they desire to pay, so that the operation of the plant has been 
suspended. 
The people in the Arkansas Valley in western Kansas have been, 
asserting for many years that since the river water has been used so 
extensively for irrigation in Colorado the underflow in Kansas has 
greatly diminished. This matter was in a degree involved in the 
famous suit in the Supreme Court for an injunction against the State 
of Colorado in 1901-1907. Many experts testified for the defense 
that the main body of underflow was derived from the slopes adjoining 
the valley and that its volume was not closely related to the amount 
of water flowing down the river, except possibly for a few rods from 
the banks. Detailed observations at the wells at Deerfield and other 
test wells sunk by the Government proved that the line of flow in the 
valley deposits was mainly from the sides toward the middle. The 
' A detailed investigation on the under- 
flow in the Arkansas River valley in Kan- 
with surprising quickness. The general 
results were as follows: 
sas was made in 1904 by the United States 
Geological Survey. It was found that 
near Garden City the water table of this 
valley slopes downstream, and from the 
a 
nary stages. Ii, however, the river be- 
came flooded by heavy rains to the west 
without cor ding rains in the vicin- 
ity of Garden City the water table near the 
channel was raised and water spread 
from the river channel into the sands of 
the river valley, but only for a short dis- 
tance. It was further ascertained that a 
heavy rain at Garden City would mate- 
tially raise the water table in the valley 
Uifttes OFUt 
“The underflow of Arkansas River 
Moves at an average rate of 8 feet per 24 
hours in the general direction of the 
valley. 
“The water plane slopes to the east at 
the rate of 7.5 feet per mile and toward 
the river at the rate of 2 to 3 feet per 
mil 
e. 
“The moving ground water extends 
several miles north from the river valley. 
No north or south limit was found. 
“The rate of movement is very uni- 
form. 
“The underflow has its origin in the 
rainfall on the sand hills south of the 
