- Lamb.

Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 87 Series I, Irrigation, 15 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DlKECTOB

IRRIGATION IN INDIA

(SECOND EDITION)

BY

M. WILSON

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1903
PUBLICATIONS OF UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

The publications of the United States Geological Survey consist of (1) Annual Reports; (2) 

Monographs; (3) Professional Papers; (4) Bulletins; (5) Mineral Resources; (6) Water-Supply 

and Irrigation Papers; (7) Topography Atlas of the United States, folios and separate sheets 

thereof; (8) Geologic Atlas of United States, folios thereof. The classes numbered 2, 7, and 8 

are sold at cost of publication: the others are distributed free. A circular giving complete lists 

may be had on application.

The Bulletins, Professional Papers, and Water-Supply Papers treat of a variety of subjects, 

and the total number issued is large. They have therefore been classified into the following 

series: A, Economic geology; B, Descriptive geology; C, Systematic geology and paleontology; 

D, Petrography and mineralogy; E, Chemistry and physics; F, Geography; G, Miscellaneous; 

H, Forestry; I, Irrigation; J, Water storage, K, Pumping water; L, Quality of water; M, General 

hydrographic investigations; N, Water power; O, Underground waters; P, Hydrographic 

progress reports. Complete lists of series I to P follow. (WS=Water-Supply Paper; B=Bulletin; PP=Professional Paper.) The following Water-Supply papers are out of stock and can 

not be supplied: Nos. 1-14,19, 20,29-33, 46,57-64.

SERIES I IRRIGATION.

[See last page pf this cover.] 

SERIES J WATER STORAGE.

WS 33. Storage of water on Gila River, Arizona, by J. B. Lippincott. 1900. 98 pp., 33 pis. 

WS 40. The Austin dam, by Thomas U. Taylor. 1900. 51 pp., 16 pis.

WS 45. Water storage on Cache Creek, California, by A. E. Chandler. 1901. 48 pp., 10 pis. 

WS 46. Physical characteristics of Kern River, California, by F. H. Olmsted, and Reconnaissance

of Yuba River, California, by Marsden Manson. 1901. 57 pp., 8 pis.

WS 58. Storage of water on Kings River, California, by J. B. Lippincott. 1903. 100 pp., 33 pis. 

WS68. Water storage in TruckeeBasin, California-"Nevada, by L.H. Taylor. 1903. 90 pp.. 8 pis. 

WS 73. Water storage on Salt River, Arizona, by A. P. Davis. 1903. 54 pp., 25 pis. 

WS 86. Storage reservoirs of Stony Creek, California, by Burt Cole. 1903. 62 pp., 16 pis.

The following paper also should be noted under this heading: Reservoirs for irrigation, by 

J. D. Schuyler, in Eighteenth Annual, Pt. IV.

SERIES K PUMPING WATE

WS 1. Pumping water for irrigation, by Herbert M. Wilson. 1896. 57 pp., 9 pis.

WS 8. Windmills for irrigation, by E. C. Murphy. 1897. 49 pp., 8 pis.

WS 14. Tests of pumps and water lifts used in irrigation, by O. P. Hood. 1898. 91 pp., 1 pi.

WS 20. Experiments with windmills, by T. O. Perry. 1899. 97 pp., 12 pis.

WS 29. Wells and windmills in Nebraska, by E. H. Barbour. 1899. 85 pp., 27 pis.

WS 41. The windmill; its efficiency and economic use, Pt. I, by E. C. Murphy. 1901. 72 pp.,

14 pis. 

WS 42. The windmill, Pt. II (continuation of No. 41). 1901. 73-147 pp., 15-16 pis.

SERIES L QUALITY OF WATER.

WS 3. Sewage irrigation, by George W. Rafter. 1897. 100 pp., 4 pis.

WS 22. Sewage irrigation, Pt. II, by George W. Rafter. 1899. 100 pp., 7 pis.

WS 72. Sewage pollution in the metropolitan area near New York City, by M. O. Leighton.

1903. 75pp., 8 pis. 

WS 76. Observations on the flow of rivers in the vicinity of New York City, by H. A. Pressey.

1903. 108 pp., 18 pis. 

WS 79. Normal and polluted waters in northeastern United States, by M. O. Leighton. 1903.

192pp.

[Continued on third page of cover.] 

IRR 87 2
and Irrigation Paper No. 87 Series I, Irrigation, 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DlBECTOB

IRRIGATION IN IKDIA

(SECOND EDITION)

Water Resources Branch, 

Geological Survey, 

Bos 3106, CapilolStation 

Oklahoma City, Okla.

HERBERT M. WILSON

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE 

1903
CONTENTS.

Page.

Preface- .-.........-.--f ------------------------------------------------- 7

Preface to second edition ---_--_---_-______________-_--____.__-____.__-__ 9

Introduction ____________________________________________________________ 11

List of works on Indian irrigation _.____.__--_-___--_-.-__-.-___.--_-- 25

CHAPTER I. Finance and statistics. _-_-__-____-_.-_-_-_--_---_-_-____-__. 29

Value and necessity of irrigation __._._.__.__,__._^_____._____,.___.._ 29

Land and crops..______.._-_-______.,_____._._______-_-_______-_-.--___ 35

CHAPTER II. Topography, meteorology, and forestry.__.._._............. 39

Topography and geology _____________________________________________ 39

Meteorology -__--_-___________.____________.______-_-___._---_____.._ 43

Forestry..........._.._._.........._...__.. ..__..._..._......_..... 45

CHAPTER III. History and administration -___.---_-_ _-._-_-__-__-.-_.-_ 47

History of irrigation works ..--..-.-_..._..-.-.---._--_----_-_-___... 47

Administration and legislation _______________________________________ 48

CHAPTER IV. Extent and character of irrigation _________________________ 56

Classes of works--_------_.--__-_---__-.-^_------_-------_---_--_-.-. 56

Extent of irrigation -_-_-_.-.-_-____-_,_______----_-__-_-_--_-_--.-_-_ 57

Financial and agricultural results ---__-_-_.-_--_-__--.----_--------_. 58

CHAPTER V. Alkali and duty.___________________________________________ 63

Objections to irrigation ______________________________________________ 63

Water duty and evaporation _._-_-____-____-_-__-_-__-_----_-_--_-_-. 67

CHAPTER VI. Wells, inundation and deltaic canals.----------___---_-_._- 75

WeUs __.._-._____-__._-_.._-__.__________________________________..__ 75

Inundation canals .____.______.____ _____________.________,__________ 78

Deltaic canals _______________________________________________________ 81

CHAPTER VII. Perennial canals _________________________________________ 88

Source of supply.____________________________________________________ 88

Ganges canal, Northwest Provinces _-_-__---__-_-__-__---_.-.-_-_--.- 89

Lower Ganges canal, Northwest Provinces ______.____...._1______.___ .93

Agra canal, Northwest Provinces __--_-__-_._.______.__-_______._--_- 95

Sirhind canal, Punjab _._....'......._.._.._......_._..__..-.__._..._. 97

Chenob, Bari Doab, and Western Jumna canals, Punjab__..^......... 99

Sidhnai canal, Punjab -.-.--._.-..._...-.._.-....-..-.-.-..-.-_.-.-..- 100

Soane canals---__---_--.-.--.-.-.._.-..._-_-.._--_._.--..-----.----. 101

Cross section, slope, and alignment.._..___._.,-_--__.-...._.._.-__.._ 104

Head-works _--.---.---.-.-_.-.-.._.-._....-....-.._....-.-.-..-.-... 107

Weirs ......!...._. __,_...........__.......__,__...-......-_.-._..... 109

Scouring sluices ..--_,_..._..._-..._._.._.....-.-.........--._......_ 119

Canal regulators.-..._.-................_....._....___......_,........ 124

Well foundations----------------.--..._.--.------...----.----.---... 130

Escapes ---.-_-.--_-..----.-.-.__.........-..._-_-....-.,-.-........_. 132

Falls and rapids ---.-..----.----..---..-._..__--.-.--.-...-.._....._. 134

Drainage works ............_........_......_.........._._........... 137

Distributaries __..., .__...-._-..._._,..........._................._. 144

Methods of applying water..-.-...-._.._........._ ._.-.-.--......... 150

3
4 CONTENTS.

Page.

CHAPTEB VIII. Storage works -.__--_-__-_---_------_---__.-- ---------- 153

Classes of works..----------- __--_.--___-__------_--__-.-__---__-__-- 153

Reservoirs....__-___--___--_.______--.---..----_--_.---_-------------- 159

Mutlia project ..._. --._....-.._...-_-...--_,..-_-.-.-----------_ 160

Nira project-...--...--..._---.....-----..-__-..._----_.--------- 163

Betwa project _....._--...__.._......----.--....-..---_---.._---- 173

Periyar project _-------_---_.---_-_.--._-------------..----------- 181

Tansa reservoir___-__.-.___ __.-.__--._--------. ._--._-..-.-..__ 187

Masonry dams. -.--...._-.-........--...--......---..---.-----..----. 188

Design of dams and weirs --._..-..-----.-.-_--.----.-_-_---.---..--.. 191

Cost of labor and material- -.........-..-----__------...--.----..----- 193

Tanks............................................................... 196

Ekruk tank..................... ............................._.. S05

Ashtitank ......_......._..............._...._..._.............. 306

Tank dams--.---.--.-.-..---...-.-------.-------.------..------_--.- 211

Combined storage and canal systems __-.--.--.----._-_._.-..-.---..-- S14

Palar anicut system.. ________.____._______-__--.____-__-__-.-.--_ 314

Russellkonda tank, Rushiktilya project.._--.--.-.-.--.-----.---.. S17

Zhara Karez irrigation project----------------------------------- 318

CHAPTBB IX.

River training and land reclamation:

River conservancy....- __________________________________________ 320

Land reclamation-..---_--_--.---.------_----_---__---_---__-_-.- 225
ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

PLATE I. Map of India ^..................... ............................ 11

II. Aden tanks, Arabia ............................................ 22

in. Mot _____._________._____._______.__-._- -- --- -- --- 74

IV. A, Persian wheel; B,Pa£tcotia,h ................................ 76

V. A, Kistna aniciit, with river in moderate flood; B, Head-sluices

of eastern channel from Kanigiri reservoir.-...-._.--.-..-.._ 84

VI. Kanigiri reservoir escape. ....................................... 86

VTI. Gopalpur bifurcation, Ganges canal ..^.................L....... 92

VHI. Sirhind canal system._._.__.-_.-.....----_.------._...-.--..... 98

IX. Soane canal system, Bengal ....^............................... 102

X. Cross sections of modern weirs ................................. 112

XI. Narora weir, Lower Ganges canal; plan of well foundations..... 114

XII. Narora weir, Lower Ganges canal; plan of superstructure-...-.- 116

XIII. Head-works, Lower Ganges canal, Narora..-..-..-.---.....---. 120

XIV. Sinking foundation wells, Nadrai aqueduct, Lower Ganges canal. 130

XV. Asafnagar Falls, Ganges canal ................................. 134

XVI. Solani aqueduct, Ganges canal .-......-.-.--.---......-.--.-..- 138

XVII. Ranipur superpassage, Ganges canal ............................ 140

XVTII. Rutmoo level crossing, Ganges canal --_..-..------.___--,.-.-_- 142

XIX. Bhatgur dam, Mra system, Bombay..--.--. _------.-----_-.----- 164

XX. A, Vir head-works. Nira system, Bombay; B, Kurra aqueduct,

Mra canaL--....---....-_...-.....-..._.....--.-.-..._.-._-.. 168

XXI. Main and subsidiary weirs, Nira system; Vir in great flood... _.. 170

XXII. Plan of Periyar project, Madras -.__--_-_--..-.._----..--_-..-_-, 180

XXIII. Periyar dam during construction ..-...-..-...-.-..--.-__-..--.- 182

XXIV. A, Foundation, Tansa dam; B, Carrying stones to build Tansa

dam.---..-_.-_.-.-....-._-.-.--._.---_.-........_.._..-----. 186

XXV. Natives building Tansa dam, Bombay ......-..........-_.-..-_. 188

XXVI. Ekruk tank...----._-----._.._..-.---.-....--._.._.--._.------- 204

XXVII. A, Russellkonda head sluice; B, Russellkonda dam ..-..-.....-.- 216

FIG. 1. Percolation and evaporation...._.-.-.---_--....-.---------_--.- 69

2. Paecottah -.--....----.-..__.-.....-. -_____-______.._.---_.._--_ 76

3. Persian wheel _________________________________________________ 77

4. Single mot -------..--.._...._.....__.-_.-.--...,_.-._.-_--.... 77

-. 5. Inundation canal heading in Dund ......--.--._........-.-_.._. 79

6. Kistna canal system ........................................... 84

7. Plan and profile of Ganges canal, Hard war to Roorkee _._...._.. 91

8. Thora Nnlla aqueduct, Soane canal -_--__-_--_--_-_---.---.--_- 102

9. Canal cross sections ---_..--_--....-..-._-.--.-_'.--_--.--...-_- 105

10. Three ancient weirs ...............................^............ 109

11. Plan of Soane weir. -..._...............-.......-...._-..-...._.. 114

12. Plan of head-works, Soane canals.------._--_-._---.--_-_-.-._-.- 115

13. Shutter on Soane weir ---..-_--._..._.--.-.--.-..........._.... 116

5
ILLUSTBATIONS.

FIG. 14 Sidhnai weir----..-.------..-------..-------.-----------.--------- 116

15. Sidhnai canal; section of river in line of dam_-_-__-__-----_---_- . 117

16. Details of temporary dams, Ganges canal heads ----------------- 118

17. Myapur dam, Ganges canal ............^.......-...-.-.------.-. 120

18. Head-works and weir training works, Ganges canal _ _.____-_-_-_ 121

19. Dropping the Soane automatic sluices -__--.----_-___-_-_-_-_-_-_ 123

20. Details of Sidhnai weir _--____---_--_-_._-_---___-_-_----------- 123

21. Regulating gates, Ganges and Jumna canals___.-_-_-_-__---.-_-- 125

22. Narora weir, Lower Ganges canal, detail of canal sluices. -.._-._. 126

23. Head-works, Ganges canal-._______-_-_-_-_---__.----__---------- 127

24. Regulating gates, Soane canal head-_-__-_-_- -_-_-_-_--__------- 128

25. Soane canal, automatic sluice gate. .............................. 129

26. Ogee and vertical falls, Ganges canal __._____-__-.___.______ _ - -. 134

27. Soane canals, Bengal; arrangement of branches and escape at

DirnwM---_-_-____.-.._--___-_------------------------------- 136

28. Rapids, Bari Doab canal _-_________---_--------------------_---- 138

29. Cross section of Solaiii aqueduct, Ganges canal. _______________ 139

30. Agra canal, cross section of Kushtik Fall _____________________ 142

31. Plan of Rutmoo crossing, Ganges caiiaL _.____-___.______-__---- 143

32. Kao Nulla siphon aqueduct, Soane canal. _______________________ 144

33. Longitudinal section of Nadrai aqueduct, Ganges canal _ _ ______ 145

34. Cross section of Nadrai aqueduct, Ganges canal-___-____--____--- 145

35. Plan of distributing head, Mutha canal, Bombay. _______ ____-_-. 148

36. Sasoon superpassage, Sirhind canal_-_-_---------.---------------- 149

37. Drainage map, showing arrangement of distributaries ------------ 154

38. Standard masonry outlet for distributaries, Punjab _ __. _________ 156

39. Plan of Mutha and Nira irrigation projects, Bombay. ____-_-___- 161

40. Plan and cross section of Bhatgur dam, Nira system, Bombay. _ _ 165

41. Reinolds automatic weir gate.-----_---_-_-_------_-----_------- 166

42. Section of automatic gates and crest Bhatgtir dam ________-.__-_- 167

43. Detail of automatic gate --____-_-_-_---._-.--------------------- 168

44. Plan of head-works, Nira canal, Vir.___-_-_.__-_-_---_---_------ 169

45. Plan and section of head, Nira canal. _._-_-_--_-_-_-_-_- __._._- 170

46. Nira canal; superpassage at siphon for Jewhar Nulla_._____.-_-_, ' 171

47. Betwa project; plan of dam and head-works ______ --------------- 175

48. Cross section, Betwa dam ..._____-____--_----_---------------_-- 176

49."Betwaproject, plan of regulator and scouring sltiices____________ 177

50. Automatic drop shutters, Betwa dam.-__-_-_______-_--------__-- 178

51. Shutter gates, Betwa dam._-_______.__-_-__---_---------------_- 179

52. Section of Periyar dam ._____._-__-._-.-_------------------------ 182

53. Periyar head-works, plan of dam and escape --------------------- 183

54. Taiisadam, Bombay. .....................^..-..-.-.---. -------- 186

55. Tansa project, longitudinal section of dam- -.___-___-_----------. 187

56. Profile of masonry dam, Molesworth's formula, ____________ _____ 192

57. Cross sections, earth and combined dams __-._._-_______.__---___ 198

58. Map showing Ashti tank -.__-_________--_-__---__------._--------- 207

59. Ashti tank dam.________ _ _ _____________.____._--__-.-_------- 208

60. Ashti dam slips........... _____________ _._-___._-_--_-_-_--- 213

61. Palar Anictit system -.__--___-_._._._-_-_-_----_--------- -------- 215

62. Palar Anicut system, plan and cross section ,..._.----.___,_ ____- 216

63. Zhara karez irrigation project, Beluchistan. ______________________ 218

64. Moncha Nulla karez __.._-______.--_ -------_-_-.--.------------- 219

65. Training works, Lower Ganges canal, Narora -._.....-.-_-.-..._ 222

66. Training works, Agra canal, Okhla_._-------_-.----.. .-_____ - 223
PREFACE.

In the following account of some of the more interesting and prominent irrigation works in India I shall confine my detailed descriptions, 

as I did my observations, to the works which exist under conditions 

similar to those in the United States, and shall refer only briefly to the 

other though equally important features of the irrigation problem in 

India.

I examined only the principal canals, navigable and nonnavigable, 

and entirely neglected the deltaic and inundation canals, as there is 

little or no probability that such works will ever be constructed in the 

United States. Transportation by railways and wagon roads is so 

easy and general all over our country that there is little likelihood 

our canals will ever be made navigable; accordingly, though I saw 

and examined several navigable canals, little reference will be made 

to their features. The more important reservoirs and tanks were 

examined, especially those under construction. Little will be said of 

wells, though in the future improved methods of pumping will be used 

in the United States.

India stands preeminent for her gigantic engineering undertakings. 

No other country has so vast and so fertile an expanse of territory, 

with such convenient slopes for the construction of canals, and at the 

same time such an abundant water supply. In general there is great 

similarity between the climate and topography of the great northern 

plains of India and portions of our arid West, especially the eastern 

slope of the Rocky Mountains and the great California Valley. Central India and the Deccan have many features in common with the 

central portion of the arid region, particularly portions of northern 

Arizona and southern Utah. The climate is as similar to that of our 

Middle Western States as is the topography. The average annual precipitation rarely exceeds 30 inches, while the precipitation during the 

autumn, or rabi, crop varies between 2 and 6 inches.

This autumn crop is the one that will be generally considered and 

discussed in this report, since during the time of its maturity the climatic conditions are very similar to those existing everywhere in the 

arid regions of the United States. Two crops are annually grown in 

India, one of which is sown in early spring at the beginning of the 

monsoon or rainy season, and is called the summer or kharif crop.

7
8 PREFACE.

This crop depends little on irrigation for its maturing, as the greater 

proportion of the rain of the entire year falls during the summer. In 

the autumn, however, the rainfall is very light, and, as before stated, 

the temperature and precipitation are both similar to those in the 

West.

Though the conditions of government and people are so different in 

India from those in America, many useful examples and lessons may be 

drawn from the methodof administration and legislation practiced there, 

as well as from the financial success or failure that has attended the 

construction of their works. The conditions under which Americans 

must undertake irrigation enterprises are not so different from those 

existing in India and southern Europe as would at first appear. Any 

works we may construct must depend for their utilization and revenue 

on immigration, as they will be largely in a sparsely inhabited country. 

In order to induce this immigration people must be convinced of the 

benefits and utility of irrigation. Conditions similar to these exist 

in portions of India where the most successful irrigation projects 

have been Qarried out. Irrigation works have frequently been undertaken in portions of India that were already overpopulated. They 

have rendered the land more fertile and sufficiently productive to support nearly double the population which it was previously capable of 

sustaining. This, too, has been accomplished despite the prejudices to 

be overcome, and the difficulties encountered in inducing people to make 

use of the water furnished; difficulties far greater than we would have 

to contend with in inducing immigration to our arid West. A few of 

the great canals of the Northwest Provinces and the Punjab were 

undertaken in districts that were sparsely inhabited. These canals 

are among those of India that have paid the largest interest on the 

original outlay. Within ten years from their construction the country 

was fully populated, although the immigration was often from remote 

portions of India.

Any imperfections which may appear in this account of works examined and in operation are in no way due to lack of assistance from 

the engineers in authority. It is impossible to speak strongly enough 

of the hospitality and kindness with which I was everywhere treated. 

In fact, owing to the limited time at my disposal, the greatest difficulty experienced was to leave the hospitable guides and entertainers, 

who were apparently willing to spend days in showing and explaining 

the works they had in charge.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

This account of some of the more important irrigation works of 

India was first published in Part II of the Twelfth Annual Report of 

the Director of the United States Geological Survey, for 1890-91. The 

demands for this report were so great that the entire edition was 

exhausted within a few years. Recently, and largely as a result of 

the renewed activity in irrigation in the Western States through the 

creation by Congress of the Reclamation Service of the United States 

Geological Survey, there have been increased calls for this report. 

At the instance of Mr. F. H. Newell, chief engineer of the Reclamation 

Service, I have made a careful revision of this report from such available data as I have succeeded in accumulating during the intervening 

years. This edition is published as one of the series of Water-Supply 

and Irrigation Papers of the Geological Survey.

Comparatively few new works have been built in India since 1890. 

The Bhatgur and Tansa dams have been finished and are in successful operation with but slight modifications from the plans as previously published. The great Peryiar project has been completed with 

slight modifications. These changes are noted in the accompanying 

text. In addition, the matter concerning inundation canals and that 

descriptive of deltaic canals have been extended. Under the latter 

head the Kistna project is described in more detail, as is the Sangamanicut project, both of which contain works which will interest 

American engineers. Under title of "Tanks" the Rushikalya project is described, both because of the interest attached to the dam 

and because it is a combined project including the diversion of water 

from a running stream and its storage in a reservoir located at a 

considerable distance from the canal head.

The most important feature of the revision is the bringing of all the 

financial and statistical data concerning the more important works in 

each province up to 1901, t le date of the last official Iftdian reports. 

At the close of 1901 the area of India, including native States, was

1,559,603 square miles, the 

total expenditure upon all

penditures on account of ir

total population was 294,266,701, and the 

(lasses of irrigation works by the Government of India had been $337,850,000. In the year 1900-1901 the exigation amounted to 111,500,000 and the

revenues to $12,075,000, showing a profit of 7.5 per cent on the capital 

outlay for construction. The total area cultivated in India the same

9
10 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

year was 180,151,093 acres, and the total area irrigated was 18,611,106 

acres, or, counting areas double cropped or those irrigated more than 

once in a season, the area irrigated was 33,096,031 acres. The estimated value of the irrigated crops in 1900-1901 was $150,000,000, and 

of these it is interesting to note that the area under cultivation in 

wheat amounted to over 16 million acres, and in cetton to over 8^ 

million acres, and that the total value of the latter crop alone was 

$52,773,000.

Construction, including in large measure repairs, was most active 

during the past few years, in order to afford employment in faminestricken regions. The demands on the water stored in reservoirs in 

the semihumid portions of India those which had been afflicted 

with drought and consequent famine during the last few years were 

greater than ever before. Some of the more notable tanks in Bombay 

and central India were called upon to do their highest duty, and in 

consequence many of those projects which were constructed as protective works and were never anticipated to be revenue producing 

have recently earned moderate net revenues.

H. M. W.

WASHINGTON, D. C., December 22, 1902.
U. S . GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL.I

MAP or INDIA

LEGEND 

I BariDoab Canals 10 Seme Canals 19 Ghar Canals

JULIUS UIENa.CO.L!TH.N.Y.
IRRIGATION IN INDIA.

By HEKBEKT M. WILSON.

INTRODUCTION.

The principal sources from which the information in the accompanying report was obtained were (1) conversation with engineers in charge 

of works and examination of their office material, (2) personal examination of the works themselves, and (3) books and official reports. 

In the following narrative I will endeavor to sketch hastily the route 

traveled and give a brief outline of works visited.

For a week before my departure I was busily engaged in reading all 

the books and reports on Indian irrigation procurable, in order to plan 

the trip so as to see the most in the least space of time, for I had but 

five months for the entire journey. I finally decided that the two 

months spent in India should be devoted to the northern and central 

portions, and the route was planned so as to see only such works as 

were within easy access of the railway lines.

Through the cooperation of the director of the United States Geological Survey I was enabled to leave Washington on December 1, 

1889, well equipped with letters of introduction to the various secretaries of the public works departments of India, carrying also letters 

from the Secretary of State to our diplomatic and consular officers 

abroad. In New York letters of introduction to prominent English 

engineers were obtained from the secretary of the American Society of 

Civil Engineers and others, and on December 41 sailed for Liverpool.

A few days were spent in London, where, through the courtesy of 

Mr. James Forrest, secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a 

number of letters of introduction to Indian officials were obtained. 

From London I proceeded to Brindisi, Italy, and embarked December 

30 for Bombay, arriving there on January 13, 1890.

In Bombay I called upon Mr. W. C. Hughes, secretary to government for the irrigation branch of the public works department, and 

he gave me letters to several of the engineers in the Bombay Presidency, and kindly aided me in so arranging my tour in that presidency as to see only such works as were most accessible. From Mr. 

W. Clerke, chief engineer of the Bombay waterworks^ I also received 

much, valuable assistance and advice, and on January 18 I proceeded

11
12 IRRIGATION IN INDIA0 [NO. 87.

to Poona with the intention of visiting the Fife reservoir. In the 

absence of the chief engineer, Colonel Cruikshank, R. E., Mr. Rebsch, 

executive engineer of the Mutha canals, devoted two or three days to 

showing me over the works under his charge.

We drove from Poona to Lake Fife, a distance of 12 miles up the 

valley of the Mutha River. The road here, as everywhere in India, 

was excellent, being well macadamized for the entire distance. On 

both sides were well-cultivated fields, the principal crops grown being 

sugar cane, millet, and wheat, and the care with which the water was 

applied to these crops was the first object which attracted attention. 

I also observed that Indian peasants fully appreciated the value of 

fertilizers. The city officials of Poona make a handsome profit annually by removing excrement from the residences and mixing it with 

ordinary soil, the whole being sold by the cartload to farmers.

Lake Fife is a large artificial reservoir, formed by a dam threequarters of a mile long and nearly 100 feet in height. The water is 

backed up the valley for nearly 15 miles, and the available storage 

capacity of the lake is about 63,000 acre-feet. The Mutha canals are 

taken from the dam at the lower end of the lake, one along the right 

and the other on the left bank of the Mutha River. The right-bank 

canal is nearly 100 miles long and passes through the city of Poona, 

which it supplies with water; it is also us'ed in irrigating the rich land 

lying between it and the river. The left-bank canal is much shorter, 

and also controls a large area of valuable land.

The topography of the Upper Mutha Valley seemed very familiar. 

Had I been suddenly transported in my sleep to northeastern Arizona 

the similarity of the topography of the two regions could not have 

more strikingly impressed me. At Lake Fife the Mutha River makes 

its exit through a narrow canyon similar to those of the mesa country 

in northern New Mexico and Arizona, and flows thence through a 

broad and gently sloping valley, which gradually widens till it becomes 

an extensive plain. The slope from the bottom of the stream toward 

the surrounding hills is regular, but rather stoop, and suddenly terminates at the foot of cliffs which are similar in their abruptness and 

sharpness of outline to the mesa cliffs of our Southwest. The soil in 

the Mutha Valley is rather shallow, and wherever uncultivated is 

covered with a low, scrubby grass, dried and parched by the sun. At 

the canal edge the barren slopes aro suddenly merged into endless 

green and well-cultivated fields. The slopes of the hills are rocky 

and barren, covered with a growth of low trees, among which babul 

or mesquite is the most prominent.

After examining Lake Fife, Mr. Rebsch and myself proceeded down 

the line of the Mutha canal and followed some of the minor distributaries through the fields, watching their ramifications, until we reached 

the smallest private ditch used in irrigating the crops. The construction of these canals is similar to that of small canals in. the United
WILSON.] INTBODUCTION. 13

States. The chief feature noticed was the substantial method of constructing all bridges, head-gates, and other regulators. Here, as elsewhere in India, timber is seldom used, owing to its cost and the rapklity 

with which it is destroyed by insects and rot. All bridges on this««aal 

are constructed of masonry, and the smallest regulating gates consist 

of masonry passages let into the banks of the canal and closed with iron 

shutters. The system of distribution of the water is very complete 

every square foot of desirable land being under cultivation.

On January 21 I engaged a tonga, a sort of dogcart, drawn by a team 

of ponies, in which a three days' trip to Bhatgur reservoir and the Nira 

canals was made. The trip to Bhatgur was made in the night in order 

to avoid the heat. The road is macadamized the entire distance, and 

is lined on each side with a double row of trees, which furnish a dense 

and agreeable shade. The gradients are sufficiently easy for a railway, while ail drainage passages, large or small, are crossed by masonry 

bridges. In order to avoid excessive grades a range of low hills about 

halfway in the journey is pierced by a tunnel nearly one-fourth of a 

mile long. This tunnel is about 20 by 20 feet in cross section, and is 

lined with masonry throughout.

At Bhatgur I was met by Mr. H. Beale, assistant engineer in charge 

of construction of the dam. During the day we went over the entire 

length of the dam and viewed all the works of construction. It was 

my good fortune to see the Bhatgur dam when it was about two-thirds 

completed and while the construction was being vigorously pushed. I 

was thus enabled to examine with care the details not only of the 

method of masonry construction, but also the management and character of the labor employed.

The topography above the Bhatgur dam is very similar to that at 

Lake Fife. The dam is constructed on a modern cross section, similar 

to that obtained by the Bouvier or the Rankine formula. It is located 

in a rather wide part of the river, the object being to afford sufficient 

spillway for the large volume of water which comes down the river in 

the spring floods. Its length is 4,067 feet and its greatest height is 

130 feet above the foundations. The river at this.point is subject to 

maximum floods of 50,000 second-feet. This reservoir is used as a 

storage basin to supply the Nira canals, which are taken from the Nira 

River at Vir, a point 20 miles below the dam. During my visit to 

Bhatgur 1,500 laborers were employed on the work and completed 

about 5,000 cubic feet of rubble and concrete masonry per day and 

1,000 cubic feet of finished dressed-rubble facing. Stone for the construction of the dam was quarried close to the abutments, and kunkar, 

a dirty lime which produces a very good hydraulic cement, was found 

within a short distance of the dam site. Sand was procured from the 

river bed and charcoal for burning was obtained in the adjacent hills.

On the morning of the 22tl I left Bhatgar, proceeding by tonga to Vir, 

the head of the Nira canal, where I was met by Mr. W. H. Le Quesne,
14 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

executive engineer in charge of the Nira system. The next two clays 

were spent in looking over the reports and detailed maps in the office, 

in examining the great diversion weir at the head of the Nira canal, 

and inspecting the first 12 miles of the latter. The Yir weir is constructed throughout of concrete, faced with dressed-rubble masonry, 

and is 2,340 feet in length and 40 feet in greatest height above the 

river bed. A few hrundred yards downstream is a subsidiary weir, 

similar in construction to the first, but only 615 feet long and 20 feet 

in height. This lower weir backs the water up against the toe of the 

upp^r one, thus producing a water cushion, on which the great floods 

fall harmlessly. The maximum flood over this weir may be 160,000 

second-feet, when the water will be about 8 feet in depth on the crest 

of the main weir. Our trip down the canal was made in a rowboat, 

and we were thus enabled to examine several aqueducts and a siphon 

on the way. The first 10 miles of the canal are for diversion line only, 

being required in making grade to get the canal out of the confining 

banks of the Nira River. At about the tenth mile the first distributary is taken off to the irrigable lands.

On January 23 I left Vir for Lonand, where I took the train for 

Poona. This trip is one of the most interesting in India, the road 

passing through the celebrated Bhore Ghauts, a range of rugged, bluffy 

hills which break down precipitately to the western ocean. The summit of these Ghauts forms the edge and top of the great interior plateau of the Deccan. The scenery along the entire descent is similar 

in every respect to that east of the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad near Red Bluff. The road runs with heavy grades and sharp 

curves along the edges of nearly vertical trap cliffs, in a place that in 

almost any other country would be considered quite impracticable for 

railway construction. The expense of such a line in the United States 

would exceed $100,000 per mile. Owing to the very heavy rainfall, 

which averages 250 inches per annum, the greatest precautions have 

been taken for the passage of all drainage lines. Numerous viaducts 

are crossed in rapid succession, the frequency of their recurrence 

being rivaled only by that of the many tunnels, there being 33 of these 

in a few miles.

