386 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



is near the surface a wheel six feet in diameter and sixteen feet in 

 length will run two ordinary pumps in a good wind and one in a light 

 wind. One objection is that they were not self -regulating. 



Where the Jumbo mill is close at hand and it is rigged with a 

 brake, it is not much trouble to stop and attach another pump. A 

 very effective way of stopping it is to have doors on the north and 

 south low enough that when they are opened the wind will strike the 

 fans and counteract that which strikes them above. The doors can 

 be hung on the inside and so arranged with springs that they will 

 regulate the speed of the mill in a high gale. 



WINDMILL TOWERS. 



Before deciding on the height of the windmill tower, the obstruc- 

 tions should be taken into account. If the mill is to be located in a 

 low place, or there are buildings and trees around, make sure of get- 

 ting it out of the way of the wind whipping around hills and buildings. 

 Wind close to the ground is more or less retarded by friction, and mills 

 will accomplish more if they are a fair height, though it is not often 

 that a tower should be more than thirty- six or forty feet. There has 

 been so many mills wrecked by the wind in the last few years, that it 

 would seem as though people would use more judgment in the selection 

 of anchor posts. Iron or stone are undoubtedly the best, and should 

 be used if they can be had. Where they cannot be had, good locust 

 or red cedar will answer, and Osage orange is good enough, if you can 

 get them large, and that you can get holes through. Cross-pieces 

 should be bolted at the bottom. Mower bars are very good if other 

 irons are fastened across the bottom, as they are not any too long for 

 safety. 



RESERVOIRS FOR STORM WATERS. 



Ileservoirs for storm wate 'S is a subject so broad that it seems 

 almost useless to touch upon it where time and space must be taken 

 into account, as they must be in this report. In the space devoted 

 to this subject the writer will not attempt to cover the ground. There 

 is one phaze of the subject that should be kept steadily in view by all 

 who are interested in great public questions, and more especially 

 those who are most directly interested. In this subject of reservoirs 

 for storm waters, some of the parties especially interested are the 

 people of the great plains region, who lack only a quantity of water 

 equal to the run-off to be prosperous and happy and ready to welcome 

 the homeless; and the other parties especially interested are the half 

 million people who, in 1897, were driven from their homes, arid left 

 their property and 20,000 square miles of territory under water. 

 These people owned property in 1890 worth nearly 22,000,000. This 

 was not the first great flood in that locality, nor is it the last. Is it a 

 trivial matter that the half million people are in danger of losing 

 lives and property during a portion of the year:' As the floods come 

 rushing down from the north anl west, they carry with them on their 



