10 Transactions Texas Academy of Science. [ 56 ] 
At Kerrville a dam has been constructed by erecting cypress posts 12x12 
inches in holes drilled in the rock bed of the river, and thoroughly filling 
the hole around the foot of the posts with cement. Instead of bracing 
the posts from below to withstand the thrust of the water, an iron ten- 
sion rod is attached to the posts and to an anchor bolt in the rock above 
the dam. The upper face of the dam is formed of thick cypress lumber 
spiked to the 12x12 inch posts. The dam gives an average head of seven 
and one-half feet on the two Leffel turbines of forty-four and forty-eight 
inches diameter, respectively. The former is generally operated with full 
opening, and the latter with three-fourths, and possessing vents of 300 
and 260 square inches, respectively. An auxiliary steam plant of forty- 
five horse power is used for operating the electric plant. 
At Center Point a wooden dam was built across the Guadalupe in 1895. 
Its length is 300 feet and height seven feet, and cost about $2,000. The 
plant is owned by W. H. Witt & Co., and the power is utilized to operate 
the roller mills. The effective head is nine feet and the power is gener- 
ated by one 48 -inch Leffel turbine, which is generally operated with a 
gate opening of two-thirds. It is possible with this wheel to develop 
forty horse powers, which would require, with an efficiency of eighty per 
Cent., a venting of forty-nine cubic feet per second. 
The power plant at Comfort, twelve miles from Kerrville, is owned 
and operated by E. Flach. The power is used in the Comfort Roller 
Mills, electric light plant, and a cotton gin. The dam is made of cedar 
log pens, filled with rock, brush and clay. It was built in 1881, is 150 
feet long and about five feet high. The head is eleven feet on an average, 
reaching twelve as a maximum and ten as a minimum. The energy is 
generated by two Leffel turbines, thirty-five and forty inches in diameter, 
respectively, having vents of 180 and 137 square inches. The horse 
power developed is estimated at forty and thirty, and this would require 
with an efficiency of eighty per cent, a flow of forty cubic feet per second 
through the larger and thirty through the smaller. The plant has an 
auxiliary steam plant of seventy-five horse powers for use in periods of 
low flow. 
The mountains of the Edwards Plateau end about one mile northwest 
of New Braunfels and from, the fissures at the foot of the bluffs the cele- 
brated springs that form the Comal river gush forth. The waters have 
been used for power since 1860, but it is only since 1880 that systematic 
methods have been used. At present the waters are used by the Landa 
and Dittlinger mills. The Landa mill is about one-half mile from the 
main springs and is located near the banks of a dry branch of the Comal. 
A gravel dam deflects a large per cent, of the water from the Comal 
Springs creek into the Landa mill race. The Dittlinger mill is one-half 
mile below the Landa and is north of the court house. 
The Comal is the most unique, picturesque, and reliable river in Texas. 
