PULSE OF IRRIGATION. 



A PRIVATE IRRIGATION SYSTEM. 



It has recently been reported that Mme. 

 Modjeska contemplates selling her beau- 

 tiful country place in Orange county and 

 returning to her native land. A first-classs 

 ierigation system has lately been con- 

 structed on this propsrty. A writer in 

 the Santa Ana Blade says: 



"This system is worthy of more than 

 passing mention, as its completion is a 

 work of greater magnitude than has been 

 before attempted by any private individu- 

 al in Southern California, although stor- 

 age dams have been constructed at various 

 points by corporations. In brief, the 

 system here referred to is intended to util- 

 ize the waters of an overflowing mountain 

 stream, and for that purpose a concrete 

 dam has been built at a point near the 

 mouth of a canon, through which the 

 stream finds its way, and at the precise 

 spot where the almost perpendicular walls 

 converge so as to leave but a comparative- 

 ly narrow opening, but form a basin above 

 capable of holding millions of gallons of 

 water. The walls of the canon at this 

 point are of solid rock, and in deep niches 

 cut for the purpose, the ends of the dam 

 are firmly anchored on either side. A 

 technical description of the structure and 

 the system of which it forms a part is as 

 follows: 



"The dam rests on solid rock, an excava- 

 tion of eight feet in depth having been 

 made for the purpose. As it is the design 

 o'f the owners to eventually carry it to a 

 height of forty feet above the ground sur- 

 face, the foundation was made twenty-five 

 feet thick, calculated to be sufficiently 

 heavy to stand the strain of forty feet of 

 water, or 350,000,000 feet. 



''As an additional safeguard it is built 

 in a curvilinear form, with a radius of 100 

 feet, which adds materially to its strength. 



The present height of the dam is twenty- 

 eight feet above the bed rock, or twenty 

 feet above the surface of the ground, the 

 profile showing a thickness of four feet at 

 the top. The length at its present height 

 is seventy feet. A scouring gallery, 2Jx4 

 feet is provided near the bottom, closed by 

 an iron gate. The plan is to keep this 

 gate open during the winter storms, per- 

 mitting the flood water to pass through, 

 thus preventing the reservoir from filling 

 with sediment washed down the canon from 

 the mountain sides. This gate will be 

 closed in the early spring in sufficient time 

 to fill the reservoir with clear water. 



"The dam was built entirely of concrete 

 and stone; 350 barrels of cement and 500 , 

 cubic yards of sand, gravel and rock being 

 used in its construction. It had a severe 

 test during the recent storm, the reservoir 

 filling and the water flowing two feet deep 

 over its entire crest. 



"A ten-inch iron pipe was laid through 

 the dam for the purpose of drawing off 

 water for irrigation purposes, and a three- 

 inch pipe is provided for carrying domestic 

 water to the residence, half a mile distant. 

 Water for irrigation purposes is to be eon- 

 ducted from the reservoir through a ten- 

 inch cement pipe, made on the ground 

 from material at hand, and flumes laid 

 along the mountain side. This plan is 

 adopted in preference to open ditches to 

 avoid waste of water by seepage and evap- 

 oration. 



; The successful completion of this un- 

 dertaking, it may be remarked in passing, 

 will doubtless be but the beginning of.' 



