174 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES, 
In a region in which the annual precipitation is so small (8.9 
inches) as it is in the Yakima Valley the quantity of water flowing 
in the streams and available for irrigation is of the utmost importance, 
In order to determine the volume of water in Yakima River the 
United States Geological Survey maintained for a number of years 
a gaging station in Union Gap, but for the last six years the station 
has been near Wapato, a few miles below the gap. By means of a 
small car swinging from a steel cable the engineer is able to measure 
the velocity of the current at a number of points across the stream, 
and from these measurements, together with other measurements 
of the cross section of the river, compute the volume of water avail- 
able for irrigation and the development of power.’ 
North of Union Gap the valley broadens into a parklike country, 
all of which is under irrigation and highly cultivated, except near 
the river, where the land is excessively wet. The original Yakima 
City was situated just above Union Gap, and the station, the only 
remaining structure on the site, can be seen near milepost 86. 
Trouble arose between the railway and the town promoters and the 
station was abandoned, and a new station, called North Yakima, 
established about 4 miles north of the old one. With the growth 
of the new town of North Yakima the older settlement soon died out. 
North Yakima is the largest town in central Washington and is 
the commercial and social center of the Yakima Valley, one of the 
largest areas of irrigated land in the West and one 
North Yakima. _— that is noted the world over for the fine fruit which it 
Flevation 1,076 feet. produces. The valley, although semiarid, is well 
a pe ‘ni, Supplied with water from Yakima River and its tribu- 
: tary, Naches River, both of which head in the Cascade 
Range, where the snowfall is abundant. Fruit raising is the principal 
occupation, but there are also broad fields of grain, alfalfa, and hops, 
indicating that the farmers feel the necessity of a diversity of crops, 
' A gaging station has been maintained portance in developing the water re- 
in this vicinity since November, 1896. | sources of the country and are used in- 
It shows a mean annual flow of 4,640 designing and operating power and irri- 
second-feet (a second-foot means 1 cubic gation plants, city waterworks, and other 
foot per second), which equals 3,360,000 | works whose establishment and s 
eet (an acre-foot is 43,560 cubic | ful operation depend on a knowledge of 
feet, or the quantity required to cover 1 | the quantity of water flowing in surface 
About 1,500 river-measuring stations | According to the United States 
Gap now 
maintained by the United States Geo- cipitation in the Yakima Valley from 
logical Survey on the more important | 1893 to 1903 was 8.9 inches, divided as 
freams in the United States and in the | follows: Winter. 4 inches; spring, 2 _ 
Hawaiian Islands. The data collected inches; summer, 0.7 inch; autumn, — 
at these gaging stations are of prime im- | 2.2 inches, 
