306 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



which the Rife hydraulic ram may be constructed. Ac- 

 counts of many tests with Rife hydraulic rams have 

 been published from time to time in the Engineering 

 Press of recent years, and, in comparison with other 

 forms of pumping machinery, the ram possesses marked 

 advantages, and it is entirely automatic and runs con- 

 stantly without attention or expense. It is practically 

 without wearing parts, such as require lubrication or 

 frequent adjustments, and is therefore not in need of 

 the care of an attendant. The operation is most reli- 

 able, and the repairs are few, owing to the few number 

 of parts which are liable to derangement; it need not 

 be protected from the weather and will work equally 

 well out of doors and not covered, and foundations are 

 unnecessary. 



The illustrations show one of the larger sizes of the 

 modern hydraulic rams as built for the United States 

 Government, and also the method of installation at the 

 Naval Coaling Station, in Bradford, R. I. Two of 

 these machines were put in during the summer of 1903 

 for pumping water into a tank which furnishes fire 

 protection, and also supplies the various buildings on 

 the grounds and vessels which tie up to the dock. Care- 

 ful tests were made of the plant when completed by 

 Government engineers, and the rams were shown to 

 develop an average efficiency of 90 per cent, as per 

 Government test as follows : 



Q, total water used by ram. q, water delivered into 

 stand pipes. H, power head on ram. h, pumping head 

 on ram. Q, 582 gallons per minute, q, 232 gallons 

 per minute. H, 363,4 feet, h, 84 feet. Strokes, 130. 

 Efficiency, 91.25 per cent. Q, 578 gallons per minute, 

 q, 228 gallons per minute. H, 37% feet, h, 84 feet. 

 Strokes, 130. Efficiency, 89.06 per cent. 



These rams could use 750 g. p. m. each. 582 was 

 all available when tests were made. 



A number of such machines have been supplied by 

 the Rife Engine Company, New York City, for irriga- 

 tion purposes in the South and West, and also to sugar 

 plantations in South America and the Hawaiian Islands. 



UNCLE SAM, AUCTIONEER. 



A rather unique event is scheduled to take place in south- 

 ern Idaho the latter part of this month, when Uncle Sam will 

 offer for sale the lots contained in the two town sites situ- 

 ated in the heart of the Minidoka Irrigation project. 



This project provides for the reclamation of about 130,- 

 000 acres lying on both sides of Snake river. The land was 

 all public domain and when the engineers designed the sys- 

 tem, they did not neglect the splendid opportunity for 

 establishing an ideal farming community. Three town sites 

 were laid out in the center of the tract on the proposed line 

 of the Oregon Short Line Railway; the towns were platted 

 with wide streets and boulevards, and parks and extensive 

 areas for public buildings were reserved. All the agricultural 

 lands were cut into farms of forty and eighty acres, so that 

 the instant the tract is brought under cultivation it will be- 

 come one of the most densely populated agricultural com- 

 munities in the country. Its prosperity is assured by the 

 unfailing water supply, which will be furnished by the big 

 Government canals and ditches, and this prosperity will be 

 reflected in the future success and substantial growth of the 

 towns which Uncle Sam proposes to establish there. 



Two years ago the Minidoka country was an uninhabited 

 sage brush plain. The railroad was miles away and it seemed 

 destined forever to serve only as a haunt of the jack rabbit 

 and the skulking coyote. Far below the surface the Snake 

 river cut its way through a canyon across the plain, offering 



no opportunity for the pioneer with his simple ditch to lead 

 the water out upon the thirsty soil. Only skilled engineers 

 backed by vast capital could tackle such a proposition as this. 

 Many men without the necessary wherewithal had looked at 

 it, but its great cost had forced them to give it up. With the 

 passage of the Reclamation Act on June 17, 1903, one of these 

 engineers who had joined the Government force rushed a 

 field party to this point and in a single season pre- 

 pared and presented a set of plans for a comprehensive sys- 

 tem of irrigation. They were accepted and bids were asked 

 and contract awarded for construction. 



To irrigate this broad expanse of plain, the Snake river 

 must be lifted from its bed, and a dam was laid across the 

 stream at Minidoka Rapids, a great rock fill structure, 30 

 feet in height and 650 feet long on top, which raised the 

 water surface 47 feet at flood level and backed it up for 

 thirty-five miles. The dam is near completion and will cost 

 nearly half a million dollars. When the immense gates in 

 the diversion channel are lifted, the water will pass into the 

 high line canals on both sides of the river and be led from 

 them through hundreds of miles of laterals to every farm 

 in the valley. 



The initiation of this great work was followed by an 

 influx of settlers from all over the country, and soon every 

 farm division had been filed upon. While the Government 

 proceeded with the construction of the dam and canal system, 

 the settlers were busily engaged upon their own buildings. 

 The coming of large numbers of farmers created a market 

 and stores sprang up. An enterprising young man estab- 

 lished a newspaper and as if by magic, doctors, lawyers and 

 mechanics of all classes flocked in. The intoxication of 

 creation was in the air. Other newspapers were started, three 

 banks were established, a school was opened and seventy 

 pupils greeted the teacher the first morning. Meanwhile, 

 two lines of steel-like ribbons came creeping over the plain, 

 crossed and passed the town sites, and the shriek of the 

 locomotive was added to the creaking of the derricks as great 

 blocks of stone were dropped into place on the dam. 



"The Secretary of the Interior has fixed the date of town 

 lot sale, Heyburn, August 20, Rupert, 27." When this mes- 

 sage was flashed over the wires it carried joy to the hearts 

 of the waiting settlers. Scattered here and there in and 

 around the town sites are 122 mercantile institutions waiting 

 for the town lot sale, so that they can move over upon their 

 own property and no longer remain tenants by sufferance of 

 the Government, and on every forty or eighty acre tract a 

 home has been built, so that today a population of over 

 4,000 awaits the completion of the canals and ditches. 



Idaho is famous for its irrigated fruits and fields. The 

 soil and climate are adapted to a wide variety of crops. 

 Owing to the importance of the live-stock industry in this 

 section, alfalfa and other forage crops will always find a 

 profitable market, and all the vegetables and fruits of the 

 north temperate zone may be grown. 



With all these manifold advantages, a prosperous future 

 and rapid growth are assured for the new towns. The lots 

 i.n Sherrer, the third town site, will be reserved for future 

 sale. An important feature in connection with the con- 

 struction of the irrigation system is the possibility of power 

 development at the dam. This power can be transmitted 

 economically to the towns and utilized for municipal and 

 other purposes. 



The optimism of the settlers on the Minidoka project has 

 gone abroad through the enterprising little newspapers which 

 have grown and flourished on the sage brush desert, and ere 

 the waning of the moon hundreds of tenderfeet will "hit 

 the trail" for this land of opportunity. 



THE 



{1.00 



IRRIGATION AGE, 1 year ..... 

 THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION, a finely illustrated 



300-page book 2.00 



II both are ordered send .... 2.50 



Address, IRRIGATION AGE. 



112 Dearborn Street. Chicago. 