I had been very desirous of making a visit to the celebrated Tansa 

reservoir, near Bombay, in the company of Mr. Clerke, the chief engineer, and on arriving in Bombay, on the 24th, I found he had arranged 

a trip with the governor of Bombay, Lord Reay, a few of the municipal 

officers, the governor's staff, Mr. Baldwin Latham, and myself. We 

left by special train on the evening of the 24th, arriving at Atgoan on 

the following morning. From Atgoan we had a pleasant tonga trip 

of 7 miles to the site of the Tansa dam. Here I was as fortunate as 

at Bhatgur. I found the great dam more than half completed and 

construction being vigorously pushed. Two days were spent in 

inspecting the works, which consist mainly of an enormous rubble-
WILSON.] INTRODUCTION. 15

masonry dam 9,350 feet in length. When completed it will be 145 

feet in maximum height. This dam is intended to furnish water for 

the city of Bombay. The rock for its construction is quarried at the 

dam site, but kunkar, for the production of cement, has to be brought 

long distances by rail or road cart. The aqueduct line, which carries 

the water to the city of Bombay, is partly in tunnel, partly in masonry 

conduit, partly in iron pipes. It has seven inverted siphons crossing 

drainage valleys, the' greatest being 11^- miles in length.

On January 28 I left Bombay for Calcutta, a distance of about 1,200 

miles. This trip was full of interest. During the early part of the 

first day the Thule Ghauts were ascended, the difficulties of construction being quite equal to those on the line between Pooua and Bombay. 

Railway travel in India, while inferior in comforts to the United States, 

is still decidedly superior to European modes of making lengthy trips. 

The cars, like those on European railways, are short, and on only a 

few are bogie trucks used. These latter, however, are rapidly finding favor, and at no distant day will be universally employed on the 

Indian railways. Each compartment, of which there are two in every 

first and second class carriage, will hold from five to six persons. The 

seats are placed lengthwise of the train and are well cushioned. 

There is a hanging seat or bed suspended from the roof, similar to 

those seen in an American immigrant car. This can be lowered at 

night and used as a berth. Each passenger must carry his own 

bedding, which in that warm climate consists of nothing more than a 

blanket and a pillow, and spreading these on the seats or hanging 

beds he can pass a comfortable night on the road. In the center of 

the car, between the two compartments, is a small closet and toilet 

room. A table may he set up in the center of each compartment on 

which to spread lunches. Men and women are never permitted to 

travel in the same compartment. Good meal stations are placed at 

convenient intervals on all lines of railway, and ample time is given 

for eating.

The main portion of central India lying between Bombay and the 

Gaugetan Plain is rather sparsely inhabited. The region is elevated 

and consists of uneven, rolling country, similar to that along the 

southern New Jersey coast or in the wooded districts of Missouri and 

Indiana. A dense growth of jungle, consisting of low trees, mesquite, 

teak, etc., with an undergrowth of tall, stiff jungle grass from 5 to 10 

feet in height, covers the entire country. The streams draining this 

area are, during the dry season, but little rills, flowing through very 

broad, wide, sandy beds, that serve to indicate the enormous size these 

rivers attain during the flood season. The're is little irrigation practiced in this region. In some sections moderate areas are irrigated from 

tanks of various sizes. The sloping hillsides are terraced, like those 

of Japan and China, by the construction of embankments. These 

produce level benches, where the flood water is held back sufficiently
16 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

long to enable it to soak into the ground. On these benches small 

crops of rice, garden truck, and grain are cultivated.

The River Jumna is first crossed and the Gangetan Plain entered at 

Allahabad, between which place and Calcutta the country is extremely 

level and fertile, having a strong resemblance to the broad, level 

prairies of the Mississippi Valley. Throughout this portion of the 

route fine fields of wheat, millet, barley, indigo, cotton, sugar cane, 

and poppy were passed in endless succession, while occasional groves 

of mangoes, cocoanut, and date palms relieve the prairie-like appearance of the country. The entire region is divided into innumerable 

small fields, each of a few acres, but no fences or houses were to be 

seen, though laborers dotted the fields. All live in villages, from 

which the laborers sometimes travel several miles to work.

I arrived in Calcutta on the morning of January 30, and called on 

Dr. W. King, the director of the geological survey of India, who gave 

me letters of introduction to some of the officials I was desirous of meeting. Mr. B. F. Bonham, American consul-general, treated me with 

the utmost courtesy and did everything in his power to aid me during 

my short stay. One day was spent at the office of the surveyor-general 

of India, Col. H. R. Thuillier, R. E., who kindly aided me in the 

examination of the methods of work of the topographic division and 

of the great trigonometric survey.

On the 31st I called on Col. J. M. McNeill, R. E., the secretary for 

government of the public works department of Bengal. With him I 

discussed the arrangement of my tour through his presidency, and 

from him I received letters of introduction to his various executive 

engineers. Colonel McNeill kindly telegraphed to Mr. R. B. Buckley, 

superintending engineer of the Soane canals, to arrange a hasty trip 

over his territory, and on the following day I reached Arrah, where I 

called upon Mr. Buckley. That day was spent in examining the maps 

and office records of the Soane canals, and on the following morning 

I set out on a tour of inspection. Mr. Buckley kindly placed at my 

disposal his canal steamer Kudra, on which I lived for three days, and 

Mr. Buckley also telephoned over the canal lines, arranging for various engineers to meet me and show me various points of interest.

I started -early in the morning of February 2, and steamed up the 

canal against the current at the rate of about 8 miles an hour. The 

rate of travel was rather slow, owing to the velocity of the stream 

and to the great number of locks which had to be passed. At Arrah 

the canal is 86 feet wide at bottom, about 9 feet deep, and discharges 

about 2,000 second-feet of water. From there to the headwaters at 

Dehree, a distance of 65 miles, the Arrah branch follows the general 

direction of the Soane River on its western side, gradually increasing 

in width toward the head, where it is 180 feet wide at bottom, 9 feet 

deep, and discharges about 4,300 second-feet.

As Nasregunge, a large village midway between Arrah and Dehree,
INTRODUCTION. 17

t was met by Mr. Inglis, the executive engineer of the Arrah canal, 

who showed me the heads of some of the distributaries, the escapes, 

and also the mode of applying the water to the fields. I reached 

Dehree at 8 o'clock on the following morning. During the absence 

of the executive engineer in charge of the head works at Dehree, I 

was met by Mr. Williamson, the overseer of the shops at that point, 

who spent the day explaining the various works. These are of the 

most interesting and important nature, and consist of the great weir 

across the Soane River, 2f miles long "and 14 feet in height, of the 

scouring sluices and regulators at the heads of the canals at each end, 

and of the general machine shops for the construction and repair of 

engines, dredges, and other metal works used on the canal system. 

The Soane River was then very low, scarcely discharging more water 

than was required to fill the main eastern and western canals. 

Thanks to this fact, I was enabled to watch the operations of the automatic sluice gates, which were lowered and raised for my inspection.

From Dehree I proceeded again by steamer down the Buxar branch 

of the main western canal, passing through immense fields of grains 

and vegetables, where but a few years before had been but a desert 

waste. One work of particular note passed was the Kao Nulla siphon 

aqueduct, whereby the canal is carried over the bed of the Kao Torrent and the latter in a semisiphon is passed under the aqueduct. A 

little farther on was a similar work by which the canal is carried in 

an aqueduct over the Thora Nulla. In the evening I arrived at the 

town of Bnxar, where I met Mr. Horn, the executive engineer of the 

Buxar branch, and left the same night for Allahabad.

During the trip along the Soane canals many interesting scenes 

were noticed. Numerous canal boats loaded with grain or stone were 

passed. These were being taken to the railway or floated out on the 

Ganges River, whence they made the trip to Calcutta. The boats are 

peculiarly shaped, being higher at the stern than at the bow, varying 

from 15 to 25 feet in length, and having a width of about 10 feet. In 

the center is erected a pole, perhaps 12 feet in height, to which are 

attached numerous light strings, and each of these is drawn by a 

native on the towpath. On these canals it is not unusual to see ten or 

more men towing one boat.

The important roads cross the canal by means of well-constructed 

masonry or iron bridges. A peculiar accident has occurred to many 

of the masonry bridges, as the pressure of the earth embankments 

behind the abutments causes them to act as retaining walls. The 

pressure has in several cases caused the. arches to spring upward at 

the center or key, leaving a slight crack 011 top. These bridges have 

been constructed strong enough to perform their duties as bridges, 

but are not sufficiently strong to act as retaining walls.

The smaller roads and footpaths terminate at the canal banks, where 

catamaran-shaped ferryboats are used to cross the canal. These 

IER 87 03 2
18 IEBIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

boats are unique in construction. Each pontoon is composed of riveted 

sheet iron and is 2 feet wide by 2 feet deep and 15 feet in length. 

Between the two is supported a wooden deck 6 feet wide, sufficiently 

large to carry the ordinary two-wheeled bullock cart with its team. 

A chain is laid from one bank of the canal to the other, long enough 

to rest on the bottom of the canal, so as not to impede traffic, and passing through a ring on the deck of the ferryboat. By pulling on this 

chain the occupants are enabled to draw the boat across the canal.

The canal banks are lined throughout with plantations of jtrees, the 

property of the canal government. These are cut and sold as may 

seem desirable to the canal officers, all trees thus removed being 

replaced by young growths. Among the more usual trees are the 

sissoo, somewhat like the teak in general character, and used in the 

construction of furniture, carts, etc., the sal, also used for furniture 

and fuel, some mangoes, and some niesquite.

Owing to the low velocity, about 3 feet per second, which it is necessary to give the navigable branches, considerable deposits of silt 

accumulate near their heads, and lower down, where the water is 

clearer, reeds and rushes line the banks well out toward the middle of 

the stream. Large steam dredges are kept at work on the upper lines 

of the Soane canals, giving them much the appearance of the Suez 

Canal. These dredges have mostly been constructed at the shops at 

Dehree, and are of iron throughout, as are also the scows. Large 

steam passenger boats ply on the main canals, stopping at the various 

villages lining their banks and terminating their runs at the railway. 

These boats are crowded with people, which indicates a profitable 

passenger traffic.

Among the most interesting scenes observed were the enormous 

crowds of pilgrims, afoot, on camels, or on bullocks. These pilgrims 

make journeys between distant shrines, often occupying six months 

in the longer trips. Each devotee carries a pole across his back, from 

the ends of which are swung the few necessaries of food and clothing.

The locks along the canal are substantially constructed of brick 

masonry, sometimes singly and sometimes in pairs, and average in 

their lift from 7 to 12 feet. These locks are sufficiently long and wide 

to accommodate the big passenger steamers. Beside and around the 

locks is always constructed a waste weir and channel through which 

the greater part of the discharge of the canal used in irrigation and 

not required in operating the lock is passed. In this channel is necessarily a high fall with a drop equal to that of the lock. This fall 

is built of the most substantial masonry in order to withstand the jar 

caused by the great body of water passing over it.

On February 5 I arrived at Allahabad, the capital of the Northwest 

Provinces and Oudh, where, during the absence of the chief engineer 

and secretary for government, Col. G. T. Skipworth, R. E., I was very 

courteously treated by Mr. H. W. Conduitt, the office assistant, He
WILSON.] INTEODUCTION. "19

gave me some official reports and letters to engineers in the northwest 

and arranged for a visit to the Betwa, Ganges, and other canals by 

writing to the executive engineers in charge, informing them of my 

approaching visit and requesting them to render such assistance as 

might be required. On the same day I proceeded to Orai, where I 

was met by Mr. W. P. Voiider Horst, the executive engineer of the 

Betwa canal. The 6th was spent in examining the office records and 

maps and making such notes and tracings as were deemed necessary. 

On the same evening we left by rail for Chirgaon, whence a short tonga 

ride took us to Paricha, the head of the Betwa canal and the great 

Betwa reservoir.

The Betwa reservoir is constructed in the channel of the Betwa 

River where it emerges from the Northern Ghauts. The weir is 

located in a rather wide part of the river bed, crossing the stream in an 

irregular line, abutting in one place on a large island and at another 

on a broad rock in the middle of the river. The total length of this 

weir, including the islands on which it abuts, is about 4,300 feet, and 

its greatest height in the middle of the channel is 60 feet. The entire 

dam acts as an overflow weir, in order to give sufficient wasteway to 

the enormous flood of 750,000 second-feet which may pass over it. 

Such a flood would bank 17 feet deep over the crest of the weir. In 

order to withstand the shock of this body of falling water two small 

subsidiary weirs have been constructed in the channel below the 

deepest portions of the weir, thus giving a water cushion on which 

the maximum height of the overfall is 21^ feet. The net storage 

capacity of this reservoir available for irrigation purposes is nearly 

37,000 acre-feet.

The canal system heading immediately above the dam controls an 

area of about 950,000 acres, of which about 400,000 is excellent arable 

land. The balance is very poor and barren. This area of irrigable 

land is included between the Betwa, Pahug, and Jumna rivers, and at 

present about 135,000 acres are irrigated by the canal system. The 

flushing sluices on the end of the weir adjacent to the canal head and 

the regulators at the canal head are of great interest, owing to the 

pressure of nearly 60 feet under which the gates are operated.

From Paricha I proceeded by rail to Agra, and on February 9 went 

to Narora, where are located the head works of the Lower Ganges canal. 

In order to reach Narora it was necessary to go by rail to Aligarh, 

where a couple of hours were agreeably spent. From Aligarh I went 

by rail to Rajghat, which station was reached late in the evening. 

There, thanks to the thoughtf ulness of Mr. E. A. CarSwell, the executive engineer in charge of the Narora works, I was met by a hand car 

or trolley, in which I was pushed by natives 5 miles to the bungalow 

at Narora, where the following night and day were spent. I was 

received by Mr. Carswell with the same hospitality that had been 

accorded me by all the other officials with whom I had come in con-
20 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

tact. The larger part of that evening and the next day were spent 

in examining the office reports and maps and examining the headworks and the river training system of the Lower Ganges canal. 

These head-works consist of a great weir 4,135 feet in total length, 

3,700 feet of which are composed of an overfall weir 14 feet in height 

above the foundation, 315 feet consisting of sluice gates adjacent to 

the head of the canal. The head of the canal adjacent to the end of 

the weir consisted of 26 regulating gates, each 7£ by 11^ feet in the 

clear. The maximum flood coming down the Ganges which may pass 

over this weir may be as great as 230,000 second-feet.

The river training works are interesting and extensive. They are 

necessitated by the low character of the river bottom, in which the 

canal is constructed for some miles before its diversion line gets out of 

the bottom and reaches the summit of the bluff. Where these bottom 

lands are traversed the river is apt to change its channel, and if not 

controlled would cut its banks, thus destroying the canal. The regulating works are carried for 4 miles above the head" of the canal and 

15 miles below it, and consist of long earthen embankments or groynes, 

which jut straight out into the river channel at right angles to its 

course and are protected on their ends by rock paving and rock noses. 

Sixteen miles below the Narora weir the Lower Ganges canal crosses 

the great Kali Nadi Torrent, which in time of floods becomes an enormous river. The canal is carried across this torrent on an aqueduct 

which provides water way for a flood of 130,000 second-feet. The 

channel of the canal on the top of the aqueduct is 130 feet wide and 

7 feet deep. Previous to 1885 there was in this place a short aqueduct 

calculated to pass a flood of 30,000 second-feet; but in that year it was 

destroyed by an unprecedented flood of nearly 130,000 second-feet, 

and has since been entirely remodeled and reconstructed.

On February 12 I left Narora for Lahore, the capital of the province 

of Punjab. In the absence of Col. F. J. Home, R. E., the chief engineer for irrigation in the Punjab, I presented my letters of introduction to Mr Cockhorn, the office assistant, who had been instructed by 

Colonel Home, in anticipation of my arrival, to furnish what aid he 

could. In the Punjab I was less fortunate than elsewhere. The 

works of that region are among the greatest and most interesting in 

India. I reached there in the midst of the busiest part of the field 

season. Most of the engineers were far out of reach of railways or 

other convenient modes of travel, in charge of the construction of 

works, and as time was limited it was impossible to go far out of the 

way to meet them. Accordingly, I decided not to visit the works of 

the Western Jumna nor the Bari Doab canals, but to devote the 

remaining time to a thorough inspection of the Sirhind canals, which 

are the most modern and perhaps the most interesting of any of the 

canals of India.

I at once proceeded to Amrister in hope of meeting Major Ottley,
WILSON.] INTBODTJCTION. 21

R. E., the supervising engineer, from whom I expected information 

and assistance in the trip. Here, again, I was disappointed, and found 

no one who could give assistance or advice as how to visit them best. 

Accordingly I decided to go to Ludhiana, the nearest railway point to 

the canal. I reached there on February 14 and called on Mr. J. 

Dempster, executive engineer in charge of the Sirhind canals. I did 

not receive much encouragement from Mr. Dempster, as he said that 

owing to not having, been previously advised of the trip and the shortness of the time it would be nearly impossible to arrange conveniently 

to show me the canals. From Ludhiana to Rupar, where the headworks ^of the canal are, is a distance of about 60 miles, and to make 

this trip it would be necessary to engage an elephant and to procure 

the necessary traveling outfit. As I did not know where to find these, 

and Mr. Dempster was apparently too busy to aid in the search, I 

reluctantly abandoned the journey, and on the same day left by train 

to visit the Ganges canal.

Next morning, February 15,1 reached Roorkee, where I found that 

Mr. M. King, executive engineer, had made elaborate preparations for 

the trip over the line of the canal. I also found Col. G. T. Skipworth, 

R. E., chief engineer of the Northwest Provinces and secretary to 

government, and Mr. W. J. Wilson, his assistant secretary. They had 

made preparations for the annual inspection of the lines of the canal, 

but as they would not be prepared to set out on their trip for a few 

days, Mr. King had arranged to take me to the head-works and return 

to Roorkee in time to accompany the inspecting party. A portion of 

the 15th was spent in examining the office records and maps, and early 

on the following morning Mr. King and I set out on a tonga drive 

along the banks of the canal bound for Hard war, where are situated 

the head-works. Owing to the heat, though the distance was but 20 

miles, two relays of horses had been sent out to hasten the journey. 

Two heavy bullock carts laden with camp equipage, etc., and an elephant which would be required in making journeys away from beaten 

roads, had also been previously forwarded to Hardwar. In the course 

of the drive along the canal banks we had an excellent opportunity 

for investigating the level crossing of the Rutmoo Torrent at Dhanowri. 

We also examined the great aqueduct by which the Ganges canal is 

carried across the Solani Valley and the superpassages which conduct 

the waters of the Puthri and Ranipur torrents over the Ganges canal. 

These works were also examined on the return trip to Roorkee, when 

I was enabled to observe other points of interest that had escaped 

notice on the first inspection.

We spent the night at Hardwar and on the following clay set out on 

the elephant to examine the various river training and regulating 

works, whereby the greater part of the water of the Ganges River is 

guided into the Hardwar channel, from which it is diverted into the 

canal. These training and regulating works extend for a distance of
22 IRBIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

several miles above Hardwar and are unique from the fact that the 

supply of water being at all times abundant for the demands of the 

canal, no permanent dam has been thrown across the river. The bed 

of the river is here broken up into several channels and is very wide, 

but by means of a row of three temporary dams constructed of bowlders the majority of the water is turned into the Hardwar channel. 

These temporary dams, it has been found, can be more cheaply reconstructed annually after their destruction by the regular floods, than a 

great permanent weir could be built across the entire channel. Above 

the temporary bowlder dams a permanent masonry wall has been constructed on one minor channel besides a series of permanent bowlder 

embankments and bars, the latter to prevent the retrogression of 

grades. Groins and other training works so confine the main body 

of water to the Hardwar channel that during times of greatest flood, 

when all of these works are submerged, little or no damage is done to 

the permanency of this channel. At Myapur, the head of the Ganges 

canal, below the training works, a permanent weir with the usual 

scouring sluices has been thrown across the Hardwar channel, thus 

training the water into the regulator at the head of the canal.

On the following morning we continued our inspection of the headworks and in the afternoon returned toRoorkee. The 18th was spent 

at Roorkee in a visit to the Thomason College of Civil Engineering, 

where Colonel Brandreth, the president, kindly showed me over the 

building and furnished numerous valuable reports and other information.

On February 20 I reached Okhla, near Delhi, at which place are 

situated the head-works of the Agra canal. Here, thanks to the kindness of Colonel Crofton, superintending engineer, who had written 

from Roorkee of the intended visit, I was met by Mr. C. G. Palmer, 

the executive engineer of the Agra canal, with whom I visited the 

works under his charge. The head-works of this canal consist of a 

low weir 10 feet in height and 2,573 feet in length from the right bank, 

the left wing resting on an island in the middle of the river. Wings 

and heavy earth embankments, 20 feet wide on top, are carried across 

the island and the east channel and thence up the left bank to the 

railway bridge at Delhi.

This canal receives its water supply from the Jumna River, which, 

however, does not at all times carry sufficient water to fill it. Its 

supply is accordingly augmented by means of a cut from the Hindu n 

River, which empties the water of that stream into the Jumna above 

the diversion weir. In the weir there is the usual set of scouring 

sluices at the end adjacent to the canal head and the customary regulating gates and lock for navigation purposes at the canal entrance. 

Like the Ganges River at Narora, the Jumna here requires the construction of great river training works similar in their t. eneral character to those on the Lower Ganges, but in order to thro, r the greater
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL.

ADEN TANKS, ARABIA.

WILSON.] INTRODUCTION. 23

portion of the water toward the right bank of the river, where the 

canal head is, alligator groins have been run at right angles to the 

line of the weir, by means of which the water is trained, in the desired 

direction.

After examining the office records and maps at Okhla, Mr. Palmer 

and I made a trip by tonga down the line of the canal to examine some 

of the works of interest. We passed several inlets by which the drainage of small streams heading in the hills to the south is admitted to 

the canal. The water enters by stone culverts, and the core of the 

canal embankment at these places is usually constructed of rubble 

masonry. These inlets are generally controlled from a gate tower. 

Near the Ali Torrent the canal banks are protected on the upper side 

by a long earthen dam, forming a storage reservoir which catches the 

drainage of several small streams from the hills and passes this through 

an outlet or spillway into a superpassage of sheet iron carried over the 

canal. The water retained in the reservoir is allowed to settle, and 

when clear of silt is admitted into the canal, but in time of floods the 

superabundant discharge is carried over the spillway previously mentioned and discharged into the Jumna. Many hundreds of small tanks 

have been constructed all through this region, and one very large one 

is now under construction on the Surwa River about 15 miles above 

Baroda.

Among the most interesting sights from a scientific point of view to 

be seen in India are the ancient astronomical observatories erected by 

the old Arab astronomers at Delhi and Jeypur. At the latter place I 

had an opportunity to examine carefully the observatory of the Shah 

Jehan, which covers a couple of acres of ground and is surrounded by 

a high stone wall. Within this inclosure are constructed many unique 

masonry instruments with which were conducted the observations of 

the ancient astronomer.

On March 3 1 reached Bombay, and a few days afterwards left for 

home.

At Aden I stopped a day, thus giving sufficient time to examine 

the strange old reservoirs (PI. II), constructed in a gully above that 

town, which supply it with water. It is only once in several years 

that a sufficient rainfall occurs in this arid region to fill the tanks. 

There are several of them," one above the other far up the gully, and 

it was my good fortune to be there a few days after the occurrence of 

the first storm that had filled them in three years. They are most 

carefully constructed, lined throughout with hydraulic cement, thus 

preventing any |leakage through their rock bottoms, and are closed 

by substantial flams with wasteways and masonry conduits leading

from one to the

From Aden I

other, so that the least possible amount of water will

be lost by absorption. The total storage capacity of these tanks is 

about 12,000,000 gallons.

proceeded direct to Suez, where I took the train for
24 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

Cairo, arriving there on March 18. Here I called upon the American 

consul-general, Mr. Eugene Schuyler, who. informed me how best to 

see the irrigation works in the immediate vicinity. By him I was 

introduced to Col. Sir Scott Moncrieff, the minister of public works 

for the government of Egypt, from whom valuable information and 

numerous reports relative to the irrigation works of that country 

were obtained. The next day the Barrage du Nil was visited, it being 

readily reached by a railway trip from Cairo occupying about an hour. 

Two other trips to the Barrage were made, during which ample opportunity was had to examine the works. Construction was being 

rapidly pushed, and there were probably 6,000 workmen employed 

on them.

A few days later I proceeded to Brindisi, Italy, thence to Rome, 

where I arrived March 30. In Rome, thanks to the kindness of the 

American minister, the Hon. A. G. Porter, I called upon, the minister 

of finance, under whose direction are the irrigation works of Italy. 

From him I received a letter to Signer Carlo Sospizio, the director of 

the Cavour canal at Turin, and on the following day I reached Turin. 

Signer Sospizio was very courteous, and arranged to have one of his 

subengineers meet me the following day at Chivasso, where the headworks of the Cavour canal are, and show me over them.

On April 2 I was met at Chivasso by Signer Canavotte Oreste, an 

assistant engineer. With him the following two days were spent in 

an inspection of the line of the Cavour canal as far as the inverted 

siphon crossing the River Sesia. The trip was made from Chivasso 

in 'a carriage along the canal banks as far as the aqueduct crossing 

the River Dora Baltea, below Saluggia. From this point the carriage 

was sent around the road to Saluggia and we examined the canal and 

aqueduct on foot, rejoining the carriage at Saluggia.

The weir across the River Po at the head of the Cavour canal is a 

temporary, one, constructed of brush and rocks, and is not over 5 feet 

in height. This weir has to be annually repaired, but this is less 

expensive than the construction of a permanent one would be. When 

the River Po is low, and does not discharge sufficient water for the 

wants of the canal, additional water is supplied by the subsidiary 

Canal Farini, while the Canal Rotto adds some of the water of the 

Dora Baltea to it.

Above Saluggia', near Cigliano, is an interesting arrangement for 

lifting the water from a low- to a high-level canal. This consists of 

four levels of canals. Between the two lower ones is placed an extensive pumping plant, operated by turbines which receive their water 

from the upper of the two lower canals and tail into the lower canal, 

whence the water is distributed to low-lying fields. The lower of the 

two upper canals supplies water by means of an immense wroughtiron pipe, 3 feet in diameter, with a head of about 66 feet, to the
WiLSON.] LIST OP WORKS

puinps below, and these fore 

dimensions, a total height of 

it is distributed to the upper ]

From Saluggia we proceed 

Canal Cigliano passes over th 

plies it with water. The ni 

morning we proceeded to Gi 

under the River Sesia in a 

which carries the entire eapa< 

of four channels or conduits 

the inside diameters of which

On the following day I 

brated St. Gotthard route thro 

on April 6. In Paris, throug 

works, I received a letter to 1 

and roads, located at Verno: 

barrages which regulate the 

examination of irrigation wo 

thence direct to the United States.

LIST OF WORKS

Anderson, Col. J. C. Irrigation 

second series, No. 253. Roorkee,

Ashlmrst, F. H. Reconstruction o 

tution Civil Engineers, vol. 75, p

Engineers, vol. 89, p. 521. Lond 

Beresford, J. S. Proposed Standa

ON INDIAN IRRIGATION.

it, through another pipe of the same 

40 feet, to the high-level canal, whence 

elds, 

d by rail to Santhia, near where the

Ivrea canal and at the same time supht was spent in Vercelli, and in the 

iggio, where the Cavour canal passes 

>reat siphon nearly 800 feet in length, 

ity of the canal. This system consists 

onstructed of masonry, oval in shape, 

are 9 by 15 feet.

proceeded to Milan, thence over the celegh Switzerland to Paris, where I arrived 

i the courtesy of the minister of public 

. Camere, engineer in chief of bridges 

, with whom I examined the various 

avigation of the Seine. At Paris the 

ks came to an end, and I proceeded

ON INDIAN IRRIGATION.

;ged alphabetically by authors the titles 

to in the preparation of this report, 

a complete list of works and pamphlets

In the following list are arran 

of works which were referred 

This list does not pretend to b 

published 011 Indian irrigation

Anderson, C. E. Damage to Work? of Agra Canal by Floods of September, 1875, 

to February, 1877. Allahabad, India, 1878.

a Madras Presidency. Professional Papers, 

India. *

Bhin Tal Dam, Kumaon. Proceedings Insti-

, 202-210. London, 1884.

Bellais, E. S. Inundation Canals in the Punjab. Proceedings Institution Civil

n, 1887.

 d Designs for Masonry Outlets. Nanai Tal,

India, June, 1882.

 Dnty of Water. Memoranda on Irrigation.

series, No. 212. Roorkee, India. 

Binnie, A. R. Nagpur Water Woi .is.

vol. 39, pp. 1-61. London, 1875. 

Buckley, Robert B. Irrigation W rks in India, and Egypt. E. & F. N. Spon.

London, 18931

 Keeping Irrigation Canals Olear of Silt. Proceedings Institution Civil 

Engineers, vol. 58, pp. 278-280. London, 1879.

 Statistical Review Irrigation Works of India. Calcutta, India, 1889.

 Movable Dams in Indian We..rs. Proceedings Institution Civil Engineers,

vol. 60, pp. 43-55. London, 1880. 

Burke, C. T. The Ashti Tank. Pi ;ceedings Institution Civil Engineers, vol. 76,

pp. 288-316. London, 1883.

Professional Papers, second

Proceedings Institution Civil Engineers,
26 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

Cautley, Col. Sir Proby T. Report on the Ganges Canal Works, 3 volumes and 

atlas. London, 1860.

 A Disquisition on the Heads of the Ganges and Jumna Canals. London,

1864. 

Conybeare, H. Tanks in Rajpootana. Proceedings Institution Civil Engineers,

vol. 17, p. 569. London. 

Craig, James. Maximum Flood Discharges from Catchment Areas. Proceedings

Institution Civil Engineers, vol. 80, pp. 201-220. London, 1885. , 

Crofton, Capt. J. Report on the Ganges Canal, .3 volumes. Public Works

Department. Calcutta, India, 1865. 

Davidson, Prof. George. Irrigation and Reclamation of Land for Agricultural

Purposes in India, Egypt, Italy, etc. Executive Document No. 94, United States

Senate, Forty-fourth Congress. Washington, D. C., 1875. 

Dickens, Lieut. Col. C. H. Projects of Canals of Irrigation from the River Soane.

Government Printing Office. Calcutta, India, 1861. 

Encyclopaedia Britannica. India. London.

 Irrigation. London.

Famine Commission Report, Appendix I. Condition of Country and People of 

India. London, 1881.

 Part II. Measures of Protection and Prevention. London, 1886.

 Appendix III. Report of Country and People. London.

 Appendix V. Irrigation as a Protection Against Famine. London, 1881. 

Forbes, Col. J. G. Revised Estimates of Agra Canal. Simla, India, 1885. 

Forrest, R. E. Irrigation and Drainage in the Dehra Dun. Professional Papers,

No. 5. Roorkee, India. 

Galton, Capt. Douglass. Sanitary Progress in India. Journal Society of Arts, N< >.

1223. London, 1876. 

Gordon, W. B. Notes on Well Sinking at Nadrai Aqueduct. Allahabad, India,

1888. 

Government, Northwest Provinces. Canal Act VIII, 1873. Allahabad, India.

 Northwest Provinces. Land Acquisition Act. Allahabad, India.

 Canal Act VII, 1879. Bombay, India.

 Book of Circulars foi^Guidance of Officers, Irrigation Branch Public Works

Department. Calcutta, India. 

Greathed, Col. W. H. Irrigation in Northern India. Proceedings Institution Civil

Engineers, vol. 35, pp. 139-185. London, 1872-73.

Greaves, C. Evaporation and Percolation. Proceedings Institution Civil Engineers, vol. 45, pp. 19-105. London, 1876. 

Harlacher, Prof. A. R. Current Meter. Proceedings Institution Civil Engineers,

vol. 67, pp. 358-368. London, 1882. 

Hart, J. H. E. Mutha Canals. Bombay, India, 1879. 

Haywood, Captain. Practical Gauging of Rivers. Professional Papers, vol. 7.

Roorkee, India, 1870. 

Hilgard, E. W. Alkali Lands. College of Agriculture, University of California.

Appendix 7. Sacramento, Cal., 1886. 

Home, Lieut. F. Tank Irrigation in Ajmere and Mairwara. Professional Papers.

No. 229. Roorkee, India.

Jackson, Lowis D'A. Hydraulic Works. London, 1885. 

LeMesurier, J. Slips in Earthen Embankments of Tank in Bombay Presidency,

Bombay, India.

Levinge, H. C. Soane Canal. Professional Papers, vol. 7. Roorkee, India, 1870. 

Madras engineers, Professional Papers, 4 volumes. Madras, India, 1856. 

Malet, H. P. Indian Irrigation. Geographical Magazine, vol. 5, pp. 232. London.
WILSON.] LIST OF WOEK$ ON INDIAN IEBIGATION. 27

Markham, C. R. Irrigation in Southern India. Geographical Magazine, vol. 1, 

1876, pp. 329-332. London.

 Irrigation in Southern India. Geographical Magazine, vol. 4, 1877, pp. 

379-280. London.

Medley, Lieut. Col. J. G. Manuajl of Irrigation Workb. Thomason Civil Engineering College. Roorkee, Indi^,, 1873.

 India and Indian Engineering. E. and F. N. Spon. London, 1873. 

Molesworth, Guilford. Village Tanks, Ceylon. Professional Papers, vol. 6;

Roorkee, India, 1889. 

