AND THEIR RELATION TO IRRIGATION. 
25 
strata and out through the wells is again attained. A 
diminution of the pressure is therefore to be looked upon 
with some anxiety. 
It becomes a question, then, of considerable impor¬ 
tance to know whether there are indications of any lessen¬ 
ing of the pressure. The large number of wells at Monte 
Vista, eighty-eight, in not over a square mile, caused par¬ 
ticular attention to be given to that locality. Most of the 
inhabitants questioned had noticed no decrease, but there 
seems to be clear evidence there has been. When the 
wells were first sunk, according to Mayor Mead and others, 
the head was about fourteen feet. In 1889 it was still 
sufficient to run water into the sprinkling carts, or it was 
still over seven feet. Some who were supplied by pipes 
from this well had to lower the outlet, in order to have 
running water. In the fall of 1890 the head was not suf¬ 
ficient to force the water four feet above the ground. The 
well of Capt. C. S Aldrich, editor of the Graphic, when 
first sunk had a head of fourteen feet, but when measured 
by myself, in 1890, it was barely five feet. I measured 
the well of Olando Bonner in January, 1889, and again 
in September, 1890, and in the meantime it had lost over 
one-half its force. 
This should be a cause of grave concern to this com¬ 
munity, for it indicates that if the wells are greatly in¬ 
creased in number in that local area, or, if some should 
begin pumping, their experience would follow that of the 
Denver and the Greeley basins, and the water would cease 
to flow. 
The fact that such a decrease has been noticed in 
one place in the valley suggests the importance to the 
other places of keeping close watch for similar symptoms. 
How the pressure may be measured has already been ex¬ 
plained. 
