16 
CONCLUSION OF THE OFFICIAL REVIEW, ETC. 
trains. They also indicate the feasibility of artesian wells in some localities, which might he 
resorted to if needed. 
Upon the arrival of Lieutenant Parke at Fort Fillmore, after the completion of this duty, a 
report was made by him to this office of the principal results bearing upon the question of 
supply of water, of the points where it was desirable to have borings made, indicated in the order 
most suitable for trial, together with all the information necessary for the party directed to 
make the borings. A copy of this was furnished by Lieutenant Parke to Captain Pope, then 
engaged in the construction of an artesian well near the Pecos, who had been previously in¬ 
structed to make the requisite borings west of the Rio Grande, upon the successful completion 
of the first duty assigned him. 
By the construction, at no great cost, of a series of eight common wells between the Rio 
Grande and the San Pedro, and a series of four or six across the plain known as the Colorado Desert, 
and the expenditure of a few thousand dollars in making the route along the San Pedro and 
the Gila, to the Pimas villages, practicable for wagons, an excellent emigrant and mail route for 
coaches will be had, and great suffering be saved to those crossing the continent in this latitude* 
This route will be much shortened, and its value still further increased, by constructing a series 
of artesian wells, not exceeding five in number, across the Llano Estacado. The party of 
Lieutenant Parke is now engaged in the reduction of the field-work and preparation of the 
reports, maps, &c. 
The duty assigned to the second party organized under the direction of Brevet Captain John 
Pope, topographical engineers, by the instructions of the Department of January 5,1855, was that 
of testing the practicability of procuring water by artesian wells on the arid plains of the interior. 
The point selected for the first trial was upon the Llano Estacado, near latitude 32°, about 
fourteen miles east of the Pecos, at the mouth of Delaware creek, where water for the use of 
the party could be conveniently obtained from the river. The party arrived at this point in the 
latter part of May, and commenced the operation of boring. At the depth of three hundred 
and sixty feet water was reached, which rose immediately seventy feet in the well, and remained 
at that height—the level of Delaware spring. It was found that the various strata of sandstone 
passed through in boring did not possess the degree of hardness reported by Mr. Marcou, the 
geologist, who examined the geological collection made by Captain Pope when crossing the 
Llano the preceding year ; and in consequence, after some delays from the caving in of the sides 
of the well, it was found necessary to line it with tubing throughout. From the reported char¬ 
acter of the formation, five hundred feet of tubing was considered sufficient for all the experi¬ 
ments the party was directed to make, less than half of which would be required for the well of 
the Llano Estacado ; but the unexpected softness of the strata made it necessary to use all the 
tubing in the first five hundred feet. About the middle of September, at the depth of six hun¬ 
dred and forty feet, a second supply of water, pressed up through sandstone, was attained, 
which rose three hundred and ninety feet in a few minutes, and was still rapidly rising, when 
the caving in of the marly clay below the tubing filled in the well to the height of seventy feet, 
and effectually cut off the communication of the subterranean reservoir or stream with the 
surface. An attempt was made to remove this accumulation with the mud pumps, but, after 
a continuous labor of twelve days and nights without making any impression upon it, the attempt 
was discontinued, as without additional pipe the well could not be finished ; and, in the opinion 
of Captain Pope, the practicability of constructing artesian wells on the Llano Estacado had 
been fully established. The party then proceeded to the execution of the second duty assigned to it. 