Moncriefif, Lieut. Scott. Irrigation in Southern Europe. E. and F. N. Spon.

London, 1868. 

Mullins, Captain. Lucknow and illason Reservoirs. Professional Papers, vol. 6.

Roorkee, India, 1869. 

Mullins, Lieut. Gen. J. Irrigating Manual. E. and F. Spon. New York and

London, 1890. 

Norton, C. E. Irrigation in Indiia. North American Review, vol. 77, p. 439.

N. Y. 

O'Connell, Lieut. Col. P. P. G. Fljood Discharges of Rivers. Professional Papers,

vol. 7. Roorkee, 1870. 

Palmer, E. C. Irrigation Experinients. Professional Papers, second series, No.

35. Roorkee, India.

Playfair, Lieut. Col. J. W. Professional Papers, No. 217. Roorkee, India, 

Public Works Department, Bengal Annual Revenue Reports. Calcutta, India.

 Betwa Canal in Bundelhand. Allahabad, India, 1874.

 Correspondence relating to JNira Canal. Bombay, India, 1877-1881.

 Annual Irrigation Revenue Reports. Bombay, India, 1889.

 Lower Ganges Canal Project. Allahabad, India. 4 vols. 1874-1876.

 Madras Annual Irrigation Revenue Reports. Madras, India.

 Northwest Provinces. Annual Irrigation Revenue Reports. Roorkee, 

India.

 Northwest Provinces. Revised Estimates of Agra Canal. Sind, India, 1887.

 Punjab Annual Irrigation I Revenue Reports. Lahore, India.

Sind Annual Irrigation Rev snue Reports.

Records Government of India, Betwa Canal Project in Northwest Provinces, No. 

232. Calcutta, India, 1887.

 Failure of the Kali Nadi Acueduct. Lower Ganges Canal, No. 240. Calcutta, 1888.

 Sidhnai Canal Project in th0 Punjab, No. 248. Calcutta, India, 1888.

Zhara Karez Irrigation Scheme. Beluchistan, No. 231. Calcutta, India,

1887. 

Sanky, Maj. R. H. Irrigation in Kysore. Professional Papers, Nos. 141 and 150.

Roorkee, India. 

Smith, Capt. R. Baird. Italian Irrigation. Wm. Blackwood and Sons. London,

1855.

Irrigation in Madras, India. London, 1856.

Statesman, India, 1890.

Thomton, W. T. Irrigation a Preventative of India Famine. Journal Soc. Arts,

No. 1319. London, 1878. 

Tullock, Maj. Hector. History of Bombay Water Supply. Professional Papers,

Second series, No. 77. Roorkee, Cndia. 

Torricelli, G. Notes on More Important Features of Reservoirs for Irrigation.

Proceedings Institution Civil En; Ineers, vol 84, pp. 483-485. London. 

Vernon-Harcourt, T. F. Fixed a.id Movable Weirs. Proceedings Institution

Civil Engineers, vol. 60, pp. 24-4:. London, 1880.
28 IRBIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

Victor, H. Notes on Irrigation in Bombay Presidency. Professional Papers,

No. 181. Roorkee, India. 

Walker, J. P. H. Mahanuddy Anicut. Professional Papers, vol. 7. Roorkee,

India, 1870.

Western, Major. Rules for Rajbuha Estimates. Punjab, India. 

Whiting, J. E. The Nira Canal. Proceedings Institution Civil Engineers, vol.

77, pp. 433-433. London. 

Wilson, Alien. Irrigation in India. Proceedings Institution Civil Engineers, vol.

37, p. 454. London. 

Wilson and Logan. Irrigation in India and Spain. Proceedings Institution Civil

Engineers. Excerpts, 1867,1868,1869. London.
CHAPTER I.

FINANCE AND STATISTICS.

VALUE AND NECESSITY OF IRRIGATION.

In view of the interest in tjte subject of irrigation which has been 

recently developed in this country, it will be well to observe what 

benefits have been derived financially and otherwise from the irrigation 

works that have been in active operation in India during the last century, and also to note what Indian and English statesmen and engineers have to say on the subject of the extension of irrigation in India. 

Because of the similarities of the countries, climates, and the conditions under which irrigatioit works are operated in America and 

India, some useful lessons may be drawn from these comparisons. It 

has already been shown that the conditions of the utilization of the 

waters of irrigation works are quite similar in the two countries, and 

that the autumn crop in India is cultivated under circumstances 

almost identical with those under which our ordinary summer crops 

are grown in the arid regions.

The Indian financier divides the irrigation works into two great 

classes, called major and minor works. Major works are generally 

those of more importance from an engineering point of view, and have 

been in some cases almost entirely constructed by the British Government, while the minor works are of smaller pretensions and in many 

cases modifications or improvements of existing ancient irrigation 

systems. The portion of the major works that are constructed from 

capital provided from the general revenues of India are styled "protective works." "Productive works" are usually constructed from 

capital which has been borrowed, and it is expected that a sufficient 

profit will be realized from their operation to pay interest on the borrowed money. Many minor works are also productive works. In

general, protective works are

people and furnish them mon

constructed as a protection against

famines, and they act in the amelioration of these in two ways. First, 

they are constructed during famine times to give employment to the

By and food for their sustenance, and

second, after their construction^ they are expected to furnish sufficient 

water for irrigation purposes to render them a protection against 

future droughts and the resulting famines. The majority of these 

famine protective works consibt of storage reservoirs constructed in 

the more arid portions of India.

29
30 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

The reason for the success of the greater productive works of northern India is twofold. First, these works are constructed in a country 

similar to that of the western United States, so barren and devoid of 

water that nobody could live there or produce crops of any sort until 

canals had been dug and water provided for irrigation. Accordingly, 

all those who immigrated to the neighborhood of these canals were at 

once compelled to use and pay for the water, otherwise they would 

have been unable to raise crops. It is owing to the fact that these 

works have been able to do their full duty and the total amount of 

water furnished by them has been in constant demand that they have 

earned interest. On the contrary, the protective works, which have 

usually proved financial failures, have been built in regions where in 

ordinary years the precipitation has been sufficient to produce good 

crops, but where during occasional years the crops suffer from lack of 

water, and it is then only that the irrigation works are called upon. 

Such works being only utilized occasionally, produce only moderate 

returns during occasional years. Were these works constructed in a 

less inhabited region and in one lacking sufficient precipitation to 

raise crops, they would doubtless then do constant duty, and it might 

reasonably be expected that they would become productive works. 

In some few cases, such as those of the Sidhnai canal in the Punjab 

and the Betwa canal and reservoir in the Northwest provinces, works 

originally constructed as protective works have received such a constant demand for their waters that they are now productive, returning 

moderate interest on the capital.

Anywhere in our arid West where irrigation works may be constructed it is reasonable to suppose, judging from analogy, that when a 

sufficient population settles below them, these works will be called upon 

to furnish all the water they can provide, and if properly and carefully 

planned and estimated for should return fair interest on the original 

outlay. Only semihumid regions, such as western Kansas, the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, have been subjected to famines. 

These occur every few years, and are the results of the country having 

been settled during periods of fair rainfall. Following these good 

years came a season or two of minimum rainfall when the crops were 

parched. It is only because of the increased transportation facilities 

in our West and the extensive charities undertaken by the Government 

and people that settlers in that portion of our country have been saved 

from famine. It is in such regions as those in India that the Government has devoted the most time, attention, and money for the construction of irrigation works as a means of protection against such losses, 

and convincing arguments have been brought to prove that money 

expended in such protective works is saved to the Government.

The high price paid for labor as compared with that in India is the 

argument generally used to prove that similar profitable returns from 

irrigation enterprises in this country cannot necessarily be expected,
WILSON.] VALUE AND NECESSITY OF IEEIGATION. 31

as the cost of construction here would be proportionately so much 

greater as to demand a higher return from the use of water in order to 

pay a corresponding rate of interest. It is not improbable that with 

the increased amount of work done by an American laborer as compared with that of a Hindoo coolie, and with the aid of many mechanical 

devices, the discrepancy in cost is not so great. Moreover, returns 

derived from irrigation works in the two countries are more nearly 

equalized from the fact that we can impose a higher tax for the use of 

water than it is possible to demand of the poor farmers in India, where 

from 2 to 5 acres support a large family. The apparent low cost of 

Indian labor is at first glance against this argument. Men, women, and 

children are engaged alike in the construction of all works. As common laborers women and children receive about 4 cents per day, and 

men from 8 to 10 cents. Skilled masons and machinists receive from 

18 to 22 cents per day, and carpenters and blacksmiths nearly the 

same.

In the interior towns of the Bombay Presidency contract prices are 

about as follows: At the Bhatgur dam uncoursed rubble masonry costs 

$1.75 per cubic yard, while at the Tansa dam it costs $2.50 per yard. In 

the Northwest Provinces earth excavations in deep canal cuts cost 6f 

cents per cubic yard, while surface excavation costs 24^ cents. In the 

Punjab, according to the revenue reports, water in the canals yields a 

return of from 70 cents to $1.25 per second-foot, while the water rate 

charged per acre irrigated was from 70 cents to $1.15. In Bombay, 

according to the revenue report of 1889, the water rate derived was 

$1.15 per acre irrigated, and ranged from 35 cents to $3, the latter 

figure being abnormal and paid for the irrigation of sugar-cane crops, 

which require an enormous amount of water in their cultivation. 

Against these prices we are able to obtain in the central arid regions 

of America a revenue of from $1.50 to $3 per acre, which is equivalent 

for a duty of 80 acres per second-foot to from $120 to $240 per secondfoot utilized. In California and other portions of the country where 

water is scarce and the crops valuable the rate is usually many times 

higher than the above.

In the province of Sind in the Indus Valley, including the southern 

Punjab, there is an enormous and thirsty waste of sandy desert where 

the annual precipitation is always below 10 inches, even falling as low 

as 3 or 4 inches. There nothing can be grown without the aid of irrigation, and the entire area under cultivation and the population supported thereby are entirely dependent on irrigation. The works in that 

region are chiefly inundation canals with a few perennial canals mostly 

taken from the Indus Kiver. In the Sind alone over 3,000,000 acres 

are under cultivation, and yield an annual revenue of about $3,700,000.

In Bombay and the Northwest Provinces nearly double the population is now sustained that was supported previous to the introduction 

of modern irrigation works. According to Col. Baird Smith, the whole
32 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

of the region irrigated by the Eastern Jumna canal would have been 

devastated by the famine of 1837-38 without the aid of the irrigation 

which that canal afforded. With its aid the population was comfortably supported and the gross revenue derived from the use of the water 

was $2,445,000, of which the Government received a yearly net income 

of $250,000, and this shortly after the completion of the work. In the 

same year the united Eastern and Western Jumna canals were estimated to have saved property to the value of $10,000,000, and as a 

result of this showing the British Government shortly afterwards began 

the construction of the great Ganges canal and other similar works, 

From the report of Major Baker, R. E., it appears from actual measurements made on the Western Jumna canal in 1838 that the gross 

value of crops on lands irrigated by that canal was $7,500,000, of which 

$750,000 was paid to the Government as land and water rent; the 

remainder aided to feed and support the inhabitants of 500 villages 

during a period of devastating famine. Without irrigation this land 

would, during that drought, have been totally unproductive.

As an indication of the increased revenue derived from the use of 

water and the capability of the soil to pay that increase, it appears 

that in the presidency of Madras the rate of assessment in the tank 

region is about $2.30 per acre on irrigated land, as against 55 cents 

per acre on land not irrigated. It is difficult to show in a satisfactory 

manner what has been the actual result of the irrigation works in 

India as financial undertakings. The figures given convey little idea 

of the actual benefit derived from the canals, as much of this is collected as the land tax, which forms nearly half the total revenue of 

the Indian Government.

Another difficulty in reviewing the financial results of Indian irrigation works is found in the fact that in several cases capital shown 

by the Government accounts does not include the value of the old 

native works, upon which the British undertakings were founded. 

Recognizing these difficulties, Major-General Dickens presented to 

the select committee on public works a statement of which the following is a summary, which was given as the nearest approximate to the 

truth that could be obtained. This statement was for the year 

1875-76 only, and no allowance was made for the value of the old 

native works, which General Dickens stated did not exceed $2,500,000. 

The total expenditure to date was 177,500,000; the total receipts were 

$6,150,000, and the working expenses were $2,000,000. This shows 

that the irrigation works of India, taken altogether, paid at that time 

a revenue, direct and indirect, of 5^ per cent to the state. This 

includes some works which were only partially in operation. General 

Dickens anticipated that when in full operation they would eventually pay 6 to 7 per cent.

As an indication of the time which must necessarily expire after a 

canal work is opened and before it is doing its full duty and return-
WILSON,] VALUE AND NECESSITY OP IRRIGATION. 33

ing its full revenue, the great Ganges canal was fourteen years in 

operation before it paid 4 per cent on its simple capital, and Colonel 

Crofton, the late inspector-general of irrigation in India, appears to 

think that ten years is by no means an unreasonable time to elapse 

after an irrigation work has been put in operation before it can pay 

interest on its cost. Gen. B. Strachey in 1865 gave it as his opinion 

that it was not likely that even 6 per cent would be realized in ten 

years on the capital stock on any but the smallest irrigation works, 

while Col. Baird Smith took it for granted, in reporting on the proposed Soane canal, that the works would not be self-supporting for 

sixteen years after they had been opened for irrigation.

The following quotations are from the reports of the select commission appointed in 1888 by the British Government to report on measures of protection from and prevention of famine. This report bears 

great weight, owing to the high character of the members of the commission, both as engineers and men of experience in the construction 

and management of irrigation works and as statesmen of broad views, 

whose integrity can not be doubted. This commission consisted of Gen. 

Richard Strachey, James Caird, H. S. Cunningham, H. E. Sullivan, 

and J. P. Peile. Their remarks relative to the value of irrigation 

works were as follows:

It is not only in years of drought and as a protection against famine that irrigation works are of value. I'D. seasons of average rainfall they are of great service 

and a source of great wealth, giving certainty to all agricultural operations, increasing the outturn per acre of the crops, and enabling more valuable descriptions of 

crops to be grown. The following instances may be quoted from the mass of evidence before the commission: The outlay on completed canals in the Punjab up 

to the close of 1877-78 had been $11,300,000. The total area irrigated by them was 

1,324,000 acres. The value of food grains raised on two works, the Western Jumna 

and the Bari Doab canals, was $14,400,000. It may, without exaggeration, be reckoned that one-half of these, crops would have perished if unwatered, or would not 

have been raised at all if the canals had been absent, so that in that one year alone 

the wealth of the Punjab was increased by these two canals by $7,200,000, an 

amount equal to about two-thirds the cost of the works, and but for the protection 

they afforded the Government would have lost heavily from the necessity of remitting revenue and otherwise providing for famine relief. The net revenue for the 

year in the Punjab was only $610,000, being about 5£ per cent on the capital outlay 

on works in operation, a result which obviously supplies a wholly inadequate test 

of their value to the country.

Up to the year 1878 the capital outlay on canals completed in the Northwest 

Provinces had been $21,800,000. The area irrigated that year was 1,461,000 acres, 

the value of the crop raised on which was estimated at $80,000,000. Half of the 

area irrigated was occupied by autumn crops, which but for irrigation must have 

been wholly lost, and it may be safely said that the wealth of these provinces was 

consequently increased by $15,000,000, so that three-fourths of the entire first cost 

of the works was thus repaid to the country in that same year. The net revenue 

to the Government from irrigation in these Provinces was $1,550,000, or 7i per 

cent on the whole capital outlay of $38,750,000, of which about $6,350,000 was still 

unproductive.

IRE 87 03 3
34 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

The results of irrigation are not so favorable in Bengal and Behar as in the above 

two provinces, chiefly because irrigation is there less necessary since the rainfall is 

more abundant. There is sufficient evidence of its value in Madras. The three 

great deltaic systems of irrigation, the Godaveri, the Kistna, and the Cauveri, yield 

direct returns of 8, 6, and 31 per cent, respectively, on the capital spent on them. 

During the year 1876-77, a year when every unirrigated district was importing a 

large part of the food of its population, the value of rice produced in the deltas of 

the Godaveri and Kistna rivers is calculated at the prices then prevailing to have 

been not less than $25_,000,000. The ordinary rental of land in northern India is 

doubled by irrication, while in 11 districts of Madras the average rental rises 

from 40 cents to $1.70 per acre. In considering this question it should be borne 

in mind that there are other causes of financial ill success of irrigation works; the 

one temporary, the other permanent. In the one case the works may fail to pay 

for a time because of the slowness with which the people adapt themselves to the 

new system of cultivation, a difficulty which arises in almost every new work, or 

because of errors in the details of the scheme which experience detects and which 

are easily remedied. In the other case the failure may be due to the inherent 

defects of the scheme and to the fact that the water costs more than it is worth. 

In the former case there maybe reason to expect that the water will be eventually 

fully utilized and the deficit be converted into a surplus, though the accumulated 

excess charges during a series of years may amount to a large sum which receipts 

will only gradually wipe out. In the latter case, though there may be room for 

improvement and economy in the distribution and use of the water, it may be 

impossible ever to realize a surplus. a

According to the same authorities the net income of the whole works 

in operation in British India was in the year 1879-80 $5,830,000, which 

amounts within a very small fraction to 6 per cent of the whole capital, including about $16,250,000 spent on works not yet brought into 

operation. If this part of the outlay be excluded the income is found 

to be more than 7 per cent on the capital actually utilized. Compilation of the administrative reports of the various provinces of India 

shows a total expenditure in the first ten years of work (1867-1876) on 

denned projects to have been $52,850,000. Between 1877 and 1900 

the gross outlay was $285,000,000, the grand total expended on such 

work from 1867 to 1900 being $337,850,000. In the year 1900-1901 the 

expenditures on account of irrigation aggregated 111,500,000 and the 

revenues $12,075,000, the profit earned on the capital outlay being 7.5 

per cent.

The following statement of the water rents derived from the use of 

the Western Jumna canal in the Punjab between the years 1820 and 

1850 will give a fair idea of the rapidity with which the income from 

the use of irrigation works increases. In 1820 the water revenue was 

$420 per annum; in 1830 it was $28,800; in 1840 it was $112,900. On 

the Eastern Jumna canals in the Northwest Provinces the water revenue was in 1830 $3,000 per annum. In 1840 it was $29,300 per annum, 

and in 1845 it was $48,200 per annum. 6

"Report of the Indian Famine Commission, Part 2, London, 1880.

. Baird, F. <3K S., Italian Irrigation, London, 1855, vol. 1,818-340.
WD-SON.] FINANCE AND STATISTICS. 35

LAND AND CROPS.

The following table gives the area and population of the principal 

provinces of India according to the census of 1901:

Area and population of 'principal provinces of India.

Province.

Central Provinces _ _ _ _ _____ _ _ _ _____ _ _

Burma -._-__-._------_.--.________-.-_.__

Total British territory, including Burma,etc 

Total native States ......... __-_-_-. ...

Grand total, India ___._.___.._______

Area.

Square miles.

151, 185

107, 164

97, 209

86, 459

141,726

123, 064

236, 738

143, 704

1,087,249 

679, 393

1, 766, 642

Population.

74, 744, 866

47, 691, 783

20, 330, 339

9, 876, 646

38, 209, 436

18, 559, 561

10, 490, 624

11,996,343

231, 899, 597 

62,461,549

294,361,046

Density 

per square 

mile.

494

445

209

114

269

151

232 

92

162

Of British-born inhabitants, in 1891 there were 100,551; of agriculturists, 171,735,000, or 60 per cent of the whole population; and of 

manufacturers, 27,470,000. The mortality in India varies from 21 to 

28 per thousand.

The following table shows the areas cultivated and irrigated in the 

various provinces during the year 1900-1901:

Area cultivated and irrigated in principal provinces of India.

Province.

Bombay. --_-_-.- ......... ..-.-- .

Oudh _..._......._... ...........;

Central Provinces ........ . .......

Sind ._...__.'......_................

Total, including minor subAcres cultivated.

51, 607, 700

24, 509, 613

21,000,594

25, 614, 892

. 24,521,071

. 8, 965, 323

15, 250, 582

3, 729, 433

23, 116, 657

198, &i_ 865

Acres irrigated.

716,271

6, 579, 284

1, 800, 000

6, 000, 551

2, 568, 503

946,497

19, 538, 923

Net revenue.

|13, 066, 000

18,854,000

9, 791, 000

15,107,000

9,561,000

5,181,000

2,908,000

3,129,000

13,286,000

90,883,000
36 IRBIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

Counting irrigated areas cropped twice, the total acres irrigated 

were 32,059,993; and counting areas of all kinds cropped more than 

once, the total area under cultivation was 229,362,381 acres.

The following table gives the areas under cultivation of the principal 

crops produced during the same year:

'Extent and character of crops.

Crop.

Bice . . --------- ..-.--.

Wheat--____.__. .. ......

Area under cultivation.

Acres. 

70, 093, 373

20, 164, 824

92, 566, 949

2 577 742

9, 614, 720

12, 962, 072

Crop.

Tea.--_-._. ............

Indigo . ...... ,_ . . .

. Total, including

Area urder cultivation.

Acres. 

502, 173

984, 449

' 1,005,541

229, 362, 381

Irrigation works for which accounts were kept paid 7.5 per cent 

interest in 1897-98 on the capital outlay. The estimated value of the 

irrigated crops in that year was $150,000,000.

It will be observed from the first table that the proportion of area 

irrigated to the total area under cultivation is very large, one-sixth of 

the whole being irrigated. Since the introduction of improved irrigation works and the great increase in the area of land brought under 

the control of these works the quantity of the more valuable food crops, 

and more especially those which come in direct competition with foreign countries, has greatly and rapidly increased. The production of 

cotton was largest in 1866, at the close of the American civil war, when 

the exports amounted to $185,000,000. Since then the exports of this 

product have decreased considerably, and now its average is on the 

increase and amounts to about $52,773,000. Cotton is produced 

chiefly in Guzerat, the Deccan, the Central Provinces, Sind, and Bombay. The yield is as high as 100 pounds of cleaned cotton per acre, 

but the staple is short and the product is not as valuable as that of 

the United States.

Another crop which is being extensively exported in recent years is 

wheat. It is grown generally everywhere, but does not thrive where 

rice does nor south of the Central Provinces. The Punjab is the greatest wheat-producing district, then the Northwest Provinces, Oudh and 

and Bengal south of the Ganges. In the Central Provinces wheat 

occupies 23 per cent of the cultivated area, in Bombay and Sind 6 to 

12 per cent, and all India has an area under wheat one-third as large 

as has the United States. . The output per acre is rather small. In 

the Punjab it is 13 bushels per acre; in other places a trifle more or 

less. Wheat is an autumn crop and is all irrigated. To the con-
WILSON.] LAND AND CROPS. £7

struetion of the great canals of the Punjab and Northern Provinces is 

due the quality and prominence which it possesses.

Rice is an extensively cultivated crop, but it is limited to the deltas 

of the Orissa, Godaveri, and other large rivers and to Bengal; 80 per 

cent of the crops raised in such regions is rice. Elsewhere little is 

grown excepting in the lowlands along the coast. In Bengal the average yield per acre is 1,200 pounds of clean rice. Millet is more 

extensively and generally grown than any other crop excepting in 

the special rice districts. A variety of sorghum called jowari and a 

spiked millet called bajra are the most common varieties. They are 

wet weather or spring crops and are used somewhat by the natives for 

food, but are chiefly used as fodder. Oil seeds form an important 

crop. These are usually grown as a second crop after rice and pulses. 

Oil is extensively used in India for lamps and for food. The largest 

oil-seed producing provinces ^re Bengal and the Northwest, but these 

crops are also extensively grown in Madras and elsewhere.

All kinds of vegetables and fruits are produced everywhere in India, 

these being the chief food of the natives. Among the more important 

kinds are potatoes, which are grown especially in* the hills, maize, 

tomatoes, eggplants, mangoes, oranges, lemoms, melons, figs, plantains, 

and cocoanuts. Cocoanut palms are grown most abundantly on the 

west coast lowlands, and date palms in Bengal. The production of 

the ordinary spices is rather abtindant. They are mostly, however, 

for home consumption, for us$ in curries, etc., as tujaerie, chile, chicory, coriander, and others. Sugar cane is very extensively cultivated 

throughout India, especially in the Northwest Provinces, and in Bombay, but it is an expensive crop to produce, both because of the time 

required to mature it and the amount of water necessary to irrigate 

it. The varieties of sugar cane produced in India are not equal to 

those produced in America and in the West Indies, the proportion of 

saccharine matter being comparatively low.

Jute is a plant almost exclusively produced in Ind}a and very extensively exported. It is chiefly grown in northern and eastern Bengal. 

Indigo is extensively grown in the Northwest Provinces, Punjab and 

Madras, chiefly by the natives. It is most extensively produced, however,, in Behar by English capitalists. The expense of making the 

dye from the plant is such that the natives are seldom able to cultivate and manufacture it; hence the factories are usually under the

control of British capital. j*oppy for the production of opium is

grown extensively in the Ga ages Valley near Patna and Benares, and 

in central India. Its cultivation requires much cafre and attention 

and is usually an indication of intelligence and prosperity on the 

part of the cultivators. Tobacco is generally grown in small quantities everywhere in India. The best is produced in Madras, whence 

the variety known as Trichiikopoly is extensively exported. Coffee is 

produced in small quantities in southern India only. Tea is exten-
38 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

sively cultivated in Assam, where it is indigenous, but it is also raised 

about Darjeeling in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is an expensive crop to prepare for market and is cultivated chiefl j by Europeans. 

Its quality is constantly being improved and the amount exported is 

annually increasing.

The advantage of using manure is apparently well understood, and 

if not extensively used it is because of the limited means of the cultivators. The rotation of crops is not generally practiced, since owing 

to the extensive use of water for irrigation it does not seem to be so 

necessary. The soil throughout India differs essentially in different 

localities; it is generally very fertile on the great Gangetan Plain, 

while the black cotton soil of the Deccan is perhaps the most fertile 

in the world.

The kharif or wet-weather crop is matured chiefly by the rains of 

the summer monsoon. It is sown as soon as the spring rain fall admits 

of the plowing of the land, and it is reaped in September or October. 

The rabi or autumn crop is the dry-weather crop and requires the 

largest amount of artificial watering for its cultivation. It is sown in 

October and is reaped in March or April. The principal crops produced during the wet season are rice, cotton, sugar cane, etc. During 

the autumn season the more hardy grains are produced, especially the 

food grains, such as wheat, barley, etc. The millet and fodder grains 

are chiefly sown in the higher lands and depend for the most part on 

natural rainfall, as their requirements in the way of water are usually 

less than those of other crops.
CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHY, METEOROLOGY, AND FORESTRY. 

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.

India includes within its borders the highest mountains in the world 

and some of the mightiest risers and greatest plains. Topographically 

it may be divided into threje distinct parts, each possessing different 

topographic features. First, the Himalayas, which form a great 

mountain barrier on the notth and shut out the rest of Asia, forming 

a controlling factor in the climate and physical geography of India; 

second, the plains of the great rivers issuing from the Himalayas, the 

Indus and Ganges plains; and third, south of these plains a high, 

steep-sided table-land supported by the Vindhaya Mountains on the 

north and by the western and eastern Ghauts on either side of the 

peninsula. This great interior table-land is broken by many peaks 

and mountain ranges separated by broad and fertile valleys.

The Himalayas take thein name from afti Indian word which means 

literally "dwelling place ofl snow," and consist of a great mountain 

range 1,500 miles long, the) general trend being from northwest to 

southeast. This mountain rjange may be likened to the Sierra Nevada, 

bordering the eastern side ofj the great California Valley. Approached 

from the southern or plains side there is the same general appearance 

of low, rolling foothills, the higher peaks being so far back from the 

edge of the valley as to be scarcely discernible. This mountain range 

or aggregation of mountain ranges is also similar to the Sierras in its 

composite formation. On top and behind it is a high arid plateau 

which corresponds to the Nevada desert.

The highest peak in the Himalayas is Mount Everest, 29,002 feet 

above the sea, while peaks above 20,000 feet elevation abound in all 

parts of the range. There ^re numerous well-traveled trails leading 

from India through Kashmir and Nepal into Tibet and China, and 

the passes on these are from '16,000 to 19,000 feet high, and for several 

days the traveler remains above 16,000 feet in altitude. Only one 

pass is as low as 16,400 feet.

The Indus River rises well north of the first great range of the 

Himalayas and drains nearly half of their northern slope, and after 

flowing around the western extremity of the range it turns and flows 

southwardly, being joined by various tributaries which drain the southern and western slope. Its main drainage area is situated at a great

39
40 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

altitude among the glaciers of the Himalayas. Its drainage basin in 

the Himalayas alone is about 32,550 square miles in area, while with 

its affluents the whole basin drains 311,600 square miles. This river, 

with its branches, affords the chief source of water supply and drainage to the provinces of Punjab and Sind.

The northeastern slope of the Himalayas is drained by the Brahmaputra River, which, like the Indus, rises north of the mountains, draining about one-half of their northern slope, and after breaking through 

the Himalaya Range it flows westwardly through the valley of Assam 

to its junction with the Ganges River, 100 miles from the sea. The 

drainage basin of the Brahmaputra north of the Himalayas is about 

95,000 square miles in area. Like the Indus, its upper basin is at a 

great altitude. As yet its waters are but little used for irrigation, as 

the country through which it flows generally receives a fair rainfall. 

The average elevation of the Indian watershed between the headwaters 

of the Brahmaputra and Indus rivers is above 18,000 feet in altitude.

The Ganges River and its tributaries drain the larger portion of the 

southern slope of the Himalayas. The catchment area above an elevation of 1,000 feet is very small relatively to that of the Indus and 

Brahmaputra, while the total catchment area is 414,000 square miles. 

This river flows eastward through the great plains of the Northwest 

Provinces and Bengal to its junction with the Brahmaputra, whence 

it flows southward to the Bay of Bengal. The southwestern slope of 

the Himalayas, in the province of Punjab (which name means "The 

Five Waters"), is drained by the main five tributaries of the Indus, 

viz, the Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelam, and Indus rivers, all of which 

join below Mooltan, whence they flow southward to the Arabian Sea. 

All these rivers are extensively used in irrigation.

The southern foothill ranges of the Himalayas north of the Punjab 

and the Northwest Provinces are from 3,000 to 4,000 feet high, and are 

called the Sewaliks. Between the Sewalik Hills and the sub-Himalayas is a disconnected line of valleys from 2,000 to 2,500 feet in altitude. These valleys are called the Duns. The sub-Himalayas, which 

form a higher range or belt of Mils north of the Duns and between 

them and the main range, are from 15 to 50 miles in width north and 

south, and are sometimes separated by several successive dun-like 

valleys. These latter are artificially drained and cultivated in places 

and are. very fertile. In the sub-Himalayas are the mountain resorts 

of the various provincial governments of India, at altitudes varying 

between 7,000 and 8,000 feet. In a portion of the northern or Gangetan Plain to the east of the Ganges is a broad belt from 10 to 15 miles 

wide. It is a broad, grassy tract, traversed by sluggish streams, with 

extensive morasses and marshes, and is called the Tarai.

The great northern plain stretches with an unbroken surface along 

the foot of the Himalayas' from the upper Indus in Punjab to the 

Ganges delta near Calcutta and in a wide valley along the Brahma-
wnso».] - TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 41

putra called Assam. Its area is about 500,000 square miles, and it is 

nowhere above 1,000 feet in elevation and appears to be perfectly flat. 

The northern, central, and eastern portions are well watered by rivers 

having their sources in the Himalayas or in the Ghauts. Assam has 

a periodical rainfall, and the whole of this northern plain forms the 

best cultivated, the richest, the most populous, and the most civilized 

district of India. This plain receives the water of four great river 

systems that of the Indus, of the Brahmaputra, and the combined 

Ganges, Jumna, Sutlej, etc., draining the southern Himalaya slopes, 

and the Betwa, Chumbul, and Soane, draining the Vindhaya Mountains and northern Ghauts.

The third great topographic division of India is the table-land 

before alluded to, generally called the Deccan, and includes the 

Central Provinces, Hyderabad, Bombay, Madras, and Mysore The 

highest peaks of the northern Deecan are Mount Aboo, 5,650 feet 

high, on the west and Mount Parasnath, 4,450 feet high, on the east, 

while the hills generally vary from 1,500 to 4,000 feet in altitude and 

consist of ridges separated by broad, high plains and masses of forest.

The eastern and western Ghauts are great, irregular ranges of mountains, extending the whole length of the eastern and western coasts. 

The eastern Ghauts average 1,500 feet in elevation; the western 

Ghauts ascend sharply from the sea to an average elevation of 2,000 

feet, with peaks varying from 6,000 to 8,700 feet in height. The 

western slope of this range is extremely rugged, having much the 

appearance of the mesa edges in the western United States. The 

eastern Ghauts are a aeries of broken spurs, not continuous like the 

western Ghauts, and afford easy access to the interior. The inner 

plateau between these mountain ranges is from 1,000 to 3,000 feet in 

elevation, dotted with peaks and ranges over 4,000 feet in elevation, 

and it is approached through the western Ghauts by only a few difficult passes. The general appearance of this country is very similar 

to that of northern New Mexico and Arizona and of southern Utah.

The western Ghauts form the watershed of the central plateau. 

