WELLS AND SPRINGS—ARTESIAN WELLS. 
247 
The lives and property of emigrants and travellers require that they should be dug; and they are 
necessary to the safety and comfort of the wagon trains carrying supplies to Fort Yuma from the 
coast. The travel between the Gila and California is constantly increasing, and large droves of 
cattle and sheep from New Mexico are driven over the Desert. The present mud-holes should 
be at once replaced by carefully constructed wells, capable of holding water enough for a large 
number of men and the animals of a train. The wells should be carried to a considerable depth, 
and thoroughly and securely timbered and planked throughout. Iron troughs 1 and buckets 
should be furnished, and a narrow iron curb, securely bolted down, would be better than one of 
wood. “Deep Well,” at the base of San Gorgono Mountain, should be carried to a greater 
depth, and be much enlarged. It should be lined with stout plank, and timbered jn the manner 
before suggested. A well is very much needed near or at the Big Lagoon. It can be easily 
dug in the clay, and a good supply of water would probably be obtained. Wells ought also 
to be dug at several points intermediate between the Lagoon or Sackett’s Well and the Salt 
Creek, and likewise between Salt Creek and the Cohuilla Springs. A few thousand dollars 
judiciously expended would secure an abundance of water in wells along the whole line. 
As there has not been an opportunity to give the waters from the Desert a chemical examina¬ 
tion, it is impossible to present a full and definite statement of their quality and mineral ingre¬ 
dients. The water that is obtained from New River and its lagoons appears to be tolerably free 
from soluble salts. It is only when the water in the lagoons is very much concentrated by 
evaporation that it becomes brackish, and shows the presence of salt by a slight incrustation on 
the shores. A very considerable quantity of fine clay is, however, held in suspension by the 
water, and when it has been long standing in the sun it becomes more or less charged with 
organic impurities. The water from the different wells appears to be nearly alike; it is slightly 
brackish in all of them. The water also holds a portion of clay in suspension, sufficient to 
impart an earthy, disagreeable taste. The quantity of salt present in the water is not enough 
to injure it for culinary purposes, and it is hardly perceptible to the taste. The peculiarity of 
the water of the Soda Springs has been described. From the statement of Mr. Poole, I am led 
to believe that the water is remarkably pure. Its chief mineral ingredient will probably be 
found to be carbonate of lime. The hillocks surrounding the springs probably are not wholly 
composed of a deposit from the water. In that region, and in the Great Basin, the springs are 
commonly surrounded by a mound or elevated border, formed from the accumulation of sand 
and dust upon the moist earth, and among the roots of the grass and other vegetation. 
The springs at the Cohuilla villages contain soluble salts in small quantities. Some of the 
salts showed their presence by a white border on the edge of the water, and by the growth of 
the peculiar “salt grass,” common on the borders of salt lakes. The water of Hot Spring ap¬ 
pears to be very pure, and free from any solid impurities. The unpleasant odor of sulphuretted 
hydrogen is removed when the water is boiled. 
The principal facts leading to the conclusion that a persistent supply of water may be obtained 
by wells may be recapitulated as follows : 
1. The surface of the deep clay, which has already been described as having been deposited 
by a former lake or bay, and which now constitutes the greater part of the Desert, is not, at any 
point, many feet above the Colorado, and is, in great part, below it. 
2. It is at times irrigated by the overflows of the Colorado, through New River. 
1 It has been found almost impossible to keep wooden buckets and troughs at Alamo Well. The buckets are stolen by 
travellers, and the troughs are used for fire-wood. 
