NEW YORK, JULY 21, 1893.

THE SOUTH DAKOTA ARTESIAN BASIN.

BY W. S. HALL, M.S., M.D., HAVERFORD COLLEGE, Haverford, pa. THE State of South Dakɔta is abɔut 320 miles long by 210 miles wide. The Missouri River crosses the middle of the north boundary and flows south-southeast till it reaches the north boundary of Nebraska, when it sweeps around to the east and forms the boundary line between South Dakota and Nebraska. Five great water-courses pass down the long slope of the high plains from the western boundary of the State to the Missouri River. The largest of these is the Cheyenne River, furnishing a drainage channel for the Black Hills, which lie partly in South Dakota and partly in Wyoming. A few small, short streams flow from the east into the Missouri. The James River (formerly called Dakota River) flows in a very direct course, south by east, across the State, bisecting the part of the State east of the Missouri River. The James River valley is a broad plain fron 1,200 feet to 1,300 feet above sea-level. As early as 18-2 artesian wells were drilled at different places in the valley with the hope of securing a more abundant supply for the cities and villages which were so rapidly outgrowing their water-supply.

The uniform success in getting water, the abundant supply, the good quality, and the great force with which it was ejected began to attract general attention. It has been demonstrated by numerous and widely-distributed experiments that the whole James River valley is an artesian basin. Geologists and engineers seem to agree that it is the most wonderful artesian basin in the world. The source and limit of the water-supply of this region have been the subject of careful and extended in estigations by both Federal and State commissions. In this brief paper the writer will endeavor to give the results of these investigations to date.

1. The source of the supply of water.

There are three general requirements that must be satisfied in seeking for the source of supply of an artesian basin :

I. The source must be as high as the greatest height to which the water, in any well tapping the basin, will rise.

II. The amount of rainfall on the source-area must be adequate to account for the supply of the basin.

III. The geological formations between the source and the basin must be such as to allow the passage of the water through a pervious stratum between two impervious strata.

Several theories exist as to the source of the supply in the basin in question : (a) The Great Lakes; (b) the Canadian lakes; (c) Devil's Lake, North Dakota; (d) the Missouri River; (e) the elevated region west of the Missouri River, including the foot-hills and the east slope of the Rocky Mountains

Let us apply the three requirements stated above to the regions just named.

The height to which the water of the Redfield, South Dakota, well would rise, if the tube were extended, is 1,700 feet A. T.1 There are other wells north and west of Redfield whose water would rise to a greater height. The well at Highmore has a flow of nine gallons and a pressure of twelve pounds at an altitude of 1,90 feet 2 But the altitude of the Great Lakes and of the Canadian lakes is many hundred feet below that height. The altitude of Devil's Lake is about 1.440 feet and the altitude of the Missouri River where it enters South Dakota is not over 1,500 feet.❜

1 "Artesian and Underflow Investigation." Part II., Col. E. S. Nettleton, Chief E: gine er. Appendices XVIII., XIX., and xx,

2 "Artesian and Underground Investigation," Part IV., F. B. Coffin, Engineer for South Dakota,

* American Geological Railroad Guide. Macfarlane.

It therefore follows that neither the Great Lakes, the Canadian lakes, nor Devil's Lake can be the source. Nor can the Missouri River within the State be the source. We are now confined to our last alternative, --the elevated region west of the Missouri River, which may, for convenience, be considered under two heads: (1) The High Plains, and (2) The Foot-Hills of the Rockies. (1) The high plains attain an altitude of 1,900 feet about 50 miles west of the Missouri River. They satisfy requirement I.