Only short streams flow from them into the Indian Ocean, the main 

drainage making its way eastward across the central plateau, breaking through the eastern Ghauts and emptying into the Bay of Bengal. 

The chief rivers, viz, the Godaveri, Cauveri, and Kistna, rise in the 

western Ghauts; their deltas in Madras form extensive and fertile 

plains, which their waters irrigate. The chief population of this central region is on the eastern slope, and here irrigation is extensively 

practiced, not only from great rivers in their lower or coast levels, 

but also by means of storage in the western portions of Madras, 

Mysore, and in Bombay. Of the important rivers of this region the 

drainage basin of the Godaveri is 119,000 square miles; that of the 

Kistna is 59,500 square miles, and that of the Cauveri 30,300 square 

miles in area.
42 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

The flood discharges of the various great Indian rivers are enormous. 

The Indus above Sakkar discharges as high as 380,000 second-feet, 

which is equivalent to 15 second-feet per square mile of catchment. 

The Ganges in flood may discharge 1,350,000 second-feet, which is 

a little less than 5 second-feet per square mile of catchment; the 

Godaveri discharges in great floods 1,350,000 second-feet, or 11 secondfeet per square mile; the Kistna a little less than 1,200,000 second-feet; 

and so small a stream as the. Soane, rising in the Vindhayas, with a 

catchment area of about 34,000 square miles, discharges 1,700,000 

second-feet, equivalent to 50 second-feet per square mile of catchment. 

One river in southern India, the Gadanamathi, having a catchment 

of only 29 square miles, discharges in flood 28,000 second-feet, or 972 

second-feet per square mile, and other rivers discharge nearly as large 

relative amounts.

The following table, giving some details of discharges, etc., of various large rivers near their mouths, is taken from Heywood : a

Discharges of large Indian rivers.

Elvers.

Godaveri- .--...

Extreme 

breadth of 

river bed.

Miles.

Kl

li

4 

1

Extreme 

breadth of 

channel.

Miles.

gl

It

2*

£

Least 

breadth of 

channel.

Miles. 

U

i

ii

t

Pall per 

mile.

Feet.

in

1.09 

3.5

Rise in 

monsoon.

Feet.

27

35

30 

12

Greatest 

depth in 

dry season.

Feet. 

30

10

10 

6

Rivers.

Kistna . ...

Surface 

current 

in floods 

per hour.

Miles. 

4to7

n

44 

6

Flood 

section.

Sq. feet. 

288,000 

153, 000 

216,000 

37,800

Flood discharge per 

second.

Cubic feet. 

1,800,000 

1,500,000 

1,500,000 

300,000

Least discharge in 

dry season 

per second.

Cubic feet.

45, 000 

1,125 

2,250 

None.

Longest 

duration 

of flood.

Days. 

40 

10 

10

10

Area of 

delta.

Sq. miles.

3,000

The geology of India varies with the topography. The great northern plain is an alluvial deposit, on the surface of which not a pebble 

can be found excepting near the foot of the hills. It probably 

belongs to the post-Tertiary, judging from a few fossil mammals, 

fishes, and crocodiles which have been found, and is probably the 

result of delta deposits. The Sewalik Hills also belong to recent 

geologic times and are composed of micaceous sandstones, interspersed with bits of clay and marl, their age being Miocene or Pliocene. The sub-Himalayas belong to the Tertiary epoch and are of

«Jackson Hydraulic Works, London, 1885, p. 350.
WILSON.] METEOROLOGY. 43

marine origin, composed chiefly of sandstones, argillaceous shales,' 

schists, and limestones. The main range of the Himalayas is composed chiefly of schistose rocks, mica-schists, and gneiss, and some 

granite and limestone.

In the Deccan the oldest rocks consist of gneiss, which is found in 

large portions of Bengal and Madras and is pre-Siltirian. The great 

mass of the central plateau, perhaps 200,000 miles in area, consists of 

what is known as Deccan trap, which forms the most striking physical feature of the landscape. Most of the great ranges of mountains, 

with their rugged outlines and the square buttes or ghauts and mesas, 

are the denuded edges of basaltic flows. It is from these jagged or 

step-like ranges that they receive their name of ghauts, which means 

"steps." The soil is largely composed of disintegrated laterite, a 

ferruginous and argillaceous rock occurring over the trap but also 

found elsewhere. High-level laterite is usually a result of the decomposition of trap, and the soil of much of the central plateau which it 

forms is very poor in quality. Low-level laterite is more sandy, often 

containing gravel, and forms most of the better soil fringing the coast.

METEOROLOGY.

The rainfall in India is exclusively from the evaporation of the 

Indian Ocean and the two bays which surround the peninsula. The 

distribution of rainfall is extremely variable, ranging from a couple 

of inches per annum in portions of the Sind to over 600 inches in a 

limited area in Assam. By far the greater part of the rainfall is 

brought direct from the ocean between the months of June and October by the regular periodical wind known as the summer monsoon. 

In upper India the cessation of the summer rains is followed by a 

rapid fall of temperature under a perfectly clear and cloudless sky. 

A cool and dry current sets in from the northwest, down the Ganges 

Valley toward Bengal and from the north across the northern Deccan, 

south of which it turns and sets toward the Bombay coast. The plateau of Hyderabad, Madras, and Mysore receives a small amount of 

rain in October and even later. In lower Bengal and on the coast a 

few inches of rain are expected in October and are of importance to 

the late summer crops and in sowing or germinating cold-weather or 

autumn crops. The latter part of October and November and the 

earlier portion of winter in northern India are generally rainless. The' 

late winter rains, which are small in amount and are regular only in 

upper India, rarely set in much before January.

With regard to this periodic distribution the rainfall in different 

parts of India may be summarized thus: From June to September 

rain falls more or less heavily throughout the entire area, excepting 

upon the dry plains of the Sind, where it is extremely rare and sometimes fails altogether. In a portion of the Punjab and in the Carnatic 

the summer rain is restricted to occasional showers. In October, when
44 IRRIGATION Of INDIA. [NO. 87.

the rains have ceased in upper India, Bengal, etc., the heavy rains of 

Madras set in and continue until the middle or end of December. 

About this time begin the light rains of upper India, which are experienced in the Northwest Provinces and fall at intervals to the end of 

March, after which the dry season continues till the end of June, the 

beginning of the monsoon. In lower Bengal and in Assam the rains 

become more frequent from January on, and are chiefly afternoon 

storms. On the coast of Malabar they are earlier than in Bombay. 

In Madras occasional showers are expected after February, but the 

steady rain begins only in October.

In the Ganges delta the mean annual precipitation is from 60 to 70 

inches. On the great plain, including the Northwest Provinces, it 

averages 40 inches, and at the summit of the great plain west of Delhi 

it varies from 25 to 30 inches per annum. At the mountain stations 

in the sub-Himalayas the annual precipitation ranges from 90 to 120 

inches. Farther in the Himalayas, at an elevation of 10,000 feet or 

above, the rainfall is only 10 or 20 inches, while the snowfall may be 

6 to 8 feet or more. There is a difference of from 10 to 15 inches 

between the precipitation over the southern and northern portions of 

the Gangetan Plain. In the Punjab the highest average precipitation 

is in the sub-Himalayas, where it is 68 inches per annum. At Mooltan it is but 7 inches per annum, which is a low average, and at Dera 

Ismail Khan the annual precipitation is 8.2 inches per annum, nearly 

the average of the Punjab. In central India the annual precipitation 

in the lower lands varies between 20 inches at Jeypur and 32 inches 

at Khundwa, while the minimum in the mountains, such as Mount 

Aboo, is 61 inches.

In the Northwest Provinces the general average is 26.5 inches at 

Muthra or Agra, while Aligarh has a minimum of 24 inches. In Bengal 

the maximum average on the coast is 105 inches, and the minimum 

average on the plains at Patna is 38 inches. In Assam at Chara Punji 

the maximum average of the world is reached in an annual precipitation 

of 368 inches, while in the same place in 1861 30 inches fell in twentyfour hours and 805 inches fell during that year. In Bombay in the 

western Ghauts the maximum average is 250 inches, and the minimum 

average in the lowlands at Duhlia is 17 inches. The general average 

of Bombay is 67 inches. In the Sind the maximum average of 16 

 inches is at Negar, and the minimum average, 4.3 inches, at Jacobabad. In Madras the highest annual precipitation is 132 inches at 

Manalore and,Calicut; the lowest at Belary and Tuticorin is from 16 

to 18 inches, the average of Madras being 44 inches.

The following average annual temperatures at different points in 

India indicate the tropical character of the climate and the small percentage of cold weather which prevails. At Trichinopoli and Madras, 

on the southeast coast, the annual averages are 82.8° and 82.4°, respectively. On the southwest coast, at Goa and Cochin, the annual aver-
WBWOK.] FORESTRY. 45

age temperature is nearly 80°; at Calcutta it is 79.2°, and at Bombay 

78.8°, the latter city being the coolest of the three presidency towns. 

At the.hill station of Simla, at an elevation of 7,100 feet, the average 

annual temperature is 54.4°. The highest monthly temperature occurs 

at Mooltan in June, and is 95°; at Delhi it is 94.3°. The lowest 

monthly temperature is at the high hill stations, being at Simla 39.6° 

in January.

FORESTRY.

In recent years the British Indian government has paid much attention to the preservation of its forests, and is now reaping the benefit 

in the large income derived from the sale of timber.

The establishment of the government department of forestry is of 

recent date, brought about by the destruction of forests for fuel, for 

charcoal, and other wasteful causes. In 1844 and 1847 the subject 

was first taken up by the governors of Bombay and Madras. In 1864 

Dr. Brandis was appointed inspector-general of forestry, and in 1867 

the regular training of forestry officers was commenced at the schools 

of France and Germany, where it is still continued. At present discriminate timber cutting is allowed, but the burning of hill brush is 

stopped; the forest areas are surveyed and demarked, plantations laid 

out and maintained, and forestry conservation otherwise carried on.

Forests are classified as reserved and open. The former are the 

immediate property of the State and are managed by the forestry 

department, their development being a source of wealth. Cattle are 

excluded from them, destructive crops and undergrowth destroyed, 

and the cutting of timber is strictly regulated. The open forests are 

less carefully guarded, but certain kinds of timber trees are protected. 

Large amounts of money are annually spent in the plantations, and 

wherever needful young trees are planted to replace those removed. 

In 1878 there were 12,000,000 acres of reserved forests. The revenue 

was $3,320,000 and the expenditures $2,000,000, showing a fair net 

profit. Ten years later, in 1888, there were 43,520,000 acres of State 

forest land, the net revenue after deducting all working expenses 

being $2,020,000.

The British officials generally hold that the effect of forest denudation on rainfall is doubtful and much disputed. Contrary to what 

might have been expected, there is no evidence to show whether the 

actual rainfall has decreased or increased in consequence. They all 

agree, however, that forest destruction has acted injuriously by letting flood waters run off too rapidly and that these waters are lost. 

They also do much damage as floods. Three-quarters of a century 

ago immense tracts of southern India were overspread with jungle 

and the slopes of the Ghauts were universally timber clad. Most of 

the level woodland has since been cleared for cultivation and the 

timber cut down for fuel. But another and scarcely less evil has
46 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

resulted. Formerly tne water was partially protected from evaporation by tne sheltering trees. Its flow on the surface was mechanically 

reduced by the jungle grass and tree trunks; it had time to be 

absorbed by the vegetable mold and to sink into the earth, thereby 

insuring the permanence of the natural springs. Not till this was 

done did the residue find its way to the rivers, and then at a comparative^ tardy pace; Now, however, as a rule the rivers are in violent 

flood for about as many days as they used to be for weeks in moderate 

flood.«

aThornton, W. T., Journal of the Society of Arts, London, 18T8, vol. 26, p. 379.
CHAPTER III. 

HISTORY AND ADMINISTRATION.

HISTORY OF IRRIGATION WORKS.

Among the first mention made of the irrigation jworks of India are 

those of Arab historians of the works constructed by the early Mohammedan emperors in the Northwest Provinces and in the Punjab. 

Small works, especially tanks, probably existed at much earlier dates 

in southern India.

It is related that about 1351 A. T>. the Emperor Feroze Toghlak 

built 50 dams across rivers for the promotion of irrigation and 30 

reservoirs for irrigation purposes. .The first important canal specifically mentioned was built by the same emperor, and was taken from 

the Chouting River to Hansi and Hissar. Fifty years later this canal 

became partly disused after the emperor's death. Th&next important 

mention of irrigation workis that the great Emperor Akbar constructed, 

in 1567, a canal from the river Jumna. It is stated that this canal 

was constructed by the aid of forced labor, but the laborers had privileges thereafter of using the water, and the superintendent saw that 

all parties, rich and poor alike, received their share. This was the 

first Western Jumna canal. In 1626 the Shah Jehan had the celebrated architect, Ali Murdan Khan, construct the Delhi- Canal, which 

follows much the same line as does the present Western Jumna. At 

first this canal was constructed on a high bank following the water 

courses, but the banks burst and the canal became inoperative. The 

architect then ran a new line as far as Delhi, following the watershed. On this canal an escape was introduced for the discharge of 

surplus water. It had one channel 60 feet in depth cut through solid 

rock. About 1753 these ancient Mogul canals ceased to exist, owing 

to the decline of the Mogul power and to the constant wars, which at 

that time prevented their being kept up.

The Eastern Jumna Canal was also begun by Ali Murdan Khan and 

headed at the foot of the sub-Himalayas. This canal reached to Saharanpur and beyond. It was abandoned after the first season, owing to 

its bad alignment, as it was constructed in the lower drainage lines 

and bottdms. In 1780 Zabita Khan reopened this canal, but it was 

carried away during the first season and was then abandoned.

The first of the modern irrigation works of magnitude was commenced under the Marquis of Hastings in 1817, when Lieutenant 

Blaine established the head of supply of the Western Jumna canal at 

 ' ' 47
48 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO.87.

a point high up on that river. This work was practically a restoration 

of the old Mogul canal, following and using the low lines of drainage 

to Delhi. No bridges were constructed and only earth embankments 

were used. The new development of these canals is due to Col. John 

M. Colvin, who in 1820 extended the above project beyond Delhi, and 

constructed many bridges and drainage works. Ten years later the 

earth banks across the drainages of Patrala Sombe were replaced by 

masonry dams.

The line of the Eastern Jumna canal was surveyed in 1822 by Lieutenant Debude, and the canal was opened in 1830. The ancient bed 

was cleared to a depth of 4 feet below the surface level and in general 

a new alignment was made which was fairly good, following up the 

highest divide or watershed. Owing to the steepness of fall given at 

first the levels retrograded and nearly destroyed the canal. Colonel 

Cautley rectified this by the introduction of falls, and in 1840 he introduced better works for the passage of side drainage.

Up to this time the irrigation works of India had been constructed 

chiefly by the East India Company. In 1858 the Government granted 

the Madras Irrigation Company and East India Irrigation Company 5 

per cent on the capital invested, and these companies commenced the 

construction of works, the Government retaining considerable command over their operations, inspecting the plans and sanctioning the 

expenditures. Both of these experiments proved costly failures to the 

State, and in 1867 the Government purchased the works of the East 

India Irrigation Company when the latter was practically bankrupt. 

The Madras Irrigation Company has succeeded only one year in paying working expenses, but still carries on work under Government 

guaranty.

In 1867 the Government decided to construct its own irrigation 

works and great activity prevailed at once, the Government irrigation 

force being largely increased. In 1869 schemes for ten years' work, 

involving $150,000,000 expenditures, were outlined, and the following 

sums were expended: In 1867, $1,096,000; in 1868, $2,344,250; in 1869, 

$10,040,000, and so on. The total expenditures for the first ten years 

actually amounted to $52,850,000. Since then the Government works 

have generally proA^ed satisfactory investments, and as they have certainly added to the wealth and prosperity of the country and have 

mitigated the severity of famines, large sums have been annually 

appropriated for the maintenance of existing works and the construction of new ones.

ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION. «

The administration of the irrigation works of India is conducted by 

the public works department, and the engineers are all civil servants 

in the employ of the British Government. Their status is fixed by 

law, their promotions are usually by seniority, as m the army and navy,
WILSON.] ADMINISTEATION AND LEGISLATION. 49

and, like the members of those branches of the governmental service, 

they receive stated salaries, according to the grades they occupy. 

They are entitled to leaves of absence and furloughs, and are retired 

with pensions after certain periods of service.

By parliamentary act of August 2, 1858, all the territory of India 

was vested in Her Majesty the Queen. All tributes and payments 

are received and disposed of in her name. In the British cabinet the 

secretary of state for India was vested with the powers previously 

held by the board of control under the old East India Company regime, 

and later on, by act of January 1, 1877, at Delhi, India, Her Majesty 

assumed the title of Empress of India.

The executive authority of India is vested in a governor-general 

called the viceroy, who is appointed by the Crown and acts under 

orders of the secretary of state for India. He is empowered in council 

to make laws for all persons, whether British or native subjects, foreign or otherwise. The governor-general has a council of seven members, whom he consults in the formulation of all laws.

Of the larger presidencies the governors of Bombay (including Sind) 

and of Madras are separately appointed by the Crown, and have each 

their own council and civil service, and in all orders they directly 

address the secretary of state. Bengal and the Northwest Provinces 

have lieutenant-governors and a legislative council, but these officers 

are appointed by the governor-general of India. The other minor 

provinces have lieutenant-governors or commissioner magistrates, but 

no councils or legislative powers. Each province is divided into districts, at the head of which is a deputy commissioner. Below this 

officer is a commissioner and joint magistrate, a deputy collector, and 

minor officers.

India is divided into British territory and the native states. The 

former is governed as above described, the latter by native princes, 

with the help and advice of a resident at his court who is called a 

political agent and whose duties are purely diplomatic. The highest 

land officer in nonregulation provinces, as the Central Provinces or the 

Punjab, is a deputy commissioner. This officer collects revenues and 

administers civil justice. He is the unit of administration, the sole 

responsible head of his jurisdiction, and on his energy and character 

largely rests the efficiency of the Indian government. In India there 

are 252 districts under deputy commissioners. These districts each 

average in area 3,800 square miles, and have each an average population of 800,000. They are (Jivided into divisions, and these again 

subdivided into the ultimate unit of subdivision, which is known as a 

tahsil. The subdivision is in charge of an assistant magistrate or 

executive officer, and the tahsil is in charge of a deputy collector or 

fiscal officer. Land is the main source of revenue of the Indian government, and hence the levying and collection of the land tax is the 

main work of the administration of that government,

IRB 87 03 ±
50 IRRIGATION I]ST INDIA. [NO. 87.

In Bengal permanent settlements have been largely made. The 

zemindar or headman of a village makes the payment for the whole 

village to the government, he taking from each cultivator his portion 

of revenues and retaining for himself a proportion of the same. In 

Madras the cultivator is the rent-paying unit, as the zarnindar is in 

Bengal. In Bombay revenue settlement is proceeded with as elsewhere, only in more detail, by a careful revenue land survey. Each 

field is marked out, measured, and assessed separately. This method 

is simple, as the government recognizes only the owner of each field. 

With these owners terms of settlement are made for periods of thirty 

years. In the Northwest Provinces and the Punjab the village is 

taken as the unit, as is the case in Bengal, and the payment is made 

to the government by the village. Terms of settlement are also made 

there for periods of thirty years.

In order to convey a clear understanding of the method of promoting irrigation development in India, it is essential first to give a brief 

outline qf the present attitude of the English rulers toward irrigation. 

At first the government permitted private corporations to construct 

and operate irrigation works, the earliest work planned by British 

engineers being undertaken by a private corporation on a guarantee 

of interest by the East India Company. During the last thirty years 

the government has been active in the promotion and construction of 

nearly all good works projected. These projects are studied, examined, and reported on usually several times during a series of years, 

and when the government is finally satisfied with them, either as 

financial investments or as measures for the relief or prevention of 

famine, the work is sanctioned and the funds for its construction 

appropriated.

The government of India is as a rule greatly in favor of the extension of irrigation works. It encourages enterprises by granting loan 

funds for the construction of works whenever it can be proved that 

profits, increase of interest, and all the maintenance charges will probably be derived. It also constructs works as a means of famine relief 

in certain places, even when profits can not be obtained. The government further fosters the use of irrigation waters by making the 

water rates very low, or by even giving water away in years of scarcity. 

As shown in the succeeding acts, the government of India has entire 

control over all sources of water supply, and so exercises it as to make 

it the greatest benefit to the community at large. The powers of control over the waters for irrigation are entirely centralized.

Each province of India has a separate branch of the Public Works 

department, known as the irrigation branch, at the head of which is 

a chief engineer, generally also secretary to government of that province, and over all the chiefs of engineers is an inspector-general of irrigation, attached to the staff of the governor-general of India. The 

officers in the upper grades of the irrigation branch are nearly all
WILSON.! ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION. 51

Europeans, and are recruited from the royal engineers, or from civil 

engineers educated in well-known colleges either in England or India. 

The civil engineers from England receive a technical education at 

Coopers Hill College, and the majority of those from India are educated at the Thomason Civil Engineering College at Roorkee, or at the 

colleges in Bombay or Madras. The lower grades of officers are composed of selected noncommissioned officers and soldiers and from 

natives who have passed an, examination after studying for a period 

at some college.

The chief engineer is the head of the department in the province, 

and this latter is divided into circles presided over by superintending 

engineers. Each circle is again divided into divisions, over which 

executive engineers preside. Each division is again divided into subdivisions, of which there are generally several under the charge of an 

assistant engineer. This concludes the list of the upper grades. 

Under the assistant engineers again come the lower grades of subordinates who have charge of the different works.

Besides the engineering establishment proper, there is the revenue 

establishment, which works in conjunction with it, and whose duties 

are mostly concerned with the administration and the measurement 

of the fields for assessment. This establishment consists chiefly of 

natives, and is presided over by a deputy magistrate, under whom are 

zilahdars, ameens, and patrols.

All of the upper grades that is, from the assistant engineers upward, 

including the deputy magistrate have to pass an examination in canal 

law, and are given magisterial powers, which enable them to inflict 

punishments for breaches of this law. The powers conferred vary 

with the standing of the officers. The executive engineers may pass 

on estimates within certain limits connected directly with the construction or maintenance of works in their division. All estimates involving considerable expenditure are sanctioned by the superintending 

engineer within certain limits, beyond which the sanction of the chief 

engineer, practically that of the government of the province, is required. 

All large projects, such as a new canal system or storage reservoir, 

pass to the inspector-general, and are referred by him to the government of India and to the secretary of state.

The rules and regulations by which water is served to cultivators 

are detailed in the canal acts given further on. In irrigating.districts 

water is served to cultivators on certain days, very often on three days 

in one week, or possibly they are allowed to use it during one week 

and are deprived of it for another. The period in which they are not 

allowed water is known as a period of "tatil," an Indian word meaning closed. Breaches of "tatil," or the taking of water when its use is 

not allowed, render the individuals committing the act liable to fine or 

imprisonment. The executive engineer of the division has entire control over the distribution of the water, and complaints regarding scar-
52 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

city, repairs, misappropriations of water, etc., are all referred to him, 

and he either decides them himself or empowers the supervisorial officer or deputy magistrate to do so. The assistant engineer is generally 

a European, and his right-hand man, as far as irrigation matters are 

concerned, is the deputy magistrate, who is generally a native of some 

standing and education. The assistant engineer has magisterial 

powers, and his time is largely employed in trying cases and settling 

disputes. Zilahdars, of which there are generally two under the assistant engineer, have under them 5 or 6 aineens, under whom are from 

8 to 10 patrols. "These latter note the fields as they are irrigated, and 

when the irrigation is complete their measurement is made by the 

ameeu, the whole being superintended by the zilahdar, who is held 

responsible for the correctness of the measurement.

The first act bearing with any importance on irrigation legislation 

was Act VII, by the governor-general of India in council, passed April 

12, 1845, and entitled "An act for regulating the levying of water 

rent, tolls, and dues on certain canals of irrigation constructed by the 

government in the Northwest Provinces and the protection of said 

canals from injury." From clauses in this act the following extracts 

are made:

And it is hereby enacted that the said lieutenant-governor of the Northwestern 

Provinces shall be competent to draw out rules to regulate the levy of water rent 

and the sxipply of water for irrigation. * * * The rules thus drawn out shall 

be published for general information in the Government Gazette.

And it is hereby enacted that all balances of water rent due for lands irrigated 

by the canal shall be levied, either by temporary deprivation of the benefits of the 

canal or by the same process as is prescribed for the recovery of balances of land 

revenue.

And it is hereby enacted, that whoever willfully causes any obstruction to any 

of the said canals, or to any of the water courses drawn and supplied therefrom, or 

damages the banks of the canal, or the works constructed for its maintenance, or 

willfully defiles the water in the canal, shall be liable to the penalties hereinafter 

described.

And it is hereby enacted, that all persons offending against the provisions of this 

act shall be punishable, on conviction before the magistrate, by imprisonment 

without labor for a term not exceeding fourteen days, or fine to an amount not 

exceeding 50 rupees [about $25], or both; and in default of payment of such fine 

by additional imprisonment for fourteen days.

On May 31, 1845, the lieutenant-governor of the Northwest Provinces, under authority of the above act, passed resolutions regarding 

various canals, from which the following extracts are made:

In conformity with Section VIII of the aforesaid act, the superintendents of the 

said canals are invested with the powers of deputy collectors for the levy of rents, 

and of joint magistrates for the enforcement of penalties under the aforesaid act, 

and their assistants are declared competent to exercise the same powers under 

their directions and on their responsibility. The subordinate establishments of 

such superintendents have the power of subordinate revenue and police officers 

for the aforesaid purposes. An appeal lies direct to the commissioner of the division against orders passed by the superintendent or his assistants in the capacity
WILSON] ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION. 53

of deputy collector, and to the sessions judge against orders passed in the capacity 

of joint magistrate.

When it may be more expedient to give water on contract rather than according 

to the surface irrigated, the terms of contract may be as follows:

Where the water flows naturally, 2 rupees [.ft] per annum for every square inch 

of opening taken from the summit level of the water and having a free course.

In the event of any person secretly taking water from the canal in 

Any manner, for which rent is leviable, without coming under engagement's to pay the rent, or secretly taking more water than he has 

engaged to pay for, he shall be chargeable with double rates for all 

water so taken.

All land brought into cultivation within 30 yards of the canal or any branch 

stream from it, subsequently to the construction of the channel, shall pay water 

rent, whether taking water or not; and similarly all land cultivated from wells 

which have been dug or reopened within 20 yards of the canal boundary, or within 

10 yards from any branch stream from it, subsequently t3 the construction of the 

canal, shall pay water rent, whether taking water from the canal or not.

When, from the carelessness of cultivators either in not properly closing the 

heads of their water courses or in leaving the water courses in bad order, the water 

overflows and spreads over waste or fallow land, a fine shall be levied not exceeding the highest rate of water rent leviable on the extent of land flooded.

It shall be in the power of the canal officers to close the whole of the branch 

water courses from sunset to sunrise for the purpose of forcing the water onto the 

lower parts of the canal; and also, when necessary, for any period not exceeding 

three days in a week. At other times the water shall be at the command of the 

cultivators, provided it be in the power of the canal officer to furnish a supply. 

Persons taking water once so as to benefit a crop shall be liable to the charge for 

the whole year, or the whole crop, as the rate may be leviable.

Special agreements between individuals and the superintendent for the use of 

water for irrigation, for driving machinery, or for other purposes, on other terms 

than are embodied in these rules, shall be constructed as other ordinary contracts are.

In addition to these, rules are laid down defining the powers of the 

superintendents and their assistants and other officers on the works, 

as well as rules giving the charges which villages or individuals are 

subject to who do not take water for irrigation, but who use it for 

watering live stock or for domestic purposes. The charges for filling 

reservoirs or tanks are also specified, as are the tolls for rafts or boats. 

The right of ownership of water was summarily settled in India in 

1873 by the passage of "An act to regulate irrigation, navigation, and 

drainage in northern India." The preamble tersely states the claims 

of the government thus:

Whereas throughout the territories to which this act extends the government is 

entitled to use and to control for public purposes the waters of all rivers and 

streams flowing in natural channels, and of all lakes and of the natural collections of still water, etc.

This statement of rights is perfectly plain, and in India the government has no need to use its power to enforce these claims. This act 

is known as "Northwest canal provinces Act No. VIII, of 1873," and
54 IEEIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

lays clown all of the fundamental laws governing canal administration 

in those provinces.

The principal act establishing the laws covering irrigation in the 

presidency of Bombay is Act Xo. VII of 1879, which was amended in 

1880 by Bombay Act ISTo. III. The preamble reads as follows:

Whereas it is necessary to make provision for the construction, maintenance, 

and regulation of canals for the supply of water therefrom, and for the levy of 

rates for the water so supplied in the Bombay presidency, it is enacted, etc.

The act then goes on to define what are understood as canals, water 

courses, and drainage works; defines the various officers appointed by 

law, with their powers, and makes the following further provisions:

Whenever it appears expedient to the governor in council that the water of any 

river or stream, flowing in a natural channel, or of any lake, or any other natural 

collection of still water should be applied or used by the government for the purpose of any existing or projected canal; the governor in council may, by notification in the Bombay Government Gazette, declare that the said water will be so 

applied or used after a day to be named in the said notification, not being earlier 

than three months from the date thereof.

At any time after the day so named any canal officer duly empowered in this 

behalf may enter on any land, remove any obstruction, close any channel, and do 

any other thing necessary for such application or use of the said water, and for 

such purpose may take with him, or depute, or employ such subordinates and 

other persons as he deems fit.

Following this, equally broad powers are given canal officers to 

enter or examine land in connection with projected works, to inspect 

and regulate water supply, to enforce repairs, and prevent accidents; 

Additional regulations are formulated providing for suitable canal 

crossings, the removal of obstructions to drainage, and the construction of drainage works. Further:

Every owner of a water course shall be bound to construct all works necessary 

for the passage across such water course of canals, water courses, drainage channels, and public roads existing at the time of its construction, and of the drainage 

intercepted by it, and for affording proper communications across it for the convenience of the occupants of neighboring lands to maintain such water course in 

a fit state of repair for the conveyance of water.

This act further provides for compensation in cases of damage, the 

remission of water rates when allowable, compensation on account of 

the interruption of water supply, and for further causes.

Part 4 of the act lays down the rules for the levying of water rates, 

and opens by stating that " such rates shall be leviable for canal water 

supplied for purposes of irrigation, and for any other purpose as shall 

from time to time be determined by the governor and council." Special rates are laid down to be charged where persons use water unauthorizedly; also when water is permitted to run to waste. Provisions 

are made for the obtaining of labor on the canals in times of emergency, and penalties are provided for damage done to canals and other 

works.
WILSON.] ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION. 55

Land tenures. In southern India, including Bombay and Madras, 

while the landholders do not own land, they possess certain rights in it, 

such as the right to hold and to till it so long as they make payment of 

part of the produce to the government, while the government possesses 

the right to a share of the land revenue. In northern India, including the Northwest Provinces, Punjab and Bengal, there is a class of 

superior landholders between the cultivator and the government. The 

cultivator tills the land and pays the rent to the landlord, and the 

latter pays a portion of this to the government. These proprietors 

are associated together in villages, with an elected or hereditary head, 

who is responsible to the government for the rent of the entire village. 

In Bengal there are about 130,000 landlords or heads of estates, who 

are entitled "zemindars," or may even be rajahs. In the central 

provinces there are 28,000 separate estates. In the Punjab 1,695 

zemindars hold 5 per cent of the total area of that province; 33,020 

village communities hold 91 per cent of the total area, and 1,711 other 

landholders have charge of 4 per cent of the total area. In the Northwest Provinces the area is divided in about the same proportions 

among the various classes of holders. In southern India, where the cultivators or ryatwari hold the land, it is leased to them for fixed periods 

of thirty years, though they can resign these holdings at the end of 

each agricultural year. They can sell or mortgage the land, and at 

the death of the holder his heirs inherit the right to the lease. In 

Madras there are 2,392,000 ryatwari or individual tenures on which 

the average assessment is $5. In Bombay there are 1,367,600 ryatwari.

In these southern presidencies each village is indicated on the revenue map with a defined boundary, and each field is marked out and 

numbered on the village plan. The different classes of soil are indicated in colors with a description of the class of tenure, marked in a 

register accompanying each map, in which are also indicated all particulars of soil, tenants, and amount of assessment. The size of the 

field is determined by the extent of the particular variety of soil 

which can be cultivated with the assistance of a pair of bullocks. 

Thus in light, dry soil a field will constitute 20 acres, in heavy dry 

soil 12 acres, and in rich garden land 4 acres. Some of the circumstances affecting the classification of land and the value of the fields 

are the position of the latter with respect to the village, the facilities 

for agricultural operations, the character of the soil, and the opportunities for irrigation.
CHAPTER IV.

EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF IRRIGATION.

CLASSES OF WORKS.

The irrigation works of India are divided by the engineer into two 

great classes, (1) gravity irrigation and (2) lift irrigation. The former 

includes four great groups, namely, perennial canals, intermittent 

canals, periodical canals, and inundation canals. The water supply 

for these may be supplemented by storage works. These will be treated 

as a third class.

Perennial canals are taken from the rivers the discharge of which 

at all times suffices for the irrigation of the lands without the aid of 

storage. Intermittent canals are taken from intermittent streams, the 

water of which must be stored in order to furnish a constant supply. 

