of the Waters of the Great Lakes, 195 
miles, of which this is the center, will be found the great water 
producing region of the West. In this elevated and compara: 
tively uneven surface of the country, nearly all of the great 
rivers of the West have their sources and fountain-heads. First 
the Missouri, with its innumerable branches and _ tributaries, 
among which are the Yellowstone and the North Fork of the 
Platte, the Arkansas, the Red River, the Rio Grande, all flowing 
rom the eastern and southern slopes of the Rocky Mountains 
statement is true of the Columbia river flowing through the 
State of Oregon into the Pacific, and of the other great streams 
and rivers which flow northward and westward into the Pacific 
and the Northern oceans. Thus the knowledge we already pos- 
sess of the surface streams of this great extent of territory all 
tends to demonstrate the truth of the theory in relation to the 
water producing region, its location, extent and capacity, and also 
that on the surface there is but comparatively a small amount of 
this water which finds its way into our Great Lakes. 
It isa well-known fact to travellers on our western plains, 
water which falls upon the earth and is absorbed by the soil and 
the rocks below the beds of rivers and streams? The crust of 
the earth abounds in water to unknown depths, and from the 
nature of the element, it must create for itself ways and courses 
of travel, as plainly beneath as upon the surface. And now, if 
the Great Lakes are not supplied by means which are upon the 
the surface and apparent to the eye, it follows as a natural con- 
Sequence that their sources of supply must be underneath the 
ground. The outlet of these lakes discharges an enormous quan- 
tity of water, the visible inlets are mere trifles in comparison— 
and thus there seems to be no other conclusion on the subject but 
that the water supply comes from below the surface of the ground. 
This water probably finds inlets at different points on the bottoms 
of the lakes, and maintains the supply with as much certainty and 
regularity as if the streams were running on the surface of the 
TC This theory is further, and I think more particularly 
emonstrated by the great mass and volume of water which 18 
now being discharged by the Chicago artesian wells. These are 
Over seven hundred feet deep—nearly penetrating the earth to a 
line parallel with the bottom of Lake Mieiseale-stas Jocated in 
