rcssell.] SPRINGS AND ARTESIAN WELLS. 23 
for irrigation, but there are seemingly favorable conditions for storing 
their abundant winter run-off and thus increasing their efficiency, not 
only for agricultural purposes, but as sources of power. Of the 
numerous small streams which rise on the elevated borders of the 
Malheur-Harney basin, and flow toward its center, there are none 
which reach the lakes in summer. Some of the small streams referred 
to, as Rattlesnake Creek near Harney, and Cow Creek, in summer 
barely enter the broad flat-bottomed basin to which they flow and 
there expand and are lost in natural meadows. In the majority of 
instances, however, the smaller streams from the mountains flow only 
during the rainy season or when the snow on the uplands is melting; 
they become dry in summer. 
East of Stein Mountain there are several basins, aggregating about 
1,500 square miles in area, from which there is no outflow of water. 
The largest of these is the one in which Alvord Desert is situated. 
Alvord, Mann, and Juniper lakes occupy other similar desert valleys. 
This region is a part of the Great Basin, and all the water which 
reaches it is evaporated. The streams are small and wherever land 
is available are fully utilized for irrigation. 
Such information as I have been able to gather concerning Snake 
River and its tributaries, in the portion of its course represented on 
the accompanying map (PI. I), is contained in Bulletin No. 190 of 
the United States Geological Survey. A much more detailed account 
of the river, however, and of the water resources generally of south- 
ern Idaho maybe found in the reports of the State engineer*of Idaho. 
SPRINGS AND ARTESIAN WELLS. 
Some account of the warm and hot springs and of the artesian wells 
in the portions of Idaho and Oregon examined in 1902 has been pre- 
sented in a preliminary report on the work of that season/' and only 
a brief summary of the results reached in this connection seems 
desirable at this time. 
It is to be understood that the streams briefly described above, like 
most streams the world over, are fed by rains or melting snow, but to 
a great extent owe their water supply to seepage from the bordering 
uplands. The seepage referred to is sometimes sufficiently concen- 
trated at definite localities to form hillside springs, the temperature 
of which throughout the year is approximatery the same as the mean 
annual temperature of the locality where they are situated. In the 
region under consideration this may be taken as approximately 50° F., 
although in certain localities, as at Burns, Oreg., it is perhaps 2 
lower. 
In addition to hillside springs, there are at numerous localities, as 
indicated approximately on the map (PI. I), springs of warm or hot 
water, which rise from deep sources, presumably in most instances 
« Water-Sup. and Irr. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 78, 1903. 
