50 PROGRESS REPORT, HYDROGRAPHY, 1893 AND 1894. .bull.181. 
On August 26, 1889, measurements were begun on the Gila River 
about 18 miles above Florence, at a point where the river is confined 
between steep banks. At that time all of the rivers were low, but 
subject to fluctuations following rainfall upon the mountains. An 
examination was made of the Gila below the junction of the Salt as 
far as the Bend. The bed throughout continued of the same sandy 
character as above the junction, the water running in sloughs, forming 
innumerable sand bars in low water, and in time of flood spreading 
out to a width of from 1,000 to 3,000 feet. 
Difficulty was experienced in obtaining observers at the points named, 
as the persons living sufficiently near to take observations were care- 
less or neglected to make frequent readings of the gage. After a few 
months' experience it was decided that the only way by which accurate 
results could be obtained was to go into the mountains, locate stations 
near the lower end of suitable cauyons, and employ a man to stay at 
the selected points. Later an attempt was made to establish a station 
below the junction of the Salt and Verde, about 1£ miles below Arizona 
Dam and 400 yards above the Highland Canal. The river banks at 
this point are about 13 feet above low water, and the channel during 
high water is 585 feet wide. On November 25 the attempt was made 
to put a cable across the river. Supports were built, and on Decem- 
ber 4 the cable was about in place, when a sudden flood in the river, 
coming without warning, swept away the steel cable and supports and 
buried them under vast quantities of drift. Sudden storms of this 
character, known locally as " cloudbursts," are not unusual in this part 
of the country, and the streams are at all times liable to these fluctua- 
tions, rendering it impossible to make measurements from boats, as the 
current at such times is very rapid and large numbers of tree trunks 
and pieces of heavy drift wood are brought down. 
In January, 1890, a river station was established on Gila Eiver at 
Buttes, 15 miles above Florence, and attempts made to secure an 
accurate series of measurements. From observations taken at this 
point the mean daily discharge of the river was computed from August 
26, 1889, to August 30, 1890. Occasional readings at a later date en- 
abled computations to be made in December, 1890, and in January and 
February, 1891. From this camp on the Gila River, above Florence, 
measurements were made of the discharge of San Pedro River near 
Dudley ville, and of other streams. 
At intervals during succeeding years Mr. Farish made a number of 
measurements of streams in Arizona, and he reports that during the 
summer of 1893 a series of observations were made on the Salt and 
Verde rivers. These measurements extend from May to September. 
