THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



115 



Select a president and secretary-treasurer and send 

 to D. H. Anderson, 112 Dearborn street, Chicago, 111., 

 or to the Monterey Tree Growing Club, Monterey, 

 Cal., for a plan of by-laws. 



At the present time it is quite impossible to ob- 

 tain seeds of but a few useful trees, but this will 

 shortly be remedied. The Monterey Club has been 

 distributing large quantities of seed and has some more 

 for the asking. Anyway, commence with acorns and 

 you will be amply rewarded, for remember that this 

 in this country everybody is using oak wood but no 

 one is growing oak trees. 



The Monterey Tree Growing Club has thousands 

 of live chestnut, oaks, pines and other trees on hand 

 now, so get busy! 



The official organ of the Federation of Tree 

 Growing Clubs of America is the IEBIGATION AGE, an 

 old and influential magazine, published in Chicago. 

 Very respectfully yours, 



H. A. GREENE, 

 President Federation of Tree Growing Clubs of 



America. 



CIVIL AND IRRIGATION 

 ENGINEERING 



PUMPING PLANTS. 



BY L. G. CARPENTER. 



[Professor of Civil and Irrigation Engineering, Colorado Agri- 

 cultural College, Fort Collins.] 



Pumping will undoubtedly be used to a greater extent in 

 the future than in the past. There has been an increasing 

 tendency during the past few years for its use. The unfor- 

 tunate experience in pumping about fifteen or twenty years 

 ago and the disappointing experiences due to expecting too 

 much from pumping have prevented further attempts at using 

 it until recently. 



Within proper limits, a great deal may be expected from 

 pumping. When the water is within a moderate distance of 

 the surface of the soil, in quantities large enough to supply a 

 good stream of water, and where the material in the soil and 

 .sand is coarse enough to furnish a sufficient stream, a great 

 deal may be expected of it. Many of the earlier failures were 

 due to lack of mechanical skill on the part of the people who 

 tried to pump, so that they were not able to keep their engines 

 in repair or to make small repairs. A number, however, have- 

 continued pumping for many years, and some with great suc- 

 ' cess. 



The cost of a plant may be set against the cost of water 

 rights in a ditch. The cost of pumping will be considerably 

 more than the usual cost of assessments ; hence, unless the cost 

 of a plant is less than the cost of a water right, there is usu- 

 ally no economy. On the other hand, there is the advantage 

 that water may be had under favorable conditions, whenever 

 needed. 



The scope of pumping is generally limited. It is best 

 adapted to small areas. It is easy to overestimate the amount 

 of water that a well will furnish. We very often hear of 

 inexhaustible wells. Some of these statements are laughable, 

 were it not that sometimes they may be misleading. I have 

 heard people say that a well was inexhaustible that it sup- 

 plied enough water for five head of horses. 



When water is taken for irrigation, it should be remem- 

 bered that the amount required for a good many head of cattle 

 would not furnish much water for irrigation and that when a 

 steady draft is made on the well the water is lowered by a 

 noticeable amount, and unless the water is furnished as fast as 

 it is withdrawn the volume of water stored in the soil will be 

 materially reduced and the capacity of the well diminished. 

 No well has an inexhaustible supply. It should not be forgot- 

 ten that the water must come from somewhere and that it is 



either the rainfall or the inflow from ditches around. Where 

 the water stands in the soil it is practically a small lake, and 

 hence, as the water is reduced in level, the supply may be per- 

 manently lowered, and it will be unless the inflow is equal to 

 the discharge and there is time between the periods of pumping 

 for the level to recover. 



Fortunately there are many places in the river bottoms 

 where the gravel and sand is coarse and where the water can 

 flow with relative ease. Under these conditions the wells may 

 furnish one-fourth of a gallon of water per minute for each 

 foot that the water is lowered and for each square foot of area 

 of the whole surface. The rapidity of the inflow would 

 increase as the water is lowered, within certain limits, so that 

 for every ten feet of lowering of the water table every square 

 foot will be apt to furnish in the neighborhood of three gal- 

 lons a minute. This lowering of the water may be expected, 

 and especially under severe pumping. If it recovers rapidly 

 after the pumping has stopped, then there need be no particular 

 anxiety felt about the supply up to that extent. 



The effect on the permanent supply may be examined by 

 sinking some small wells, or holes, which will go down to the 

 water surface and determine whether this pumping has any 

 effect on the permanent supply, and how much. Before one 

 makes a large investment it would be well to make some tests 

 and determine what this effect is. In many places pumping 

 plants of moderate capacity can be used with a great degree of 

 profit, while pumps of larger capacity may be failures and 

 prove very disappointing. Moderate lifts are thus to be con- 

 sidered when it is to be remembered that every additional 

 foot of lift means an additional cost in the way of fuel. 



If the cost of the plant is properly estimated, the supply 

 to be expected is also known and the expense of maintenance 

 and production has not been underestimated, then a pumping 

 plant undertaken with these conditions understood should 

 prove very satisfactory in hundreds of places. 



There have been a few cases where pumping has been for 

 the purpose of obtaining water surreptitiously by obtaining 

 water from a neighboring ditch or stream. Cases of this kind 

 have not been numerous enough to have made a body of legal 

 decisions, but in general it may be said that if the withdrawal 

 of water by this means damages the possessions of others it 

 can be prevented. 



Supreme Court Decisions 



Irrigation Cases 



SEEPAGE FROM IRRIGATION DITCH. 



The owner of an irrigation ditch, seepage of water from 

 which, not intentionally caused, injures the property of an- 

 other, is liable for the injury only in case of negligence. 



Fleming v. Lock-mood. Supreme Court of Montana, 92 

 Pacific 962. 



DUTY OF COMPANY MEASURED BY STATUTE, NOT BY ITS OWN 

 RULES. 



The measure of the rights, duties and liabilities of a water 

 company and the consumers of the water is fixed by statute 

 and contract, and not by the rules of the company. 



Downey v. Twin Lakes Land & Water Co. Supreme 

 Court of Colorado, 92 Pacific 946. 

 ADJUDICATION OF PRIORITIES. 



The volume of the priority awarded an irrigation ditch in 

 adjudication proceedings is res judicata, and the decree cannot 

 be disturbed in subsequent litigation on the question of aban- 

 donment of the priority, but evidence of abandonment in such 

 a proceeding must be limited to acts of the owner subsequent 

 to the decree. 



O'Brien v. King. Supreme Court of Colorado, 92 Pacific 

 945. 

 DIVERSION BURDEN OF PROOF OF ABANDONMENT. 



In action to restrain the unlawful diversion of water to an 

 irrigating ditch, where plaintiff claimed that the defendant had 

 lost by abandonment the right to use all or some portion of his 

 decreed priorities, the burden is on plaintiff to clearly and defi- 

 nitely prove the amount of water actually and intentionally 

 abandoned. 



O'Brien v. King. Supreme Court of Colorado, 92 Pacific 

 945. 



