SCIENCE 



NEW YORK, JULY 21, U93. 



THE SOUTH DAKOTA ARTESIAN BASIN. 



BY W. S. HALL, M.S., M.D., HAVKRFORD COLLEGE, HAVERFORD, PA. 



The State of South Dakota is about 330 uiiles long by 210 miles 

 wide. The Missouri River crosses the middle of the north boun- 

 dary and flows south-southeast till it reaches the noi'th boundary 

 of Nebraska, when it sweeps around to the east and forms the 

 boundary line between South Dakota and Nebraska. Five great 

 water-courses pass down the long slope of the high plains from 

 the western boundary of the State to the Missouri Ris-er. The 

 largest of these is the Cheyenne River, furnishing a drainage 

 channel for the Blabk Hills, which lie xjartly in South Dakota and 

 pattly in Wyoming. A few small, short sireams flow from the 

 east into the Missouri. The James River (formerly called Dakota 

 River) flows in a very direct course, south by east, across the 

 State, bisecting the part of the State east of the Missouri River. 

 The James River valley is a broad plain fron 1,200 feet to 1,300 

 feet above sea-level. As early as 18S3 artesian wells were drilled 

 at different places in the valley with the hope of securing a more 

 abundant supply for the cities and villages which were so rapidly 

 outgrowing their water-supply. 



The uniform success in getting water, the abundant supply, the 

 good quality, and the great force with which it was ejected began 

 to attract genei-al attention. It has been demonstrated by numer- 

 ous and widely-distributed experiments that the whole James 

 River valley is an artesian basin. Geologists and engineers seem 

 to agree that it is the most wonderful artesian basin in the world. 

 The source and limit of the water-supply of this region have been 

 the subject of careful and extended in\estigationsby both Federal 

 and State commissions. In this brief paper the writer will en- 

 deavor to give the results of these investigations to date. 



1. The source of the supply of water. 



There are three general requirements that must be satisfied in 

 seeking for the source of supply of an artesian basin : — 



I. The source must be as high as the greatest height to which 

 the water, in any well tapping the basin, will rise. 



II. The amount of rainfall on the source-area must be adequate 

 to account for the supply of the basin. 



III. The geological formations between the source and the basin 

 must be such as to allow the passage of the water through a per- 

 vious stratum between two impervious strata. 



Several theories exist as to the source of the supply in the basin 

 in question : (a) The Great Lakes ; (6) the Canadian lakes ; (c) Devil's 

 Lake, North Dakota; (d) the Missouri River; (e) the elevated 

 region west of the Missouri River, including the foot-hills and the 

 east slope of the Rocky Mountains. 



Let us apply the three requirements stated above to the regions 

 just named. 



The height to which the water of the Redfield, South Dakota, 

 well would rise, if the tube were extended, is 1,700 feet A. 

 T.' There are other wells north and west of Ren field whose 

 water would rise to a greater height.^ The well at Highmore has 

 a flow of nine gallons and a pressure of twelve pounds at an alti- 

 tude of 1,£90 feet.= But the altitude of the Great Lakes and of 

 the Canadian lakes is many hundred feet below that height.^ The 

 altitude of Devil's Lake is about 1,440 feet,' and the altitude of 

 the Missouri River where it enters South Dakota is not over 1,500 

 feet.= 



' "Artesian and Dndeiflow iLvestlgatlon," Part II., Col. E. S. Nettleton, 

 Chief Engineer. AppeLdices xvni., xix., and xx. 



2 " Artesian atd Underground Investigation," Part IV., P. B. CofHn, Engi- 

 neer lor South Dakota. 



3 American Geological Railroad Guide, Macfarlane. 



It therefore follows that neither the Great Lakes, the Canadian 

 lakes, nor Devil's Lake can be the source. Nor can the Missouri 

 River within the Stale be the source. We are now confined to 

 our last alternative, — the elevated region west of the Missouri 

 River, — which may, for convenience, be considered under two 

 heads: (1) The High Plains, and (2) The Foot-Hills of the Rockies. 

 (1) The high plains attain an altitude of 1,900 feet about 50 miles 

 west of the Missouri River. ^ They satisfy requirement I. 



An idea of the water-supply of an artesian basin can be gotten 

 only by finding the amount of water that can be drawn off with- 

 out lessening the flow and pressure of individual wells. W. P. 

 Butler, engineer of Aberdeen, South Dakota, under date of June, 

 1892, says that "two hundred wells have already been put down 

 in North and South Dakota.'"' The same engineer gives a "Table 

 of twenty-four South Dakota wells showing flow in gallons per 

 minute." " The range of discharge, as shown by this table, is 

 from 150 gallons to 7,000 gallons per minute; the intermediate 

 points seem to be sufficiently represented to indicate that the table 

 is fairly representative. Taking this table as a basis, the average 

 flow of a South Dakota artesian well is 1,655 gallons per minute. 

 Two hundred wells would, at that rate, discharge 685 million tons 

 per annum. No diminution in the pressure of any of the wells 

 has been detected. The limit has, therefore, not yet been ap- 

 proached. No>v many times the amount annually discharged by 

 the South Dakota artesian wells falls each year upon the high 

 plains (region e, 1) west of the Missouri River in South Dakota ; 

 but the rapid evaporation from the surface, the ready drainage 

 into the Missouri River, and the impervious shales beneath" the 

 surface preclude the possibility of the high-plain rainfall taking 

 any appreciable part in the water-supply of the basin. Driven 

 now to our last alternative, let us apply our three tests in suc- 

 cession. 



L The elevation of the foot-hills varies from 3,000 feet to 8,000 

 feet above sea-level, which is certainly sufficient altitude above 

 the James River valley to overcome the resistance and give the 

 wells a high pressure 240 to 600 miles away. 



II. The annual rainfall in the foot-hills is greater per given area 

 than on the high plains.' 



The area of the foot-hills, whose rainfall can get access to the 

 water-bearing rocks, is not far from 40,000 square miles, upon 

 which area not less than 69,600 million tons of water fall per 

 annum, which is one hundred times as much as that drawn an- 

 nually from the artesian basin of the Dakotas. 



III. The geological formation between the Black Hills and the 

 James River valley is well shown by the accompanying figure." 



A glance at this figure will show that water entering the porous 

 Dakota sandstone above Rapid City will produce the conditions 

 for an artesian flow in the region of the James River and the 

 Missouri River. The lower altitude of the former will make the 

 flow stronger there, even though it be farther away from the source. 

 The increasing altitude as one goes west from the Missouri River 

 will undoubtedly decrease or wholly prevent a flow. Any geo- 

 logical section taken across the Dakotas from east to west would 

 be similar to the one shown. Wherever the section would pass 

 through foot-hills or mountain ranges the upturned edges of the 

 absorbing strata would crop out. 



The three requirements being satisfied by the last region tested, 

 it has been demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt that the 

 source of the water-supply of the James River artesian basin is 



' "Artesian and Underflow Investigation," Part IV,, F, B, Cofflo, 



' Irrigation Manual, W. P. B, p. 9. 



« Irrigation Manual, W. P, B. p. :38 



' Irrigation Manual, W. P, Butler, p. 91, "On the high plain the rainfall Is 

 15 to 20 Inches, while In the Black Hills It Is SO to 30 Inches per annum," 



^ "Irrigation and Underflow Investigation," Part III., Special Report by 

 Professor G. E. Culver, State Geologist. 