Periodical canals are taken from streams having an available supply 

during the rainy season only, and are used altogether in the cultivation of the summer crop. Inundation canals are taken from rivers 

having a constant discharge of some magnitude, but are fed by those 

rivers only when in flood.

Lift irrigation is chiefly illustrated by wells. Of these there is little 

to say, although the area irrigated by them is considerable. They are 

used in a country where labor is cheap, and are valuable adjuncts of 

irrigation, catching the seepage water from the canals and irrigated 

fields which otherwise would be wasted. Owing to the cost of labor 

it is doubtful if they will ever be used to any extent in America.

Canals are divided into two great classes, those for irrigation only 

and those which are also employed for purposes of navigation. The 

conditions required to develop an irrigation canal are usually, first, 

that it shall be carried at as high a level as possible, so as to have 

sufficient fall to irrigate the land to a considerable distance on both 

sides of it; second, that it shall be fed by some source that will render 

it a running stream, in order that the loss of the water consumed in 

irrigation may be constantly replaced in the canal. The chief requirement of a navigable canal, on the contrary, is that it shall be as nearly 

as possible a still-water canal, so that navigation may be equally 

easy in both directions, and no water is lost except by evaporation, 

absorption, and at the points of transfer from the higher to the lower 

levels. Hence it is most economically constructed at a relatively low 

level. In India, among the earlier great perennial canais, it was considered the rule to make them navigable as well as irrigable, but since 

56
WILSON.] EXTENT OF IRKIGATION. 57

the introduction of modern modes of transportation, the development 

of the railway system, and. the construction of excellent metaled roads 

throughout the country, the authorities have generally come to disapprove of the use 'of irrigable canals for navigable purposes.

EXTENT OF IRRIGATION.

In the presidency of Bombay, exclusive of the Sind, there are 

35 irrigation works in operation, of which 3 are major protective 

works, 7 are major productive works, and the remainder are minor 

protective and productive works. The total capital outlay on these 

to end of year 1900-1901 was $9,170,000. The total gross revenue during 1900-1901 was $175,200; the working expenses were $139,000; and 

the net revenue was 136,200. The area irrigated during that year 

was 124,972 acres, of which about three-fifths were in autumn or dryweather crops. The gross revenue assessed was $1.73 per acre, and 

the water rate averaged $1.33 per acre irrigated. This -water rate 

ranged, however, from 35 cents to $4 per acre, the maximum price 

being very unusual and due to the large amount of sugar cane which 

was irrigated on the canal where that rate was levied. The working 

expenses per mile varied from $70 to $200, and the working expenses 

per acre irrigated varied from 30 cents to $2. The latter high figures 

were in both cases charged on the Mutha canal, where a large amount 

of sugar cane was under cultivation.

In the Sind the net area cropped in 1901 was 1,873,674 acres. The 

area irrigated from canals was 1,413,487 acres; irrigated from other 

sources, 362,913 acres; and the total area irrigated was 1,776,400 acres. 

The area under wet-weather crops was 1,439,869 acres, and under 

autumn crops about 366,530 acres. The irrigation's share of the net 

revenue for that year was $1,196,500. The financial statement for 

the works of the Sind for 1900-1901 was as follows:

Financial statement of Sind Irrigation Works..

Total outlay to date________ ________________________________ $7,994,000

Gross revenue during the year ______ _____ ________.. _____________ 1,071,000

Working expenses .____. _____________________ _____________________ 266,000

Net revenue ________ _____:__________________________________ 805,000

Net profit, less simple interest on the borrowed capital- ______________ 464,000

The average rainfall for all of Sind during the year was 4.98 inches.

In Madras the great irrigation works are constructed in the deltas 

of the principal riyers. The approximate cost of the works of Madras, 

without interest, to the year 1899 was $60,225,000; the total area of 

cultivation due to irrigation was 6,898,839 acres, and the total revenue 

was $7,722,000.

In Bengal, at the end of 1901, there were in operation 738 miles of 

main canals, of which 495 miles were navigable; they commanded an 

area of 2,753,000 acres, of which 1,446,374 acres were actually irrigated. 

The total capital outlay on the three major works, viz, Midnapore, 

Orissa, and Soane canals, was $27,475,000.
58 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

In the Punjab the capital outlay to end of 1901 for major works only 

was $38,097,000; the total net revenue was $3,333,000, or 8.4 per cent 

interest on the capital outlay. On inundation works the capital outlay was $777,000, and the interest on this outlay VL ried from 10.8 per 

cent as a minimum to 181.5 per cent as a maximum. In this province 

there were 5,102 miles of main and branch canals and 11,737 miles of 

distributaries. The working expenses were from 25 to 60 cents per 

acre irrigated, and the establishment cost from 10 to 25 cents per acre 

irrigated. The area irrigated during the summer crop was 3,023,737 

acres, and during the autumn crop 2,967,814 acres.

The Northwest Provinces, including Oudh, have an area of about 

55,000 square miles, of which 30,000 square miles may be said to have 

been protected by irrigation works at the end of the year 1894. The 

total outlay on irrigation works in these provinces at the end of 1893 

was $27,400,000; the net revenue for that year was $1,270,000, which 

is 4.6 jper cent interest on the capital outlay. The net interest on four 

principal works the Upper and Lower Ganges, Agra, and Eastern 

Jumna canals was 4.97 per cent. The total working expenses for 

the same year were $961,000. There were in operation 1,427 miles of 

main and branch canals and 6,748 miles of distributaries. The total 

area under irrigation was 1,799,866 acres, of which 706,221 acres were 

summer crops and 1,093,645 acres were autumn crops. The value of 

the principal crops was $10 per acre.

FINANCIAL AND AGRICULTURAL RESULTS.

Of major productive works, the capital for which has been provided 

from borrowed money, there are 35 in the six principal provinces. 

The capital expended on these works to the year 1900 was about 

$100,000,000, while the sanctioned estimates for the completed projects 

were $103,572,000. These 35 major works are designed to irrigate, 

when fully completed and irrigation has been fully developed, something more than 10,356,000 acres. Of 6,000 miles of main and branch 

canals no less than 2,300 miles are navigable. The cost of making 

these canals navigable can not be readily ascertained, but should be 

eliminated in determining the true cost of each irrigable acre. The 

Mutha canal, in Bombay, which is the most expensive of any canal of 

its kind, derives a considerable income from the supply of water for 

domestic purposes to the city of Poona. It may be said that the works 

of this class average $9.30 for each acre irrigable. Of the 10 largest of 

these major works, the most expensive, the Orissa system in Bengal, 

cost $27 -per acre, and the Ganges canal, which covers the largest 

area of all, and is at the same time the cheapest, cost a little under 

$6.30 per acre.«

In addition to the 6,000 miles of main canals constructed in these 

35 systems, there are 18,000 miles of principal distributaries. Up to

aBuckley, E. B., Irrigation Works in India and Egypt, London, 1893, pp. 369-294.
WILSON.] FINANCIAL AND AGRICULTURAL RESULTS. 59

the present time only 12 of the 35 major productive works have been 

worked at a profit of more than 4 per cent, but the profit from these 

12 has been more than sufficient to cover the deficiencies of the other 

23. The net result is that the works of this class have covered the 

interest charges, with a gross excess to the government of nearly 

$12,642,000.

For the first twenty years these modern British works were not altogether profitable. Daring the past ten years, however, since nearly 

all have been in full operation, the net revenue return for the 35 

works together has averaged more than 4 per cent per annum on the 

$100,000,000 gross capital outlay.

Among the six provinces in which this class of work lies, Madras 

and Sind are preeminent as those in which all the works have been in 

operation for more than ten years and are thoroughly successful. In 

the Northwest Provinces all four works are now thoroughly successful, paying over 5 per cent net revenue, and in the Punjab there is little doubt that all of the works will finally be successful, while the older 

ones already pay well. One of the youngest works, the Sidhnai canal, 

is very remarkable in having paid nearly 14 per cent on its capital 

during the second year it was in operation. Of the Bengal works little hope can be entertained, as the normal rainfall there is too large 

and too regular to make irrigation an urgent requirement for agricultural prosperity. These works must be looked on as a protection 

against occasional drought and famine rather than as a source of 

profit.

Of major protective works there were in operation in 1900 in the six 

principal provinces 5 works, the capital expenditure on which was 

$6,866,000. These works are designed to irrigate 723,720 acres, at an 

average capital cost of nearly $8 per acre. There are completed in 

these systems 400 miles of canals and 800 miles of main distributaries.

Of minor works the capital of which has been provided from the general revenues of India about 80 were in operation in 1900, distributed 

throughout nine provinces, including Burma and Beluchistan. The 

capital expended on these works was $15,040,000 and the net revenue 

was $737,000. The percentage of net revenue on the total capital 

outlay to the end of the year under consideration averaged nearly 5 

per cent, and varied from naught in the case of some works in Bombay to 16 per cent in some of the works of Burma and 24 per cent in 

some inundation canals in the Sind. These works comprise altogether 

6,500 miles of canals, 2,650 miles of distributaries, and render irrigable an area of about 7,201,578 acres. The works of this class taken 

collectively are more remunerative than the major productive works, 

which were specially constructed to pay nearly 5 per cent. The 

numerous small works in Bombay are unproductive, and there is 

but little hope that the returns derived from them will materially 

improve.
60 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

In 1900 there were irrigated by major productive works alone 

11,409,528 acres. The rate of working expenses per acre on all the 

classes of works varied between 40 cents and $2.60. The gross area 

irrigated by all three classes of works was 18,(ill, 106 acres, while the 

entire area under irrigation, including that watered by wells and that 

double cropped, was 33,096,031 acres. The average water rate charged 

was less than $1.40 per acre. The average Value of crops per acre 

varied from $10 to $35, and the percentage of rate charged on the 

value of the crop was between $3.30 and $8.25. Gaged by the standard of the percentage of rates charged, theoretically the gage of the 

severity of the charge on the cultivator, the Bombay rates, which are 

actually the highest, are shown to be the lowest, and this is really the 

fact because of the very high value of the sugar-cane crop so extensively cultivated in that province. The gross value of the crops irrigated in 1900 by all the four classes of irrigation works administered 

by the government reached the sum of $155,000,000.

At a moderate compensation it may be said that one-half of this 

sum is the increased value of the outturn from the fields due to irrigation from the canals. This figure shows perhaps more readily than 

any other the value of the agricultural interests which are bound up 

with irrigation works of India.

The agricultural results of Indian irrigation, and an idea of the cost 

and returns of building and operating canals can best be obtained by 

citation of the results on a typical perennial canal, as the Sirhind canal, 

in the Punjab. In 1900-1901 the amount and value of the principal 

crops irrigated on the British branches only of this canal are as follows:

Crops irrigated on Sirhind canal in 1900-1901.

Wheat... ._._ ______________ ___._.___ ___ .-.---..-..

Mixed grains _ ____._.__ . ._._______ ......

Millet and pulses ______ ........ .... _-_._-_-____-

Vegetables . . . _ _ _ _ . . . _ ____...____.,__ ... .........

Oil seeds . . ...._-.................... ........_... _ _

0

Value.

$124, 000

641,000

1.247.000

176, 000

101,000

293, 000

1.781.000

428, 000

222, 000

117, 000

Area.

Acres.

14, 646

96, 238

120, 654

26, 431

11,626

7.770

306, 000

85, 520

16,629

21, 268

It will be interesting to examine the items of cost, interest, and revenue of such a canal as this, and to make comparisons between these 

costs and returns and what might be derived from a similar work if
WILSON.] FINANCIAL AND AGRICULTURAL RESULTS. -61

made in the United States. lu making this comparison the amounts 

reported in the revenue returns for such expenditures as pensions, furloughs, and navigation works must be deducted from the total outlay 

and due allowance made for the difference in cost for each clas.s of construction in the two countries and for the water rate to be charged. 

To the end of 1901 the total expenditure on the Sirhind canal was 

$19,663,000, of which $6,749,000 was interest while the work was under 

construction, and $1,000,000 was leave and pension allowance to 

employees.

Though such a work would have been constructed in a much shorter 

time in the United States, owing to the substitution of mechanical 

means for hand labor, the rates paid in our country for interest would 

probably equalize this charge. The total original cost of the works 

was $12,000,000, of which, exclusive of the cost of land and maintenance, $400,000 was for head-works, $6,500,000 for the main canal and 

branches, and $1,100,000 for right of way and navigation works. The 

office establishment in India is an expensive one and, less pensions, 

costs $2,200,000, while the tools and plant cost an additional $1,100,000. 

In the main canal and main branches the earthwork alone cost 

$2,600,000, and on the distributaries this item cost $800,000, making 

$3,400,000 for earthworks.

For the total 1,170,000 acres of irrigable land controlled by the Sirhind canal the cost for earthwork was $4.25 per acre. Our contract 

prices in the West being, say, 10 cents per cubic yard against their 4 

cents, this earthwork would have cost us $10.62 per acre. The masonry 

works as falls, weirs, regulators, and bridges cost in all $2,400,000, 

or $3 per acre irrigated. In India rubble masonry costs about $3 per 

cubic yard. In our West it averages, say, $6. Hence these works 

would have cost us $6 per acre. In our works, however, we would 

avoid the expense of the numerous masonry bridges constructed in 

India; again, we would do comparatively little masonry work, but 

would use iron and wood, which are relatively far cheaper. The cost 

for these items would accordingly be proportionately less. Perhaps 

one-third can be deducted for the cheaper material, and it would cost 

us, therefore, $4 per acre irrigated. The drainage works and escapes 

cost about 73 cents per acre more, or such a work as the Sirhind canal 

would have cost $15.35 per acre irrigated against $8 in India.

Owing to the recent completion of the Sirhind canal it irrigates at 

present only 1,170,000 acres. This, however, paid in 1900-01 a surplus 

revenue, after paying interest on the capital outlay, of 4.7 per cent per 

annum, and of 9.1 per cent net revenue on that outlay. The water 

rates charged averaged 90 cents per acre irrigated. We could charge 

at least $2, and in some localities more. As the cost of construction in 

America would be twice that of India, while the receipts per acre 

would be nearly three times as great, it is not improbable that under 

similar circumstances such a work when fully utilized would yield
62 IRRiaATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

from 5 to 12 per cent, and. when doing its maximum duty would 

realize as a minimum 10 per cent on the capital invested.

In addition to the amount realized from such a work as compared 

directly with that obtained in India, there is one source of revenue 

in our country which does not exist in India. That is the annual 

increase in value of the land served by the canal. There is no such 

increment available to private enterprise in India, because the Government is the owner of the land. In America, however, where land 

can be purchased at from $1.25 to $2.50 per acre, and when supplied 

with water right will sell for from $40 to $100 per acre or bring an 

equivalent revenue, the increased return from such an investment is 

obvious.
CHAPTER V. 

ALKALI AND DUTY.

OBJECTIONS TO IRRIGATION.

In 1845, during surveys for the great Ganges canal project, a committee was appointed, under instructions from the governor-general 

of India, for the purpose of reporting on the causes of unhealthfulness which existed along the line of the Delhi canal, and ascertaining 

whether injurious effects on the health of the people were likely to be 

produced by the contemplated Ganges canal. Their report is one of 

the most complete and exhaustive ever prepared relative to the effects 

of canal irrigation on the health of the neighborhoods irrigated. The 

members of the committee were Maj. W. E. Baker, R. E., president; 

Surg. T. E. Dempster, and Lieut. H. Yule.*

Among the more important conclusions reached were:

(1) That in considerable portions of the district under the influence 

of existing canals sickness has been largely developed.

(2) That this sickness is not attributable to the results of irrigation 

but to the canal works or water courses of private individuals having 

intercepted the natural drainage of the country, and having thus led 

to the formation of swampy tracts diffusing malarious influence around 

them.

(3) That where the soil is light and the irrigation carried on by 

means of main distribution channels, all the advantages of canal irrigation may be gained without the prevalence of any of those evils to 

be found in localities differently constituted.

(4) That if care is taken to irrigate only that land which has an open 

soil and which has such slope and low drainage lines as to prevent 

water-logging, no unhealthy results will follow irrigation.

(5) That irrigation with free surface drainage may be regarded as 

quite innocuous.

(6) That when malarious influences are developed by irrigation 

their effects are almost strictly local.

This committee recommended that the Ganges canal be kept as much 

as possible within soil, that is, that its ordinary surface level should be 

below that of the country. That earth wanted to complete embankments be never obtained from excavations made outside the canal 

except from such localities as would readily admit of drainage. That 

the canal and its branches be taken as much as possible along the

"Cautley, Col. Sir Proby T., The Ganges Canal, London, 1860, vol. 3, p. 24.

63
64 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

watershed of'the country, so as not to interfere with drainage, and 

that irrigation be prohibited in localities which appear to possess 

naturally a malarious character.

On this same subject Capt. Douglas Galton, of the army sanitary 

commission, wrote an interesting article a in which he gives several 

instances where localities that have been sandy deserts devoid of vegetation had by means of irrigation been converted into rich grain 

fields. For many years the irrigation measures have not been attended 

by any effects prejudicial to health. The subsurface water had been, 

however, gradually rising nearer to the surface, and at the same time 

fever had greatly increased. In Madras, where during drought little 

fever prevailed, during the southwest monsoons large districts were 

flooded and fevers became prevalent. It was observed in the Punjab 

that the fever appeared not to have been generated so much during 

heavy rains as from the conditions which follow them, and the remedy 

required is the rapid removal of water to prevent stagnation. In 

almost all low-lying tracts saturated with moisture the people were 

fever-stricken. Captain Galton sums up by saying: "The whole 

evidence shows the high fever death rate to be largely due to the 

stagnating water in the soil." The objections on the kscore of health 

are, generally, defective drainage, the stagnation of the water, the 

deterioration of well water by infiltration, or the application of too 

much water. These are all remediable and within the control of the 

engineer.

On the line of the Mutha canals in Bombay, where sugar cane is 

extensively cultivated, it is found that the stagnating waters retained 

by the roots of the plants are producing fevers, and as a consequence 

the government is endeavoring to reduce the area under sugar cane, 

hoping thus to reduce the extent of the fever. In the Northwest 

Provinces regular observations are made of the height of the spring 

level, and these are submitted annually with the revenue reports, thus 

indicating by the rise of this level the necessity for artificial drainage 

works to prevent supersaturation of the soil.

Another of the more important ill effects of irrigation is the production of alkali, or the efflorescence of alkaline salts on the surface of 

lands irrigated. That the effect of irrigation, however, is not altogether bad in this respect may be surmised from the following remarks 

made before the famine commission by Major Grey, C. S. I.: b

Canal irrigation has rendered fit for cultivation large tracts in the Bahalpnr 

State which were utterly unculttirable because of alkali, and that when heavily 

irrigated the salts were washed off or driven into the soil.

Mr. E. O'Brien testified to practically the same effect, and stated 

that if properly effected canal irrigation is a cure for efflorescence. 

Mr. E. C. Corbin found that -on lands covered by efflorescent salts

a Galton, Capt. Douglas, Sanitary Progress in India: Journal of the Society of Arts, London, 

1876, vol. 24, p. 536. 

6 Eeport of Famine Commission, London, 1881, Appendix V, p. 4.
WILSON.] OBJECTIONS TO IRRIGATION. 65

canal water has eradicated the evil of alkalinity, and that land before 

worthless is now highly productive.

In all probability the most valuable report on the eifects and causes 

of alkalinity was that made by the "Reh" (alkali) commission for the 

Aligarh district of northern India, of which Mr. H. S. Keid was president, and among the members of which were Mr. Medlicott, the superintendent of the geological survey of India, Mr. Burch, the director 

of agriculture and commerce, and others. This report was printed 

in full by Prof. E. W. Hilgard,"5 of the University of California, and 

its substance is as follows:

Tracts rendered unculturable by excess of alkali exist more or less 

throughout the Northwest Provinces of India, but it is due to the 

introduction of extensive irrigation works that no appreciable increase 

of the area of alkali lands is perceptible. In the earlier of these irrigation works no provision for drainage was made, and they were 

simply built for the purpose of aifording an abundance of irrigation 

water. Gradually, however, it was noted that crops began to languish and that the lower lands were rapidly being converted into 

swamps, while on the higher lands alkali spots were rapidly enlarging, while new spots were being formed where none had previously 

been known. The cause was apparent, and there was no difference 

of opinion regarding it. Not only near but within even considerable 

distance from the canals the subsoil water level has been raised from 

a depth of 50 feet to within a few feet of the surface. This subsurface water has brought up with it by a leaching process all the alkali 

salts existing within the subsoil thus traversed, and by evaporation 

these salts were diifused throughout the many feet of substrata, accumulating at the surface to such an extent as to render cultivation 

unprofitable and even to make the soil absolutely barren, covering 

it with a white crust of salt. While the committee agree that the 

most damage has been brought about by the rise of this subsurface 

water by the sidewise soakage from the high-lying canals, they state 

that the trouble has been greatly aggravated by the extravagant use 

of water by the peasants. The remedies suggested are as follows:

First, a deepening of the two canals so as to lower their water levels, 

and hence that of the soakage subsurface level, at least several feet 

below that of the land to be irrigated. Secondly, they recommend the 

establishment of a system of drainage. It unfortunately happens that 

both of these measures frequently oifer great engineering difficulties 

in a region where, from the scantiness of rainfall, the surface conformation of the country is not favorably sculptured.

The investigations of the committee all point in one direction, viz, 

that the introduction of canal irrigation is the principal cause of 

alkali extension, and that when the removal of soakage water takes

a College of Agriculture, Appendix 7, Report of 1886, Sacramento, 1886, p. 34.

IKR 87 03 5
66 IRRIGATION IN INDIA.

place almost exclusively by evaporation, irrigation by cauals must 

end in a destructive crop of alkali where the indigenous resources of 

the ground in that way were comparatively harmless. As a remedy the 

members of the committee almost 'unanimously proposed deep drainage, 

and great importance was attached to keeping the natural drainage 

of the country open. No dams or cultivation should be allowed in 

the natural drainage courses, and the more water that can be gotten 

to flow away from the canal tracts the better, while any alkali that it 

may carry away in solution is so far a gain. The committee agreed 

that the lavish use of canal water which the gravity-flow system 

encouraged caused extensive saturation of the soil. As a resume of 

the evil effects of irrigation it becomes apparent that they are almost 

all produced by a wasteful use of water and careless alignment of 

canals, advantage not being taken of the natural drainage of the 

country, together with careless irrigation of those portions of the 

country which are too low to afford natural drainage. It is apparent 

that alkalinity, once fairly developed, can never be cured under existing conditions of water level, and the same is doubtless true of malarious fevers. The primary conditions of alkalinity and fever may be 

expressed as defective water circulation, though mere surface drainage is ineffectual for the removal of alkali.

Relative to double cropping the soil the chief engineer of the Punjab 

said in his report for 1889:

The area double cropped 011 the Bari Doab canal was 14.1 per cent of the whole 

area and nearly one-fourth of the axitximn crop. It seems to be slowly increasing, 

which is not satisfactory, as the practice is generally detrimental and exhaxisting 

to the soil.

Similar opinions have been expressed by other engineers, and the 

practice of double cropping is not encouraged unless accompanied by 

the free use of fertilizers.

Regarding the effect of irrigation on the navigation of rivers and its 

effect on riparian rights, Col. Baird Smith states:0

At the head of the Jttmna canals the Jumna River carries at low season, during 

four months, a minimum of 3,500 second-feet. The canals use 3,000 second-feet, 

leaving the river bed practically dry. At Agra. which is about 303 miles lower 

down the same river, the Jumna carried at the same period about 3,500 second-feet 

and is an unfordable stream.

This supply is derived from subsurface drainage and seepage from 

canals, so that the canals have not in the least affected navigation. 

The Ganges River at Hardwar carries at least 8,000 second-feet, of 

which 6,700 second-feet may be abstracted by the canal. Still, at 

Narora, lower down on the same stream, and the head of the Lower 

Ganges canal, the stream is large enough to admit of 2,000 second-feet 

being taken by that canal without affecting navigation.

a Irrigation in Italy, London, 1856, vol. 1, p. 385.
WILSON.] ALKALI AND DUTY. 67 

WATER DUTY AND EVAPORATION.

In discussing the source of supply the engineer has to determine 

the quantity of water required and the area of irrigable land. It is 

then necessary to determine the "duty of water" for the crops to be 

irrigated, the qualtity of the soil, and the loss to be anticipated from 

evaporation and absorption.

The "duty of water" is an expression which is used in India, as in 

the United States, to indicate the area of land which a fixed unit of 

water will irrigate, ajid, as in America, the unit adopted is 1 cubic 

foot per second of flow, or, as we express it, 1 "second-foot." In 

referring to the contents of reservoirs the Indian engineers usually 

quote them as holding so many cubic feet of water, but owing to the 

difficulty in dealing with the billions of cubic feet which a large 

reservoir will store, I prefer to use the American unit "acre-foot," 

by which is meant a quantity of water necessary to cover an acre 

1 foot in depth, or 43,560 cubic feet. In designing canals in India 

the expenditure is frequently reckoned per linear mile of canal, and 

this has been found to be generally from 6 to 8 cubic feet per mile. 

Such a method of computation is possible only when the main and 

branch lines of canals have been previously determined, as it enables 

the engineer to regulate the cross sections of the canal along its entire 

length, diminishing the same as the water is expended.

The duty of water differs greatly with different soils and crops, and 

has usually to be determined by the engineer for each locality. The 

following results indicate the variability of duty as discovered in 

India. On the Mutha canals, near Poona in Bombay, the duty of 

water in 1888, during the autumn season of four months, was as follows: Wheat required 2.18 acre-feet per acre irrigated, or the water 

performed a duty of 170 acres per second-foot. Sugar cane, however, 

required 19 acre-feet per acre irrigated, the water performing a duty 

of 43 acres per second-foot.

Sir P. T. Cautley, from results obtained experimentally on the Delhi 

and the Doab canals in 1845, discovered that for that region 800 second-feet constant discharge was a fair irrigation supply for 100 miles 

in length of canal, assuming that a district having an area on each side 

of the canal from 4 to 5 miles wide would be irrigated. On each 100 

miles he discovered that the canal would irrigate 237.4 square miles, 

and allowing that only one-third of the area controlled was irrigated, 

the above supply would suffice for 820 square miles.

Before proceeding to a further consideration of the duty of water, it 

will perhaps be well to examine some of the theories regarding its 

determination. The following remarks are liberally quoted from an 

extremely interesting investigation of this subject made by Mr. J. S. 

Beresford," executive engineer in the irrigation branch of the Indian 

public works department, Northwest Provinces.

a Memorandum on the IlTigation Duty of Water: Boorkee Professional Papers, No. 312,18T5.
68 IKEIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

Theoretically, 1 cubic foot of water running for a month will cover 

an area of 60 acres to a depth of 1 foot. It is generally held that 5 

inches is a safe allowance for one watering. Mr. Beresford is of the 

opinion, however, that more than 2 or 3 inches is rarely given. In order 

to determine the depth of moistened soil, the following experiment 

was made on July 25, when a fall of 5.5 inches of rain was gaged at 

the Mankri station. About five hours after the cessation of this rainfall the field examined was covered with a film of water averaging 1.5 

inches in depth. Several holes were dug, and the depth of moistened 

soil was found to be from 16 to 18 inches. In other fields near by, free 

from surface water, the depth was from 12 to 18 inches that is, 5.5 

minus 1.5, or 4 inches of water will moisten ordinary loam to a depth 

of from 16 to 18 inches. A few days previously holes had been dug 

in irrigated fields of the same soil that had been recently watered, and 

the depth of moistened earth was found to be from 11 to 12 inches. 

On the 30th the 1.5 inches of standing water had disappeared, and 

more holes were dug; one in a low place, the other where the ground 

seemed a few inches higher. The depth of water in the former was 

34 inches, in the latter 18 inches. The conclusion reached was that 

the ground absorbed the rain uniformly everywhere up to a fall of 4 

inches in ten hours, the duration of the storm referred to. What fell 

in excess accumulated in low places and soaked those to a much 

greater depth.

Not a drop of rain had fallen before the 25th of July excepting a 

fraction of an inch on the 5th and 9th, which softened the ground 

sufficiently for plowing. Allowing 4 inches as the depth required for 

one watering, and that in the hottest weather, this is given only once 

a month for if watered oftener a proportionately less quantity will 

suffice the theoretical duty of 1 second-foot of water is 180 acres in 

the summer months. In the autumn, however, crops are rarely given 

more than two waterings, many only one, and the theoretical duty 

during the autumn season, allowing the watering to be lighter than 

in the summer and probably about as frequent, ought to be 320 acres, 

or the theoretical duty in the locality examined should, for the year, 

be 500 acres.

The actual duty obtained on the best divisions of the Ganges canal 

in the neighborhood under examination is not over 160 to 180 acres 

per second-foot, or about one-third of the assumed theoretical duty. 

There are sufficient statistics to show what the actual duty is. The 

next important thing is to make the theoretical and actual duty 

approach as closely as practicable. Considering the Ganges canal as 

a great machine, its principal parts are the main canal, the distributaries, the village water courses, and the cultivator who applies the 

water. Each cubic foot entering the head is expended principally as 

follows:

(1) In waste by absorption and evaporation in the main canal.
WILSON.1 WATEB DUTY AND EVAPORATION. 69

(2) In waste from the same causes in the distributaries and in the 

village water courses. (3) In waste through carelessness of the cultivators in not distributing the water evenly, or in allowing the ground 

to get saturated to an unnecessary depth. (4) In useful irrigation of 

the land. The object is plainly to increase the last by reduction of 

waste through all the rest.

From a consideration of the actual duty obtained by various experiments as compared with the theoretical duty Mr. Beresford shows 

that the efficiency of the canal under consideration is sometimes as 

low as 25 per cent. The next point established by him is the nature 

of the waste called absorption and evaporation, and what proportion 

is due to each. This discussion is extremely interesting. The loss by 

evaporation is the first considered. Taking a distributary 30 miles 

long with a water surface averaging 10 feet wide, the loss by evaporaFIG. 1. Percolation and evaporation.

tion per second in this length of water course would be 0.8 of a cubic 

foot by computation, and assuming that the area of water surface in 

the village channels equals twice the surface in a mile of the distributary, the loss by evaporation in all the village channels would be 1.6 

cubic feet, or the whole loss by evaporation on the distributary 30 

miles long with, its minor water courses would be over 2.5 second-feet, 

or about 5 per cent of the probable discharge. From this we see that 

evaporation is not of so much consequence as far as the different channels are concerned even in the hottest weather, and may be neglected 

in the autumn season. The chief loss must therefore be due to percolation and absorption. The former may be said to be due to cultivation, 

the latter to capillary attraction.

With the aid of the accompanying illustrations (fig. 1) the following 

discussion will be readily appreciated. Absorption is a more complicated process than percolation. The latter takes place in bowlders
70 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

or coarse gravel in a manner similar to that by which water issues 

through pipes or strainers in the bottom of a vessel, and the quantity 

discharged per second will depend on the size of the interstices of the 

stones, their number, the head of the water, etc. The thicker the 

bank through which the water is escaping, the longer and more 

broken the channels of escape will be and the greater the friction; 

but the question of discharge depends on the same principles as does 

the discharge through pipes. If the gravel is considered to be broken 

into very fine sand and the embankment formed of this material, the 

principles of discharge are quite changed. The interstices are now 

very small and act in the same manner as do capillary tubes. If 

empty the water rushes in and fills the cavities, and if the particles are 

sufficiently fine they are rammed close together, and the embankment 

is of a certain width, the water is retained in the cavities with greater 

force than that due to the hydrostatic head pressing it through. The 

force that thus retains the water is termed capillarity, and, although 

it may in reality be the same thing as gravitation, it may in this discussion be considered as quite a separate force.

Fig. 1, No. 1, represents a channel in a gravel soil or one composed 

of coarse sand, and the dots indicate the manner in which the water 

would trickle through the ground. No. 2 represents what would probably take place if the action of gravity were suspended and only 

absorption brought to play in a homogeneous soil. But gravity, which 

is always in play, modifies this capillary action, and the water has 

actually to follow the resultant of two forces. No. 3 explains this 

action, where the straight lines and their resultants indicate the distance to which capillarity and gravity alone and combined will carry 

the particles of water, and the result would be as shown in No. 4.

That absorption does not make itself more visible in high embankments is due to two reasons, the first being that the soil in low places 

is much more clayey than elsewhere, and there only are high embankments constructed, and the second that absorption ceases when the 

absorbing medium is limited. In an embanked channel the absorbing medium immediately stops at the outer slope, and only what has 

evaporated is made good by absorption. If we dig a hole in a bank 

of sandy soil, as represented in No. 5, and the hole be filled with 

water, this will dry up in a few moments, but if a layer of clay is 

spread on the ground, as in No. 6, and an inclosure made with the 

same sandy soil rammed as a natural bank and filled with water, the 

latter will not decrease beyond what the banks at first absorb. In 

the first instance the absorbing medium is unlimited; in the second 

it is limited to the soil in the embankment. It is for this reason alone 

that sandy embankments can dam up water at all. A very interesting experiment suggested by Mr. Beresf ord well illustrates this action. 

Take a bottle and close the mouth tightly with a small piece of sponge. 

