"Mr. Hans, the principle is like this piece of paper. ”

In front of Link was a thin man with a somewhat pale face. His shirt was even a little wrinkled. That man was none other than Ben Stein. He held a newspaper torn into irregularities.

I saw him begin to discount some of the newspapers: "The Pacific plate subducts and sinks, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge expands in both directions." In the middle is the half of the American continent, and the eastern mantle continues to gush out to form a new seafloor, pushing the North American continent westward, while the Pacific plate subducts eastward, so the western part of the North American continental plate is directly squeezed and forms folds. ”

The paper in his hand was irregular, with a large protruding piece in the middle, but that part was wrinkled a lot by him: "Just like the folds of this newspaper, the wider the plate of the North American continent, the more folds are about denser, and the more knots there are. Exactly in the location of Nevada, the American continental plate is the widest place, so the western part of the United States is the widest place in the Rocky Mountain system. ”

Link didn't understand what he was trying to say, though. But he did understand the analogy: "You mean that among the mountains of the western United States, the number of folds is the greatest, and the spacing in the middle is the smallest. ”

Ben Stein nodded and said, "That's right, that's what it means." ”

"But what does that have to do with the groundwater you're talking about?"

"There is evidence that when the continental United States first formed, the altitude was at least a thousand yards higher than it is now, and it was full of volcanoes, spewing out large amounts of lava that covered the entire land. Later, due to tens of millions of years of invasion, the mountains collapsed, and later washed away by the Great Ice Age, so that the mountains of the western United States became a de facto large basin. But deep underground, there are actually a lot of valleys that are buried. ”

"Those valleys have sedimentary layers, which are channels for groundwater. It's just that these channels are covered by basalt formed by the cooling of the lava from the lava eruption, which eventually forms an aquifer. ”

"So where does the water come from?"

"That's a good question. This is a key. Ben Star's face flushed, looking a little excited. "You know, I used to be a Canadian geoscientist. When I was researching seismic wave data, I discovered that there was a huge aquifer in British Columbia, Canada. Not because of its large area, but because of its thickness. It is more than 20 kilometers wide and more than 200 kilometers long. It dives downward at an angle of more than sixty degrees. Judging by the seismic waves, I could tell that it was at least a thousand yards below the ground, possibly deeper. Then spread south. ”

Link was listening to a myth: "You say a layer of water stretches down more than a thousand yards from the surface? I was looking for evidence in some states in the United States. I judged that this aquifer followed a confined water layer in a valley that was completely buried deep underground, all the way to northern Nevada and Arizona. ”

Link looked at the analysis he took out, and he could understand the words in it, but he really couldn't understand the data.

But he can also see if Ben Stein's assertion is correct. The amount of confined groundwater is likely enough to last all of Nevada for thousands of years.

He looked up and asked, "I heard that you used to dig deep wells in other places. But none of the groundwater you said was found. ”

Ben Stein quickly explained: "Yes, previous explorations have failed. But that's just my miscalculation of the thickness of the basalt above the laminated water layer. If those deep wells continue to be drilled, it may only take a meter to drill further to find groundwater. ”

Link smiled and said, "I see that your investigation report claims that the width of the underground runoff from those groundwaters is not too large. So why did you find me here, and think that my farm has groundwater, and not somewhere else?"

"That, of course, is based on the direction of the topography after years of research. Ben Star's greatest fear was not that Link would ask him questions, but that he would not even listen to what he had to say. Now that Link is willing to listen to him, that seems to him to be a good start.

Moreover, when it comes to what he has studied, he always gushes: "I have drilled two ***, although the depth is not deep, but according to the distribution of the strata, the direction of the folds can be judged." In fact, groundwater runoff is not necessarily very narrow, but it is deeper in some places and shallower in others. Finally, when I came to Nevada, I was divided by dense folds. ”

Link had read the email Martha had sent him, and knew that the man in front of him had not only applied for exploration permits in Oregon, Washington, and Ohio, but had also received some financial support. It's the same in Nevada. He even received $500,000 in funding from Las Vegas to drill three wells more than 800 meters deep near Las Vegas. But the result, of course, was nothing.

Ben Stein spent all his money on drilling wells, and in order to find the groundwater he said, he not only went bankrupt, but also divorced because of it.

Even so, he still refused to give up. Such a person is either a madman or a person who is so confident in his research that he is paranoid.

Nevada is a water-scarce state. Surface runoff is so low that it is said that in a few years, Lake Mead will even stop supplying water to Las Vegas because the water level has dropped too much.

Las Vegas, a desert city, is said to have the highest per capita water consumption in the world. Plenty of casinos, private swimming pools, and urban green spaces including a golf course. Almost all of the water comes from Lake Mead.

In order to get Lake Mead continued to supply water. Not only did Las Vegas stop adding new golf courses, but it also had to eradicate some green space and turn it back into desert. Just because in the desert, the evaporation of green spaces is much higher than that of deserts. In fact, California has been doing this for a few years.

