310 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



WOODEN WATER PIPE. 



BY TREW LANIER, LOS ANGELES, OAL. 



That wooden water pipe manufactured of redwood 

 and fir staves is in close competition with cast iron and 

 steel riveted pipe is a fact which a few years ago would 

 have appeared absurd to those brought in direct contact 

 with pipe and pipe fittings. 



Now, however, wooden pipe is winning new con- 

 verts every day. Especially is this true of the western 

 States, and particularly so in California, where many 

 miles of wood pipe are in use and giving entire satis- 

 faction. There are many new towns in the West con- 

 stantly being organized and opened up and the major- 

 ity of these towns are installing wood pipe systems. 



In northern California at Barber and Stirling City 

 the whole water system is composed of wood pipe, which 

 was installed by the National Wood Pipe Company. 



and is made from three or more wood staves banded 

 spirally with a heavy steel rod which is thoroughly gal- 

 vanized and passed through a bath of hot asphaltum 

 as it is wound on the pipe under a regulated tension 

 which seats it in the wood. This pipe is banded for 

 pressures from 20 to 300 feet. The bands are spaced 

 from 11/2 to 4 1 /2 inches apart, depending upon pres- 

 sure and size of pipe. The ends of the pipe are sawed 

 off square and turned down to a slight taper. The 

 joints are connected by cast iron collars which taper 

 from both ends to the center to correspond to the taper 

 of the pipe, but made one-eighth inch smaller to allow 

 for compression in driving, which is done with a heavy 

 maul and driving block, thus making a joint which 

 will stand 200 pounds pressure per square inch even 

 before swelling. 



For the smallest pipe a galvanized rod is used more 

 than four times as thick as No. 16 gauge steel pipe, 

 and for pipe of larger size the rods are from five to 





Fig. 11. Wheel in Fancher Creek Nursery, Fresno, Cal. 



The Imperial Valley is also using wooden water pipe 

 for supplying all the towns therein with water, the 

 chief ones of which are Imperial, Holtville, Brawley 

 and Calexico. The new town of Las Vegas, Nev., 

 which the Salt Lake Railroad is backing, has but re- 

 cently signed a contract with one of the largest wood 

 pipe companies in the State of California and Dallas, 

 Tex., is under contract with the Excelsior Wood Pipe 

 Company to inaugurate a wood pipe system for that 

 city. 



Last month while in San Francisco I visited and 

 was shown through the factory of the National Wood 

 Pipe Company, whose headquarters are at that place. 

 This company organized a few years ago in Los Angeles, 

 Cal., and now is running large factories in Olympia, 

 Wash., and Los Angeles and San Francisco, Cal. Pipe 

 manufactured at these places is in use all over the Pa- 

 cific coast and as far east as Colorado and Texas. 



The small pipe, ranging from three to eighteen 

 inches in diameter, is known as machine banded pipe, 



seven times as thick as No. 16 gauge steel pipe. The 

 weak joint in metal pipe is made strong in wood pipe 

 by exposing the minimum amount of metal surface to 

 rust and protecting that small surface with a coating 

 of galvanizing and asphaltum much heavier than could 

 possibly adhere to a large flat surface. 



When one thinks of the fact that from 75 per cent 

 to 95 per cent of the body of the rods must rust away 

 before the pipe leaks from their yielding, it is readily 

 understood why wood pipe is so durable. Soils abound- 

 ing with mineral and alkali have a tendency to act 

 upon iron pipe and destroy it, causing leakage and other 

 trouble. Such soils do not affect wood pipe in the 

 least and so it is the ideal pipe for conveying water to 

 and from mines. The Cananea Consolidated Mining 

 Company and the Detroit Copper Mining Company have 

 both installed wood pipe systems recently for this rea- 

 son, and the same is proving satisfactory in every re- 

 spect. 



Wood being light reduces the cost of transportation 