If the bottle is then turned upside down, the sponge will become sat-
WILSON.] WATEE, DUTY AND EVAPORATION. 71

urated, but unless pressed by the finger will give out RO water. If 

another large, dry sponge is placed in contact with it, the water at once 

begins to flow through the sponge in the neck of the bottle, and this 

continues until the second sponge can absorb no more.

We may fairly conclude that it is the layer next the wetted perimeter that limits the quantity absorbed; that the greater its area the 

more it will pass through to the still greater area of the next layer. 

Everything being equal, we may say that absorption varies as the 

wetted perimeter. Hence, for sections of canals of small length we 

may take the loss as being so much per mile, but in general the discharge and wetted perimeter decrease with the length, but the latter 

not nearly in the same proportion as the former. Thus the loss up to 

any point may be found when the loss between two other points is 

found. The total loss up to any point is the loss in the first mile 

multiplied by some function of the length. This, in some cases, has 

been found equal to five-sixths.

Mr. Beresford next enters into an interesting computation in which 

the efficiencies of the various causes of waste are considered as algebraic factors with the numerical values determined as above, while 

the efficiency of the cultivator, which varies within wide limits, is 

taken as being between 0.5 and 0.9, where unity represents his efficiency at the theoretical limit. He finds the loss from percolation to 

be 1.25 cubic feet in the first mile, and in long lengths of canal about 

a quarter of a cubic foot per mile. The final result obtained indicates that for each cubic foot entering the distributary only 0.68 is 

available for fields beyond the tenth mile.

The remedies heretofore applied to lessen these defects have been 

few. The distributary of to-day is the same as that of thirty years 

ago, so far as construction of channel is concerned. The minor water 

courses are rarely constructed or attended by an engineer, and as a 

rule are badly aligned and constructed and not maintained. The 

cultivator is the only part of the machine which has been improved. 

Mr. Beresford is of the opinion that the widest field for improvement 

is in the minor water courses. The same applies to the private irrigating channels of the farmer of our own West. These minor channels are certainly on an average 25 per cent longer than need be. 

They even run a long distance through sandy ground, which absorbs 

a great proportion of water. The size of discharge of the module or 

regulator is frequently not suited to the length or conditions of the 

water course; and two different water courses sometimes run side by 

side, thus increasing the wetted perimeter and the consequent' loss. 

The first recommendation made by Mr. Beresford is in all eases the 

construction of a good map. This is desired by alj canal engineers, 

but it is rarely made, because it is thought to mean an endless 

amount of surveying. The saving from the construction of such a 

map would be more than paid for in the saving of water. It is rec-
72 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

ommended that all small water courses be puddled when running 

through sandy soil. A layer 3 inches thick (fig. 1, No. 7) would suffice. If the cost of this was as much as $100 per mile it would not be 

exorbitant, for in the length of a mile, if the discharge at the head 

is 1 second-foot and the loss 25 per cent, the saving eifected would 

increase the duty by from 20 to 40 acres.

The losses in distributaries, although proportionately less than in 

the minor channels, are often large, especially in new channels. The 

particles of sand or silt carried in suspension are usually dropped in 

the upper reach, but particles of clay or very fine sand are carried to 

the very tail and are often deposited on the sides and bed to a considerable thickness, forming a more or less impervious lining or siltberm. 

The deposit on the bed, even a long way down, is more charged with 

sand than is the berm. The sand being heavier, drops to the ground, 

and as it is rolled along picks up the lighter particles of clay. It is 

not recommended that the sides of the distributaries be puddled unless 

in the first few miles, but the bed in sandy soil might be advantageously puddled everywhere to a thickness of several inches. A 

temporary measure suggested by Mr. Beresford is to collect clay and, 

breaking it into fine particles, throw it in near the canal head or at 

the falls, when the action of the water will thoroughly break up the 

clay and carry it into the berms and water courses miles below, thus 

rendering them impervious.

In 1867 Mr. E. C. Palmer, executive engineer of the irrigation works, 

Northwest Provinces, made some interesting experiments in the same 

direction on the Bari Doab canal.fl Among other experiments conducted, one was made to determine the time required to saturate thoroughly an acre of ground. In these experiments the discharge orifices 

were 15 feet in length, each of the same dimensions and working under 

the same heads. The experiments were repeated on different varieties 

of land. It was found that an average depth of 3 inches of water on 

the whole surface represents a thorough watering on average soil. In 

sandy soil it was as much as 4 inches. This gives 10,454 cubic feet, 

or about one-fourth acre-foot, as the volume required to water 1 

acre. In ordinary soil the average is actually a little over 0.2 of'a 

foot, or 9,150 cubic feet. In these experiments the quantity of water 

varied, according to the soil and other circumstances, between 9,000 

and 14,500 cubic feet per acre for one watering, and the time required 

to water an acre varied from two to twelve hours. In the dry season 

wheat required four waterings and 10,500 cubic feet of water. For 

the first watering, in order to prepare the ground for plowing and sowing, 8,000 cubic feet were required, and the same amount for each of 

the remaining four waterings on the standing crop. An acre of wheat, 

therefore, required 42,500 cubic feet to mature the crop, or nearly an 

acre-foot of water per acre. At the prices then current the cost to the

"Palmer, E. C., Irrigation Experiments: Roorkee Professional Papers, No. 35.
WILSON.J WATER DUTY AND EVAPORATION. 73

State was 75 cents per acre and the water rate derived was $1.60 per 

acre. The time required to cover an acre of land was 0.445 day, or 

2.2 acres per day. For standing crops the rate is about 4.4 acres per 

day, as they ordinarily require not more than half as much water as 

is necessary for plowing.

The losses by evaporation and absorption and the duty of water are 

now well known in India on the various lines of canal and for the 

numerous reservoirs that have been in operation for many years. In 

the Northwest Provinces the duty of water for the year 1888 varied, 

for different crops, from 120 to 194 acres per second-foot, and the 

money value was from $143 to $286 per second-foot. From experiments 

conducted on the Betwa canal in the same province it appears that 

mixed sugar-cane and indigo crops (which need much water) required 

a total volume in eighty days of 310,000 cubic feet per acre for wetweather crops, while the autumn crops required 150,000 cubic feet, or 

about 3^ acre-feet per acre. In some experiments made on the Nira 

canal to ascertain the amount of wheat which could be irrigated in a 

given period of time, it was found that with a second-foot of flow 8 

acres of wheat could be irrigated in twenty-four hours.

In estimating the supply of water necessary to irrigate a given area 

of land it has been found from actual experiment that a large proportion of the land covered by any given irrigation system is always 

unirrigated and that water need only be provided for a certain small 

percentage of the total area of irrigable land. This land is not irrigated for several reasons. It may be occupied with buildings or roads 

or be in use as pasturage. . A certain proportion receives water by 

seepage from adjacent irrigated fields, and another portion is occupied 

by towns and villages. In drawing up the projects of the great 

canals in the northwest it was found by data derived from experience 

on the Jumna canals that each second-foot of discharge was capable 

of irrigating 218 acres, and it was reckoned that for each acre irrigated there would be 2 other acres unwatered. Hence each secondfoot represented a duty of 654 acres, or approximately 1 square mile. 

In drawing up the project for the Soane canals in Bengal Colonel 

Dickens reckoned three-quarters of a second-foot to every square inile 

of gross area. To date the Soane canals have been in operation fifteen 

years, and yet there is a demand now for not over 100 acres in 640, and 

the system of distributaries as designed for these canals has proved 

to be unnecessarily elaborate. In the Punjab it is customary to design 

works to irrigate only from 20 to 30 per cent of the area covered, and 

where water for more is demanded it is usually not given, as it is bad 

for the land, producing water-logging and its consequent evils. The 

experiments made on the eastern Jumna canal in 1845 showed that 

on the Saharanpur division one-fifth only of the total area cultivated 

was actually watered, and on the two other principal divisions the 

percentages were one-fourth and one-third, respectively. A similar
74 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

experiment conducted the same year on the western Jumna canal 

showed that of the total area cultivated from one-half to one-third 

only was actually watered.

In gaging the velocity of discharge of rivers in India floats are usually employed. In some of the great rivers where there are weirs constructed the depth of water passing over these weirs gives a measure 

of the volume of discharge; in a few cases only are current meters 

used. In the canals the discharge is almost invariably obtained by 

means of wooden floats, sometimes floating on the surface and sometimes submerged. These are timed for given distances, usually 

marked out in an aqueduct or other portions of the channel where 

permanent gage rods are established. On the minor distributaries 

V-shaped weirs are in general use for the measurement of discharge.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

MOT.

CHAPTER VI.

WELLS AND INUNDATION AND DELTAIC CANALS.

WELLS.

As before stated in classifying the irrigation works, lift irrigation 

from wells is extensively practiced throughout India. Wells are economically among the most important irrigation works in India, because 

they are the most general. They vary in depth from 10 to 60 feet, 

and may be unlined if shallow, lined with stone dry-packed, or with 

masonry.

The modes of lifting water from wells are of different kinds, viz, by 

means of a bucket raised by a well-sweep and called the paecottah, 

extensively used in Bengal; by means of a mot, whereby a -leathern 

bag is raised from the well by bullocks walking away-with a rope 

a method that is practiced most extensively in the Northwest Provinces, in central India, and Bombay and lastly, by means of the 

Persian wheel (PI. IV, A), employed chiefly in the Punjab. As an 

indication of the extent to which wells are employed in irrigation, we 

find in the Central Provinces 650,000 acres irrigated from tanks, while 

120,000 acres are irrigated from wells. In Madras there are 31,000,000 

acres under cultivation, of which 5,320,000 acres are irrigated by 

canals and tanks, and 2,000,000 acres by 400,000 wells. In the Northwest Provinces in 1888 the area irrigated by wells was 358,600 acres, 

or 23.6 per cent of the whole area under cultivation. In Coimbatore 

there are said to be 100,000 wells sunk, in many cases through hard 

rock, to a depth of 80 or 90 feet, and capable in ordinary seasons of 

irrigating from 1 to 4 acres each. As a contrast with the utility of 

canal or tank irrigation it has been estimated that the Ganges Canal 

alone replaces the work of 300,000 men and 1,300,000 bullocks, besides 

increasing the value of crops irrigated by wells by 50 per cent.

The paecottah of southern India, also called the lat in upper India 

or in Egypt the shadouf (fig. 2), is usually worked by two men who 

labor from six to eight hours daily. Authorities estimate that they 

will raise from 400 to 2,000 cubic feet per second per day. From 

moderate depths three men "working two paecottahs will water three 

acres a season. The mot (fig. 4) is a leathern bucket made of a whole 

oxhide, and is raised by two bullocks walking down an incline and 

drawing after them the rope attached to it. When the bucket reaches

75
76 IEEIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

the surface it is emptied automatically or by an attendant. In Bombay the bullocks usually return by walking backward; elsewhere they 

are not trained to do this, and they face about to return (PL III). 

Sometimes two yoke of oxen are used hitched alternately to the rope.

FIG. 2. Paecottah.

From the Calcutta Engineers' Journal it appears that two bullocks 

working ten hours a day for a season of ninety days will raise with 

the mot 162,000 cubic feet of water, or about 3| acre-feet.

The Persian wheel (fig. 3) consists of a large wheel revolving vertically in a shallow well. On its outer periphery are a large number of
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO.87 PL. IV

B. PAECOTTAH.

WILSON."] WELLS. 77

small buckets. These lift the water and empty it into a trough, 

whence it runs into the ditches. The wheel is made to revolve by

FIG. 3. Persian wheel.

FIG. 4. Single mot.

means of a cogged gearing and is turned by two bullocks walking in 

a circle and hitched to a horizontal sweep. By this method it is estimated that 2,000 cubic feet of water may be raised per day.
78 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

INUNDATION CANALS.

The inundation canals of India have been constructed and are chiefly 

used in the valley of the Indus, and as they have no permanent headworks they depend for their utility on two conditions generally absent 

in the United States. First, the stream from which an inundation 

canal is taken must flow at a high elevation relative to the surface of 

the surrounding country; that is, its bed must be practically on the 

summit of a ridge, as is the case with the lower Sacramento and Mississippi rivers. Second, the river must be subject to great annual 

floods lasting through a long period. Inundation works have been 

among the most profitable canals operated in India, chiefly because of 

their simplicity of construction. As a general thing the inundation 

canals diverted from the rivers of the Punjab and Sind are used to 

irrigate the lowlands only. Cuts are made from the river inland for 

a certain distance, thence the canal line follows the general slope of 

the country. By these canals the autumn crop is watered when the 

river is in flood. Large quantities of silt are left in the beds of the 

canals or heaped up at their mouths, varying from 1 to 8 feet in depth, 

and this is cleaned out during the cold season. From the main canal 

the water is distributed to the fields by branch canals and minor channels in a mode similar to that employed in irrigating from other canals.

There are no works at the heads of inundation canals to control the 

supply of water. They are constructed on rivers whose courses are so 

uncertain that they may at any time desert the head, when the water 

will have to be brought into the canal by a new mouth excavated the 

next season. Under any circumstances the deposit of silt at the head 

is considerable and would naturally be increased by anything in the 

shape of a dam. The labor in clearing the silt is a heavy annual 

charge on the benefits received from the water and the numerous 

deserted channels in various parts of the country show that unless 

carefully maintained these canals soon become useless.

Channels thus opening direct from the river and unprovided with 

regulating works are subject to several disadvantages. The current 

of a river may set on the mouth of the canal or on the bank and wash 

it away. The supply may become too great in the large floods or may 

be altogether cut off owing to the destruction of the head or the changing of the course of the river. The violent action on the mouth of the 

channel may be checked to a certain extent by revetments and groynes 

and other river-training works, but these also have the effect of diverting the action of the stream from its natural course and may throw it 

away from the canal head.

Nearly all Indian rivers from which inundation canals are diverted 

flow in broad curves through wide flood plains. At places where the 

curves have changed are extensive depressions containing water, 

called dunds in Sind and sotas in Bengal. These are similar in all
WILSON.] INUNDATION CANALS. 79

respects to the bayous or lagoons of the Lower Mississippi and neighboring rivers. These depressions are frequently the sites of the heads 

of inundation canals, though not infrequently such canals head in 

the true bank of the main river from which they draw their supply. 

The object in using dunds as canal heads is that they are much larger 

than the canals they feed, and as the velocity through them is correspondingly low, silt which would otherwise be deposited in the canal 

is deposited in the dunds, thus reducing the cost and difficulties of 

canal clearance. a

Experience seems to have taught the native rulers of India, who 

constructed most of the inundation canals, the necessity of locating 

head-works at points where they would be screened from the full force 

of the current during flood. Experiments by Colonel Tremenheere, 

R. E., on these show that: 1. Inundation canals which draw their supsec riON (ENLARGED) A, B, C. D

FIG. 5. Inundation canal heading in dund.

ply from branches separated from the main river by islands covered 

by brushwood and long grass contain a comparatively small amount 

of suspended matter. 2. Canals having their heads in the main 

stream where the velocity is normal usually contain silt to the extent 

of one three-hundredths by weight, and that about one-third of this 

quantity may be deposited in the canals. 3. Canals having their 

heads in the main streams at a point where the channel is restricted 

and the velocity increased may contain silt to the extent of one twohundredths by weight, of which one-half may be deposited in the 

canal.

In the Punjab the inundation canals begin to fill with water about 

the last of April and run dry toward the end of September. During 

the earlier months, when the flood is high, lift irrigation is practiced. 

The superiority of the river water for agricultural irrigation over

aBuckley, R. B., Irrigation Works in India and Egypt, E. & F. N. Spon, London, 1893, p. 18.
80 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

well water is demonstrated by the fact that near the heads of the 

Punjab canals the cultivators prefer to pay canal rates and to lift the 

water from the canals rather than from wells.

The freshets in the Indus commence in March and high flood is most 

frequent in August. The lower stages commence at the end of October. 

The velocity of the current in the dry season varies from 2f to 3f miles 

per hour. In the freshets it is from 5 to 7 miles per hour and has sometimes reached a maximum of 8 miles. The w idth of the water surface 

of the Indus in low water or the dry season varies from 1,500 to 5,000 

feet, the average depth being from 3 to 6 feet. The rise of ordinary 

floods is from 5 to 7 feet in twenty-four hours and averages 50 feet 

above low-water level. The highest recorded flood was 92 feet above 

low-water level.

From the borders of the Punjab the Indus flows for a distance of 450 

miles through an arid alluvial plain, almost every portion of which has 

at some time been swept by the river or its branches. Owing to the 

deposits of silt the bed and banks of the river are continually rising. 

It has been estimated that the Indus annually brings down sufficient 

silt to form an island 42 miles long by 27 miles broad and 40 feet deep. 

When the river bed attains a certain height the water falls over the 

bank and the river changes its course. It is this movement which 

causes the difficulties of irrigation in the Sind, and has resulted in the 

construction of inundation works.

Inundation canals are generally carried away from the river in an 

oblique direction. They vary from 10 to 300 feet in width and from 4 

to 10 feet in depth, and resemble natural water courses more than 

canals. The following table gives an idea of the dimensions of six 

of the larger inundation canals in the Sind, and their cost and revenue 

for the year 1899-1900:

Sind inundation canals.

Name.

Begari .........

Desert

Grtiar. -__-__..._

Sukkur _____

Fuleli._. ______

Total_._._

Main 

canal.

Miles. 

158

298

130

1,043

101

Discharge of 

canal.

Second-feet.

5,664

3,509

3,210

3,439

3,352

3,200

Area irrigated.

Acres. 

186, 500

149, 660

250, 000

90, 000

380, 000

250, 000

1, 306, 160

Duty, . 

acres irrigated per secondfoot.

55.62

53.78

39.24

34.69

Average 

annual 

rainfall.

Inches. 

0.79

1.90

.83

.87

.80

4.58

Capital outlay 

to 1900.

$1, 148, 000

845, 000

147, 000

470, 000

563, 000

2, 220, 000

5,393,000

In the Punjab the capital outlay on the five inundation works for 

which capital accounts were kept was, to the end of 1901, $687,000.
WILSON.] DELTAIC CANALS. 81

The working expenses were $197,000 and the net revenue $74,000. 

The average per cent of net revenue on capital expended on these 

canals was 9.58, while on the Indus and Shahpur canals an interest 

of 23.55 and 28.76 per cent, respectively, was realized.

The following table gives the important data concerning the six 

principal inundation canals of the Punjab:

Punjab inundation canals.

Name.

Upper Sutle j ... .......

Chenab _. _ _ . . . _ . .. _

Indus __________ _______

Jhehun (Shahpitr) ______

Muzaffargarh _ _ . . . ______

TotaL___ ........ . .. .

Main 

canal.

Miles. 

225

363

262

713

79

886

Discharge of 

canal.

Sec. -feet. 

9,780

5, 700

4,894

5,164

1,125

7,284

Area irrigated.

Acres. 

247, 683

271,545

130, 455

225, 000

43, 000

318, 225

1,334,908

Average 

annual 

rainfall.

Inches. 

13.0

6.8

6.6

13.8

5.2

Capital outlay to 1901.

$276-, 000

238, 000

72, 000

The total area irrigated in the Punjab by inundation canals was 

1,220,000 acres, about two-fifths of which were autumn crops.

DELTAIC CANALS.

Before entering into a discussion of the perennial canals of the 

higher lands of India a general description will be given of the great 

works constructed near the mouths of the larger deltaic rivers, as many 

of the weirs and mechanical modes of con trolling water in use on them 

will be of interest. These canals have been constructed in an almost 

level country, with low slopes, and are universally intended for 

navigation as well as for irrigation. Aside from the mechanical details 

referred to, these canals are of little interest to the American engineer, 

as the conditions do not favor similar works in our country.

Deltaic canals are true perennial canals, but are here distinguished 

from the latter because they are situated on a different class of rivers 

from those found in the United States, and apart from the head-works, 

regulators, and other prominent works upon them do not resemble 

such irrigation canals as are likely to be constructed in this country. 

As the name implies, deltaic canals usually head at the points at which 

rivers divide into numerous branches as they enter their deltaic tracts 

near the ocean, as does the Mississippi near New Orleans. A number 

of such canals have been built in India, of which several large ones 

are in Madras and two in Bengal.*

"Buckley, E. B., Irrigation Works in India and Egypt, E. & P. N. Spon, London, 1893, p. 93.

IRR 87 03 6
82 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [M>. 87.

A river which runs through the soft soil of a delta easily changes its 

course, and the relative dimensions of the main channel and its bifurcations or branches are sometimes greatly altered by floods. An example of the extent of such changes may be cited in the case of the 

floods on the Mahanadi River, which were carefully measured. It 

was calculated that during the period which elapsed between the 

floods of 1855 and 1872 the capacity of the Mahanadi branch had 

diminished to the extent of nearly 80,000 cubic feet, or 10 per cent of 

its ordinary volume. A common feature of deltaic rivers is observed 

in the diminution of the areas of their cross sections as they approach 

the sea. This is shown in the discharge at the head of any particular 

reach of the river being always greater than the noted discharges at 

the heads of the branches which take off at the lower end of such 

reach.

There are many advantages in irrigating upon a river delta, as the 

soil there is usually a rich alluvium and the slope of the country always 

uniform and gentle. Moreover, the branches of the stream flowing 

through the land are of uniform slope, and thus afford excellent drains 

for the surplus water. As the river channels flow in built-up ridges 

somewhat above the level of the surrounding country, it is possible 

by throwing a weir across the delta head and running branch canals 

along the margins of the streams to easily command the whole delta 

area for irrigation. As from the nature of the conditions the whole 

area under command of the canals is subject to inundation, it is necessary to confine the floods to the river channels by means of a series 

of marginal embankments or levees. As such rivers have a tendency 

to change the amount of flood which they pass through different 

branches, it is generally necessary to regulate the discharge of each 

of these by weirs across both the main and branch channels. Furthermore, because the cross sections of the branches reduce as they 

approach the sea it is essential in designing levees that provision be 

made to permit the discharge of the full volume which any branch 

may have to carry.

An admirable example of deltaic canal is furnished in Egypt in the 

delta of the Nile, between Cairo and Alexandria. A few miles below 

the former city, at the head of the delta, is a great masonry weir, the 

Barrage du Nil. This consists essentially of two great open regulating bridges placed across the two deltaic branches of the Nile, the 

Daniietta and Rosetta branches. The floors of these regulators are 

at the level of the river bed, and the only obstruction offered to floods 

are the piers. The openings between the piers are 16.4 feet in the 

clear, covered with arches, which carry the roadway overhead. There 

are 71 spans in the Daniietta barrage and 61 in the Rosetta barrage. 

The entire length of the former is 1,765 feet and of the latter 1,525 

feet, and these afford an obstruction to the Nile amounting to about 

one-fourth of the original waterway.
WILSON.] DELTAIC CANALS. 83

In the presidency of Madras the most notable canals of this character are those at the deltas of the Godavari and Kistna rivers. On 

the Godavari system there were completed, at the end of 1899, 503 miles 

of main canals and 1,905 miles of distributaries, which commanded 

1,267,200 acres and actually irrigated 653,400 acres. The total expenditure on this work to end of 1899 was $4,355,000. The weir at the head 

of this canal was constructed in 1844. The river drains an area ot 

115,570 square miles above the weir, and the crest of this latter is 38 

feet above mean sea level and 33 miles from the coast. The maximum 

discharge of the river at this delta head was 1,210,000 second-feet, with 

a depth of 15^ feet over the weir crest. The head-works at Douleshwaram consist of a weir across the river 18,000 feet in length and of 

three sets of scouring sluices and regulators from which the three 

main canals irrigating the eastern, central, and western deltaic regions 

are supplied. The river is broken by islands to a length of 4,500 feet, 

on which earth embankments connect the various portions of the 

masonry weir. There are also flanking embankments, making the 

earthwork in all 7,000 feet long, and there are 2,500 feet in length of 

wing walls. The total length of the masonry weir is 11,946 feet. It 

is founded on walls 6 feet in diameter sunk 6 feet in the river bed, 

and is 19 feet thick, consisting of a core of sandstone faced by a 

curtain wall 7 feet high and 4 feet thick at the base, having a masonry 

fall 28 feet broad and 4 feet thick. Below the weir is a massive stone 

apron 80 feet broad. On both banks are masonry wing walls and 

revetments. The three sets of regulating sluices have the following 

dimensions: The eastern consists of 13 gates 6 by 8 feet, the central 

of 15 gates 6 by 8^ feet, and the western of 15 gates 7| feet high and 

varying from 5^ to 6 feet in width. The mean supply to the eastern 

delta during the summer season is 2,826 second-feet, which is the 

carrying capacity of that canal. The area irrigated is 170,000 acres. 

The maximum discharge of all the main canals during 1899 was 13,201 

second-feet. The carrying capacity of the main central canal is 1,745 

second-feet, and it irrigates 122,400 acres. The supply of the western 

canal is 3,950 second-feet and it covers 319,580 acres. The canals vary 

in bottom width from 114 feet on the central canal to 225 feet on the 

western canal, with varying depths of from 7 feet on one to 10 feet 

on the other.

The River Kistna has a course of about 800 miles from its source in 

latitude 18° 01' and longitude 73° 14', down to the sea, about 45 miles 

south of Masulipatan on the Coromandel coast. Its drainage area 

may be taken at 97,050 square miles, and its maximum flood discharge 

at 820,000-feet per second (fig. 6).

The idea of damming this river by an aiiicut at Bezwada, 60 miles 

above its mouth, where the configuration of the country lent itself in 

an exceptional manner to the construction of such a work, was first 

mooted in the year 1792, but nothing was definitely decided until 1847,
IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

when Maj. (now Sir) Arthur Cotton and Capt. (now Sir) Atwell Lake 

submitted a joint report on the proposed anicut and on the scheme of 

irrigation for the eastern and western deltas. After considerable discussion the court of directors sanctioned the construction of the anicut, 

together with subsidiary works, on the 5th of January, 1850, for a sum 

of $513,000. The head sluices and locks were commenced in 1852 and 

completed in the following year. The anicut itself was commenced 

in November, 1853, and completed in 1855, in spite of great delays and 

losses caused by an extraordinary flood and an outbreak of cholera. 

The head-works consist of a weir 3,198 feet in length, and the greatest flood rose 194- feet above its crest. The eastern main canal has a

FIG. 6. Kistna canal system.

bottom width of 200 feet and a depth of 8^ feet. The western canal 

has a bottom width of 230 feet and a depth of 8 feet. The total length 

of main canals in 1899 was 372 miles and of distributaries 1,625 miles. 

The total area of irrigation in 1899 was 505,087 acres. The crest of the 

weir at the head-works is 0 feet in width and 15^ feet above the top of 

the foundation. The total width of apron below the crest is 257 feet. 

(PL Y, A.) The foundation consists of a double row of wells, and at 

each end of the weir is a set of .scouring sluices of 30 gates, each 6 feet 

wide. The regulating gates are of the same dimensions. The crest 

of the weir being too low for the required supply, a temporary dry 

stone wall 4 feet high is annually built 011 it, and after the stone has
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL. V

KISTNA ANICUT, WITH RIVER IN MODERATE FLOOD.

B. HEAD SLUICES OF EASTERN CHANNEL FROM KANIGIRI RESERVOIR.

WILSON] DELTAIC CANALS. 85

been washed off by floods it is used in the repair of the apron. Shutters have recently been substituted for this temporary device.

The Cauvery deltaic canals, from the river of that name in Madras, 

irrigated 919,540 acres in 1899. The length of main canals is 844 

miles, of distributaries 1,250 miles, their maximum discharge being 

31,060 second-feet. So far the cost of these works has been $704,000.

The data upon which the size of the head sluices and main canals 

were calculated was 2 cubic yards of water per hour per acre, or a 

duty of 66 acres per cubic foot per second. This, it was calculated, 

could be maintained for the ultimate proposed area of irrigation of 

470,000 acres throughout the irrigation season except for about forty 

days in the year. Experience, however, has proved that, owing to 

the heavy clayey nature of the delta soil and care taken in the distribution of the water and its utilization by the ryots, that a duty of 90 

acres per cubic foot per second may be reckoned upon, pointing to 

an ultimate development of no less than 700,000 acres, or 50 per cent 

in excess of the originally calculated irrigable area.

The East Tamileru escape or Ghattaparni outlet at 40 miles 20 

chains, Ellore Canal, eastern delta, was built in 1890-91 to provide 

for passing the flood water of the east branch of the Tamileru out of 

the canal. The work consists of four arches, 20 feet span each, at 

either end, and eleven small arches between 7i feet span each, the 

latter fitted with screw-gearing shutters. There is a footbridge over 

the entire work.

The Sangana anicut project was sanctioned in 1881 for the purpose of improving 

and extending irrigation in the northern section of the Penner River delta. Its 

principal features were the construction of a weir 4,390 feet long; a head sluice of 

40 vents, of 4^ feet span each, to supply the main canal; the excavation of a main 

canal 6 miles long and 157 feet bottom width, to fill the Kanigiri reservoir; 

improvements to an existing branch channel, which was to be supplied from the 

main canal; raising the banks of the Kanigiri reservoir, to increase its capacity, 

and the excavation of distributaries from the Kanigiri reservoir and Duvur tank. 

The anticipated ultimate area of irrigation under the project was 94,000 acres 

producing a net revenue of $78,900.

The works have been carried out more or less as they were designed. The project came into operation in 1886-87, and there has been a steady increase of cultivation, except in 1891-93, when there was a falling off, owing to the scarcity of water, 

which amounted nearly to famine in the Nellore district. According to the 

returns of 1895-96 the area irrigated was 77,347 acres and the net .revenue, after 

deducting working expenses, amounted to $44,000.

Sangana anicut is built across the Penner River at the village of Sangana and 

consists of a solid wall of masonry with scouring and head sluices, all founded on 

wells. The rear of the anicut is provided with a substantial sloping apron built 

of large bowlders with the interstices filled in with concrete and strengthened 

by binding walls.

The length of the anicut crest between south wing and scouring sluice is 4,076 

feet; top breadth, 4^ feet. The upper course is built to a thickness of 2 feet, with 

cut laterite set on edge in Portland cement. The crest is 7 feet above deep bed of 

river, or 10.50 feet above M. S. L. The anicut has been designed to discharge
86 IKBIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

597,000 cubic feet per second and the wings and other masonry works attached to 

it have been built to meet the contingency of an additional 5 feet rise of water in 

the river during extraordinary floods. The scouring sluice, which is built in continuation of "the anicut, is constructed of brick in surki mortar, except the floor 

and apron, which are paved with cut stone, and the sides and faces of piers cased 

with cut laterite. It is provided with 14 vents, 6 by 6 feet, which are opened and 

closed by means of screw-gearing shutters. The under sluice is also intended to 

pass down the regulated share for the Nellore anicut system lower down the river.

The Sangam head sluice is built in similar style to that of the scouring sluice 

and has 21 vents, 6 by 6 feet, for the regulation of water into the Kanigiri 

main canal, which supplies the Kanigiri reservoir. It has been designed to supply water for the irrigation of 94,000 acres by a discharge of 4,800 cubic feet per 

second when water in river is flush with anicut crest. The floor level of the 

sluice is 98' M. S. L., or 2 feet above that of the under sluice.

Kanigiri tank head sluice, southern channel, is intended to discharge sufficient 

water for the irrigation of 17,500 acres under southern channel and 10,500 acres 

under branch or central channel. It is built of brick in surki mortar, the floor 

and apron being paved with cut stone. It is provided with 4 vents, 6 by 4 feet, 

and worked with screw-gearing shutters. Eastern channel head sluice is built of 

brick in mortar with the exception of the floor, which is pared with cut stone, 

and the piers cased with cut laterite. [PL V, B.] It has 16 vents, 6 by 4 feet, 

capable of discharging 934.5 cubic feet per second when the reservoir maintains 

P. S. L., the area to be irrigated under the channel and its branches being 62,300 

acres. The supply of water to the channel is regulated by means of screw shutters. 

The sill level is 73f .

Kanigiri masonry dam or flush escape [PL VI] is intended to pass the surplus of 

the reservoir over rocky ground, and is built entirely with rubble in surki mortar, 

the crest being placed 2 feet below F.S. L. (94'.95) of the reservoir, or 92'. 55 M.S. L.; 

but in order to maintain a full supply, grooved iron standards have been fixed 011 

top, provided with planks for raising and lowering the water as required. The 

length of the dam is 280 feet, with a top breadth of 4* feet.

Kanigiri escape sill is placed on the same level as the crest of the masonry dam 

and acts jointly with it. The masonry is composed of brick in surki mortar, resting on rock foundation. The escape consists of 31 arches of 9 feet span with a 

roadway on top, and in front screw-gearing shutters have been fixed to hold up 

the water to F. S. L,«

The principal remaining deltaic canals in India are the Midnapore 

and Orissa canals in Bengal. According to the revenue report of 

Bengal for the year 1901, it appears that the total capital outlay to 

date on the Orissa canals, exclusive of interest charges, was $17,436,000, 

and on the Midnapore canals, $5,953,000. The Orissa canals were 

originally constructed by the East India Irrigation and Canal Company and the source of supply is derived from three principal rivers 

the Mahanadi, the Brahmini, and the Byturni. The minimum discharge of all these rivers during the cold weather or autumn crop is 

6,612 second-feet, and the maximum discharge of the canal is 6,058 

second-feet. The gross area commanded is 597,792 acres, of which at 

present 274,974 are irrigated. The works consist of 280 miles of main 

and branch canals and 1,123 miles of distributaries. There are three

distinct weirs at the head of this canal. One at the point where the

______t_____________________________________

a Administrative report Irrigation Branch: Public Works Dept., Madras Presidency.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PACER NO. 87 PL. VI

KANIGIRI RESERVOIR ESCAPE.

