THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



9 



PUMPING WATER BY COMPRESSED AIR. 



BY EMMET BARBER, C. E v TDLARE, CAL. 



The great demand of the arid region of the world 

 is how to obtain water for irrigation. Very few sec- 

 tions have sufficient water from the rainfall and snows 

 in higher altitudes, and are compelled to use methods 

 of obtaining water below the surface of the earth. 



The method of lifting water by machinery has been 

 a great study for the irrigaiionist, and only the most 



Natural How of Artesian Well at Waukena, Cal. 

 [600 gallon! per minute.] 



profitable crops would pay for lifting at a greater depth 

 than thirty to fifty feet. All kinds of devices have been 

 invented and used, sometimes at a great expense. 



The advancement of all kinds of improved lifting 

 machinery has been rapid during the past twenty years 

 in the United Startes, but the invention and perfection 

 of lifting water by compressed air has been of recent 

 date. 



On May 6, 1904, I went to inspect a compressed 

 air plant of which I present four views herewith, the 

 demonstration being quite satisfactory, from which I 

 made the following notes and estimates. 



The power furnished being a 75-horsepower boiler 

 with a 35-horsepower compressor; fuel used, Kern River 

 California crude oil, about 14 gravity; each compres- 

 sor is expected to furnish air sufficient for four wells, 

 and the power of the boiler is sufficient for from two 

 to three compressors. 



At the time of examination the compressor was 

 connected with two wells, one artesian and one surface 

 well. The artesian well was 865 feet deep and had 

 an estimated flow of 600 gallons per minute before the 

 compressed air was turned on, which increased to about 

 2,400 gallons per minute after the air was applied, 

 which ran into a ditch with a four-foot bed, slope two 

 to one. on a fall of 1 in 800, which increased from four 

 inches deep before the air was applied to ten inches Seep 

 after. 



The following is the report of the construction 

 engineer of the above described plant: 



Situate at Waukena, which is about twelve miles 

 from Tulare, Cal., and twenty miles from Hanford, 



is the Waukena Colony Company's tract of land com- 

 prising some 13,000 acres. 



The soil on this land runs from six inches to four 

 feet deep and when irrigated will produce wonderful 

 crops. Many schemes have been advanced to produce 

 artificial irrigation at reasonable cost. Nothing, how- 

 ever, was done until the Compressed Air Machinery 

 Company of 24 to 28 First street, San Francisco, offered 

 to install an air-lift pumping plant that would raise 

 240,000 gallons of water per acre, at a cost not exceed- 

 ing $1.10 per acre. 



This offer was accepted by the owners of Waukena 

 Colony Company's ranch. The plant has just been 

 completed and tested often enough to prove that it 

 can raise, out of the wells on the Waukena ranch, 27,154 

 gallons of water per minufe, which is one inch deep 

 on an acre of hard surface, for the sum of eight cents, 

 or seventy-two cents for nine inches. 



The next part of the plant to be installed will 

 reduce the above cost to sixty-three cents to cover an 

 acre of land with 240,000 gallons of water. 



After six years of experience with air-lift pumping 

 plants at various points in New Mexico, Arizona and 

 California, we can cheerfully and truthfully say that 

 there is an abundance of water in the San Joaquin 

 and Southern California, where the above results can 

 be duplicated. 



You will notice we do not mention size of plants, 

 horsepowers, and general construction. This informa- 

 tion will be given to parties interested in the purchase of 

 plants. The most important item to the general public 

 is : What will it cost to raise a number of gallons per 



Same Well alter Compressed Air is Applied. 



minute, based on the cost of fuel where the work is 

 to be done. 



The above estimates of cost were based upon Bak- 

 .ersfield crude oil at seventy cents per barrel f. o. b. 

 Waukena. 



This plant when completed is guaranteed to cost 

 $16.000 and irrigate 13,000 acres of land at an annual 

 cost not exceding $1.00 per acre, and will consist of 

 eight compressors with capacity of four wells for each 

 compressor. 



