---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Widtsoe, John A.
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 10
number: 3
published: 1907-01
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Widtsoe, John A., "The Underground Supply of Water," *Improvement Era* 10, no. 3 (January 1907): 212.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1003unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera1003unse
start_page: 212
end_page: 212
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1907-01)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1003unse
  publication_year: 1907
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1907, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# The Underground Supply of Water

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ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.
NOTES CONTRIBUTED FOR THE ' 'IMPROVEMENT ERA" BY THE
FACULTY OF SCIENCE, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY,
'
AND EDITED BY DR. JOHN A. WIDTSOE.
The

<!-- page:212 -->

Underground Supply of Water.
In the arid west, it is hoped much good will result from the
development of underground waters. Artesian wells and pumping
plants have, in fact, already done much towards reclaiming large
areas of desert land. The miner, also, has an interest in the
amount of subterranean water, for frequently, as a mine is opened*
great difficulty is encountered and large expense occasioned by the
occurrence of underground bodies of water.
It is commonly believed that water may be found anywhere
beneath the earth's surface, providing the well is deep enough.
This belief is not wholly unjustifiable, for men of science, at one
time, estimated the water in the earth's crust to be sufficient to
form a sheet surrounding the earth, 7,500 feet in thickness. This
is an enormous volume of water, equivalent to one-half the volume
of the ocean.
Recent researches have modified the absurdly large estimates
formerly made. The most recent word on the subject is uttered
by Prof. Myron L. Fuller, of the U. S. Geological Survey. He
declares that rocks do not hold any very large quantities of water.
Sandstones contain on an average six per cent of water; shales,
1.5 per cent; limestones, about two per cent; and crystalline
rocks, such as granite, only one-tenth of one per cent. The total
amount of water found in the crust of the earth, if spread over
the earth's surface, would form a sheet about ninety-six feet in
thickness. In other words, the total volume of the subterranean