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Transactions Texas Academy of Science. 
[ 68 ] 
has a reliable flow and the power is used for running a flour and com 
mill and cotton gin. The demands of the neighborhood are met by oper- 
ating the plant one and one-half hours per day. 
At Bluffton, sixty miles above Austin and twelve miles above Kings- 
land, a dam 400 feet long was constructed in 1898. It is built of logs, 
and the power developed is used in operating the gin and grist mil] of 
the Tanner Bros. There is a natural fall here of eight feet and the dam 
raises the water an additional foot, giving an effective fall of nine feet. 
The dam. cost only $125, and was constructed to fit the configuration of 
the cross-section of the river bed. At deep places planks were used, as a 
face. A 27-inch' double discharge turbine is used to develop the power. 
The water is conveyed from the lake formed by the dam to the turbine 
by a mill race 2400 feet long, ten to twelve feet wide, with a depth at 
the dam of one foot, increasing to eight feet at the wheel. 
At Kingsland, on the Llano branch of the Houston & Texas Central 
Bailroad, a dam, owned by J. M. McDaniel & Co., has been constructed 
across the Colorado river about one mile from its junction with the 
Llano. The dam was built in 1896, is 500 feet long, has a fall of five 
and one-half feet, and backs the water for three miles up the river. A 
frame work of live oak braces covered with 3-inch pine lumber consti- 
tutes the dam, and it has withstood successfully several floods — notably 
those of June, 1899, and April, 1900. The power is developed by a 
35-inch turbine, and at low stages of the river twenty-five horse powers 
are generated which is utilized in running a gin and mill. 
J. K. Finlay, of Llano, owns and operates two natural power plants 
on the Llano river, eight and one and one-half miles, respectively, above 
Llano. At the upper dam there is a natural fall of twelve feet, the few 
cracks and crevices being planked. At the very lowest stages of the 
river this dam with a reasonably good turbine can develop seventy-six 
horse power. At the lower dam there is a fall of eight feet, and the 
plant is equipped with two 30-inch turbines. The lowest flow can 
develop fifty horse power. At present only twenty horse powers are used 
in ginning cotton, grinding corn, and in polishing granite. A small out- 
lay in constructing dams upon the top of these ledges could easily double 
the power. At Llano all the factors that enter into a successful water 
power plant are present in their very best varieties. The river bed is 
formed of continuous granite, which in the central two-thirds rises in a 
turtle-back formation, the visible portion extending over 300 feet below 
and 200 feet above the dam. This leaves two channels on each side 
approximately 150 and 100 feet wide, the bottom of which are some ten 
feet below the crest of the turtle back formation. The first essential of 
a good water power, a foundation for the dam, is here in the very highest 
perfection. The very best rock in a rough, irregular surface, with pro- 
jections and depressions, extends from bank to bank, The central half 