WILSON.] DELTAIC CATSTALS. 87

river bifurcates is 3,600 feet in length and 12 feet above the river bed. 

The second weir is across the Mahanadi Kiver itself, and is 1^ miles 

long and 12 feet high. The third, across the Biropa River, is 1,980 

feet in length and 9 feet above the river. The system of canals is 

capable of great extension.

The Midnapore canal was also constructed by the East India Irrigation Company. Its supply is derived from the River Cossye, the 

catchment basin of which is so small that the supply of water in the 

canal varies with the rainfall on the district covered by the canal 

itself. The works were commenced by a company in ignorance of the 

real supply available, and the distributaries have actually been constructed to command an area of 180,000 acres, of which 125,000 are at 

'present irrigable.

The canal is divided into four lengths, the first of which is taken off 

above the weir at Midnapore. In the twenty-fifth mile this tails into 

the river where the second weir is built across it. The canal crosses 

the river at this point and the second length is diverted on the opposite bank. A large portion of the remaining length of the canal is 

constructed principally for navigation. The automatic sluice gates 

constructed in the weir at Midnapore are of peculiar interest and will 

be fully described in another place.

Deltaic canals.

Name of canal.

Palar. ....... ............

Province.

.....do............

. ....do.. ......... .

.....do. ........ ...

.....do......,...'..

.....do. ...........

.....do...... ......

Main canals.

Miles.

380 

72 

503 

372 

31 

163 

190 

844

Discharge, 

sec.-ft.

6,058 

1,500 

13,478 

8,943 

6,634 

5,546 

1,440 

45,525

Area irrigated.

Acres. 

374,974 

135,000 

663,310 

547,806 

145,470 

45,306 

63,098 

919,539

Rainfall.

Inches. 

75.8 

59.6 

42.8 

27.4 

30.1 

35.2 

25.3 

53.3

Expenditure to 1901.

$17,436,000 

5,953,000 

4,355,000 

4,465,000 

1,987,000 

697,000 

7,275,000 

919,000
CHAPTER VII.

PERENNIAL CANALS.

SOURCE OF SUPPLY.

Perhaps the first consideration in designing any irrigation work is 

the source of supply. In the case of perennial canals this may be 

from perennial streams or from storage reservoirs. In either case 

the Indian engineer deems it necessary first to make a thorough 

examination of the hydrography of this source to ascertain the quantitjr of water available and the point of the river's course at which 

the canal can be taken off. The head-works are almost invariably 

located high up on the river to command a sufficient level and if possible to tap the stream where the water is clear and not laden with 

silt. By thus locating the head-works it is usually possible, owing to 

the greater slope of the country, to reach the high lands or watersheds 

of the areas to be irrigated with the shortest possible diversion line. 

By diversion line is meant that portion of the canal's course which is 

necessaiy to bring the line to the neighborhood of the irrigable lands, 

and which is usually unprofitable, as it does not irrigate directly any 

land. The disadvantages of locating the canal head-works high up 

on the streams are serious. The country having an excessive fall 

requires rough hillside cuttings, perhaps in rock, and the line is, 

moreover, intersected by hillside drainage, the passage of which 

entails serious difficulties.

Perennial canals are taken chiefly from the great perennial rivers 

which issue from the Himalayas, from whose melting snows the canals 

receive an abundant and constant supply of water. The smaller perennial canals in portions of Madras and Bombay are chiefly fed by 

storage water collected in reservoirs and tanks in the hills. The 

great rivers of the Punjab and the Northwest Provinces rarely discharge less than 4,000 second-feet, and some discharge many times 

this volume, while in times of flood their discharge increases to as 

high as 1,200,000 second-feet and more.

In the arid region of the United States no such streams as these 

exist, though a few of our great rivers, as the Missouri, Columbia, 

Rio Grande, Sacramento, and their principal branches, carry large 

volumes of water, much of which it is to be hoped will at some future 

time be utilized for irrigation. Because of the similarity existing 

between these and the great Indian rivers, the country which they 

traverse, and its climate during the cultivation of the autumn crop,
WILSON.] GANGES CANAL, NORTHWEST PROVINCES. 89

the use of the waters of these great streams will be of immediate 

interest to us and may furnish useful lessons and examples when we 

commence the construction of similar works. The topography of the 

Punjab and Northwest Provinces at the foot of the Himalayas has 

been described in detail in another place. It is very similar in many 

respects to that of the great California Valley on the western slopes 

of the Sierras and that of the Colorado and Wyoming plains at the 

foot of the Rockies. The rivers issue from the sub-Himalayas and 

Sewaliks through foothills similar in appearance and with surface 

slopes corresponding to those of the Feather, American, Stanislaus, 

and other rivers flowing from the Sierras in California, or to the 

Arkansas and Platte rivers issuing from the Rockies.

In designing these great perennial canals the Indian engineer first 

makes a careful topographic survey of the entire region to be irrigated, and numerous trial lines are run before the final location of the 

main and distributary canals is decided upon and the position of the 

head-works definitely fixed. In the case of the rivers having a constant regimen training works are unnecessary, as the head-works are 

generally located in narrow portions of the river where the banks are 

firm and the channel stable. At the entrance to some of the larger 

canals heading in the plains, notably the Agra and the Lower Ganges, 

expensive river-regulating works are required to control the movements of the river channels.

The machinery of a great canal consists usually of the following 

parts: The head-works at the point where the canal is diverted from 

the river, the main canal, the distributaries, and the minors. Each 

of these units of the system has its own set of regulating works and 

escapes to control the supply of water in the canal. Between different 

canals these differ but slightly, the point of greatest difference usually 

being at the head-works and in the first few miles of diversion line. 

Here various devices have been resorted to for the passage of hillside 

drainage.

GANGES CANAL, NORTHWEST PROVINCES.

It is probable that the first attempt to construct a canal on the interfluve between the Ganges and Junma rivers occupied by the present 

line of the Ganges canal was made by Mohammed Aboo Khan at some 

time early in the eighteenth century. This canal consisted of a shallow ditch 12|- miles long taken from the west Kali Nadi and was filled 

by means of a temporary weir thrown across that stream. No masonry 

works were constructed, and much damage was done by the flooding 

of lands above the weir. The second attempt here made was in 1827, 

when Captain Debude tried to restore the above by putting in permanent'head-works across the Kali Nadi. This plan contemplated the 

extension of the canal through Meerut to Aligarh, and it was also 

intended that a dam should be thrown across the Hinclun River and
90 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. INO. 87.

the water of both streams utilized. This was merely an attempt to 

improve on old and bad methods. The third and present project was 

purely a British one. In 1836 Col. John Colvin, C. B., proposed to 

build a canal from the Ganges River heading at Hardwar.

The famine of 1837 and 1838 caused an increased desire for the construction of this canal, and in 1-839 Lord Auckland, the GovernorGeneral, sanctioned the surveys. In 1840 Sir P. T. Cautley made the 

first surveys and reported on the project, and from then to 1845 about 

$50,000 per annum was expended chiefly on "surveys. In his report" 

Colonel Cautley said:

To deny the value of irrigation to agriculture in an arid country is like denying the value of manure to an European farmer.

On the strength of the report made in 1840 the board of directors 

decided on the construction of the Ganges canal as an irrigation 

work, the canal as sanctioned being designed to carry 6,750 secondfeet. When Lord Ellenborough was Governor-General, between 1842 

and 1843, he did everything to discourage the project and so modified 

the sanction that only a small navigation canal could be constructed. 

During Lord Ellenborough's governorship to 1847 Colonel Cautley was 

in England attempting to further the project, and the works were 

carried on by Major Baker. In 1848 Lord Harbinge became GovernorGeneral, and sanctioned the work as originally devised, urging its 

immediate construction, which was at once prosecuted by Colonel 

Cautley.

In 1845 Colonel Cautley submitted detailed estimates for three separate projects, in each of which the discharge at full supply was to 

be 6,750 second-feet, of which it was assumed that 1,000 second-feet 

would be lost by evaporation, absorption, and navigation. The last 

of these projects was estimated to cost about $4,670,000 and render 

irrigable an area of 1,470,000 acres. When in 1847 the Government 

directed that these works should be constructed, among other instructions they said that the primary object of the canal was to be irrigation, navigation being carried only as far as not inconsistent with 

irrigation, thus reversing the instructions of Lord Ellenborough's 

government.

Water was first admitted into the canal in 1854 and irrigation commenced the following year. During the next few years defects in the 

works gradually came to light, and in 1864 an investigation was 

ordered by the government. At the close of that year detailed estimates were submitted for rectifying the principal of these defects. 

Previous to this Sir Arthur Cotton reported on the works considered 

by him necessary for the improvement of the canal. In his report he 

stated that the head of the canal was too high up on the river- that 

the whole canal had been so cut as to carry the water below the level 

of the surface, entailing a vast unnecessary excavation; that the whole

« The Ganges Canal, 3 vols., London, 1860.
WILSON.] GANGES CANAL, NORTHWEST PROVINCES. 91

of the water was admitted at the head, so that it was conveyed in places 

350 miles to the land to be irrigated, and that there was no permanent 

dam across the river at the canal head so as to secure the supply of 

water. In addition to this Sir Arthur Cotton enumerated 14 minor 

defects in the canal. In 1868 the attention of the government was 

drawn to the question again by a note from Colonel Strachey, in which 

he pointed out that though the existing Ganges canal was able to 

supply the upper portion of the interflu ve, there would be tracts lower 

down to which the available water in the river could hardly be distributed by the construction of a lower canal, as suggested by Sir 

Arthur Cotton. This led to the projection of the system of works

FIG. 7. Plan and profile of Ganges canal, Hard-war to Eoorkee.

known as the Lower Ganges canal and to material alterations in the 

measures for rectifying and completing the old Ganges canal.

This canal is the largest in existence. As at present constructed its 

head-works are situated near the city of Hardwar, about 20 miles 

above the railway town of Roorkee. At this point the Ganges issues 

suddenly from between the foothills of the Himalayas.onto the broad 

level plains. In the first 20 miles of its course (fig. 7) the canal 

encounters a considerable amount of sub-Himalaya drainage, and the 

works for the passage of this drainage and for the reduction of the 

slope of the canal by means of falls are important. The slope of the 

river bed in this section is from 8 to 10 feet per mile

A short distance above Hardwar a branch of the Ganges about 300
92 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

feet in width separates from the main river and, hugging the Hardwar 

shore, rejoins the stream a half mile below Hardwar. The discharge 

of the main river at this point in the dry season is about 8,000 secondfeet, the greater part of which is diverted by training works and temporary bowlder dams into the Hardwar channel. This has been 

deepened and given a uniform slope of 8£ feet per mile to the canal 

head. At Myapur the canal is taken from the Hardwar channel, the 

watjjjt being diverted into it by means of a weir and sluices across the 

ehajyggl and a masonry regulator at the head of the canal. To the-sixth 

mile the canal crosses several minor drainages which are admitted by 

means of little inlets. At the sixth mile it is crossed by the Ranipur 

Torrent, passed over it by means of a masonry superpassage about 195 

feet in breadth. In the tenth mile the Puthri Torrent having a catchment basin of about 80 square miles, or twice that of the Ranipur, is 

carried across the canal by a similar superpassage 296 feet in breadth. 

The sudden flood discharges in these torrents are of great violence, 

the Puthri Torrent discharging as much as 15,000 second-feet and having a velocity of about 15 feet per second.

In the thirteenth mile the canal encounters the Rutnioo Torrent, with 

a slope of 8 feet per mile and a catchment basin half as large again 

as that of the Puthri. This torrent is admitted into the canal at its 

own level. In the side of the canal opposite to the inlet is an open 

masonry outlet dam or set of escape sluices. In the canal just below 

this level crossing is a regulating bridge by which the discharge of 

the canal can be readily controlled. Thus in time of flood, by opening the sluices in the outlet dam and adjusting those in the regulator 

so as to admit into the canal the volume of water required, the remainder is discharged through the scouring sluices, whence it continues in its course down the Rutmoo Torrent.

In the nineteenth mile, near Roorkee, the canal crosses the Solani 

River and Valley on an enormous masonry aqueduct. The Solani 

River in times of highest flood has a discharge of 35,000 second-feet, 

and the fall of its bed is about 5 feet per mile. The total length of 

the aqueduct is 920 feet. The banks of the canal on the upstream 

side are revetted by means of masonry steps for a distance of 10,713 

feet and 011 the downstream side for a distance of 2,722 feet. For If 

miles above the aqueduct and for a distance of half a mile below it 

the bed of the canal is raised on a high embankment. The greatest 

height of the canal bed above the country is 24 feet. The aqueduct 

proper consists of fifteen arches of 50 feet span each. In addition to 

these great works there are in the first 20 miles of the canal five 

masonry works for damming minor streams and a number of masonry 

falls.

Beyond Roorkee the main canal follows the high divide between the 

Ganges and the West Kali Nadi, and continues in general to follow the 

divide between the Ganges and the Jumna to Gopalpur, a short distance below Aligarh, where the main canal bifurcates (PL VII),
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 67 PL. VII

GOPALPUR BIFURCATION, GANGES CANAL.

WILSON.] LOWEE GANGES CANAL, NORTHWEST PEOVINCES. 93

forming the Cawnpur and Etawah branches. The former branch Mils 

into the Ganges at Cawnpur and is 170 miles in length. The Etawah 

branch is also 170 miles long and tails into the River Jumna liear 

Humerpur. The Yanupshahr branch leaves the main line.at the 

fiftieth mile and flows past the towns of Vanupshahr and Shahjaferipur. It formerly terminated at mile 824-, emptying into the Ganges 

River, but it is now continued to a point near Kesganj, where it tails 

into the Lower Ganges canal. The first main distributaries are taken 

from both sides of the canal a short distance below Roorkee. The 

nature of the country offers abundant facilities for escapes from the 

canals. Five are constructed on the main line, four on the Cawnpur 

branch, and three on the Etawah branch, besides numerous small 

escapes to the distributaries. These escapes will be described in 

another place. They are essential for the proper regulation of the 

canal in the discharge of local drainage.

The maximum discharge of the canal is 7,782 second-feet. The 

average annual rainfall over the area irrigated is 31.9 inches. The 

entire area commanded is 2,800,000 acres. The culturable area is 

1,820,000 acres, and the area irrigated is 1,600,000 acres. The maximum area irrigated within any one year, including both spring and 

autumn irrigation, was 2,800,000 acres in 1883; the total length of 

main canals is 419 miles. There are 2,552 miles of distributaries 

and 859 miles of drainage cuts and escapes, or a total of 3,830 miles.

Of the total area irrigated in 1893, 96,543 acres, or 13.4 per cent of 

the whole, were double cropped and the duty performed by the canal 

for the autumn crop was 135 acres per second-foot on the discharge at 

the head, or 155 acres per second-foot on the discharge utilized. The 

total capital outlay on these works to the end of the year 1893 was 

$10,127,000, and the working expenses for that year were $375,000. 

The working expenses per second-foot of discharge at the head were 

$103, or 52 cents per acre irrigated. - The total water rate derived was 

$1.30 per acre irrigated, or $253 per second-foot of discharge at the head. 

Among the principal crops culivated in 1888 were 106,000 a^res of 

sugar cane, valued at $2,332,000; 228,300 acres of wheat, valued at 

$3,275,000; 31,400 acres of rice; 80,000 acres of indigo, and a grand 

total, including all other crops, of 601,900 acres, valued at $7,600,000. 

The net profits in 1888 were 5.4 per cent on the capital invested.

The number of days in the year when water was supplied for irrigation and the canal was in active operation was, in 1888, 275. In this 

year a comparatively small supply of water was used, the mean supply 

being only 2,400 second-feet.

LOWER GANGES CANAL, NORTHWEST PROVINCES.

As described in relating the history of the Ganges canal, the Lower 

Ganges canal was undertaken at the suggestion of Sir Arthur Cotton, 

in 1868, after an investigation by Col. R. Strachey in 1865, as a means 

of relief or improvement of the Gauges canal. It irrigates a part of
94 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

the Ganges-Jumna interfluve that was originally intended should be 

commanded by the Ganges canal proper. The work comprises a 

masonry diversion weir at Narora, about 3 miles below the railway 

crossing at Rajghat. It relieves the Ganges canal of 128 miles of the 

Cawnpur branch and 130 miles of the Etawah branch, and as originally projected was intended to carry 6,500 second-feet in the spring 

season and 3,270 second-feet in the autumn season. In 1871 the works 

were commenced, but were delayed awaiting a revised estimate submitted in 1876, when the work was finally commenced. It is now considered as a work separate from the Ganges canal.

The weir is a substantial one, resting on masonry wells, usually 20 

feet deep; the front and rear curtain walls rest on smaller wells. The 

weir is 3,800 feet long and is 10 by 10 feet in cross section, having a 

vertical overfall to a paved floor. It is constructed chiefly of brick. 

There are 42 weir scouring sluices opposite the canal head, each 1\ feet 

wide. The regulator at the canal head is constructed of masonry and 

has 30 openings each 7 feet wide. The weir crest is 7^ feet above the 

sill of the canal and this can be raised to 10 feet by means of shutters. 

For the first 26 miles of main canal the bed is 216 feet wide; the full 

supply depth is 10 feet and the slope one-tenth of a foot in 1,000.

In the first portion of its line the canal is compelled to follow the low 

river bottom for some distance before its grade enables it to surmount 

the banks and reach the summit of the interfluve. In this low reach 

the canal is threatened constantly by the encroachments of the river 

and extensive river-training works are necessary to preserve its integrity. These extend for a distance of 4 miles above the canal head and 

15 miles below, and consist chiefly of long earthen groins or embankments, sometimes 2£ miles in length, projecting into the stream at right 

angles to its course and protected at the end by loose rock noses. The 

general slope of the Ganges River and of the country at this point is 

about 1^ feet per mile and the greatest flood the river has discharged 

is 350,000 second-feet. Its minimum discharge has been as low as 1,200 

second-feet. The velocity in the canal is very low, being but 2 feet 

per second, and as a result much silt is deposited and the growth of 

weeds is excessive. The maximum discharge of the canal as now constructed is 5,100 feet. The average annual rainfall on irrigable land 

is 34.5 inches; the gross area commanded is 4,387,200 acres, and the 

culturable area 2,435,400 acres, and 1,187,326 acres will be irrigated 

when the project is completed, though at present but 833,951 acres are 

irrigable. The total length of the main canals is 557 miles. There 

are 2,159 miles of distributaries and the total length, including escapes 

and drainage cuts, amounts to 3,123 miles.

The capital outlay to the end of 1893 was $12,073,000. The total 

receipts in that year amounted to 1114,000, a little less than 1 per cent 

net profit on the capital invested. The area irrigated in 1888 during 

the autumn crop was 327,000 acres, of which 184,000 acres were irri-
WILSON.] AGRA. CANAL, NORTHWEST PROVINCES. 95

gated by wells. Twenty-three per cent of the whole was doublecropped, and in the autumn season 1,765 second-feet of water were 

utilized, the duty on which was 185 acres per second-foot. The cost of 

maintenance of the distributaries was $13 per mile. There were 222 

acres irrigated per mile of distributaries at a cost of a little less than 

$6 a hundred acres, and the average depth of water used in these was 

3.1 feet. The most notable works on this canal will be described in 

their proper place. They are the training works, the weir and other 

head works, and the great aqueduct at Nadrai, by which the canal is 

carried over the Kali Nadi Torrent.

AGRA CANAL, NORTHWEST PROVINCES.

The Agra was the third of the great perennial canals of the Northwest Provinces visited by me. This canal was contemplated when 

the question of the remodeling of the Ganges canal was being agitated in 1864. It was then pointed out that water might be drawn 

from the River Jumna below Delhi to supplement the irrigation of the 

Ganges-Jumna bench lands. The idea was further discussed in 1866. 

In 1867 projects were submitted and in 1868 the works were sanctioned 

for the purpose of famine relief. The works as eventually sanctioned 

in 1872 correspond closely to the present completed Agra canal project. 

It was formally opened in March, 1874. In 1875 it was found that the 

original weir was insufficient. The great flood of that year had seriously injured the scouring sluices and the works were then reconstructed. The head works of the canal are situated at Okhla on the 

River Jumna, 10 miles below Delhi, and consist of a weir about 2,573 

feet in length at a point where the river is 4,400 feet wide. The left 

wing of the weir rests on an island, whence it is continued as an earth 

embankment 20 feet wide on top. This weir rests on wells sunk in 

the deep sands of the river bed. On the upstream side it has a slope 

of about I in 4, the downstream slope being very long, as flat perhaps 

as 1 in 20. As originally constructed in 1870, this weir was not more 

than 130 feet in width from toe to heel, but after being injured by 

successive floods it was carried out and added to until its width is now 

over 240 feet. The scouring sluices are 139 feet long at the end of 

the weir, and are composed of 16 gateways of 16 feet each. The regulating sluices consist of 12 openings, each 6 feet wide and 10 feet 

high, to the springing of the arches, and are so located as to avoid the 

deposit of silt at the canal head. The water of the river is deflected 

toward the right bank against the regulators by a series of groynes 

and river-training works. There are about 8 miles of embankment 

along the river margin to protect the low land from inundation and to 

prevent the flank wall of the weir from being turned.

From Okhla the canal follows the high land between the Khari Nadi 

and the Jumna, and its course throughout is fairly parallel to that of 

the Jumna, about 3 to 12 miles from its right bank. It finally tails
96 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

into the Ootunghim River about 20 miles below Agra. The main 

branches connect the canal with Muttra and Agra.

The source of supply is from the Jumna River. The highest 

recorded flood was -of long duration and rose 50 feet above low-water 

level, the velocity then being 12 feet per second and the discharge 

about 1,300,000 second-feet. The supply of the Jumna having fallen 

occasionally below 800 second-feet it is supplemented by a cut from 

the Hindun River, which discharges into the Jumna just above the 

diversion weir, and is capable of supplying 300 additional second-feet. 

The grade of the canal from the head to the thirty-second mile is 6 

inches per mile. There is a fall of 5.75 feet, beyond which the gradient is increased to 1 foot per mile to the end. In the first portion of 

the canal the bed width is 70 feet per mile and the depth from 6 to 10 

feet, while the velocity is from 2 to 2^ feet per second. Below the first 

fall the bed width is decreased to 60 feet and the maximum depth to 

7 feet. Beyond the one-hundredth mile the velocity is from 1^ to 2|- 

feet per second, the bed width 20 feet, depth 5 feet, and the discharge 

about 200 second-feet.

The Hindun cut is 9 miles in length and 24 feet wide at the bottom, 

with a mean depth of 5^ feet. The works of especial interest on this 

canal beyond those of the weir and head-works proper are an interesting superpassage made of boiler iron situated at about the eighth mile, 

and some drainage settling basins constructed as reservoirs for the 

collection and concentration of numerous small drainage channels. 

The total length of main canal as completed is 134 miles and there are 

558 miles of distributaries. Its total maximum discharge is 1,500 

second-feet. The average rainfall on its irrigated lands is 27 inches; 

the gross area commanded 768,000 acres, nearly all of which is culturable, while the area irrigated is 240,000 acres. The.total capital outlay to the end of 1888 was $3,010,000, and the net revenue varies 

between 3 and 4^ per cent per annum.

Of the total area irrigated in 1888,11 per cent was by means of wells. 

The water rate charged was $233 per second-foot of water utilized, or 

$1,120 per mile of canal; the cost of maintenance was $11.50 per mile, 

and 74 acres were irrigated per linear mile at a cost of $5.15 per 100 

acres. The average depth of water used in the autumn season was 

1.2 feet. The principal crops cultivated were much the same as those 

cited for the Ganges canal, the cultivation of indigo heading the list 

with an acreage of 28,500 acres, cotton being second with 22,000 acres, 

and pease next. The area of wheat cultivated was 14,500 acres, and 

the total value of all crops $1,090,000.

The canals of the Duns are usually small and have been constructed 

In a mountainous country at a rate of expenditure that would be considered quite unwarranted and prohibitive in the United States. 

There are five principal canals in the Duns, ranging from 11 to 19 miles 

in length and aggregating 67 miles. They have annually returned
SLRHIIO) CANAL, PUNJAB. 97

over 6 per cent interest. These canals command 5,000 acres, more or 

less, each. The works are simple in character, but owing to the great 

rainfall expensive masonry aqueducts crossing high valleys and broad 

torrents are numerous, and in many cases the canal channels are constructed wholly of masonry for long distances. The total maximum 

discharge of these canals is 240 second-feet, and the precipitation on 

the irrigated lands averages 100 inches. They irrigate a gross area of 

25,000 acres. The capital outlay on their construction was $1,070,000, 

and while the average interest received is over 6^ per cent, on some of 

them it exceeds 12 per cent. The crops cultivated are similar to those 

produced elsewhere in the Northwest Provinces, but wheat and rice 

far exceed in amount all other crops together. In 1888 there were 

15,400 acres of food crops grown, nearly four-fifths of which consisted 

of wheat and rice.

SIRHIND CANAL, PUNJAB.

Of the important perennial canals in the Punjab, the Sirhind far 

exceeds all others in matters of engineering interest, as it is the most 

recent and modern in construction, besides being one of the greatest. 

Of the other important canals of the Punjab, the principal are the 

Bari Doab and the Western Jumna, two of the most profitable canals 

in northern India. The Sidhnai canal, which has only recently been 

opened, was, as originally constructed, an inundation canal and is still 

partially operated as such. Though I saw little of the Sirhind or 

Sidhnai canals, a brief description of each will be given, as they represent some of the latest developments of irrigation as practiced in 

India.

In the time of the Emperor Feroze attempts were made to utilize the 

waters of the Sutlej River for irrigation. These attempts were, however, of little moment. Maj. W. E. Baker first showed the practicability 

of a canal from the Sutlej to irrigate what was known as the "Hard 

Desert" in the districts of Hissar and Bhuttiana. The few wells there 

were so deep that irrigation from them was impossible, while the water 

was impure and brackish. The population was scanty and lawless, 

their chief occupation being cattle raising. The question was not how 

to improve agriculture, but how to create it.

Major Baker proposed heading the canal above Rupar, utilizing the 

line of the old canal of Mohammed Shah, but Col. Baird Smith, who 

examined this project, reported that "the occupation and repair of 

old canals was the most fruitful source of evil in the existence of 

canals," and he suggested a new alignment." Major Baker's investigations were carried out in 1840, and the project then submitted was 

very similar to that of the now completed Sirhind canal. In 1860, at 

the request of the Maharajah of Pattiala, who offered to defray the 

expenses, the whole question was investigated by the British officers.

a Smith, Col. Baird, Irrigation in Italy, London, 1856, vol. 1, p. 256.

IRR 87 03 7
98 IRRIGATION" IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

A project was submitted in 1862, and in 1865 the British Government 

decided that any canal constructed here should be devised irrespective 

of boundaries of British or native States. In 1868 the project was 

vigorously pi shed, the size of the main channel was increased, and 

the head-works were moved 15 miles down the river to a point very 

near Rupar, and in 1869 the works were actively commenced.

This project (PL VIII) comprises a main canal from the Sutlej supplied by a masonry diversion wier. The lo.ngth of this main channel 

is 41 miles. Of the branches, the eastern ones irrigate native State 

lands and are called the Pattiala branches; the remaining or western 

branches are known as the British branches. The heaviest portion 

of the work is in the first 10 miles, where the line crosses many hill 

torrents draining into the Sutlej. The head-works are, like those of 

the Ganges and Jumna rivers, situated at the point where the river 

emerges from the hills through a rocky bowlder channel, and where 

the general fall of the country is over 8 feet per mile. The maximum 

depth of the cutting through the spur at the head near the town of 

Rupar is 45 feet, and the average depth of cutting in the first 7 miles 

is 28 feet. The drainage in places is passed over the canal by masonry 

superpassages, while one torrent is diverted into the river by a cut 

terminating above the head-works. At the forty-first mile the main 

canal ends and the two branches diverge. Three miles below the 

bifurcation the British branch is again divided into the Bhatinda 

branch, 100 miles long, and the Ubohar branch, 125 miles long. On 

the Pattiala side the main feeder is divided into three sections by the 

diversion of the Kotla, Gagger, and Choa branches, respectively 90, 

56, and 25 miles in length. The end of the feeder is the junction of 

the Choa and Pattiala branches, the latter being 6 miles long and terminating at Pattiala.

The principal works of interest on the line of the Sirhind canal are 

the head-works at Rupar, the superpassage crossing the Sis wan Torrent, which in time of flood discharges 20,000 second-feet, and the 

superpassage across the Budki Torrent, which in time of flood discharges 30,000 second-feet. The siphon for a drainage crossing at 

Hurron Torrent, though small, is likewise deserving of particular 

mention in its place.

The water supply of the Sirhind canal is less than was anticipated. 

The least discharge of the river ever recorded was 2,818 second-feet, 

while the average minimum discharge is 5,150 second-feet. The maximum discharge of the canal as designed is 7,849 second-feet, and the 

maximum flood discharge of the river has been as great as 100,000 

second-feet. The rainfall over the irrigable area varies between 10 

and 35 inches per annum, and during the autumn crop is from 1 to 6 

inches. The gross area commanded by the canal is 4,558,602 acres, of 

which 1,170,000 acres are irrigable. During the autumn crop of 1901 

only 406,805 acres were irrigated, of which 161,967 acres were double 

Cropped.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

SIRHIND CANAL SYSTEM,

WILSON.] CHENAB, BAEI DOAB, AND WESTEBN JUMNA CANALS. 99

The total length of main canals is 41 miles and the total length of 

main branches 538 miles, while there are 4,636 miles of principal distributaries. The total outlay on this canal to the end of 1901 was 

$19,663,000, and since the canals were opened the net annual revenue 

has constantly increased, until in 1901 it amounted to 4.7 per cent. 

In the year under consideration the duty per second-foot in the autumn 

season on the supply entering the canal head was 108 acres, or 1113, 

and on the supply utilized it was 110 acres, or $121. The average 

water rate per acre irrigated was 95 cents, the working expenses being 

40 cents per acre, and the cost of establishment was 15 cents.

CHENAB, BARI DOAB, AND WESTERN JUMNA CANALS, PUNJAB.

As before stated, these three canals are among the oldest and best 

paying of their kind in India. In 1351 Feroze Shah constructed the 

first channel where the Western Jumna canal now exists, and at 

different periods up to 1817 the works were reconstructed and utilized. 

In 1817 Captain Blaine prepared to restore them. The supply of the 

Western Jumna is derived from the Jumna River at a point where it 

leaves the Sewalik Hills, where the fall is great and the bed composed of shingle and bowlders. On the opposite bank the Eastern 

Jumna heads at nearly the same place. In 1870 permanent headworks, distributive and drainage works, were constructed to replace 

the old ones, and a little later the main canal was almost entirely 

realigned. At the end of 1878 the total receipts since the works were 

taken in hand by the government had exceeded the working expenses 

and interest on the capital by $12,500,000, or about four times the 

first cost of the work. The total length of the main canal and 

branches in ]901 is 391 miles, and there are 2,210 miles of distributaries. The area irrigated is 870,500 acres and the maximum discharge 

of the canal is 6,350 second-feet. The total expenditure on this work 

to the end of 1901 was $10,730,000, and this earned revenue of 9.1 per 

cent. The gross receipts in that year were $835,000, and the gross 

outlay $325,000, the net revenue being $510,000.

The Bari Doab canal derives its source of supply from the Ravi 

River, and commands 1,641,660 acres of land between the Ravi and 

Bias rivers. In 1633 the Shah Jehan construct d the first canal in this 

neighborhood. The project for the new canal under British rule was 

first reported on in 1850, when the works were commenced. In 1856 

they were revised, and water was admitted to some portions of the 

canals in 1859. In 1874 the works were decided upon as now constructed, and were estimated to produce a profit of 8.8 per cent. 

Recently a considerable amount has been expended in the construction and improvement of falls and rapids. The total outlay to the 

end of 1901 was $14,115,000 arid the interest in that year was 12.9 per 

cent on the capital outlay. The maximum discharge of the canal is 

6,500 second-feet, and the area irrigated 849,074 acres. There are 369 

miles of main canals and branches and 2,725 miles of distributaries.
100 IRRIGATION I1ST INDIA. [NO. 87.

The Chenab Canal is diverted from the river of that name, and commands 2,910,470 acres. It consists of 430 miles of main and branch 

canals and 2,059 miles of distributaries. To the end of 1901 its cost 

was $11,111,000, when it earned 14 per cent interest on that outlay. 

In the same year it irrigated 1,384,046 acres on a maximum discharge 

of 10,474 second-feet.

SIDHNAI CANAL, PUNJAB.

Estimates for a permanent inundation canal from the reach of the 

Ravi River were submitted in 1875 by Mr. E. C. Palmer. In this 

project the head of the canal was located at the top of the straight 

reach called the Sidhnai. Owing to bad alignment (as Mr. Palmer's 

project followed a low depression for many miles), the position of the 

head-works was abandoned, and a new site selected at Tatyraj, where 

the section of the river is 770 feet across and the banks consist of stiff 

brown clay.

