THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



annual installments without interest. The costs of operat- 

 ing .are shared by the land served and aggregate about 

 $2.75 per acre per year. Since the cost of the plant may be 

 likened to the cost of a water right from a ditch or reser- 

 voir system, it will be seen that this cost of installation is 

 not at all high, as many water rights cost $60 or more per 

 acre. At Palisade, Colo., power irrigation has attained large 

 proportions, practically all of the valuable fruit land in that 

 section being irrigated by water pumped from the Grand 

 River. The Palisade irrigation district has 6,000 acres 

 under its ditch, portions of which have been sold for as 

 much as $4,000 per acre. It is evident that such high 

 prices could not be obtained if the pumping plant were not 

 as substantial as, and did not furnish water with the regu- 

 larity of, any gravity ditch or reservoir system. This plant 

 has a total capacity of about 50,000 gallons per minute, or 

 over 4,000 inches, divided into five units with a total of 

 about 1,000 horsepower. Its neighbor, the Mesa County 

 Irrigation District, irrigated 2,600 acres with a pumping 

 plant of about 700 horsepower in two units. Both of these 

 plants use water power to drive the pumps, utilizing a fall 

 of 14 feet that is secured by power canals leading out of 

 the Grand River. 



The Redlands Irrigation & Power Company installed 

 an excellent pumping plant near Grand Junction in 1907, 

 taking water from the Gunnison River near its mouth in 

 order to supply both their wheels and pumps. This plant 

 was designed to irrigate 5,500 acres lying 132 feet above 



Electricity is therefore assisting in the production of the 

 famous "Greely Spud." 



Gasolene engines have been used for years for com- 

 paratively small acreages and low lifts, and have proven a 

 boon to the farmer in need of power that costs but little 

 when running, and nothing when idle. 



At Green River, Utah, steam engines driving centrifu- 

 gal pumps are being used at three plants of considerable 

 size. The Elgin Power & Water Company has a 100 

 horsepower engine and a 12-inch pump. The water is 

 lifted 51 feet above the Green River and distributed to 800 

 acres of fruit land. A considerable portion of this land 

 was set to peaches in 1907, and it now presents a mag- 

 nificent appearance. The Little Valley Land Company 

 has a 135 horsepower engine and two 10-inch centrifugal 

 pumps for 750 acres of fruit land, and the Green River Mu- 

 tual Irrigation Company a 100 horsepower engine and a 

 12-inch pump to supplement their water power plant for 

 1,200 acres. The frosts of the spring of 1908 did but little 

 damage to the trees of Green River, and the inhabitants 

 feel much elated over their prospects. Some 500 acres of 

 land in this section have been irrigated by a gravity ditch 

 for many years, and excellent fruit produced, but it was 

 not until the fall of 1906 when the subject of power irriga- 

 tion was broached that anyone believed additional land 

 could be watered. Nearly 3,000 acres have already been 

 added to the original 500, and several thousand acres more 

 are available. 



A Farm Scene in the North Platte Valley. Farm Recently Sold to an Iowa Farmer for $20,000. 



and a crop of over 24,000 bushels gathered from 125 acres, 

 head water in the power canal. The wheels operate under 

 35 feet head, at which each will give about 700 horsepower. 

 Legal complications have hampered this company consid- 

 erably, and it has not yet attained the success that it de- 

 serves. 



To the north of Denver electric power is supplied by 

 the Northern Colorado Power Company to all cities and 

 towns within a reasonable distance of one another, their 

 lines running beyond Ft. Collins and Greeley. In the 

 recent extension of the bond isue of this company, it con- 

 templated reaching out for a pumping load as large as 

 could be obtained, rates to be made so reasonable that 

 motor-operated pumps could be used in many places where 

 it was previously thought power could not be used. Since 

 an irrigation pumping load is heaviest during the time that 

 the demand for power for lighting is lightest, the company 

 is able to make very reasonable rates for such service. 

 The extension of the power lines of the Central Colorado 

 Power Company is also looked upon with favor by irriga- 

 tin farmers, as cheap power is what they are all looking 

 for. Motor-operated dumps may be run constantly with- 

 out further attention than oiling once or twice in twenty- 

 four hours, and the item of cost of labor to operate such 

 pumps is thus almost entirely eliminated. The eminent 

 success of the three motor-operated pumps installed by 

 Mr. A. J. Eaton, near Eaton, Colo., attest to the value of 

 such installations. Land lying 23 feet above an irrigating 

 ditch and never before irrigated, was planted to potatoes 

 and a crop of over 24,000 bushels gathered from 125 acres. 



It is our intention in the future to set aside space in 

 Irrigation Age to power irrigation in order that we may 

 keep our readers posted relative to the methods used in 

 various sections of the country to "put water where it 

 won't run." From time to time we will give detailed de- 

 scriptions of plants with costs of installing, maintenance 

 and operating. Several of the plants mentioned in the ar- 

 ticle under this head in this number will be described fully, 

 with illustrations. We will also have a number of articles 

 of intense interest to all in which comparisons will be 

 made between the cost of supplying water by gravity sys- 

 tems, and by pumping with steam, electricity, gasolene 

 producer gas and water power, with the field in which each 

 should be used. There will also be an article in which it 

 will be shown that in certain cases it would actually be 

 more economical to install a pumping plant than a reser- 

 voir and gravity ditch system when the latter will cost 

 as much as $50 to $60 per acre. This may seem improb- 

 able at first, but is a fact, as will be brought out clearly in 

 the article to appear shortly. 



Another article will discuss "The Relation of Producer 

 Gas Engines to Irrigation," showing how irrigation 

 farmers as well as all other users of power, are being 

 actually benefitted by the annual increase in the cost of 

 coal, which has made necessary the perfecting of the pro- 

 ducer gas engine which uses only one-fifth as much fuel 

 per horsepower per hour as a steam engine. 



We want to make this department of value to our 

 readers, and will see that all letters and inquiries are re- 

 ferred to competent engineers for reply. 



