Condition of the Navajo Indian Country, page 43

OS7000, 8 bit, 400 dpi, 8,260,000 bytesThree miles to the south of Chee's store a similar creek was found which runs through a mud channel 75 feet wide and 20 feet deep, where the lieutenant thinks the Navajos, if enterprising, could construct a brush-wood dam two feet high which would water 2,000 sheep.From Chee's store the lieutenant and detachment marched down Ca±on Del Muerto, discovering on the way some soil banks similar to those in Ca±on De Chelly, and reached Chin Lee's store on October 9 last, where a well 3 feet in depth was dug which furnished an abundance of water, and from which point he made side trips on the western slope of the Chin Lee Valley. He states that in this locality there should be bored three artesian wells, from each of which should be constructed a ditch as represented on map marked ""J,"" herewith transmitted; that he omits to submit an estimate of the cost of boring an artesian well, for the reason that his instructions say it is impossible to compute the cost of the same; that, as the ditch must depend on the flow of water, the cost of that also is not computed; that the land is however as level as a floor and the soil easily worked, and that the Navajos could dig the ditches without any trouble. As regards the feasibility of artesian wells, he adds that he has 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 that springs when found issue from the face of solid rock as if the water were forced from below.He states that Look-as-Ski spring flows about half a gallon of water per minute; that it could be improved by one charge of blasting powder at the crevice from which the water flows; that, by building 3 feet from the opening, a masonry wall 2 feet thick, 3 feet high, and 6 feet long, a basin would be formed with a capacity 300 cubic feet of water; that all the approaches to this spring are solid rock; that now only one flock waters there and for which there is not sufficient water; that Valley No. 1 (see Powell's map) contains 12 square miles of grazing land; that the center of that valley and also of valley No. 2 would make good farms if they could be obtained for irrigation; that if wells would not flow wind pumps should be used; and that no one lives in or uses this valley at present, because of a lack of water.The lieutenant reports that there are a few small springs along the Black Mountains which sheep trample almost out of existence in their haste to quench their thirst; that there are five or six springs along valleys Nos. 1 and 2; that on leaving the valley he entered the foot hills and proceeded up between narrow steep banks of mud and clay for half a mile, where he found mud dams one foot in height, and mud holes which the Navajos had constructed in their shiftless way; that four men could clean out one spring in a day, laying 60 feet of 1 inch pipe to six troughs placed down the ravine, and that 200 feet of barbed-wire fence stretched from one side of the precipice to the other would effectually keep stock from pipe and spring to which they now crowd to its very source.On crossing over a slight ridge to valley No. 2, described to be an exact counterpart of valley No. 1, except it is twice as large, he found a small spring called Maito or Coyote owned by a Navajo Indian, which was walled over and six feet of one inch pipe laid to two troughs, from which 30 head of cattle, 300 ponies, and 1,000 sheep water. This Indian has built for himself a stone house with windows and doors, and is very anxious to engage in farming in that vicinity, if water can be had.The lieutenant thinks that an artesian well, if successful, would irrigate quite an extent of rich soil in that vicinity which would suppor