88 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



a point lower down the river would lessen the cost and 

 would bring the same lands under cultivation. 



During floods the Hondo carries a large amount of 

 silt. Engineer Reed proposes the following plan to pre- 

 vent danger of the reservoir filling from this source. 

 The velocity of the canal is to be governed to such an 

 extent that the heavier silt will be deposited in basins 

 which are provided by making the alignment of the 

 canal to cross three arroyos near their mouth where the 

 surface flattens out. Two of these arroyos have a length 

 of five or six miles and drain considerable territory. At 

 the end of the basins at the down-stream side a spillway 

 will be placed in the bank of the canal with a bottom 

 grade below that of the canal. At times of heavy rain- 

 fall, when water rushes down the arroyos, the spill or 



IRRIGATION WORK IN OREGON. 



PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS BY ENGINEER JOHN T. 

 WHISTLER IN FIVE COUNTIES IN THAT STATE. 



[Special Correspondence of Irrigation Age.\ 

 WASHINGTON, D. C,, Jan. 15. Mr. John T. 

 Whistler, engineer, United States Reclamation Service, 

 reports as follows on the work done in Oregon : 



Preliminary investigations were made through 

 Umatilla, Baker, Malheur, Harney and Crook Counties 

 in .March and April. Three projects appeared to justify 

 further investigation. A brief description of each of 

 these projects, showing work done this year, follows : 



Bordering on the Columbia River and west of the 

 mouth of Umatilla River lies between one and two 



NO. 3. AMES PUMP DRIVEN BY ELECTRIC MOTOR, DIRECT CONNECTED. 



flush-gates will be opened and the silt removed from the 

 basins. The water passing through these flush gates will 

 spread out over the bottom land and ultimately reach the 

 old bed of the river, and can be sluiced down the river 

 in the same manner that nature has been doing for ages. 

 Except during the flood time the Hondo water carries 

 very little silt, and therefore during the non-irrigating 

 season, when there is a constant flow in the river, it is 

 advisable to pass the water through the canal and into 

 .the reservoir with as little exposure to seepage and 

 evaporation as possible. To be able to c]o this at one 

 time and also at other times pass. a little body of water 

 through as a slow current, it is proposed to place a re- 

 movable bulk-heading or gates below the sluiceways 

 and thus be able to delay or check the current, causing 

 the silt to settle in the basins. A. L. I. 



hundred thousand acres of uncultivated, rolling bench 

 land at an elevation of 400 to 600 feet above sea level. 

 A line of levels was -run early in the season which showed 

 the impracticability of taking water from either the 

 Columbia or Snake River to put on this land. The sum- 

 mer flow of the Umatilla River, except early in the sea- 

 son, is all taken now for watering the Umatilla bottoms. 

 Measurements of this river by the Geological Survey, 

 covering a period of ten years, show that there is suffi- 

 cient flood water to irrigate probably 100,000 acres if 

 it could be conserved. Four gaging stations are now 

 being maintained on this river and its tributaries. 

 From May to August a small party was kept in the field 

 developing possible reservoir sites on the upper waters 

 of the Umatilla. Five sites were developed, but it is 

 doubtfull if any of them will prove sufficiently inex- 



