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Sunday, April 25, 1948 t£&$ SunA atj E ^ ie w fO t t t n a l LAS VEGAS AGE — BOULDER CITY JOURNAL Review-Journal & Age |b i n q u i r i n g Huge Underground, Rivers Make Las Vegas Valley Artesian Belt One of Most Productive in Entire Natioji i —------------------- —------— ity Water Use to Exceed 3 Billion Gallon Mark This Year Do you have any suggestions for the improvement of Hell Tourists who visit Las Vegas during the spring, and find themselves caught in a “gentle” 50-mile-per-hour breeze, have frequently wondered out loud why the founding fathers didn’t look around for a more sheltered spot before they began lay­ing out the future metropolis of southern Nevada. Such persons-are unaware of a fact long" taken for granted by citizens of Las Vegas; that the city rests atop one of the best sources of artesian water in the nation. Without it there would be no Las Vegas. Fed by the providential an­nual snowfall on the Charleston range of mountains, the under­ground river is about five miles .wide, and runs under Las Vegas and far beyond, probably em erg­ing below the surface of the Cdlorado river somewhere to the southeast. Actually, there are two rivers; | one at an underground depth of 300 feet, the other at approxi­mately 600 feet. These two sources provide Las Vegas and I the surrounding area with as pure a supply o f artesian water as may be found anywhere. Long-forgotten Indians first Idiscovered and made use of springs bubbling forth from the huge subsurface river. When white settlers began to cross the desert wastes, they established havens near the present site of Las Vegas, and a hundred years ago, Mormon pioneers establish­ed a missionary settlement for work among the Indians. . Later still, the Stewart family settled at the Old ranch, and cultivated the surrounding land from the water supply. * When the railroad first con­templated a line through south­ern Nevada in 1902, the Old ranch was purchased for the water it contained. In that trans­action, the entire site of Las Vegas, and more besides,, passed into ownership of the Los A n ­geles and Salt Lake railroad; later merged into the Union Pa­cific system. Prior to form al establishment of Las Vegas as a town in 1905, a clay pipe water supply system was laid, in keeping with the sound, axiom that water must be provided in advance of any rdal estate development. . Ever since that time, the Las Vegas Land and Water company, set up by the railroad to handle the problem, has acted as com­munity prophet in foreseeing population increases' and plan­ning for them before they de­velop. For almost 20 years, springs served the tiny town of Las V e­gas, as the company first re­placed the clay pipes with thin “ stovepipe” mains, then replaced the latter with redwood pipe. The latter was cheap and readily available on the west coast, and was replaced at intervals until, by the time of Pearl ^ a rb or, every foot of water main had b ' 3n converted to cast iron pipe. In 1924, seeing continued popu­lation growth for Las Vegas, the company brought in its first w ell with a capacity of 3,000,000 gal­lons a day. A t the time, it was the biggest w ell in the state. Since then, 11 wells have been sunk to complement the two original springs, and the water supply is ample to care for the needs of a 40,000 population, which the company anticipates is aat far in the future. The present w ater4 supply is a complete circulatory system originating in two reservoirs west of town, which are fed by the wells and springs. Huge booster pumps build up pressure to the correct point so that water is sent into the mains at an even flow. A t Main and Charleston, a pressure-reducing valve has been installed to coordinate flow and usage. From the reservoirs, the water is piped into three settling basins, where any sand ox; like impuri-if -At ? ik ties are eliminated. The clear, fresh artesian water is then ready for your table,, bath, lawn# or whatever. A l l . wells are “ cased” at the bottom, and equipped with un­derground valves so production can be reduced in winter time, when usage drops to about 6,- 000,000 gallons daily from a sum­mer peak of 14,000,000 daily. For comparative purposes, it might be mentioned that capacity of the two springs, which served Las Vegas until 2 years ago, is 350.000 gallons daily. Before Las Vegas was estab lished, the springs formed Las Vegas creek which still appears on many maps, although dried up except for storm periods. The casual observer might see little need for the creek bed being kept open, but it is a natural drainage channel and must be maintained as a standby for emergency flood control. In issuing comparative statis­tics, the Las Vegas Land and Water company points to 6500 customers in 1948, against 1590 in 1931. The annual consumption of water in 1931 was 650,000,000 gallons; in 1948 it w ill be more than 3,494,300,000. There are more than 50 miles of distribu­tion mains now, compared with 90.000 feet in 1931. Present ca­pacity of the system is in excess of 20,000,000 gallons daily; in 1931, peak load was 6,000,000. A ll these figures graphically illustrate the city’s growth, and ? ? ? ? the company points with pride to the fact that there; has been no increase in rates from the depression level of 1931. - As an interesting sidelight, it was pointed out that the Union Pacific by converting from steam locomotives to diesel, contrib­uted 100,000,000 gallons of water annually to Las Vegas. While the service is generally accepted by fhfe public without any thought to the engineering feats which make it possible, the company quietly goes ahead with plans for Las Vegas’ future. Demonstrating the company’s busy plans for the continued growth of the community are the 17,000 feet of new line" laid dur­ing 1947, and the fact that in June, 6000 additional feet are to be set in. In the water supply business, you have no rest in a- city -like Las Vegas. Bustling employes know that by the time the con­templated 40,000 people get here, .(.Continued. on Page 3B) CIfy Wafer (Continued From Page IB ) the wafer works w ill have to be another 10,000 or 20,000 ahead of the times, and are even now laying plans for such a day, which may not be too far distant at that. the Hellodrado celebration, the history and purpose of- all county t o w n s , f r e q u . e n t glimpses into the romance of early day Las Vegas and dozens of other selected ideas. When you are through with your Sun­day paper, mail it to a friend or relative living in another town. Give them a word and pictorial idea of what our country is like. “PRIMA DONNA”—Biggest well in the system of the Las Vegas Land and Water company is shown, with General Manager A1 Folger, (standing), and Water Superintendent Guy Hammond inspecting the flow. Known officially as Well Number 10, the heavy producer is one of the company’s Stand-by facilities which will be used only in an emergency or when Las Vegas’ pouplation increases to require more water. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? WATER WALTER EVERYWHERE — Built only last year, the new Charleston Boulevard reser­voir has’ a capacity of 1,500,000 gallons, and is fed pure, artesian water from 11 wells and two springsSin ?he system maintained by the Las Vegas Land and Water company. The facilities, could accommodate a city of 40,000.