Primary water is most likely to be found in the mountains rather than on valleyfloors. At extreme right is the new 1500-gallon water well on Riess Ranch highabove Simi Valley, Ventura County, California. Photo courtesy Primary Water

Development Company, Beverly Hills, California.

New Source of waterfor Desert Lands?

Most water is "secondhand." Over and over again it goes throughthe cycle of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, evaporation.Weather is the master. But Stephen Riess believes it is possible to tapprimary sources of water at their original source. Not many geologistsshare his revolutionary theories as to the availability of primary orjuvenile water—but here is his story.

By GASTON BURRIDGE

AM FAIRLY certain most of thewater any of us use today—nomatter where we happen to be—

is "secondhand" water, secondhandmany times over, many years over.Stephen Riess, a German born andtrained geochemist and geologist, isnot interested in finding secondhandwater. He is looking for firsthandwater. It is called "primary," "juve-nile" or "magmatic" water.

Perhaps "secondhand water" is nottoo apt a description for ordinarywater—water of the hydraulic cycle.

The hydraulic cycle begins with

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evaporation—mostly from the oceans.From here, the sun's heat lifts watervapor. This water vapor rises untilit contacts cooler air which condensesit into tiny drops of water. Thesedroplets combine to make clouds.Clouds eventually become cooled suf-ficiently to allow their minute dropsto combine into larger ones. Thesebecome so heavy that the force ofgravity soon outweighs those factorsholding them aloft, and they fall asrain, hail or snow. Probably most ofthis precipitation falls back into thesea, but some of it falls on land.

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Of that portion falling on land about50 percent runs off immediately inrills, creeks and rivers, and returns tothe ocean relatively soon. Of the re-maining 50 percent which sinks intothe ground, 38 to 40 percent is re-turned, sooner or later, to the surfacethrough capillary action and the trans-piration of plant life. Eventually, ] 0to 12 percent reaches the water tableto feed our pumps. It too, joins thehydraulic cycle soon after use. This,then, is secondhand water—water usedover and over again in the hydrauliccycle.

Primary water is water which hasnever seen the light of day before,never felt the throb and rhythm ofocean waves—water which has neverknown what has always seemed to memust be the most thrilling ride in allthe world—the ride with the clouds.Neither has it ever been through theprocess of evaporation.

"Primary water is the child of dark-ness," says Riess. "It is conceived inconvulsion and heat, in the interiordepths of the earth where giant batho-liths of fluid magmas continue to coolgradually and form first crystals ofthe more basic foundation stone. Pri-mary water is, in my opinion, the

D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E

original source of all water on ourglobe."

One of the most exciting possibili-ties of juvenile water is that it can befound as easily in desert country asanywhere else. Perhaps easier. " Walkon granite," says Riess, "and you walkover primary water."

In the fissures and pipes of igneousand plutonic rock flows this newsource of H2O. It can be found read-ily in the desert because there surfacerock is more naked of top soil, thusrevealing true faulting and contours.

Stephen Riess is not a seer. He isnot a "water witch," a dowser or waterdiviner. He uses neither crystal ballnor gadgets. He uses his head. Riessis a trained geologist and geochemistwho employs scientific methods. Muchof the information he obtains, uponwhich his decisions are based, is pro-duced in any one of several commer-cial laboratories, from their analysesof submitted samples. Riess studiesthe petrographic. the crystal'ographicas well as the chemical analysis of asite's rocks. How he uses this infor-mation is the important thing. Thatis his secret! A secret ferreted out thehard way—through long years of pa-tient work, thinking, experimenting—being laughed at from many quarters.

'"I did not promulgate .the primarywater theory," says Riess. "Such geo-logical bigwigs as Dr. Oscar Meinzerof the U. S. Geological Survey andDr. Waldemar Lindgren of Massa-chusetts Institute of Technology havewritten on primary water, but youwon't find out much about it in geo-logical textbooks."

What Riess has done is to applythis theory, to learn how to use it inactually locating sources of this newkind of water.

Juvenile water is as wet as anyother water. It tastes the same, boilsthe same, looks the same as that spill-ing from the spigot or dipped from anirrigation di^ch. Ordinarily, primarywater is softer than average well waterfound in the West.

To date, Riess has located 70 waterwells—60 in the United States, six inMexico, one in Canada, one in Braziland one in Peru. The Brazil and Peruwells were found and drilled in 1922.They were the first and second wells.His third well was drilled on his ownranch 19 years ago. All save threeare eminently successful and, he says,"I believe I now know why thosethree failed to meet my expectations.I learn something new with every well."

Such a record, built over so 'widean area, either makes Stephen R'essone of the luckiest men in the world— who could far more profitably spend

Stephen Riess, German-born geo-chemist, whose revolutionary theories onprimary water have stirred a tempest among geologists.

Photo by the author.

his time in Las Vegas, Reno or MonteCarlo—or it is evidence as to the val-idity of his thinking!

