THE IRRIGATION AGE 



413 



Texas 



The Green Machinery Company 

 has brought in irrigation well Xo. ."> 

 for the Littlefield, Texas, interests. 

 This well is located adjoining 'the 

 railvvay four miles southeast from Lit- 

 tlefield. The pump has a normal 

 capacity of 1,200 gallons per minute. 

 The well has a depth of only 148 feet 

 and 45 feet to the water. 



Ward County Irrigation District 

 No. 1, Barstow, Tex., will purchase 

 system of canals, etc., at cost of 

 $125,000 and construct new work to 

 cost $350,000, including an intake 

 canal 29^ miles long, head works, 

 diversion wier, sluiceways, retaining 

 wall, regulator gates, levee, 6-mile 

 outlet canal, 3-mile main canal, 15 

 miles of levee and laterals, etc.; total 

 excavation 1,470,000 square yards. 

 The system will irrigate 24,000 acres. 

 The district has voted bonds for 

 $475,000. 



W. L. Hargis of Cotulla, Tex., will 

 construct an irrigation pumping plant. 



The Lubbock Irrigation Company 

 in Texas, including 12,000 acres of 

 shallow water land, an up-to-date ir- 

 rigation plant and growing crops, has 

 just been sold to John G. Edwards 

 of Kansas City, president of a fire 

 insurance company, and known as 

 "the wheat king of Kansas." The 

 consideration was $35 per acre. The 

 Lubbock Irrigation Company has de- 

 veloped a magnificent irrigation prop- 

 osition in one of the best portions of 

 the shallow water belt of the plains 

 country. Fine yields of alfalfa, corn, 

 cotton and other crops have been 

 made this year. 



Cameron County Irrigation District 

 No. 1, Harrington, Tex., voted $750,- 

 000 bonds and will take over canal 

 system at $400,000 and expend $350,- 

 000 for improvements to existing 

 system and developing territory not 

 under irrigation, plans to install 

 pumping plant capacity 50,000 to 100,- 

 000 gallons per minute, build 15 or 

 20 miles main canals, laterals, etc.; 

 district embraces about 40,000 acres. 



The Bedell Moore estate of San 

 Antonio is preparing to irrigate 4,500 

 acres of a tract of 12,000 acres of 

 land near Del Rio, Tex., by a method 



distinctly new in this country. The 

 first large sized Humphrey direct- 

 acting explosion pump ever installed 

 in the United States will be used in 

 this project. Some time ago Alex- 

 ander Potter, consulting engineer of 

 New York City, was in San Antonio 

 and was asked to pass upon the most 

 economic plan of development. He 

 recommended pumping, preferably by 

 Humphrey pumps, instead of the long 

 and hazardous gravity canals. The 

 Bedell Moore estate commissioned 

 Mr. Potter to study the European in- 

 stallations of this type and the detail 

 plans of the immense Mix (Egypt) 

 plant now under construction. As a 

 result of these investigations the Be- 

 dell Moore estate has purchased 

 Humphrey pumps and Akerlund type 

 producers for wood and coal burning. 

 The pumping station is located fifteen 

 miles by road from Del Rio, the near- 

 est railroad station. Much of the land 

 is covered with mesquite wood and 

 will have to be cleared before culti- 

 vation. The use of this wood as fuel 

 until clearing was completed seemed 

 attractive and its possibilities as a gas 

 producer was fully investigated, with 

 highly satisfactory results. This cut 

 down materially the cost of fuel for 

 the pumps, which is usually a big 

 item. The pumping station is located 

 directly on the banks of the Rio 

 Grande at a point where a rock ledge 

 extends entirely across and creates a 

 slight fall. A forebay is being exca- 

 vated in the river bed adjacent to the 

 pumping station and just above the 

 ledge. The operation of the Humph- 

 rey pump is interesting. A charge of 

 gas-air mixture is exploded in a 

 chamber above the water surface, no 

 piston being used. The explosion 

 drives the water downward and sets 

 the whole water column in the play- 

 pipe in motion. The inertia of the 

 moving column of water permits the 

 burned gases to expand below atmos- 

 pheric pressure, and both exhaust and 

 water valves, which were shut by the 

 explosion, open. There follows a re- 

 turn surge of the liquid column until 

 the water reaches the exhaust valves 

 and closes them by impact. There is 

 a second forward surge set up by the 

 trapped and compressed gases, and 

 when the pressure again falls below 

 atmospheric a fresh charge of gas 

 and air is drawn in. This is finally 

 compressed by the second return 



surge and exploded and the cycle re- 

 peats. The inlet and exhaust valves 

 are interlocked so that the proper 

 sequence of operation is maintained. 



At a recent meeting of the farmers 

 and water users on the San Benito 

 tract in Texas, it was decided to make 

 the present bondholders a proposi- 

 tion for the purchase of the water 

 system. In pursuance of this an elec- 

 tion will be held for formation of an 

 irrigation district. It is estimated 

 that it will require a bond issue of 

 $600,000 for the purchase and im- 

 provement of the present system. 



Arizona 



The Schweitzer Machine Company, 

 Tucson, Ariz., has just completed the 

 construction of its new plant. A 

 specialty will be made of irrigation 

 and pumping equipment. 



Michael Hale, Springerville, Ariz., 

 will construct a water storage reser- 

 voir and install a pumping plant to 

 irrigate several thousand acres of 

 land. 



Wyoming 



The world-wide effect of the Euro- 

 pean war on the money market has 

 been brought sharply home to Wyom- 

 ing in the announcement by Kene- 

 fick & Hoffman, the Kansas City firm 

 that has the construction contract on 

 the Big Wind River irrigation project in 

 Fremont county, that the beginning 

 of the construction work has been 

 postponed until next spring. Con- 

 struction equipment including two 

 steam shovels and two drag lines were 

 ready to be moved to Riverton when 

 the growing stringency resulting in 

 the withdrawal of European capital 

 from all foreign projects rendered 

 further procedure impossible. 



State Land Commissioner S. G. 

 Hopkins of Wyoming, on behalf of 

 the Medicine Bow Valley Irrigation 

 Company, a $750,000 corporation, has 

 just completed the filing of an appli- 

 cation for the segregation of a 16,- 

 727 acre tract of land in the vicinity 

 of Medicine Bow, subject to the pro- 

 visions and reservations of the Carey 

 arid land act. The main supply of 

 water will be procured from the Med- 

 icine Bow River, a tributary to the 

 North Platte. Two enormous stor- 



GALVANIZED METAL IRRIGATION FLUME 



Made entirely of rust-proof, galvanized iron. 



Section of Flume 



No bolts or rivets used in construction. This flume is 

 considered by experts to be the most service- 

 able equipment for the purpose on the market. 

 A careful examination of the construction as 

 shown herewith will convince those who are 

 acquainted with irrigation conditions of its 

 lasting quality and the ease with which it may 

 be put together. Complete information, with 

 prices, will be furnished on application to the 



KLAUER MFG. COMPANY, 



