340 



THE IRKIGATION AGE. 



beveled in such a way that they fill about two-thirds 

 full and begin to spill when about four feet from the 

 top of the wheel. Wooden buckets are also used, made 

 as shown in Plate II, Fig. 1. 



The device for raising the wheel is shown in Fig. 

 10. Since the wheel weighs about 6,000 pounds it is 

 evident that the lever will have to be rather long to 

 make it possible for one man to adjust the wheel. 



The materials used in the wheel are about 1,250 



it. The two cribs for this wheel were placed on a 

 sandy bottom and rest on piles. 



This large and expensive wheel irrigates but fif- 

 teen acres of fruit and alfalfa, making a total cost of 

 $40 an acre for water. This heavy cost shows first 

 that the advantage of a swift current may be largely 

 offset by great expense for piers, and it shows also 

 the rapid increase in the cost of irrigation, as the ele- 

 vation of a piece of land above the source of water 



FRAMEWORK AND 

 RAISING APPARATUS 



[^ 



r 



,-,*- 



e-t *" 



J"x"- 3' long 



ill 



DETAILS OF RAISING APPARATUS 

 Scale I'm I' 



PLAM OF 



Fig. 16. Framework and Raising Apparatus for Wheel Shown in Fig. 14. 





feet of lumber, 120 pounds of flat iron for the ties, 

 a shaft weighing 260 pounds, four iron rosettes weigh- 

 ing together 200 pounds, 20 pounds of 3-inch bolts, 

 and say 100 pounds of galvanized iron. Allowing 10 

 cents a pound for the iron and 50 cents each (13 cents 

 per pound) for the cans, the cost for materials is $106 

 for the wheel alone. The cost was given by the owner 



increases. The cost of materials for this wheel, dis- 

 regarding the mounting of it, was about $7 for each 

 acre irrigated, while the materials for the wheels de- 

 scribed in pages 9 and 10, which irrigated five acres 

 each, cost a little more than $3, or say 70 cents per 

 acre. In general, twice the height of lift means half 

 as much water and usually four times as great cost 





Fig. 20. Wheel in Yakima Valley, Washington. 



as $600, this amount including the pier, platform and 

 fluming. In putting in large wheels it will usually 

 be found that the cost of the wheel itself is a smaller 

 item than the cost of a single crib pier for mounting 



for materials. Again, the annual repairs and cost of 

 maintenance in the case of the small wheel were too 

 small to reckon, while this large wheel requires $25 

 a year for maintenance and repairs, or nearly $1.70 per 



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