THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



275 



A PRACTICAL ALFALFA IRRIGATION GATE 



By WM. H. CRIMM1NS 



A NEW TYPE OF IRRIGATION CHECK 

 INTRODUCED ON THE COAST. 



Open. 



A TYPE of ir- 

 ** rigating check 

 which was intro- 

 duced on the Pa- 

 cific Coast in the 

 season of 1913, 

 and which seems 

 1 to operate to the 

 satis faction of 

 ranchers engaged 

 in the raising of 

 alfalfa, fruits, ber- 

 ries, etc., consists 

 of a length of 

 c o r r u gated gal- 

 vanized pipe of 

 high-purity iron, 

 in the upper half 

 of which a slot has been cut, through which works 

 a flat disc of the same material. This slide is seated 

 in a groove or nib, rolled in the lower half of the 

 pipe, and is operated by means of a wrought iron 

 handle which folds down over the pipe, and pre- 

 sents no obstruction when not in use. 



The corrugated form of the pipe, of course, se- 

 cures great strength and rigidity, and is also to 

 quite an extent an insurance against wash-outs. 

 This last is further provided against by the use of 

 a galvanized iron bulkhead of sufficient size to pre- 

 vent any streams finding their way around the out- 

 side of the pipe, or the falling down over its mouth 

 of any of the material of the ditch bank. 



The gate is made chiefly in the small sizes, and 

 is useful for taking the water for the small laterals 

 from the main ditch, thus displacing the temporary 

 wooden boxes or the decidedly cumbersome con- 

 crete pipes which have been used for that purpose. 

 It is not intended for high pressures, but is prac- 

 tically water-tight under the conditions to which it 

 is adapted ; and this quality is found to be highly 

 important. The usual leaky box allows enough 

 water to escape to result in a more or less water- 

 soaked condition of near-by areas; and, in regions 

 where the heat of the sun is extreme in the middle 

 of the day, this often results in a serious scalding 

 of the crop. 



The contrivance is very light and conveniently 

 handled, its installation being simply a matter of 



Closed. 



digging a trench and covering it over. The im- 

 portant consideration in this respect is the ease with 

 which it may be removed to a new location. The 

 cleaning of the ditches with a V-ing plow, to remove 

 silt and weeds, or their relocating, makes necessary 

 the removal of whatever gates and pipes are used 



for these small 

 outlets. With this 

 corrugated device, 

 which has been 

 named the 4-C 

 Gate, these re- 

 movals are very 

 readily made, and 

 the same gate 

 may be used in a 

 dozen successive 

 locations. 



Probably the 

 principal advan- 

 tage of this type 

 is in its perfect 

 ease of operation. 

 On a large sys- 

 tem the time of a responsible man for opening and 

 closing the old-style boxes and valves constitutes 

 a serious expense. These gates bear about the 

 same relation to those formerly employed as a mod- 

 ern post-hole digging tool bears to a shovel and 

 crow-bar. Anyone can open and close them ef- 

 fectively and quickly ; and the saving in the time of 

 capable workmen will soon amount to more than 

 the cost of the improvement. 



City Engineer Holmquist has made some very 

 interesting installations of 4-C gates in the streets 

 of Phoenix, Ariz. That rapidly growing city is in 

 the midst of the Salt River Valley irrigation dis- 

 trict, and there are some streets where open chan- 

 nels carry water by the side of the traveled way. 

 These same channels serve to carry away drainage 

 water during rain storms, and for this purpose are 

 connected with the gutters by ingot iron corrugated 

 pipes, running through the curb. To prevent a 

 back flow from the ditch to the street at other times, 

 these pipes are fitted with one form of the 4-C valve. 

 Mr. Holmquist reports that the device seems per- 

 fectly adapted to the purpose. 



GREAT PROJECT IS FINANCED 



Completion of the necessary financial arrange- 

 ments for the construction of a mammoth canal to 

 store the flood waters of the Arkansas river, to be 

 used for the irrigation of virtually all the vast terri- 

 tory between La Junta and Arlington, Colo., is an- 

 nounced by W. A. Colt of Las Animas. 



The project will involve an investment of sev- 

 eral million dollars. More than $100,000 has already 

 been spent in preliminary work. 



The work is accounted among the greatest irri- 

 gation enterprises ever launched by private capital 



in Colorado, and probably in the United States. It 

 will bring under water thousands of acres of arid 

 land, which is now waste, and provide homes for 

 hundreds of farprlie^. 



Plans for the project were perfected and work 

 started several years ago. Financial complications 

 arose and it was discontinued. These complications 

 are said to have now been adjusted and, according 

 to Colt, the construction work will be vigorously 

 pressed. 



The cuts on Pages 268 and 270 are from photographs made for 

 the D. & R. G. railway. 



