Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 136, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1919 — Water In the Desert [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Water In the Desert

By Robert H. Moultor

fHE most valuable thing in any given region is apt to be that which is hardest to obtain there. In deserts, without any doubt, it is water. And next to the life-giving fluid itself, the desert traveler values any indications of where he will be able to find it—its direction, its distance, its character. The existence or non-existence of such indications often means life or death to him. A little over a year ago congress began the work of supplementing the few signs that nature affords by marking the desert regions of the Southwest with printed sign-boards, telling of the nearest water. Moreover, it is mapping the watering-places and improving them. An appropriation of SIO,OOO was made as a starter, and within a few weeks after it had become available, the United States geological survey had four outfits, each in charge of a geologist, at work in the hottest, driest, sandiest and least explored part of the desert region. Within a few months more than 60,000 square miles of the region had been mapped, examined and sign-posted. 1 The region that has been covered lies in southern California and southwestern Arizona. In California It includes the Colorado Desert, the Mohave Desert, the southern part of Death Valley, and adjacent regions. In Arizona It includes the little known and sparsely settled region west of Tucson and Phoenlx and south df~ ■Wickenburg and Parker. It was selected not only because of its aridity, but also because of the strategic importance of obtaining information on the water-supplies along the 350 miles of our national frontier, which it includes. Guides for the Traveler. The geologists who did this work are now in Washington .preparing maps that will show practically every watering-place in the region and 'the roads leading to these wateringplaces. These maps will be published In a series of guides which will contain descriptions of the routes, detailed Information regarding each waterplace, tables of distances between watering-places and analysis, of the water. These guides will cover not merely the principal roads, but are especially designed to give information regarding the water-places in the less frequented regions remote from the main routes. The work was placed In charge of geologists, so that not only should existing water-places be located and marked, but an Intelligent understanding' of the water-supplies below the surface should be obtained. Thus, after the guides are completed, watersupply papers will be published which will discuss in a comprehensive manner the water sources of the region. Many interesting episodes in connection with the field-work might be related. At various rimes there were breakdowns in remote sections involving extraordinary exertion and some hardships. A rather romantic event was the planting of sign-posts in the vicinity of Tinajas Atlas, along the Mexican border, in Arizona, where between 300 and 400 persons once

perished by thirst. It may be somewhat surprising to people in the East, and possibly to some in the West, to learn that Death" Valley, 'whose unsavory name and reputation give it a certain terrifying notoriety throughout the country, contains large springs, which afforded excellent swimming to the survey party that was in the valley last winter. The entire region, that is so arid as to require guides to wateringplaces and sign-posts directing to these watering-places, comprises a fanshaped area covering approximately 570,000 square miles, or nearly onefifth of the country. The handle of the fan is in southern California; one side is formed by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains; the other side extends 800 miles along the Mexican border; while the outer edge is traced by a line extending from eastern Oregon, through Salt Lake City and Santa Fe, to the mouth of the Pecos river. The highly developed coastal section of southern California is situated, so to speak, at the handle of the fan, and the railroads and automobile highways that extend eastward and northeastward z from this section may be regarded as the ribs of the huge fan. Benefits of the Work. a This region is by no means devoid of natural resources or human activity. It contains prosperous cities, fertile agricultural districts, forest-clad mountains, a large aggregate number of wa'tering-places, rich mines, and an unknown wealth of mineral deposits yet to be discovered and exploited. But the localities that have watersupplies comprise widely separated cases in a vast expanse of silent, changelfess, unproductive desert whose most impressive feature is great distances and whose chief evidences of human occupation are the long, long roads that lead from one water-ing-place to another. To hirp who has become acquainted with the region it has a peculiar fascination and no serious dangers, but for the stranger who penetrates it without adequate information it forever contains the stem possibility of perishing by thirst. In the few years’ travel in the

region has been greatly increased through the use of automobiles, and this has accordingly increased the need for maps and guides to wateringplaces. The large amount of work that has been accomplished in the last year was made possible by using a'considerable sum from the regular appropriation for the Investigation of water resources, in addition to the appropriation of SIO,OOO for desert watering-places. This was justified by the fact that the reconnaissance has yielded a large amount of valuable data on ground-water condtions. On the basis of. the already <Jnne it Is estimated that the rest of the region of 570,000 square miles can be covered, after the manner of the first year’s work, for SIOO,OOO, which is only about $8 per township. Obviously the results will be very large for the expenditure Involved, and it is highly desirable as soon as possible, to carry the project to completion. After the region has been covered by the survey and the setting of the sign-posts, it is believed that the government should undertake the systematic development of new water-ing-places.