154 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



$1.56 per acre, and the level cost $725.56, or $4.80 

 per acre, making a total expenditure at the time 

 flooding was commenced in February, 1914, of 

 $9,959.25, or $65.95 per acre. 



Operations and Expenses During 1914 



The first actual work of removing the alkali 

 and lowering the water table was begun by start- 

 ing the pump on February 23, 1914. At the same 

 time water was turned into the field for flooding. 

 The flooding continued intermittently until April 22, 

 at which time all of the tract except about forty 

 acres along the west line had been flooded for at 

 least a week, to a depth of six to twelve inches. 



Shortly after the flooding began, it became ap- 

 parent that the pumping equipment was too small 

 to handle the water, and an auxiliary gasoline out- 

 fit was installed at one of the silt wells at about 

 the middle of the field. The auxiliary pump was 

 kept in operation until June 30 and the discharge 

 was used for flooding. During the operations of 

 this pump it is estimated that 46,000,000 gallons 

 were pumped by it, practically all of which was 

 returned to the land and no account is taken of this 

 in subsequent estimates on discharge. It is now 

 thought that this outfit did not assist materially in 

 lowering the water table, as nearly all of the water 

 which did not evaporate was returned to the drains 

 and eventually handled by the main pump. 



During June, the east eighty 



acres of the tract were irrigated, 

 plowed and planted to Egyptian 

 corn. The stand of corn was rather 

 unsatisfactory, probably not more 

 than paying for its harvesting. It 

 did, however, give some indication 

 as to the progress of the reclama- 

 tion. 



At the end of the 1914 season 

 several instances of faulty design 

 were apparent and changes were 

 made in the system to correct 

 these. - 



The 3^-inch vertical pump 

 and 5 H. P. vertical motor were 

 found to be both too small and of 

 poor design for this work, and they 

 were replaced by a 5-inch horizon- 

 tal centrifugal pump and 7J/2 H.P. 

 direct-connected motor. This new 

 equipment included changes in the 

 pump house and a device for con- 

 trolling the discharge. It was also 

 found that a considerable portion 

 of the water entering the main line 

 of the tile system came from the 

 laterals near the northern end of 

 the field, evidently seepage directly 

 from the Houghton Canal ; from 

 observations made while the aux- 

 iliary pump was in operation, it 

 was found that portion of the main 

 line were too small and probably 

 would not -have handled satisfac- 

 torily the entire drainage even if 

 the pump equipment had been 

 larger. As a consequence, all of 

 the 8-inch tile was replaced by 12- 



inch tile and all of the 6-inch tile in the main line 

 by 10-inch tile. The total expenses for the year 

 were as follows : 



Item Total Per acre 



New pump equipment $ 377.10 $2.49 



Tile replaced 373.76 2.47 



Labor replacing tile 686.50 4.55 



For flooding 218.06 1.44 



Pumping (both pumps) 684.02 4.54 



Auxiliary pump 148.84 0.98 



Plowing (Bermuda grass con- 

 trol) 296.70 1.97 



Maintenance of tile line.. 28.00 0.18 



$2,812.98 $18.63 



Total for the project at the beginning of 1915 sea- 

 son, $12,772.23, or $84.58 per acre. . 



Aside from the changes which have been men- 

 tioned, it now became apparent that considerable 

 of the first cost might have been saved by a more 

 economical design of the structures. The concrete 

 linings in the irrigations laterals were found to be 

 of no real service, and could have been omitted 

 entirely. Equal efficiency could no doubt have been 

 obtained by omitting all of the silt wells except 

 those on the main line and one on lateral No. 7, and 

 by using redwood instead of concrete in their con- 

 struction. 



AfAff. 



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Fig. 6 Curves showing ground water table on Kearney Vineyard Experi- 

 ment Drain. 