An idea of the water-supply of an artesian basin can be gotten only by finding the amount of water that can be drawn off without lessening the flow and pressure of individual wells. W. P. Butler, engineer of Aberdeen, South Dakota, under date of June, 1892, says that "two hundred wells have already been put down in North and South Dakota." S The same engineer gives a "Table of twenty-four South Dakota wells showing flow in gallons per minute." The range of discharge, as shown by this table, is from 150 gallons to 7,000 gallons per minute; the intermediate points seem to be sufficiently represented to indicate that the table is fairly representative. Taking this table as a basis, the average flow of a South Dakota artesian well is 1,655 gallons per minute. Two hundred wells would, at that rate, discharge 685 million tons per annum. No diminution in the pressure of any of the wells has been detected. The limit has, therefore, not yet been approached. Now many times the amount annually discharged by the South Dakota artesian wells falls each year upon the high plains (region e, 1) west of the Missouri River in South Dakota; but the rapid evaporation from the surface, the ready drainage into the Missouri River, and the impervious shales beneath the surface preclude the possibility of the high-plain rainfall taking any appreciable part in the water-supply of the basin. Driven now to our last alternative, let us apply our three tests in succession.

I. The elevation of the foot-hills varies from 3,000 feet to 8,000 feet above sea-level, which is certainly sufficient altitude above the James River valley to overcome the resistance and give the wells a high pressure 240 to 600 miles away.

II. The annual rainfall in the foot-hills is greater per given area than on the high plains."

The area of the foot-hills, whose rainfall can get access to the water-bearing rocks, is not far from 40,000 square miles, upon which area not less than 69,600 million tons of water fall per annum, which is one hundred times as much as that drawn annually from the artesian basin of the Dakotas.

III. The geological formation between the Black Hills and the James River valley is well shown by the accompanying figure." A glance at this figure will show that water entering the porous Dakota sandstone above Rapid City will produce the conditions for an artesian flow in the region of the James River and the Missouri River. The lower altitude of the former will make the flow stronger there, even though it be farther away from the source. The increasing altitude as one goes west from the Missouri River will undoubtedly decrease or wholly prevent a flow. Any geological section taken across the Dakotas from east to west would be similar to the one shown. Wherever the section would pass through foot-hills or mountain ranges the upturned edges of the absorbing strata would crop out.

The three requirements being satisfied by the last region tested, it has been demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt that the source of the water-supply of the James River artesian basin is

4"Artesian and Underflow Investigation," Part IV., F. B. Coffin. Irrigation Manual. W. P. B. p. 9.

Irrigation Manual. W. P. B. p. 38

7 Irrigation Manual, W. P. Butler, p. 94, "On the high plain the rainfall is

15 to 20 inches, while in the Black Hills it is 20 to 30 inches per annum."

"Irrigation and Underflow Investigation," Part III., Special Report by Professor G. E. Culver, State Geologist.

the elevated, well-watered hills and low mountains, together with the east slope of the Rockies in South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming.

2. The limitations of the supply.

It was estimated that about 69,600 million tons of water fall aunually on the foot-hills within this drainage basin. Having limited the source to the foot-hills, it is clear that the limitations can be carried further. The water flowing through the Dakota sandstone must either (a) have fallen directly upon the area of outcrop, or (b) have sunk into it from streams flowing over it, or (c) have escaped into it at high altitudes from other strata.

(a) It is estimated by Professor G. E. Culver' that about of the rainfall of the Black Hills falls directly upon the outcropping Dakota sandstone. If this outcrop forms the same proportion of other foot-hills, then about 966 million tons per annum would fall directly upon this; and, as it is estimated that one-third of the rain-fall is absorbed by the soil, 322 million tons would be poured directly into the artesian basin.

(b) As far as the writer knows, but one stream has been carefully studied as to the quantity of water lost to the stratum in question. Below Great Falls, Montana, the Missouri River flows across the outcropping Dakota sandstone at an altitude of 2.800 feet. Col. E. S. Nettleton made careful gaugings of the river before and after crossing the sandstone and found that it lost "834 cubic feet per second," which would amount to 918 million tons per annum. The Yellowstone River, which is about as large

A ROW OF HIEROGLYPHS, CASA NO. 2, PALENQUE.

