264 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



fact, tliere are large areas of tbe State where running water can be found 

 on every section, and often on every quarter-section of land. Where 

 such water resources do not exist, it can easily be obtained by digging 

 or boring to a certain depth. In the Loess deposits water is frequently 

 found at a depth of from fifteen to forty-five feet. If this proves a fail- 

 ure, as it occasionally does, water can be obtained beneath, in the 

 Drift; or, where this is absent, when the underlying rocks are reached. 

 At the bottom of the Loess deposits there is generally a layer of sand or 

 gravel, which is a great reservoir of water, and from which it flows in 

 uniimited quantities. In some of the counties drained by the Blue liivers 

 and their tributaries, but rarely east of them, v/here the Loess deposits 

 are very thick, water is not found until this stratum of sand and gravel 

 is struck, at a depth of from sixty to one hundred and twenty feet. I 

 have known of only a few instances where the underlying rocks had to 

 be penetrated to secure permanent water. This underlying bed of sand 

 and gravel is, as before observed, probably Drift, and exists, at some 

 depth, over the greater part of the State. An interesting phenomenon 

 connected with the Platte and Republican Rivers is the drainage of a 

 portion of the waters of the former into the latter. The Platte flows 

 eastward, at a considerably higher level than the Republican, and be- 

 tween the two rivers there is a large area of Loess, underlaid by Drift, 

 sand and gravel, which in many places is continuous between the two 

 rivers. Through this Drift, sand and gravel the waters of the Platte, 

 where they run over it. How into the Republican. The two rivers are, 

 in the main, parallel, and, at the raeridiau of Kearney Junction, are only 

 forty miles apart. In traveling along the Republican for a hundred 

 miles, from Orleans westward, and by wading in the river for miles at a 

 time, I observed such a quantity of water trickling through these sands 

 near the water's edge, in hundreds of places,'that it could not possibly 

 all have come from the superficial deposits. It was during the dry sea 

 son (August) of 1874 that 1 made these examinations. Occasionall;/ 

 where this underlying bed of sand and gravel lies on clay or rock, sub- 

 terranean currents are formed. 



At a distance from running streams it is found, by experience, to be 

 cheapest and best to supply water to stock and for domestic use by 

 sinking a shaft to the Drift, where water is found, and working the pump 

 by a wind-mill. One such at Ball's ranch, on the road between Kear- 

 ney and Orleans, had the tank kept full by a windmill, and furnished, 

 as I was informed at the place, water for four hundred cattle and other 

 stock, the traveling public, and for domestic use. The well here was 

 one hundred feet deep, ninety of which passed through Loess deposits. 

 Half a dozen small farmers often might unite to dig such a well, and to 

 supply it with a windmill, near the intersection of their lands. This 

 would be especially advantageous in the region between these two riv- 

 ers, west of the meridian of Kearney, where the subsoil is Loess, and 

 very thick; where running streams are few, and where wells must be 

 sunken deep to reach permanent water. 



Chemical analyses show that the waters of the State, excepting the semi- 

 alkaline ponds in some sections, is fully equal to the average in purity. 

 The most common foreign ingredient is bme carbonate. I have fre- 

 quently examined wells whose waters were charged with being impure, 

 and in every instance found that the impurity was caused by the pres- 

 ence of organic matter that had been permitted to be washed in from 

 the surface. A correction of this defect soon purified the well. 



An interesting meteorological fact, having an important bearing on 

 geological causes, is the increase of rain-fall all over the State, as civili- 



