Condition of the Navajo Indian Country, page 25

OS7000, 8 bit, 400 dpi, 8,260,000 bytesvation will be in red clay. A 1-inch pipe to act as a syphon placed under the soil and cut so as to not entirely drain the well. Four troughs 1 foot by 1 foot by 12 feet, and resting on the solid ground. A pipe 4 feet in length should act as a waste pipe. The well to be walled over leaving a manhole in the top for cleaning purposes. Down the creek from Chee's is a side creek where the water rises to the surface for a distance of 200 yards and again sinks. But a dam as recommended would exclude time and money spent on the dry wash. Three miles to the south of Chee's is a similar creek which runs through a mud channel 75 feet wide and 20 feet deep. The Navajo if enterprising could construct here a brushwood dam 2 feet high that would water 2,000 sheep, but they all seem too lazy to think of work.While working in this vicinity, Lieut. Gurovits camped at Chee's. he informed me that he had covered the western slopes of the Lukachukai and Tunitcha mountains as far as Tse-a-lee.I left Chee's store on the 5th of October, keeping well off to the left, but found it very difficult in traveling and of no value as regards water supply. At Tse-a-lee I remained two days, allowing my animals to rest and eat. From Tse-a-lee I marched down Ca±on del Muerto, camped one night in ca±on, finding some soil banks as in Ca±on de Chelly, and reached Chin Lee store the 9th. I dug a well 3 feet deep in the dry bed of the creek that comes out of the ca±on, and walled it up with stone; this furnished me with all the water for permanent camp. Leaving my party here and taking one man, a packer, and four mules, I would make side trips on the western side of the Chin Lee Valley. (Referring to map No. 1) There are three artesian wells and ditches. As my instructions say, it is impossible to compute cost of same, I omit that, and as ditch must depend on flow of water, that is not computed. The land is as level as a floor, and soil easily worked, and the Navajo could dig the ditch without any trouble. As regards the feasibility of the artesian well, I have reason to believe that water can easily be found, as they would be sunk in a basin the sides of which are 3,000 feet high and 40 miles apart. And springs, when found, are coming out of the face of solid rock, as if it were forced from below. Look-as-Sky spring flows about one-half gallon per minute. This spring could be improved by one charge of blasting powder at the crevice from which the water flows. At 3 feet from the opening, by building a masonry wall 2 feet thick 3 feet high and 6 feet long, a basin is formed holding 300 cubic feet of water.All the approaches to this spring are solid rock. Only one flock waters there at present and they do not get enough to drink. Valley No. 1 contains 12 square miles of grazing land the center of the valley (see sheet of valleys Nos. 1and 2); would make good farms if water could be obtained. If the wells would not flow, wind pumps could be used, and three families could live in this naturally hemmed-in valley. No one lives in or uses this valley at present. Along the Black Mountains are a few tiny springs, which sheep trample almost out of existence in their haste to quench their thirst. There are five of these springs along valleys No. 1 and 2; a description of one suits all. On leaving the valley you enter the foothills and proceed up between narrow, steep banks of mud and clay for half a mile; then come mud dams 1 foot in height and mud holes that the Navajoes have made in their shiftless way. But the animals do not stop here but crowd on to the very source of the water and get in it and remain there for hours. Four men could clean out one spring in a day, laying 60 feet of 1-inch pipe to 6 troughs down the ravine. Two hundred feet of barbed wire fence stretched from one side of the precipice to the other will effectively keeps stock from pipe and spring.Crossing over a slight ridge to Valley No. 2, an exact counterpart of valley No. 1, except that it is twice as large. A Navajo has a small spring called Maito, or Coyote spring, walled over and 6 feet of 1-inch pipe laid to two troughs in which to water his 30 head of cattle, 300 ponies, and 1,000 sheep.He has a stone house, windows, and doors. The artesian well, if successful, would irrigate rich black soil and the above Navajo is very desirous to farm in his vicinity. He is the only one living in the valley. It would support several families if water is struck. Passing from Valley No. 2 toward my permanent camp at Chin Lee's store, I ascend a long sloping ridge and then go down into a basin where water has worn its way into the Chin Lee Valley at Notch No. 1. (See map No. 2 and Notch No. 1) This notch is an opening in the face of the mesa through which the water rushes in the rainy season as is shown by the arroya. It drains about 12 square miles, and I think it could be dammed at little cost. Rock is to be had on the ground. Although I did not strike rock bottom yet the two sides of the gorge are of shale, clay, and rocks on the bottom. Ditch ""B"" should be 3 feet deep, 3 feet wide at the bottom, and 5 feet wide at the top. It can be made as long as water will supply, through soil easily worked. A few boulders would have to be rolled away near the head of the ditch. The ditch should be at least 3,000 yards in length, repairing 4,000 cubic yards of excavation. Ditch ""A"" should be 2 feet wide at the bottom, 4 feet wide at the top, and 3 feet deep, and 1,500 yards in length, requiring 1,500 cubic yards of excavation