ARTESIAN WELLS.
The United States Congress has been asked to appropriate 53,000 dollars—the amount is a modest one—for the purpose of sinking artesian wells in the plains of the west. There are, it is said, about 900,000,000 acres in Arizona, Dakota, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Nevada, which can never be cultivated unless some method is found to supply them with water. It is estimated that 50,000,000 acres would be available il they could be irrigated, and the existing streams can supply water to only about 3 per cent, of this area. A precedent * has been set in this matter by France in Algeria. Even if the wells should not be artesian, some economical means of raising the water might be applied. If only a hundredth part of the land could be thus improved, a series of experiments should be worth trying. An oasis here and there would do much towards making the territory habitable. Prospecting for water is even more meritorious than prospecting for gold, and the French and Americans should not be permitted to monopolise all the credit of subduing the earth in this way. If there be no exaggeration in the statement, the area of this desert tract is nearly one half the size of Australia. But the Americans talk big even when running down their country.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PATM18820526.2.17.10
Bibliographic details
Patea Mail, 26 May 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)
Word Count
223ARTESIAN WELLS. Patea Mail, 26 May 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)
Using This Item
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in