Riess lives high above Simi Valleyin Ventura County between the SantaSusana Mountains and the Simi Hillsabout 35 miles east of Ventura, Cali-fornia. There, on his own land, hehas three wells which he believes tapthe source of juvenile water—the onedrilled 19 years ago, one drilled twoyears ago and one just brought in.There is not one ordinary water wellin Simi Valley which has not sufferedgreatly from a constantly sinking watertable. Many wells have played outcompletely. Some can only be pumpeda short time, then must be rested fordays. Riess says his wells neverchange. The 19-year-old one deliversas much water today as it did whenfirst brought in.

Primary water wells are not affectedby surface climate. Drouth is as far

from affecting them as the moon. IfSimi Valley received no rain for ahundred years, Riess believes his wellswould continue to deliver as muchwater. "Severe earthquakes may affectprimary water wells temporarily, orpermanently, by restricting or closingtheir orifice," explains Riess, "but cli-mate—never!"

Riess does not go to the valleyslooking for juvenile water, although,on occasions, it may be found there.No, he hikes to the mountains—andnot the mountain valleys or canyon-bottoms, either. He seeks the highsides of mountains, sometimes eventheir higher tops. The wells which tapprimary water are drilled through basicrock, into and through the very bonesof the continent, because juvenilewater is found flowing in fissures,cracks, flutes or pipes of these rocks.Primary water does not come fromsedimentarv collections of earth sur-

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face materials caught in a basin andheld for eons. The deepest well Riesshas drilled for juvenile water is 1400feet. His shallowest is 232 feet.

"All primary water may eventuallyfind its way into the water table, or

directly into water courses or into thesea," says Riess. "But I do not attemptto tap it there. 1 tap it long before itgets that far down!"

Juvenile water comes from deep,very deep within the heart of the rocks

Desert Quiz There's a bit of geography, history, botany,mineralogy and general lore of the desertcountry in this Quiz—and you will find it an

interesting and stimulating experience to test your own knowledge of thisfascinating land of sun, sand and solitude. Twelve to 14 correct answersis fair, 15 to 17 good, 18 or more excellent. The answers are on page 26.

1—Bright Angel Trail leads to —The top of Mt. Whitney . . Thebottom of Grand Canyon . The shore of Great Salt LakeThe depths of Carlsbad Caverns

2—Pat McCarran is—A U.S. senator from Nevada . The governorof Arizona . Director of the National Park Service . Secre-tary of the Interior .

3—The legendary Lost Dutchman mine was in the—Harqua Hala Moun-tains . Wasatch Mountains . Superstition MountainsChuckawalla Mountains

4—El Morn National Monument is in—New Mexico . UtahCalifornia . Arizona .

5—Chinde is a Navajo word meaning—Dwelling place . SpringScalp . Evil Spirit

6—Before the Metropolitan Water district's dam was built in the Colo-rado River at Parker, the valley where the reservoir is now locatedwas inhabited by—Apache Indians . Chemehuevi IndiansMormon colonists . Yaqui Indians ........

7—If you stood on the 12,000-foot peak of Mt. Timpanogos you wouldbe looking down on the state of—Nevada . Arizona . NewMexico _ . Utah

8—The color of the Evening Primrose which grows on the dunes afterheavy' winter rains is—Purple . White . YellowOrange

9—-The capital of New Mexico is—Santa Fe . AlbuquerqueGallup . Taos .

10—Kearny's Army of the West on its historic trek to win California forthe Union crossed the Colorado River at—Yuma . BlytheParker Needles .... .

1 1—Rock so light it will float on water is—Manganese . TalcPumice _. . Obsidian ... .

12—Until his death a few months ago Johnny Shoshone was a well knownIndian in—Winnemucca . Peach Springs ._ . Death ValleyWindow Rock

13—The author of Death Valley in '49 was—Kit Carson . WilliamLewis Manly . W. A. Chalfant . Will Caruthers

14—Indian symbols incised in the rocks in many places in the Southwestproperly are called — Petroglyphs.. .... Pictographs . Hiero-glyphics .... . Indian Sign language .

15—Fairy Duster is the common name given a desert—HummingbirdFlower __. . Insect ... . Lizard . . . . . .

16—Miners refer to a surface exposure of rock as an—OutcropOverburden . Vein ........ Ledge .„_ .

17—Stalactites found in caves generally are a form of—LimestoneGypsum . Salt __ . Quartz

18—The Museum of Northern Arizona is located at — FlagstaffPrescott .. . Williams . Winslow

19—Tombstone, during the height of its mining boom, produced mostly—Gold . Silver ... . Copper . Quicksilver

20—The historic Oatman Massacre took place near—The present miningcamp of Oatman . Alone the Gila River . At Taos . InDeath Valley

from which it issues. Its course is longand devious—probably as much as 40miles! Naturally no one can be sureof just how the water comes into be-ing. Riess says the trick isn't so muchin finding primary water as it is find-ing cool, sweet primary water. Fully75 percent of all juvenile water is sohot and so highly mineralized as to beunfit for human or agricultural use.