BY H. T. CRESSON, A.M., M.D., PHILADELPHIA, PA. THERE is a perpendicular row of three glyphs just above the child-like figure, upheld in the arms of the Ahkin (?), on the centre slab of the so-called "Group of the Cross," Casa No. 2, (Stephens), Palenque, and two hieroglyphs in the parallel line to the right of the perpendicular line just mentioned, which are exceedingly interesting, and all of them, except the upper-centre component of the glyph, just above the child-like figure, are in a fair state of preservation. The upper centre component of this glyph (Fig. 6) has been badly injured, if we may judge by a photograph of the slab from Casa No. 2, taken by Dr. Manuel Urbino, the learned conservator of the Muséo Nacional, at the City of Mexico It is a lucky circumstance that this masterpiece of the Maya scribe-sculptor's art has been cared for by the Mexican government, and it is to be hoped that they will protect other tablets at Palenque from the wanton destruction of the Mayas, who have been accused, by recent explorers, of chopping to pieces, with their machetes, the artistic productions of their ancestors.

It will be impossible, in this necessarily brief article, to consider the entire row of glyphs which have been indicated, we will, therefore, confine our remarks to that shown in Fig. 6 of the plate. If we compare this sketch, made from a photograph of the middle slab of the cross group (Casa No. 2, Palenque), taken by Dr. Urbino, it will be seen that it differs in certain respects from the

as the Missouri above their confluence, is said to flow across the Dakota sandstone and to lose a part of its volume. It is generally true that all streams flowing out of the foot-hills or away from the Rockies must, somewhere in their eastward course, cross the absorbing stratum. To estimate three times 918 million tons as the amount received from source (b) will probably fall much within the limits. That gives us an aggregate from (a) and (b) of 3,076 million tons per annum.

(c) The outcrop of the Carboniferous forms a much larger part of the foot-hills area than does the Dakota. At least one-third of the water which falls directly upon it sinks, while nearly all of the small streams flowing out of the central Archæan area of the hills sink completely into the Carboniferous, only a few of the largest streams emerge from the thirsty Carboniferous area. The amount of water entering the Carboniferous strata is many times greater than that entering the Dakota. Now it is possible for nearly all of the water which it absorbs to escape into the Dakota, which it would do any where between its source and the James River valley if either one of two things were true: (1) If the overlying stratum "pinches out," or (2) if it is fractured or faulted. Both, one, or neither of these things may be true. No one has yet attempted to answer, conclusively, the question, "What becomes of the water which sinks into the Carboniferous limestone of the hills?" Until that question is answered, it will be impossible to determine the limitations of the water-supply of the artesian basin.

1 "Artesian and Underflow Investigation," Part III., p. 207.

2 "Artesian and Underfl w Investigation," Part II., p. 77.

drawing of Del Rio, Waldeck, Catherwood, and Charnay. Del Rio's rendition of this hieroglyph (Fig. 1) is absurdly incorrect, and has been suggested, we think, either by a slovenly impression of the centre bar of a cross (see Waldeck's Fig. 2), or else the artist drew upon his imagination and supplied the detail.

Waldeck's drawing (Fig. 2) in four of the small glyphs (composing the compound glyph) is not so far astray as one might expect, judging by the way his drawings have been condemned by some writers, and I find that in the perpendicular and the parallel row of glyphs of the Casa No. 2 tablet, to the right of the symbol of the days, four winds, and cardinal points (called by many the Cross), his work compares quite as well with the photograph as that of Charnay, who used the camera, and Cather wood, who used the camera lucida. So far as I can learn, Mr. Waldeck used no artificial aids to assist him in his work (?); if this be the case, his eye must have been an unusually correct one, considering the amount of work he accomplished, and the confusing details that he encountered, to say nothing of annoyances in the way of flies, mosquitoes, garapatas, and other insects. I think the truth of this assertion will be apparent to anyone who has attempted to make a careful drawing under difficulties of this kind, especially such intricate details as we find in ancient Maya architecture and hieroglyphs, well calculated to give an experienced draftsman the beadache and heartache. The centre-upper component of the hieroglyph, drawn by Waldeck, differs from that of Fig. 6, but I must not neglect to mention that the Urbino photograph indicates that this component of the glyph has been so injured that it is difficult, at present, to determine the details. The round incisions

are apparent, as in Fig. 6, but they differ slightly in their position when compared with Catherwood (Fig. 3).

