Drilling for Water Under Washington's Dry Wheat Country

A federal geologist probes the desert east of the Columbia and the Big Bend wheatlands to see whether deep wells can water the dry interior — and finds pressure underground, but no free-flowing artesian springs.

“While there are no flowing artesian wells, the deep waters are found to be under pressure, and it is believed that in certain of the lower wells along the Northern Pacific Railroad an artesian flow could be obtained by proper casing.”