48 The America}} Geologist. Jaly, 1894 
REVIEW OE RECENT GEOLOGICAL 
LITERATURE. 
Report on Irrigation. By R. .1. Hinton, Special Agenl in charge. 
Government Printing Office, Washington, 1893. This bulky volume is 
made up of four .parts. The first part contains a summary of the re- 
sults and methods of irrigation on the greal plains, with details of the 
various elements thai more or less directly affect the work. Then fol- 
lows a review of the progress of irrigation in the various states that 
practice it. Several papers accompany these reports, touching special 
Localities and special aspects of the problem, both in America and in 
tin' Old World. Between forty and fifty maps and illustrations are in- 
terspersed among the pages, showing the different methods adopted and 
the results obtained. 
The second part is the final report of the chief engineer, Col. E. S. 
Nettleton. on artesian and underflow investigations. It contains 
elaborate details on the engineering problems connected with the sub- 
ject of artesian wells, the natural springs of the arid region, especially 
along the Coteaus, and the legislation touching the various questions 
that arise on this particularly western topic. It is illustrated with 28 
profile maps and well records. 
The third part contains the report of Prof. ROBERT Hay, in 39 pages, 
on the artesian and underflow investigations between the meridian of 
97° and the foot-hills of the Rocky mountains. Here we find the geo- 
logical details of the problem, so far as they pertain to the part of the 
work under discussion. — the water-bearing rocks of the plains, their 
elevation, the source of their supply in the mountains, the how of the 
rivers, the extent of the artesian area, and the cause of how. 
The fourth part is Prof. R. T. Hill's report on the occurrence of arte- 
sian and other waters in Texas. New Mexico, and Indian Territory west 
of the 97th meridian. It contains a general account of the region and 
its geographic features, with discussions of the artesian conditions pre- 
vailing in the different portions. Nineteen sheets of illustrations, maps, 
and sections, accompany this paper, which fills 165 pages. 
Following the above four parts, which alone are mentioned on the 
title page, comes a paper by Prof. L. E. Hicks on the underflow and the 
geological structure of Nebraska, and their effect on the water supply. 
A survey of the Loup valley is added, with especial regard tothe hydro- 
graphic features. It occupies twenty pages, with five plates. There is 
also a paper by Prof. G. E. Culver on the Dakota basin, in which the 
author treats of the artesian borings, with especial reference to the 
Black Hills water-supply. Appended is a preliminary geological map 
of the Dakotas and a section across South Dakota. Last come the re- 
ports of two special agents, Judge Gregory and Mr. F. B. Coffin. The 
former writes of the underwaters of the greal plains, and the latter of 
certain artesian conditions existing in South Dakota. 
Ii is nol possible within the limits at our disposal toenteron anything 
