44 Transactions Texas Academy of Science. [90] 
let into the bed rock at the toe of the dam to prevent any sliding. The 
height is about seven feet, and the width at the base about twenty feet. 
The junction with the shore on the south side is made by means of a 
bulkhead or abutment of log cribbing, and on the north side by means of 
limestone masonry. The power is developed by means of two Leffel tur- 
bines, a 44-inch and a 48-inch, each of which develops twenty-five horse 
power with the seven foot head obtained. It is possible to add at least 
another three feet to the height of the dam and thus obtain a ten foot 
head, without backing the river up over its banks, and it is probable that 
the owner will attempt this and add to his equipment in the near future. 
The dam was first constructed in 1856, but has been partially washed 
away and rebuilt several times since then. 
On the North Bosque, at Clifton, Bosque county, T. 0. Swenson owns 
and operates a flour and corn mill that derives its power, except in dry 
times, from the water of the Bosque. The dam is of stone, 195 feet long, 
ten feet high, and was built in 1867, at a cost of $5000. The water is- 
backed up the river for one mile. The power is generated by two Leffel 
turbines of thirty and one-half inches diameter, and when running at 
three-fourths gate opening can develop thirty-five horse power. To guard 
against dry seasons and low stages of the river, an auxiliary steam plant 
of thirty horse power has been installed. 
The feasibility of constructing a dam across the Brazos at or near 
Waco has often been discussed. At the suspension bridge the southwest 
bank is composed of limestone, while the northeast bank is an alluvial 
deposit. The width between bank crests is a little over 500 feet and a 
dam to be at all safe would have to be this length or over, with protect- 
ing wing walls-. The sand is of unusual depth and it would require an 
excavation through the sand bed nearly twenty feet deep at places to 
reach bed-rock with a foundation for dam. Then to obtain a head of 
thirty feet, the dam if constructed near the suspension bridge would have 
at some places a height of at least fifty feet. A gauge was established 
near the suspension bridge by the IT. S. Geological Survey in September, 
1898, and since then measurements of the flow have been taken. The 
gauge heights are read twice each day, recorded and published. The 
lowest flow ever reached by the Brazos since measurements have been 
kept occurred on March 8, 1902. The stream where measured was only 
twenty-four feet wide, an average depth of seven and one-eighth inches, 
and had a mean velocity of 1.36 feet per second, giving a discharge of 
19.4 cubic feet per second. With a dam thirty feet high, this would pro- 
duce fifty-three horse powers continuously. This is, however, far less 
than the ordinary low capacity of the river. Its ordinary low flow at 
Waco could be safely put at 100 cubic feet per second. 
The Leon river rises in Eastland county and flows through the coun- 
ties of Comanche, Hamilton, Coryell, and Bell before it empties into 
