300 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 





DIRECT LIFT WHEELS IN IDAHO. 



In the Payette Valley, Idaho, are a dozen direct- 

 lift wheels of the same general type shown in fig. 14. 

 This large wheel is very carefully made, fitting into a 

 flume with only two inches clearance. The construc- 

 tion is shown in Figs. 14, 15, 16 and 17. The crude 

 method of raising and lowering the wheel contrasts 

 with its excellent workmanship. At the end of. the 

 season it is laboriously raised out of the water by jacks 



ing in a ditch could be utilized to good advantage in 

 this way. 



The cost of the wheel, flume, and supports was 

 $150. For six years there were no repairs and no run- 

 ning expenses except for grease and for raising and 

 lowering the wheel twice in a season. In the seventh 

 year, 1903, repairs cost $50, mainly for a new shaft, 

 and in subsequent years repairs will doubtless be re- 

 quired to the extent of $10 or $15 a year. 



Chain and Bucket Operated by Overshot Wheel, Selah, Washington. 



and is blocked up until the opening of another season. 

 While in use it remains at one height regardless of the 

 stage of the water. 



In several ways the efficiency of this wheel could 

 be raised. When the water is too high to run the wheel 

 to advantage, part of it could be carri d away in a 

 second flume, leaving just enough running under the 

 wheel to give the greatest speed. Or, better still, a 

 "stop" could be placed in the ditch and the water run 

 into the flume under a gate, giving it great velocity. 

 In a great many cases a "stop" or "drop" already exist- 



Twenty-five acre 1 ? in alfalfa and fruit are irrigated 

 by this wheel, the value of the crops raised being esti- 

 mated at $2,337 annually. 



WHEELS FOR RUNNING PUMPS. 



A wh; el operating a rotary pump is shown in Plate 

 III. It is in use in the Yakima River, near Prosser, 

 Wash. It is homemade, but a fine example of a cheap, 

 serviceable wheel. Being suspended between two heavy 

 timbers anchored in the banks, no expensive pier is 

 required The whe'l is eleven feet in diameter and 

 17.5 feet long. The paddles are two feet wide of 1-inch 





