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COPY LA-20-6 m - Mr. W, M. J effers: Omaha, November 12, 1935. Your le t t e r of September 2nd with Mr. Bracken’ s le tt e r of August 26th recommending additional w ell at Las Vegas: X have had superintendent Coey make a thorough in­vestigation and also discussed matter with Mr. Bracken a short time ago, and i t would appear that Mr, Bracken prim arily rec­ommends digging of a new w ell so as to provide more water fo r the ranch property. Mr. Bracken's statement that the ranch has had no water from Las Vegas Creek fo r irrig a tio n purposes during the past summer is not correct, as there is an open spring not connected to water system whloh flows 285 gallons per minute, and this flow is a l l available fo r ranch irrig a tio n , supple­mented by overflow from water fa c ilit ie s and effluent from City septic tank. With the exception o f two or three months in the summer, present f a c ilit i e s are ample to take care of require­ments of Las Vegas, and our present supply can always be supple mented by pumping the w ell in shop grounds, which w ill produce 700 gallons per minute and can be operated fo r approximately $5 .00 per day. The consumption per capita during August was approx­imately 550 gallons per day* which is excessive and much la rg e r than any other City in the country. Should i t be decided to d r i l l an additional w ell and connect same to our present water f a c i li t i e s , we would have a considerable overflow during 10 months o f the year beyond what the town o f Las Vegas eould use, also the ranoh, and i t would be possible fo r outside parties to f i l e on this surplus water and obtain right to same account not being put to ben eficial use by either the railroad , the town of Las Vegas or the ranoh property* Our arrangement with tenant on the ranch does not require delivery of lOO* of water at a l l times but w® are to deliver water only as i t is available. To provide a new w ell with necessary pipe lin es would involve an expenditure of approximately $17,000, which does not include renewal of 3,000 f t . of wood stave pipe lin e between the reservoir and our shop grounds, amounting to approximately $19,000, which w ill be neoessary in the near future. Superintendent Coey, a ft e r c a r e fu lly going in to a l l