PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



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1 



WATER STORAGE. 



The Bear River Canal Company, of Utah, has 

 recently been reorganized, the bondholders 

 having purchased the property after fore- 

 closure. Mr. W. H. Rowe, who was the appointed 

 receiver for the property, has been chosen its presi- 

 dent, and it is evident from the vigorous manner in 

 which he is pushing settlement, and the cultivation 

 of several thousand acres of the land under the 

 several canals, that it will soon become a productive 

 property. 



Such undertakings require a comprehensive grasp 

 of mind for their successful management. There are 

 problems of every conceivable nature to be solved 

 it is virtually the building of an empire, and creating 

 homes for thousands of people of every class and 

 nationality, representing every industry. The in- 

 vestment of capital is necessarily large and the in- 

 come must come from colonization. The work of 

 constructing and colonizing lies along entirely differ- 

 ent lines, and it is the experience of many companies 

 that when they have finished the works and are 

 ready for the delivery of water, their troubles have 

 only just begun. 



Most of the larger irrigation enterprises have been 

 undertaken within the last five years, and the work 

 of construction was nearing completion when the 

 panic and succeeding business depression paralyzed 

 every effort they might make to secure settlers. This 

 was one of them, and while it was one of the best, 

 both in. conception and construction, as well as for 

 the fine body of land reclaimed, it was found impos- 

 sible to prevent default of its interests arid foreclos- 

 ure. As before stated, it has passed the ordeal without 

 any great sacrifice, except of the interest payments for 

 two or three years, and with a power of recuperation 

 which will soon be made manifest. It is already to 

 avail of the first movement of settlers, and to offer 

 them inducements which cannot be duplicated else- 

 where. Low-priced lands, of the very best quality, 

 the productiveness of which is attested on every 

 hand by the crops already harvested, may be 

 purchased on easy terms, with an almost unlimited 

 water supply. In fact, it is one of the very tew loca- 

 tions where the supply of water is far in excess of the 

 land that may ever be made available for it. 



The engineering difficulties were very great, and 

 more than a million dollars was expended in taking 

 the water through and out of the Bear river canyon 

 by gravity canals. All the rest of the construction 

 was comparatively easy to cover more than 150,000 

 acres of as fine land as the bright sun of the inter- 

 mountain region shines on. The canals for distribu- 

 tion are thoroughly well constructed, with drops at 

 intervals, and with opportunities for the development 

 of a very large motive power for manufacturing when 

 it shall be required. 



^ The headquarters of the company is located at 

 Corinne, about twenty-four miles northwest of Ogden. 

 At the latter place the same company owns and 

 operates the street railways, one of the most complete 

 in the inter-mountain country. 



A CURRENT MOTOR. 



Illustrated herewith, is a recent invention of Mr. 

 J. E. Belt, of Minneapolis, Minn. All its friends 

 believe it will be recognized at once as an important 

 aid to the irrigation industry, rendering the reclam- 

 ation of many fine bodies of land along the large and 

 swift rivers of the inter-mountain region, easily pos- 

 sible at small cost, and cheapening construction in 

 many other places. 



It was exhibited at the recent Irrigation Congress, 

 at Denver, and received the hearty commendation of 

 many experienced irrigation engineers who were 

 present. 



It is very simply constructed, by the combination 

 of two vertical shafts set at such distance apart as 

 may be required for each 

 particular situation. There 

 are two sprocket wheels on 

 each shaft, connected by link 

 belts, bearing sheet metal 

 paddles hinged at equal dis- 

 tances. These paddles, or 

 blades, are set at an angle of 

 forty-five degrees to the direc- 

 tion of the current. As they 

 pass around the wheels in 

 rotation they change position 

 by the force of the current, 

 under control of governing 

 chains, so that the paddles 

 are held in the same relative 

 position to the current on both 

 the upper and lower side. 

 The paddles on the lower side 

 have advantage in receiving 

 the force of the water more 

 directly, owing to the deflection from the upper pad- 

 dles, although they are set at the same angle to the 

 belt. Guard rails prevent sagging with the stream. 



The movement is aptly described by an observer of a 

 fifteen-horse power motor in operation: " To watch the 

 workings of this machine, even as small as it is, gives 

 one a fair idea of the immense power it -can extract 

 from the current. The movement is not very rapid, 

 but it seems as though nothing on earth can stop it. 

 It is the steady, grinding, surly power that counts, 

 and as the blades sail smoothly from side to side 

 across the channel the motion is as strong and per- 

 fect as any mechanic could wish." 



A gentleman who has studied it carefully and 

 whose opinion carries weight, says: "It is adapted 

 to every use to which water power may be applied, 

 and saves the expense of dam construction and 

 fluming. It utilizes the power of the current in 

 places where dams are impracticable. It is sim- 

 ple, and may be constructed cheaply for any required 

 service, easily protected, and equally serviceable at 

 whatever depth submerged. It works equally well 

 in a slow or rapid current, but accelerated velocity 

 multiplies the effective power rapidly. It may be 

 located in flumes along the shore, or may be set in 

 mid-stream between piers to hold it in position, or 



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CURRENT MOTOR 