Stephens mentions that, at times, those engaged in commercial ventures have reached Santo Domingo del Palenque, and proceeded thence to the ancient Maya ruins, called, for want of a better name, Palenque, after the village near which they stand.

We have represented in Fig. 5 a sketch made by Mr. William Robert Thompson, who visited the ruins of Palenque in December, 1852, and again at a later date. Engaged in commercial pursuits in northern Chiapas and other parts of Mexico and Guatemala, Mr. Thompson has examined many of the old Maya cities, especially Qurigia and Palenque, sketching, in leisure moments, such details as he found interesting, preserving them for his own gratification. In looking over his portfolio some years ago I was struck with the resemblance of his drawing (Fig. 5) to that of Waldeck (Fig. 2). Mr. Thompson having returned to Mexico, I wrote to him in 1882 requesting a copy of his sketch, and, with all due courtesy, he presented me with the original, accompanying it with an autograph letter. The letter and sketch I shall forward to the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, so that they can be preserved for future examination.

Comparing the Thompson sketch with that of Mr. Waldeck, it will be seen that the latter has omitted the small incised circles which are present in the former, on the bar of the cross and at its top and sides, which Mr. Thompson's letter especially mentions as present. Waldeck, in the cross-like glyph, to the right, gives

two small circles as its components, and Thompson gives three, which Charnay also indicates in Fig. 5, while both he and Catherwood omit the small round glyph with the incised circle, which is shown at the lower right-hand side in the Urbino photograph (Fig. 6), also in the sketches of Waldeck and Thompson. It is not surprising that so careful a draftsman as Catherwood should have omitted details in drawing this glyph, ill as he was with fever and subjected to annoyances which only those who have encountered them can appreciate.

All of the drawings of this (Fig. 6) glyph differ more or less; those of Waldeck and Thompson have four of the small glyphs represented with a fair degree of exactitude, accepting the photograph as our standard; Catherwood and Charnay have three dctails of the compound glyph which are, in a measure, correct. The fact that Messrs. Waldeck and Thompson both give a symbol resembling the symbol of the cardinal points as a component of the glyph which we are considering, suggests a probability that it existed and has been effaced. The surface of the glyph at present being so mutilated it would be best to examine the original tablet with care before deciding the matter, which I hope someone interested in palæography will have the opportunity of doing in the near future. The position of the three small circles in Fig. 6 correspond with the Thompson sketch (Fig. 5), even if the cross is absent, and, as Thompson gives an incised circle to either side of the cross at the top, it is not improbable that a series of dotted lines, or circles, at one time ran completely around the glyph, as we see a slight suggestion of this in Charnay's sketch (Fig. 4), and also in Catherwood's Fig. 3. Mr. Thompson asserts, positively, in his letter, that a cross did exist, and that the three incised circles

He has, in a

were present on its perpendicular and parallel bars. recent conversation upon the subject, expressed the belief that this symbol of the winds has been mutilated intentionally, and that the two circles at the sides of the perpendicular bar are quite recent additions, made by someone trying to alter the glyph into the semblance of a face. Two small circles on either side suggest the eyes, and the upper portion of the perpendicular upright above heing mutilated across, just beyond its point of junction with the parallel bar, thus produces a semblance to a nose, the parallel bar assuming somewhat the appearance of a mouth. This seems to be the case in the small Urbino photograph, but in the enlarged copy the mutilation of the glyph is more apparent, yet, as we have suggested, these matters can only be decided upon by a careful study of the original tablet.

