newell.] WELL RECORDS, NEBRASKA. 93 
The region examined by Professor Hay extends in a strip about 30 
miles wide from the North Platte River along and near the one hun- 
dred and second meridian, this being at about the position of the 
eastern boundary of Colorado, and thus including portions of western 
Nebraska, eastern Colorado, and western Kansas. His reconnaissance 
extended as far south as the South Fork of Smoky Hill River, thus 
covering a strip of country about 170 miles in length. This area may 
be considered as typical of many thousand square miles of the Great 
Plains, and the conclusions drawn by Professor Hay have value to the 
inhabitants of a great part of the States named. 
In the following list the wells have been arranged in alphabetical 
order by counties within each State in which they occur, and again in 
alphabetical order by post-offices within each county. The tabular 
statement embodies such facts as could be best expressed by one or 
two figures. The serial numbers in the first column of the table refer 
to details which could not well be expressed in tabular form, and which, 
for economy of space, have been placed after the table. Thus, to get 
the complete statement for any one well, reference should be made first 
to the table and then to the statement at the end of the table which 
has the same number. 
The table gives first the arbitrary number; next, the post-office 
address of the owner of the well, this being presumably the nearest 
town; next, the name of the owner of the well, and to the right of this 
the location according to township, range, and section. All of the 
Land Office subdivisions in this part of the country are referred to 
the sixth principal meridian, this being understood in all cases. The 
townships are all north and the ranges west, the initials N. and W. 
at the top of the column expressing this fact. In the next column 
is given the year in which the well was completed, this indicating, 
presumably, the length of time during which the well has been used. 
The diameter of the well is, for uniformity, given in inches, the dug 
wells — those of 4 or 5 feet across — being noted as 48 or 60 inches in 
diameter. The adjacent columns give the total depth of the well in 
feet, this being the extreme distance from the surface of the ground to 
the bottom of the well. The depth of water is the height above the 
bottom at which the water usually stands. The cost of well usually 
includes all of the necessary expenses, except x>ossibly the labor con- 
tributed by the owner himself in making preparations and in general 
oversight. Cost of machinery includes pump and suction pipe, wind- 
mill, or other device for raising the water. 
Of the whole number of wells reported, Professor Hay states that 69 
are used for irrigation, of which 22 are in Nebraska, 17 in Colorado, and 
30 in Kansas. The number put to this use is being constantly increased, 
and the summer of 1895 will find them running up into the hundreds. 
This enumeration does not by any means include all of the wells in the 
district examined, but simply gives those visited by Professor Hay or 
