lf>4 SNAKE ELVER PLAINS OF IDAHO. [btjll.199. 
about 40 feet, and in part through a smaller pipe leads from the tank, 
also near its base, to the summit of the canyon wall. The operation of 
the plant is this: The water in rushing down the penstock carries air 
with it, which separates in the tank and rises to the top, where it is 
under the pressure of the water in the large escape pipe, 40 feet high. 
The air pressure thus obtained forces water up the smaller pipe lead- 
ing to the top of the canyon wall. This pneumatic engine, if such it 
maybe termed, is claimed to be automatic in its operations, and there- 
fore economical when once installed. It has not as yet been put in 
actual use so far as irrigation is concerned, although it has been made 
to discharge a stream of water on the plain above where it is situated, 
and its efficiency remains to be demonstrated. 
Near the western end of The Thousand Springs water emerging at 
an elevation of about 75 feet on the canyon wall has been conducted 
across the river by Mr. I. A. Heron, in a pipe 12 inches in diameter, 
supported on a f-inch wire cable, which rests on crossed timbers 
planted in the river's bottom. The penstock leading to the pipe has 
a fall of 40 feet and delivers about 600 cubic feet of water per second 
on the south bank of the river. About 800 acres of land are under 
irrigation. An instructive experiment in connection with this plant 
was made in attempting to use a pipe placed on the bottom of the 
river. It was found, however, that air carried into the pipe by the 
water rushing down the penstock supplying it collected in the pipe at 
its upward bends on the river's bottom and caused it to rise and break. 
Just below The Thousand Springs, Snake River makes an abrupt 
bend to the south, returning again to its westward course about 7 
miles farther downstream. On its southern side the river is cutting 
into a prominent bluff of nearly white sand clay and on its northern 
side it is bordered by a large body of land, which, for the most part, has 
a gentle slope. This " Hagerman bend" contains by estimate about 14 
square miles*, nearly all of which can be irrigated from springs. The 
northern wall of the canyon continues westward from The Thousand 
Springs, and does not follow the bend of the river, for the reason that 
the stream, after having cut through two or more upper lava sheets 
and a thick layer of sand and clay below, discovered a southward- 
dipping sheet of lava which deflected the current toward its left bank. 
At the base of each of the two upper sheets of lava strong springs 
pour out and are extensively utilized for irrigation. They emerge, 
however, at too low a level to be available for use on some of the 
higher terraces, and to obviate this difficulty in part two tunnels have 
been excavated in the lava with remarkably successful results. 
One of these tunnels, on Dan Jones's ranch, about 2 miles north- 
east of Hagerman, is 140 feet long, and discharges about 5 cubic feet 
of water per second. A second tunnel, about 100 yards eastward, is 
approximately 200 feet long and delivers about 4 cubic feet per second. 