A realistic drawing of the upper-centre component of this hieroglyph would be of great value for comparison with the photograph, as there are some details which the camera does not reproduce. If some of our artists visiting the Muséo Nacional, at the City of Mexico, would make a careful drawing of the Casa No. 2 tablet, it would be of great value to those engaged in the study of Maya palæography, and no doubt determine the question whether a cross and its dots (Fig. 5) are to be accepted as the true components of the glyph, or the details given in Fig. 6 of the plate accompanying this article. Until these doubts be settled, attempts at its interpretation are useless.

THE OSAGE RIVER AND ITS MEANDERS.

BY ARTHUR WINSLOW, OFFICE OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, JEFFERSON CITY, MO.

IN the remarks upon the Osage River in Missouri, which form part of his admirable notice of the topographic maps of the U. S. Geological Survey, published in Science of April 28, 1893, Professor Davis has, with great acumen, hit upon one of the most noticeable features of the drainage of the State, or, at least, of the southern part. The peculiar meandering of the deeply trenched Osage Valley around spurs of high upland country, as referred to by us in a recent report of the Geological Survey,' is a feature shared by nearly all of the principal streams of the Ozark region. The Meramec and the Gasconade Rivers, the Big Piney and the Bourbeuse Creeks of the northern slope have the same swinging course; as have also their tributaries and those of the Osage itself. White River, on the southern slope, in Missouri and Arkansas, is characterized by similar convolutions. The courses of Big River and of the St. Francois River in the southeast have a like aspect. In strong contrast to this are the streams of that portion of the State lying north of the Missouri River-the drift-covered area. Here the courses are, in a general way, straight, often parallel in groups, the meanders of the streams confined to their present flood plains; their channels apparently having originated in the mantle of glacial drift. They are comparatively of recent origir, the older drainage system which lies masked beneath the drift may have been more tortuous.

The suggestive explanation which Professor Davis offers for the sunken curved course of the Osage, i. e., that it has been developed, through elevation and corrosion, from the flood-plain meanders of the stream, originating during an earlier base-leveled condition of the country, seems a natural explanation and is in many respects satisfactory. Still we hesitate to accept it in the present stage of our knowledge on mere a priori grounds. We see that it calls for a previous base-leveling of the whole Missouri-Ozark region, if not of the contiguous or even remoter Arkansas territory. Further, the hypothesis has so intimate a bearing upon the problems of recent geologic history of this country, over and above its relation to the development of the topography, that we wish to see full test made of its sufficiency before we adopt it as an axiom.

According to the best light we have at present, we recognize that the Ozark area was uplifted in late Cambrian times and remained above water level, in part at least, probably until the carboniferous period; that, if entirely submerged during the Mississippian epoch, it was so only long enough to receive but a 1 "Report on Iron Ores," vol. ii, p. 89.

thin covering of the rocks of that formation; that these rocks were subjected to subareal erosion before and probably during the Pennsylvanian epoch and that coal-measure strata probably never covered the dome of the uplift; that since this time the region has been continuously above water level. According to this record the sculpturing of the topography must have been uninterruptedly in progress from the end of the Paleozoic to the present time.

Professor Davis sees evidence in the character of the relief that denudation progressed to such a degree that the present upland was a lowland-" well into Tertiary time, and that the new trenches of the Osage and its neighbors were begun in consequence of an uplift somewhere about the close of Tertiary time" as opposed to this conclusion we have the fact that the Ozark plateau is at present much above the limits which we recognize Tertiary seas to have reached. The altitude of the Tertiary margin of the Mississippi embayment in southeastern Missouri is under 400 feet A. T. The summit of the Ozarks is, however, as much as 1,700 feet above sea level and the greater portion of the upland is over 1,000 feet, and was consequently at least 600 feet above the Tertiary sea level. Could a country having this altitude above contiguous seas be in a base-leveled condition? Further, another fact to reconcile with this hypothesis is the finding of certain chert gravels fringing the Osage and other valleys of the Ozarks, not very high above the present channels of the streams, which we provisionally correlate with the Orange sands

