A UNIQUE WYOMING WATER MOTOR. 



BY J. A. BRECKONS. 



FH. HARVEY, a Douglas, Wyo., lawyer, has ap- 

 parently solved the irrigation problem for the 

 Platte valley in Wyoming. The Platte river is one 

 of the largest streams in Wyoming, which by nature of 

 the peculiar topography of the country through 

 which it passes has not been utilized to any extent 

 for irrigation purposes. 



The low banks, loose soil, shifting bed and current, 

 have prevented taking out ditches by ranchmen of 

 moderate means. Ditch enterprises involving the 

 expenditure of sums running into the hundreds of 

 thousands have been contemplated, but the neces- 

 sary capital could not be secured, mainly, because of 

 the inadequate security offered the investors un4er 

 the present land laws. Consequently, along the Platte 

 river for the hundred or more miles of its course in 

 Wyoming are upwards of 350,000 acres of valuable 

 bottom lands, unimproved and unoccupied, while 



VIEW OF PLANT, LOOKING UP STREAM. 



passing by it was the Platte river, carrying at high 

 water 15,000 cubic feet per second of the water which 

 would make these uninhabited tracts of waste land 

 bloom like a tropical garden. 



Many schemes have been tried by ingenious ranch- 

 men to raise water from the river to the land, but to 

 the present they have been failures. That of Mr. 

 Harvey, however, is a success, and the practical 

 demonstration of its cheapness, simplicity and ability 

 is going to work at once a revolution in the Platte 

 valley and along all other streams in the>est of like 

 characteristics. 



The Platte river in its course through Wyoming, 

 alternately runs in almost level stretches of several 

 miles and then in rapid falls ofjrom 30 to 60 inches 

 246 



VIEW OF PLANT, LOOKING DOWN STREAM. 



in short riffles. Below the riffles, on either side of the 

 stream, are the bottom lands laying with a gentle 

 slope to the river and admirably adapted to irriga- 

 tion. 



Mr. Harvey has located his motor on one of these 

 riffles, three miles above the town of Douglas, and is 

 now watering 200 acres with it. The motor has 

 sufficient capacity to water 500 additional acres. 

 The river at this point is about 850 feet wide and 

 makes a sharp curve at the head of the riffle. A low 

 dam of piles and loose stone starting at the head of 

 the riffle was first constructed diagonally from the 

 right bank of the stream to a point about 150 feet 

 from the left bank. From the end of this dam a 

 strong wing dam 10 feet wide and 12 feet high, made 



VIEW FROM TOP OF PLANT. 