In some areas of Nevada, they know that there is groundwater, but they dare not pump it because of the radioactive contamination of that groundwater.

If deep confined water could be found, Nevada might still be a desert. But it will turn into a vibrant desert.

Of course, he doesn't care about anything else. If he could find a source of water at Fairville Peak Farm, it would be much easier for him to use the surface there.

So, if the person is crazy, Link also decides to spend a little money to accompany him crazy once. Because the inputs and possible outputs are not proportional at all.

He pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you estimate how deep you have to drill to find water at Fairville Peak Farm?" ”

"Eight hundred meters at most!" said Ben Stein, who seemed confident.

"Okay, I can give you a budget based on the depth of drilling at 850 meters. However, I have to manage the budget. ”

"Of course!" said Ben Stein, who promised not to touch all budgets in order to gain trust. He only makes a list of the equipment he needs and asks investors to buy it. He wouldn't even specify the brand of equipment he needed. That would prevent him from profiting from procurement. It also shows that he is not trying to cheat money.

In fact, it was this that made Link think it was okay to take a gamble. Maybe the other party is using his money to prove something. But if it really proves it. It's still him who profits.

He finally said: "I agree to your conditions. You can sign up with Martha. ”

"Thank you, thank you, thank you very much for your trust, Mr. Hans!" said Ben Stein, standing up excitedly. "I won't let you down. ”

"But remember. You only get one chance!, so you'd better do some upfront work to determine which location is best for drilling. "There's no way Link is going to put his money into a bottomless pit.

After sending Ben Stein away, Link calls Martha and informs her that he agrees to budget for the drill. Let her take care of it.

And he went to Ozete in the next few days, where six batches of calves would arrive in a row. There was no person in charge there, and he needed to go and see for himself. Luckily, he had previous experience receiving cattle at Hanova Farm. The total number of cattle in these batches is 2,000.

The cattle were taken over, and the nameplate had to be renewed, and at the same time it was branded with the characteristic brand of Ozette Farm. Naturally, cowboys do all of this work. But it was the first calf of the year, and he had to check it out.

Because now that the weather is better, the cowboys on the farm don't have to keep an eye on the cows. The cowboy's main job becomes to maintain the farm's fences. The fences at Ozette Farm are tens of miles long, and patrolling and maintaining them is not an easy task.

The cowboys' heads on the farm found him and reported an anomaly that the cowboys had discovered.

The cowboy's head is called Toby, and he is a western cowboy with nomadic experience. Now he doesn't need to be nomadic either, but the farm area is too large. Sometimes, they need to use helicopters, quad bikes and horses to drive the cattle to the designated positions. That's where his experience comes in.

Toby approached Link and told him, "Boss, we're on the riverside in Burgchel National Park and we've found a passage dug by animals. Judging by the animal fur hanging from the barbed wire, it should be a wild boar. In addition, we found bear footprints. What worries me the most is that we don't have a fence on the surface of the Huo River. We are worried that large wildlife such as bears will enter. In fact, we found three new herds of deer on the farm. ”

Bergchel Park is small, with only a hundred acres of acres. The location is just on the central border to the east of Ozette Farm. The farm is bordered on the west bank of the Bogchel River, which meets the Caravach River through Fox, and the runoff is not very large.

When Link built the fence, he built a bridge across the river, under which there were plenty of cement piles to keep large animals out, and there was also barbed wire on the bridge.

The water surface of the Huo River is relatively wide, and the runoff is also relatively large. In the south-southeast corner of the farm there is a need to cross the river. However, there are no fences on both sides of the river, only warning signs to prevent people from entering. But that kind of warning sign is certainly useless for animals.

The place is also close to the Olympus National Park, and there is quite a lot of wildlife, such as males and deer. Animals like bears and deer are capable of wading, and they are likely to enter the farm from there.

The herd of deer is what Link welcomes. He even has plans to raise deer. But bears, he really didn't welcome.

He thought for a moment and said, "I will have people build a fence on the Huo River." "There's still a lot of forest on the farm, and it's dangerous to have bears around, especially since he's planning to move in with Hannah in the future. He couldn't put Hannah in the slightest danger. "Also, you have people patrol the farm. Bring a gun!"

"Understood!"

Toby actually wanted to say that it was not safe, because at both ends of the coast, it was impossible to completely seal it off. And there are also bears on the beach. There is a high chance that they will bypass the barbed wire fence and enter the farm.

But that's also a problem that can't be solved. Unless the fence can be extended into deep water. But that kind of construction is difficult. And maintenance is also difficult.

"For wild boars, you see one killing another! They are very harmful. "Maybe the boar is not much of a threat to people, but the grapes he grows can be damaged. It could become a paradise for wild boars.

Wild boars in North America are not really wild boars, but are transformed after pigs from pig farms have escaped from the wild. Pigs are very adaptable. As soon as the pigs return to the wild, they will grow fangs within a few months and will change their body shape to that of wild boars. Over the years, several central states have suffered from the infestation of wild boars. Link didn't want Ozette to have a pig infestation.