pect certain peculiar features of topography to prevail. Thus, with a stream not yet at base level we should look for its channel to constantly hug the hill on that side of the stream which is impinged by the current; here we should expect to find bluffs developed and maintained; conversely, on the "lee" side of the stream, we should expect to find such flat alluvial plains as exist, with comparatively gentle slopes thence to the uplands. Further we should expect to find the points or promontories of uplands which are nearly surrounded by the loops of the river, sloping somewhat gradually towards their ends and not terminating in bluffs. These features are pronounced, in part at least, to a striking degree along the Osage. They are details which could not be brought out on the maps of the scale of those thus far made of the Osage country, but the constancy with which the stream clung to the bluffs on the impinging side was impressively seen during the recent trip along that river, while the form of the projecting uplands is well illustrated by the following copy of a portion of a map of Grand River, one of the tributaries of the Osage, recently surveyed by Mr. C. F. Marbut, of the Missouri Geological Survey. On the hypothesis advanced the precipitous slopes characterizing the upstream sides of the hills here shown are the result of the sapping action of the stream; the gradual slopes of the downstream sides are primarily a combined result of the lateral movement of the channel accompanying the expansion of the meanders, and of its downward movement by corrosion. It is true that similar features would result with the trench of

of the Mississippi, of probable late Tertiary age. These imply the existence of such valleys with approximately their present phases in late Tertiary times. Still, as the correlation of these gravels is as yet confessedly quite hypothetical, this consideration cannot claim much weight.

Another hypothesis which has been thought by us to suggest an explanation of the sinuosities of these streams, has gained some strength through the observations of a recent boat trip down the Osage River, from Osceola to its mouth. If we take the case of a stream with a slightly sinuous course and of considerable declivity, moderately incised in a nearly flat, or even in an undulating country of horizontal strata-such as might exist in a newly emerged land surface soon after its emergence- we can understand that meanders will tend to develop somewhat as they do in the alluvial plain of a stream which has reached base level. Where the current impinges sapping will increase the convexity and the sinuosities will become more pronounced. Inasmuch, however, as the declivity of the stream is great, corrosion is still active and the channel thus sinks vertically at the same time that it moves laterally, and in this respect its development will differ from that of a channel in a base-leveled alluvial plain. As a natural result of this process we can see how the stream will eventually shape for itself a tortuous and steep-sided valley, with very narrow flood plains until the channel has reached base level, when corrosion will cease and lateral degradation will increase; then, swinging from bluff to bluff in a secondary system of sinuosities, the stream will sap its bordering hills and widen its flood plains. If this explanation be a true one we should ex

previously developed meanders in the manner suggested by Professor Davis; for we cannot conceive of a meandering channel sinking absolutely vertically. Lateral degradation and movement must always accompany corrosion and vertical lowering of the channel; if the meanders existed originally their shapes must have been modified to the present forms. Hence the effects cited would seem to be attributable to one of two causes, or to both combined. The question is whether one is not all sufficient; whether a previous base-leveled condition is a necessary assumption.

THE BOOM OF THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN.

BY T. A. BEREMAN, MOUNT PLEASANT, IOWA. How many of your readers ever saw a prairie hen, or, as they are commonly called in the west, the "prairie chicken?" Doubtless many have seen dead ones, killed and shipped for the market, but I dare say that many of your younger readers, especially those living in the cities and towns, have rarely seen a live one. In 1845, when I came to Iowa, and for several years afterwards, they could be seen here in flocks of thousands together. But now there are only a few remnants of them left; here and there, in isolated fields, some dozen or two survivals have been permitted to remain. They are what is called the pinnated grouse of North America, and were formerly inhabitants of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, and all the western prairie country.

But at present I only desire to call attention to the matinee songs of this wild bird of the prairie. Some morning in the