224 UNDERGROUND WATERS. 



by the hundred are rejoicing in prosperity who would have nad abso- 

 lutely nothing but for the old streams that flowed unsuspected beneatfi 

 the ranch. 



From the very nature of these streams, one can understand the ab- 

 surdity of attempting to say how long they will continue to furnish 

 water if steadily drawn on. But one thing can be definitely known. 

 And that is if they are reserved for emergencies like the present they 

 will be full enough when we need them. But if drawn on all the time 

 it is certain that some of them will not be full when the emergency 

 comes. How long will it take them to fill when once exhausted I am 

 not bold enough to guess. The time will vary with almost every one. 

 How many taps an underground stream will stand for even one year is 

 a question that one will hesitate to answer if he will for a moment 

 consider the formation of the gravel beds and how they are cut off one 

 from another or connected only by a thin thread of gravel, or even 

 fine sand, and how they may be connected In the same way even with 

 the main source of supply. We know not how long it took them to 

 fill in the first place and we know as little of how long it will take 

 if they are once emptied. But it is quite probable that the time re- 

 quired will be far greater. 



it is, however, certain that for the maintenance of these supplies 

 the preservation of the forests is quite as essential as for anything else. 

 The inlets to these great beds of water bearing gravel and sand are 

 small and thin, and covered often with soil so that it takes much time 

 for the water to soak into them. To fill them needs a long, slow run 

 of water. Quick discharges simply pass over them and let in very 

 little. If the water from the mountains is laden with fine silt and 

 slime from fire burned ground these inlets tend to puddle and close 

 and in the course of time it would take much longer to fill the old 

 gravel reservoirs than now, while many of them might in that way be 

 closed almost completely against even the slowest run of water. 