As crystallization takes place deepin the rock masses which lie beneaththe surface, great quantities of the ele-mental gases are continually formed.These are generated under tremendousand constant pressure. This pressureforces these gases into multitudinouscracks which lace this forming rock.As the gases rise, they cool. As theycool, they contract. As they contractthey leave space behind them for moregas to come along. As these gasescontinue to rise they come in contactwith other elements and combinationsof elements in different states of cool-ness and exposure. Here they combinewith these other elements, or some ofthem do. New compounds are formed,perhaps leaving hydrogen and oxygenfree to move on together.

Scientists now believe that watervapor—commonly called steam—doesnot exist as such at pressures above560 pounds per square in:h, but sep-arates into its elemental g.ises, hydro-gen and oxygen.

The cool, sweet juvenile water prob-ably is born under conditions wherethese two gases travel together for along enough period to cool below the560-pound mark, then they are freeto join and become water vapor, whichis able to maintain its identity untilcooled enough to condense and be-come water rather quickly in surround-ings that preclude the absorption ofsolubles.

Nobody knows about these things.The deepest hole man has ever drilledin the earth is slightly over four miles.Ten times that is a long way, and wecan have but theories for a while yet.

"It is my belief." says Riess. "thatduring a considerable portion ofEarth's early history—even after itssurface cooled sufficiently to holdwater—there was liti> or none here;that all water now present on earth,was once juvenile water! I believe fur-ther that the total amount of wateron the earth's surface is increasing,slowly, of course, and one day, sometwo or three billion years hence, waterw!1 cover most of that which is nowland.'

Riess is 53 years old. He was bornin Bavaria. In Germany he attendeda naval academy. His teacher of geol-ogy there was a rebel thinker, geologi-

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cally. He instilled in Riess much in-dependence of mind and dislike forwhat Riess calls, "a lot of deadwoodof dogma" surrounding much of pres-ent day geological thinking.

Riess left Germany in 1932 afterthe Hitler Putsch. "I saw the hand-writing on the wall for the Fatherland,"he says. He traveled in nearly everycountry in the world, sailed nearlyevery sea, following the career ofmetallurgist and mining engineer. Heand the late Louis Adamic, the writer,were friends. They learned Englishtogether on the deserts of California,reading a dictionary while they workedat the mining game.

How does Stephen Riess locate ajuvenile water well? That, of course,is his secret. It is a complicated proc-ess having to do with the angles atwhich faults and strata lie in relationto one another and to the points ofthe compass, what the composition ofeach is in relation to its neighbor andto themselves in depth. In other words,what stratum lies on top of what stra-tum, for how far down, and at whatangle, as well as in what relation tosurrounding ridges, faults, strata andpeaks. But let us assume a case.

Riess is called to make a survey fora primary water well. Once in thevicinity, he can tell by general lay ofthe land what the chances are of find-ing a source of juvenile water. If hethinks the situation favorable, he makesa careful, complicated check. Thisrequires three to five days, dependingon terrain, kind of rock encounteredon the surface, position of faults topoints of compass, to ridges, to peaks.

"If," says Riess, "after this surveyis completed and the information ob-tained from it evaluated, 1 still feelthere exists concrete possibilities fordeveloping juvenile water, we musthave core drillings made. Some ofthese drillings are sent to any one ofseveral commercial laboratories foranalyses. After the laboratory returnsits findings I assemble the informationfor interpretation and combinationwith my own findings. From these,I determine how deep the pipe or flutecarrying the water lies. Also, I canpredict then what volume of water thewell probably will produce."

After these conclusions are reached,there comes the problem of drillingthe well itself. This is indeed no smallpart of the whole scheme. Well drill-ers generally have their own ideas, andare reluctant to take instruction. Riesssays, "I know of only four rock drill-ers capable of drilling such holes as Imust have." Why? Mostly becausesuch a well driller must know what heis doing every minute of drilling time.

Stephen Riess beside one of the wells he has drilled in Ventura County,California. He says this well is unaffected by climate conditions.

Photo by the author.

Such wells are no places for any guesswork. One of the most important fac-tors is, these bores must be straight!Not straight just one way, but bothways because targets are often smalland if the hole is not plumb it caneasily miss. A near miss is as tragicas a far one!

Naturally, there is immediate inter-est as to how much such wells cost.They are not cheap, but they are notprohibitive. "Because every juvenilewell is an individual proposition as todepth, kind of rock to be penetrated,roads to bring in equipment and sup-plies, etc., no general figures can beset down. But the most may be from$10,000 to $20,000."

There is another important point.Unless one owns considerable land ad-joining mountains and unless a well sitecan be located on land so owned, itis necessary for prospective juvenile

well owners to proceed on the samebasis to acquire the well site as hewould if he were locating a mineralclaim. This is done to be certain, afterwater is found, that the owner will beallowed to use that water for purposesintended.

How do we know it is primarywater? Even a cursory review of vol-cano eruption information reveals suchexplosions carry immense quantitiesof water vapor under tremendous pres-sure. Where did this water vapor comefrom? Surely not from the surface ofthe earth! Such investigations as havebeen made there only point more inthe direction Stephen Riess is going.

Primary water is new water, revolu-tionary water. It would appear to bea constant source of water. Whetheione has a water problem or not, hereis an interesting subject for future ex-ploration.

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