AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. 227 



at times when it does not do much good to the vegetation, irrigation by stor- 

 age reservoirs may be applied, provided the surrounding country and the 

 quality of the soil justifies the expense. 



Without going outside of the United States, we find the examples of this 

 method of irrigation in California, Colorado, New Mexico, etc., where, just 

 as in West Texas, less on account of the want of rain in general, but more on 

 account of the want of rain in seasons when it is required for, the growth 

 of crops, has caused the unproductiveness; and this fact formerly gave the 

 name of desert to regions which now may be regarded as garden spots. 



The average rainfall for the past ten years, as measured by the United 

 States Signal Service Office at Fort Davis, was 19.9 inches annually, or about 

 46,272,000 cubic feet of water for every square mile — 72,000 cubic feet, or 

 over 540,000 gallons for every acre. This average, the signal officer says, 

 holds good for a circle of about 50 miles, and judging from one year's ob- 

 servations it also applies to a considerably larger radius. 



This water, however, hardly ever comes down in slow drizzling rains which 

 can be absorbed by the soil, but in heavy showers, and the water runs off as 

 fast as it falls, a fact well known to every observer in West Texas. 



In the meantime there are many long and broad valleys where frequent 

 narrower spots are found, at which the hills and mountain sides approach 

 each other within a distance of a few hundred yards, sometimes even narrow- 

 ing to a few hundred feet. 



The walls are of solid material, granites or metamorphic sandstone or lime- 

 stone, and judging from the slopes of the hills as they approach each other, 

 the bedrock is as solid as the sides, and can not be deeply buried below the 

 overlying sand and gravel. The material for building the dams is close at 

 hand, and in most cases can be rolled down from the sides of the hills. 



The water evaporating from such reservoirs would be of benefit to the 

 vicinity, in the shape of dew or rain; leakage will return to the surface in 

 springs, miles off it may be, but still near enough to benefit the arid region 

 of Western Texas. 



At present, however, neither the State nor the railroad companies will be 

 able to dispose of alternate sections for prospective farming or grazing land ; 

 they can not even rent it out to stockraisers, because there is no water, with 

 the exception of a few springs, which are already owned by different cattle- 

 men and provide water for only a few thousand head of cattle where there 

 is rich pasturage for 100,000. And this pasturage is at the undisputed dis- 

 posal of the parties that own or rent a small complex of land on which the 

 springs or water holes are located. 



The expenses of building reservoirs or boring wells is too great to be un- 

 dertaken when only single or even alternate sections can be secured for pur- 