The maximum discharge of the river is 18,000 second-feet, and is not 

likely to be exceeded. Gage records show that all idea of the construction of a perennial canal from this part of the river must be abandoned, as twice since 1875 the Ravi has been absolutely without flow 

during the cold season. As constructed, the only masonry works on 

the canal besides the head-works are the bridges and the heads of distributary channels. The area commanded is about 381,000 acres. Of 

this the present works provide for the irrigation of 194,900 acres. 

The duty was assumed to be 60 acres per second-foot, and the discharge of the canal was placed at 800 second-feet. The rainfall on 

the irrigated area has averaged 5.9 inches per annum. When the 

canal project was reported on in 1883 most of the country was covered 

with jungle to within about 3 miles of the river. This jungle consisted of coarse grass, brush, and tamarisk. The crops now grown 

on this land during the summer season are sugar cane, indigo, rice, 

cotton, and millet, and during the autumn season wheat, barley, 

turnips, and lentils.

On the line of the canal no drainage or protective works are required 

except one or two very insignificant ones. At first the canal was only 

excavated to half width, but all the masonry works were constructed 

of full width. As finally aligned the canal leaves the Ravi River at 

right angles and runs straight for 2,000 feet, where a long curve commences, ending at 3^ miles. It then keeps along the divide to Chauparata, whence it runs mainly in the bed of the old river Ravi. There 

are four main distributaries and six minor ones.

The head-works consist of a regulator with 8 sluice openings of 10 

feet each. The curtain walls of the regulator and river banks are 

founded on wells 10 feet below the present river bed. Wells were 

adopted in preference to concrete, though they are more expensive, 

and it was not certain that the latter could be put in 10 feet below the
WILSON.] THE SOANE CANALS. 101

bed. The weir consists of a wall 750 feet long, founded on concrete 

in the center and on wells for 20 feet from each bank.

The maximum discharge from the canal is 2,452 second-feet, the 

bed width of the main canal is 80 feet, the depth of water 5 feet, and 

the velocity of flow 1.85 second-feet. The discharge of the river varies 

between nothing at extreme low water and 18,000 second-feet at maximum flood.

The total cost of this work to the end of 1901 was $620,000. The 

net receipts for the same year amounted to $34,500, or 5.8 per cent 

on the capital invested. The water rate charged per acre irrigated 

during the autumn crop was 62 cents and the duty during the same 

season was 85 acres or $57.

ITHE SOANE CANALS.

Like the Sirhind canal in the Punjab, the Soane system in Bengal 

may be taken as an example of the most recent practice in the construction of a perennial canal system. The Soane canals are included 

in one system heading at a common point and having a common 

diversion weir. They consist of two main lines, one flowing from 

each bank of the Soane River. The Soane River is a tributary of the 

Ganges, rising in the cejntral plateau of India and having a course of 

about 350 miles through the high country. Near Rhota it breaks 

through the hills, which at this point are 2,100 feet above the sea, 

whence it flows northeasterly for 75 miles through the Gangetan Plain 

to its junction with th^ Ganges near Arrah. In the plain it flows 

through the districts of ^hahabacl on the left or west bank and Patna 

and Gaya 011 the east bank. These are among the most fertile aud 

highly cultivated districts in Bengal, densely populated and studded 

with ancient cities. The successful operation of the Soane canals is 

largely due to the acreage which is cultivated during the autumn 

season.

The works of the Soane canal were first undertaken by the East India 

Irrigation Company, but given over to the Government when scarcely 

any work had been done. The scheme was originally proposed in 1853 

by Lieut. C. H. Dickens, A plan to utilize the larger portion of the 

volume of the Soane was, however, amplified by the same officer in 

1861. In 1862 the secretary of state approved of the project, and after 

discussion by Sir A. Cotton and Colonel Rundall it was forwarded for 

the approval of the Government in 1864. In addition to the features 

now existing it was proposed in the original project to construct reservoirs in the hills soutji of Rajmahal to supplement the available 

discharge of the river. This part of the scheme was considered too 

expensive, however, and] the plans were changed. In 1869 the work 

was undertaken by the (government. It was estimated to give a net 

profit of 12^ per cent on) the outlay. In 1871 it was decided to reconstruct the slope of the canal, as the supply of water was not as great 

as had been anticipated.
102 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

The catchment basin of the Soane above Dehree, where the head 

works are situated, is about 22,000 square miles in area, and in flood 

the river discharges 750,000 second-feet, though the maximum flood 

provided for is 1,250,000. For about 40 miles below the diversion 

weir the floods seldom overtop the river banks, but below that point to" 

its junction with the Gauges it is almost deltaic in character, considerable overflow taking place. To about this point the canal follows the 

bank of the river rather closely, after which it diverges and follows 

the high ridge between the Soane and Ganges.

The diversion weir across the Soane is at Dehree, a point 25 miles 

below where the river leaves the Kymore Hills, and is the longest weir 

in one unbroken length of masonry that has ever been constructed, 

being 2^ miles long and 8 feet high. In high flood the river rises 8^ 

feet above the crest of the weir. The main western canal (PL IX)

^-.-r --viK-.. - A . \ . -:.- >. - ~J'

 ^?i\.&?^'-' ^$t~:^2?£jr£ 'I'.V-.Tf^^^'""-;- JL-*-"J®S^'

FIG. 8. Thora Nulla aqueduct, Soane canal.

takes off from the weir on the west bank where it encounters a rather 

deep cut. It crosses the Kao Torrent by a large siphon aqueduct in 

the ninth mile and similar drainage channels in the seventeenth and 

twenty-first miles. The Arrah canal leaves the main western at the 

fifth mile and follows the bank of the Soane to the thirty-third mile, 

where it leaves it and passes close to the town from which it takes its 

name, tailing into the Ganges. On this line are 13 locks with an 

aggregate fall of 161 feet. The Buxar canal leaves the main western 

at the twelfth mile and is almost straight from that point to the Ganges at Buxar. The total fall in this line is 153.75 feet, and in the 

twenty-ninth mile the canal crosses the Thora Torrent (fig. 8) on an 

aqueduct with 4 arches, each of 30-foot span. The other main canal 

of this system, the main eastern, takes off from the Soane weir on the 

eastern bank opposite to Dehree and is 7 miles long, its termination
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

Ma/'n cana/s, for/rr/gat/on 

and na wgs tion 

Branch cana/, irrigation^ 

Distributaries 

;=a Area irrigated .

SOANE CANAL SYSTEM, BENGA

WILSON.] THE SOANE CANALS. 103

being at Poon Poon Torreut. The Patna canal leaves the main eastern at the fourth mile, and, after following the river bank for 60 miles, 

is diverted to the ridge and tails into the Ganges near Patna. It was 

estimated by F. T. Haig, R. E., when chief engineer, that these canals 

would pay both interest and working expenses on the outlay until 

1887, when it was expected that they would return a net profit of 4£ 

per cent.

The important feature of the head-works is the mode of construction 

of the weir, the automatic action of the scouring sluices, and the 

arrangement of regulating gates. These are elsewhere described in 

detail in connection with the subject of automatic scouring sluices, 

on pages 121-122, 127-128. The weir and principal works were 

designed by H. C. Levinge, chief engineer of the East India Irrigation Company.

The minimum discharge of the Soane River at Dehree is 5,260 second-feet in summer and 1,870 second-feet in autumn. The maximum 

discharge of the canals is 6,350 second-feet, of which the main eastern 

canals discharge 1,850 and the main western series 4,500 second-feet. 

The average rainfall upon the area irrigated is 41 inches. The gross 

area commanded by the entire system is 1,733,509 acres, of which 

1,016,400 acres are irrigated. There are 367 miles of main canals and 

1,217 miles of distributaries. The average discharge utilized in the 

autumn of 1901 was 3,300 second-feet, and the duty performed during 

the autumn was 110 acres per second-foot of the supply utilized. 

The water rate per acre was 85 cents. The total length of village 

channels or minor canals is 1,525 miles; the total number of outlets 

for distribution of water is 6,000, the area irrigated per outlet being 

93 acres.

In the Arrah division, Mr. W. A. Inglis, the executive engineer, 

calculated the supply of water spread over the country was equal to 

an effective rainfall of 5.7 inches. On the assumption that one watering of 6 inches in depth is given every fifteen days, 1 second-foot of 

discharge should irrigate 60 acres if the outlet were constantly open, 

or 40 acres if the discharge outlet were open for only ten out of fifteen 

days. The cost of repairs to the head-works in 1890 was about $16,000 

per annum and the cost of maintenance exclusive of head-works 

about $81,000. The charges for silt clearances amount to $30,000 per 

annum, the total amount of clearances being 10,850,000 cubic feet 

and the rate about $3 per 1,000 cubic feet. The silt clearances were 

made by means of large steam dredges. The total cost for weed 

clearance was $1,600 in 1888, and the mileage rate or cost of repairs 

varied from $30 per mile on distributaries to $65 per mile on smaller 

branches, $211 on larger branches, and $2,800 on the main western 

canal.

The following is a statement of traffic on these canals for the year 

1888. There were 218 miles of canal open for navigation. The toll-
104 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

age receipts from private boats amounted to $12,000; on government 

boats $1,400, and on rafts $3,500. These with minor items make 

the total receipts from tollage $18,600. The maintenance charges, 

including navigation establishment, were $11,800 and the net revenue from navigation was $6,800. The total number of cargo boats 

was 4,547; of passenger boats 530. The total tonnage of these boats 

for cargo traffic was 71,243 long tons and for passenger traffic 12,437 

long tons, and the total ton-mileage was 4,635,000 miles. The estimated value of the cargoes was $1,785,000 and the passengers carried numbered 46,170. There were estimated to be 3,089,000 cubic 

feet of rafts, valued at $107,000. The tollage receipts per ton-mile 

on boats was 3 mills, and tollage on rafts per hundred cubic feet was 

11 cents.

The total outlay on the Soane system to the end of 1901 was 

$17,558,000 and the revenue in 1901 was $175,000. The gross receipts 

were $370,000. There was a net revenue, after deducting all working 

expenses, of $162,000, or 1.8 per cent, on the capital outlay.

CROSS SECTION, SLOPE, AND ALIGNMENT.

Ill designing a canal system the Indian engineer, having decided on 

the location of the head-works and ascertained the source of supply and 

the area and location of irrigable lands to be served, next considers 

the proportion of width to depth of his channel, the cross-sectional 

area being fixed by the supply of water to be discharged at any point. 

On the Western Jumna canal the proportion of depth to width is that 

which the Jumna River has in the course of years formed for itself, 

found by trial to be about 1 on 13. On the Bari Doab the proportion 

fixed in construction was 1 on 15, and on the Sirhind 1 on 14. In the 

case of the Nira canal, which is nonnavigable and of a smaller capacity than those just described, the proportion is much less, the depth 

being 7-g- feet and the bottom width 23 feet. On the Soane the main 

western line has a depth of 10 feet and a bottom width of 100 feet, or 

a proportion of 1 on 11. TheBetwa, which, like the Mra, is nonnavigable, is relatively deeper than the larger canals, being 5 feet deep to 

a 15-foot bed width on some branches, and on others 6 feet deep to a 

30-foot bed width. The proportion first given is such as will apply 

only to canals so great as to correspond in their general characteristics to large rivers.

The side slopes of the canal (fig. 9) are generally arranged according to the facilities for excavation, and are such that the ground will 

stand at a natural angle. In the soils in which the canals are generally 

excavated in Bombay the side slopes are usually 1 on 1-| on the inside 

and 1 on 2 on the outside. The matter of fixing the cross section has 

been a difficult one to solve on account of the conflicting conditions of 

the supply of water required and velocity permissible. This is fixed
"WILSON.] CROSS SECTION, SLOPE, AND ALIGNMENT. 105

by the liability to growth of weeds, the deposit of silt, or the destruction of the banks by erosion.

Having determined the quantity of water, fixed the proportion of 

width to depth, and ascertained a maximum for both, the slope of the 

bed becomes one of the most important remaining problems in the 

design of the canal. If the slope be too great, the bed of the canal 

and its sides will be eroded and the integrity of the masonry and other 

structures endangered. If it be too small, a larger section of channel 

will be required to discharge a given quantity of water, and additional 

works, as falls, may be necessary to overcome the excess of surface 

slope in the country. The growth of weeds and aquatic plants and 

the deposit of silt will become a troublesome evil. As it is difficult to 

avoid both extremes, a compromise has generally to be made. It is, 

perhaps, well to err on the safe side and give to the bed the greatest

WITHOUT BERMS W.L. BELOW G.L.

WITH BERMS W.L.BEUOW G.L.

SIDELONG GROUND W. L.ABOVE G.L. 

4l6"

JMau-reqture. fuuslafle> TKzU- 

<zs uuxica&ed. SOD REVETMENTS 

FIG. 9. Canal cross sections.

slope apparently desirable. If this slope should prove to be too great 

or the fall of the country too rapid, the difficulty may be remedied by 

introducing falls and rapids in the channel to diminish its general 

slope and concentrate the loss of grade in a few places. In different 

soils and in different canals the velocity given for the prevention of 

the growth of weeds and the deposit of silt differs largely, but it has 

been found generally that the minimum velocity is about 1-J feet per 

second. According to American experience tMs is too low, as we 

usually consider that 2^ or 3^ feet per second is the minimum. In 

India the maximum for ordinary soils rarely exceeds 4 feet per second. 

In America it is often much higher.

One of the greatest difficulties encountered in India in determining 

the velocity, slope, and cross section to be given to a canal has been 

the introduction of navigative works. These are generally antago-
106 IRRIGATION IK INDIA. [NO. 87.

nistic to the requirements for irrigation purposes only. The velocity 

of the current in navigable canals must be low in order to permit 

traffic in both directions. In the Ganges canal, with a bottom width 

of 170 feet and a 7-foot supply, a slope of 14 inches per mile has been 

given in the sandy soil of the upper reaches, and the resultant velocity is such that the current has just ceased to cut the banks and to 

deposit silt. In the first portion of the canal where the bed is in 

gravel and bowlders the fall is 24 inches per mile. From there on the 

slope of from 15 to 17 inches has been found to be too great, the water 

having done much damage to the banks. The larger portion of the 

reach of 20 miles from Hardwar to Roorkee is extensively riprapped 

now and the engineers are continually adding a lining of bowlders to 

the bed and sides of the canal.

The velocity of 3 feet per second, which was originally given to the 

Soane canal, caused much damage by erosion and had to be remedied. 

Colonel Anderson, R. E., made some interesting remarks on this subject in the Roorkee Manual, among which were the following:

Where the fall of the country is tolerably uniform the slope of the bed of the 

main channel must be less than that of the branches. This, again, must be less 

than that of the distributaries and minors, the object being to secure, as far as 

possible, a uniform velocity, so that the matter carried in suspension may be carried on from the head and deposited over the irrigated lands. At the head of a 

canal it is sometimes desirable to reduce the width in order that with an increased 

depth the velocity may be the same as that in the channel lower down.

He says that the accumulation of silt in the main channels is a serious impediment to obtaining a supply of water until the crops are 

mature, and their clearances are enormously expensive. If the silt 

can not be carried to the fields, it is a step in advance to prevent its 

accumulation in the main channel. It is easier to clear out the minor 

branches without cutting off the supply from the main river. Escapes 

are introduced at intervals in all canals for the control of the discharge of water and to facilitate silt clearances and as a prevention 

of its deposit.

The following interesting observations were made by Major Crofton 

in his report on the Ganges canal relative to velocities of current: 

Where the current seemed to be perfectly adjusted to a light, sandy 

soil the velocity of the surface was found to be from 2.3 to 2.4 feet per 

second and the mean velocities, using 0.80 as a coefficient, were found 

to be 1.85 to 1.93 feet per second. In one place, where silt was being 

constantly deposited, the mean velocities were from 2 to 2.3 feet per 

second. On the same canal in very sandy soil, with nearly a full 

supply of water, the maximum surface velocity was found to be 3.08 

and the mean velocity 2.49 feet per second. In one of the distributaries, where the soil is sandy with a fair proportion of clay, the mean 

velocity was 1.93. Here silt was deposited but no weeds grew. On 

the Western Jumna canal Colonel Dyer, R. E., found that silt was
WILSON.] HEAD WORKS. 107

<

deposited with mean velocities of from 2 to 2^ feet, and in sandy soil 

2.7 feet per second was the highest mean velocity for noncutting. 

Jackson's and Neville's formulae are those most usually employed in 

the determination of velocities and corresponding cross sections. In 

designing the proportion of excavation to embankment and the width 

of berm, several interesting but involved formulae are employed by 

the Indian engineers, of little service, however, as guides to the 

designers of American canals.

Great care and judgment must be exercised in the alignment of an 

irrigation canal. Any change of direction causes a loss of velocity, 

and the slope should be changed if it is essential to introduce a curve. 

The water drawn into branches and distributaries loses velocity in 

passing through the head-sluices unless they possess the full waterway of the channel, and due allowance should be made for this by 

adding to the slopes at the heads of branches. The Indian engineers 

have always deemed it essential in designing their canal systems to 

make a thorough and detailed survey of the country to be irrigated, 

so that the most perfect alignment and command of the lands can be 

obtained. Trial level lines and careful transit surveys are run, after 

a rough survey has been made, and the whole is shown on a large scale 

contour map. A complete delineation of the drainage of the country 

is one of the primary objects, as is also the direction of the drainage 

outlets and the intern1 lives. The nearer the line of the canal approximates to the summit of the watershed the better will be the alignment, as the interference with the surface drainage of the country 

will then be the least possible. In encountering cross drainage provision must be found for its safe passage, and unless the streams are 

very small they should never be permitted to enter the channel. The 

canal should always be made to tail into some drainage line or river, 

so that the surplus may not be lost, and in order to insure a sufficient 

scour it is deemed advisable to increase the velocity at the end. 

When practicable all embankments are formed by ramming the soil 

in thin layers. Where the channel runs through sandy soil the beds 

and banks should be covered by an impervious puddle.

Great care has been used to fix the permanency of all transit points 

and bench marks, etc., 011 the surveyed lines of canals in India. On 

the outer edge of the berm are placed masonry mileposts, with smaller 

masonry pillars every one-fourth mile, while on the inside whitewashed stones are laid into the ground every 100 feet. At frequent 

intervals large substantial masonry benches are established.

HEAD-WORKS.

The head-works of canals are usually located at the points where 

the risers emerge from the hills, in order to obtain a sufficient command of land and allow the canals to reach the summits of the interfluves with the shortest possible length of diversion line. In India,
108 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

owing to the great volume of flood water required to be passed over 

the diversion weir, it is necessary to have an extremely wide waterway, and it is usual to locate the weir in a relatively wide portion of 

the channel. If the only consideration in the location and construction of a weir was the raising of the water of the river to the level of 

the canal bed, in order to obtain the shortest possible diversion line, 

the most favorable location would be in the lower courses of the river, 

where the fall is gradual and the banks shallow. Such an obstruction 

of the bed in these localities would, however, raise the surface of the 

water in freshets, rendering necessary the construction of artificial 

embankments and other protective works, and would be extremely 

objectionable. A rock bed, though a great advantage and always to 

be preferred, is not considered an indispensable requisite in constructing weirs.

Several great Indian weirs have been thrown across rivers whose 

beds consist entirely of pure sand, reaching far below the foundations. In such constructions the chief requirement is a strong apron 

beneath the weir to break the fall of the water and prevent the foundations from being undermined. Prof. George Davidson says:

In order to reduce the first cost of construction it has become a custom in 

America to build bridges and dams across streams at the narrowest points available, or to contract the streams for that purpose. This frequently involves great 

difficulty to the engineer in laying the piers and abutments, and also brings in an 

additional danger by adding to the scouring effect of the water on a contracted 

channel; it also produces the evil effects by the formation of shoals below the 

scouring-out channel. The proper location for such works, especially across 

rivers with unstable banks, is in the broad reaches.of the stream, where the 

depth of the water is less and where a bar has been already formed across the 

river by natural causes."

A dam. across a river is analogous to a bar, and should be located 

and treated as such. If this is placed at the broadest part of the 

stream the cost of construction may be increased, but not necessarily. Instances of the location of weirs in the broadest reaches of 

rivers may be cited in the case of nearly every weir constructed in 

India. The weir at the head of the Ganges canal occupies the full 

width of the channel; those of the Ba'ri Doab and of the Soane are 

thrown across at points where the width of the river is an average. 

The weir at Okhla, at the head of the Agra canal, is also constructed 

in a broad reach.

The head-works of Indian canals consist essentially of the weir 

across the river by which the level of the water is raised and its flow 

checked; of a set of scouring sluices placed in the weir at the end 

adjacent to the canal head, the object being to create a constant flow 

past this head, thus preventing and carrying off any excessive deposit 

of silt, keeping as they do the course of the main channel of the river 

close to the canal head; and, lastly, of a regulator across the head of

aDavidson, Prof. George, Irrigation Works of India: U. 8. Senate Doc. No. 94, Forty-fourth 

Congress, Washington, D. C., 1875.
WILSON.] WE1ES. 109

the canal channel, by which the proper quantity of water is admitted 

to it. In a few cases, as those of the Ganges and Jumna canals, where 

the canal is taken from a branch of the river, a permanent dam is 

thrown across this channel only, the water being diverted to it by 

means of the river-training works.

WEIRS.

The weirs employed are of various kinds, but are always constructed substantially of masonry and are well founded. They may 

rest on solid rock foundations and be nearly vertical with an overfall onto a rock bed, or flat and low, founded on wells in sand, with 

a vertical overfall onto an apron of masonry; or they may be similar 

to the latter with the exception that instead of the vertical overfall 

the downstream slope may be constructed of loose-packed rock on a 

long slope of, say, 1 on 15 

to 1 on 20. Only rarely are 

temporary weirs constructed 

simply of loose bowlders. 

The two great classes of 

weirs are solid weirs, such 

as those above indicated, or 

open weirs, in which the obstruction is temporary, as 

needles or removable sluice 

gates.

The antiquity of weirs 

is very remote. The first 

great weir, that at Tulkad, 

on the river Gauveri, is said 

to have been constructed 

by one Madwa Ron, A. D.

894. Many others are said to belong to the sixteenth century, while 

others are of intermediate dates. The new works of the Indian 

natives are of minor importance, with the exception of the Poorniah 

channel, constructed in the early part of this century to lead the 

sacred waters of the Cauveri River to Misau. Rough stone weirs 

exist at the heads of most of the channels in Misau. These raise the 

water level to the required height, the lowest being 7 feet and the 

highest 25 feet. The canals are for the most part supplied with 

regulating sluices at their heads and with escapes for getting rid of 

flood waters.

The accompanying illustration (fig. 10, A] shows the section of a 

native weir constructed early in the present century, the breadth of 

which, parallel to the course of the stream, was 168 feet. This weir 

consisted of a mass of rubble and large stone, the front face formed 

of stones 1|- by 1 foot, while the apron was composed of rough stone

FIG. 10. Three ancient weirs.
110 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

blocks 9 by 3^ by 2 feet, laid in uneven courses. All the interstices 

were filled with large rubble. Repairs were first made in 1842, and 

thereafter were carried out on a slightly different plan, (J5) the general section being retained. The repaired dam appeared as here indicated. These illustrations give a fair idea of the attention given by 

the natives to this class of work and indicate the fallacy of trusting 

to size and position of the material instead of to the homogeneity of 

the work. Notwithstanding the employment of large blocks of stone 

and skillful application of material the dam was breached five times 

between 1842 and 1863.

A later development is indicated in the cut given of the Muddur 

weir (fig. 10, O). General Greene retained the native section of this 

weir, but corrected its chief failing by building an impervious brick 

and mortar face against its upper side. The natives, with the object 

of decreasing the depth of water flowing over the weir in flood times, 

carried the work in a curved line, its general direction tending 

upstream. The length of the weir was nearly double the actual 

breadth of the river, and its crest was at different levels in different 

places; the part next the head sluice being invariably lower than the 

rest relieved the head of water pressure against it during flood. All 

these features, shown by experience to be desirable with the native 

works, are so many defects with the solid masonry work now adopted. 

The regulators in the old works at the heads of canals were mostly 

constructed of rough stone posts, the openings between which were 

stopped with rough timber and fulfilled their objects in an imperfect 

manner.**

In regard to the two main designs adopted by modern practice for 

weirs, namely, the open and the closed or solid weir, the advantage of 

the latter is that it is self-acting and if well made requires no repairs 

or maintenance. Its first cost, however, is greater than that of an 

open .weir, and it interferes with the regimen of the river, causing 

deposits of silt above it and perhaps making the river seek another 

channel. The open or scouring sluice weir interferes but little with 

the normal action of the river. The scour produced by opening the 

gates prevents the deposit of silt and its first cost is less than that of 

the closed weir. Another form of weir, the best examples of which 

are to be found in the barrages of Prance, consists of a weir open the 

whole width of the channel, the object being to prevent in. time of 

flood the water being backed up, thus submerging valuable property 

above the weir. The obstruction in the river channel may be entirely 

removed by opening the gates the full width of the weir.

The ordinary weir consists of a masonry floor acting as an apron, 

properly founded and carried across the entire width of the river flush 

with the level of the bed and protected from erosive action by curtain 

walls up and down stream. On a portion of this is constructed the 

upper work, which may consist of a solid wall and part masonry

agankey, Maj. E. H., Eoorkee Professional Papers, No. 141, Eoorkee, India.
WILSON.] WEIRS. Ill

piers, the interstices between the latter being closed by some temporary arrangement, thus creating the scouring sluices. Weirs proper 

are in no instance to be looked upon in the light of storage works. 

They may for a trifling period during the dry season answer that 

purpose, but the irrigation from them depends in all cases on the 

continual flow of a small quantity of water or upon an auxiliary supply from storage waters situated higher up. In speaking of the mode 

of constructing low diversion weirs with long slopes, Col. Baird Smith 

says:

In rivers with beds of pure sand and having slopes of 3-Jj- feet per mile such weirs 

may be constructed and maintained at a very moderate expense, and the elevation 

of the beds of the rivers 011 the upper sides of these weirs to the full height of the 

crowns is an inevitable consequence of their construction and no arrangement of 

under sluices has yet been effective to prevent this result.

In regard to founding these structures on wells, he further says:

In pure sands acted on by currents due to a fall in the river bed of 3| feet per 

mile, and exposed to the action of floods from 12 to 15 feet deep, well foundations 

in front and rear of 6 feet in depth have been proved by experience to be safe. a

As a general rule the masonry apron should have a thickness equal 

to one-half and a breadth between three and four times the vertical 

height of the weir forming the obstructive part of the dam. The efficiency of the dam depends upon the construction and careful-maintenance of the apron. In time of freshets the water backed against 

the toe of the weir has a protecting effect on the apron by producing 

a water cushion, and as the flood rises the height of fall from the weir 

crest gradually diminishes, and in a flood of 16 feet over an ordinary 

weir it wholly disappears, leaving scarcely a ripple on the surface to 

indicate the existence of the masonry mass below.

In the construction of weirs in rivers with sandy beds, wells may be 

considered as the feature of Indian engineering. These are essentially open blocks or cylinders of brick usually sunk in the bed of the 

river at low stage and are protected by temporary sheet piling placed 

between their outer edges, while the intermediate spaces are being 

filled in with concrete, thus forming a solid wall floating in sand, upon 

which is built the superstructure of the weir, scouring sluices, apron, 

and retaining walls. Whatever the form of foundation, be it gravel 

or hardpan, solid rock or wells, the first portion of the weir constructed is the scouring sluices, which are carried on at the same time 

with the regulators at the head of the canal. This order is pursued 

because after the construction of the scouring sluices the water in the 

river may be diverted through them while the work upon the remainder of the weir is progressing, and especially so that it may be passed 

through them when the closing of the weir is effected. The heaviest 

flood of water takes place through these scouring sluices, and in their 

construction the very best workmanship and material are required.

"Smith, Col. Baird, B. E., Italian Irrigation, London, 1856.
112 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

The weir may, if desirable, progress at the same time with these preliminary works. The cross section of the weir is neither as long nor 

as flat as that of the foundation and sluiceways. When the closing 

of the weir is effected the low water in the channel is diverted through 

the sluiceways, sand or other material available is carried across the 

last opening, foundations are built up as rapidly as possible, and the 

superstructure closed.

Where a good rock foundation is obtainable in the bed of the stream 

close to the' surface the weir is given an entirely different cross section 

from that of weirs constructed of other material, and is built throughout of the most substantial masonry laid in cement. In the case of 

some weirs, the overfall height of which is not great, the cross section 

is made nearly vertical upstream, and a slight slope, perhaps 4 on 1, is 

given on the downstream face, which is usually so curved as to carry 

away the flood water with the least shock to the dam. In the case of 

higher weirs of this character, or those over which great floods may be 

discharged, it is usual to make the downstream face nearly vertical, 

giving a sufficient top width and slope to the upper face to insure the 

stability of the structure and bring the resultant line of pressures 

within the middle third. The object of the vertical slope on the downstream face is to give a clear overfall for the flood water. This drops 

on the water cushion formed by the construction of a subsidiary weir 

placed some little distance below the main weir, and backs the water 

up against its base. In all forms of overfall weirs liable to the severe 

shock of large floods it is customary to construct these subsidiary 

weirs, some examples of which will be given in their proper places. 

In the location of such weirs, a broad reach of the stream is chosen 

for the site of the main weir in order to reduce the height of water 

passing over its crest; while the subsidiary weir is, if possible, located 

in a narrower place so as to produce the greatest depth of water on 

the toe of the upper weir. Scouring sluices of limited cross-sectional 

area are introduced in such weirs as these, their object being to keep 

a clear channel immediately in front of the canal regulators.

Of weirs founded on wells in sandy rivers, that at the head of the 

Lower Ganges canal at Narora presents a peculiar type, being substantially built of masonry and with a profile similar to that of the 

masonry weirs just described. This weir is constructed entirely of 

brick, chiefly because of the cheapness of the material at Narora. It 

consists of a wall 8 feet wide at bottom and 7 feet at top, the crest of 

which is 9^ feet above the river bed. The upstream slope is vertical 

while the downstream slope is nearly so. It is protected on the upper 

side by a quantity of loose rocks or bowlders thrown into the river 

bed nearly flush with the crest. On the downstream side is an apron 

nearly 150 feet wide to receive the impact of the falling wa u«g^ The 

first 40 feet of this apron is composed of masonry resting 01 four rows 

of shallow wells, abutting at its lower end against a row of wells.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL. X

NARORA WEIR-LOWER GANGES CANAL 

J,ength 1260 inetres

OKHLA WEIR-AGRA CANAL 

743 metres

DEHRI WEIR-SONE CANAL 

Length 3825

^ rX^'-^^^-.vi-^^r^ '"' " -: " '

BE1VADA WEIR - KISTNA CANAL

length 1150 metres. ,/*; > ,

 <£^_ 30.5 -- >!

GODAVARI WEIR 

Length 6274 metres.

JVote: Dimensions in Metres

CROSS SECTIONS OF MODERN WEIRS.

WILSON.} WEIE8. 113

Below this is a considerable depth of loose hand-packed bowlders 

carried out to the extreme toe of the apron.

The total length of the masonry portion of this weir is 4,125 feet, 

including the scouring sluices at the head of the regulator, which are 

427 feet long. The left end of the weir rests on an earth embankment a little outside of or beyond the river channel. This embankment is 1,000 feet long with an angle at the shoal end, and is carried up 

the stream for some distance, thus protecting the low river bottom on 

that side from flooding. Detailed drawings of this weir showing its 

cross section, the plan of its foundations, and the arrangements of 

the embankment and canal head are presented. (Pis. XI and XII 

and fig. 22.)

Another and very common type of weir founded on wells is that represented by the weirs at the heads of the Agra and Soane canals 

(PI. X.) The weir at the head of the Agra canal, as first constructed, 

had too bold a cross section, and during several successive years the 

lower end or toe was carried away in time of flood. It has remained 

intact ever since its reconstruction in 1875. This weir is without 

foundations of any sort, resting 011 the river bed. It consists of a 

wall of masonry 4 feet wide on top and a little wider at base forming 

the main crest line of the weir, the height of which is 10 feet above 

the river bed. From this crest the slope upstream is carried to a distance of 40 feet, and consists of large stones hand packed and laid 

dry. The downstream slope is very flat, averaging about 1 on 20, and 

is carried a distance of 26 feet to a point at which is constructed 

another masonry well similar to the first and resting on the river bed, 

its line being parallel to the axis of the weir for its entire length. 

Some distance below this is a smaller well similar to the two previously mentioned. The entire remaining portions of the weir consist 

of large stone blocks dry packed, the walls acting as bars to prevent 

their sliding.

This weir is 2,573 feet long from the right bank at the canal head, 

the left wing resting on an island in the middle of the Jumna River. 

An embankment 20 feet wide on top was carried thence to and across 

the east channel and thence up the left bank of the river for some 

miles. The scouring sluices are 139 feet wide, and are substantially 

founded on four lines of wells. In order to prevent the destruction of. 

this weir by the action of flood waters, groins of a peculiar shape, called 

alligator groins, are constructed on both the upstream and downstream 

sides at intervals across the channel of the river and parallel to the 

course of the stream. The object of these is to deflect as much water 

as possible toward the right bank with a twofold object first, the 

destruction of an island which obstructs the channel just above the 

canal head; and second, to aid the under sluices in sucking or drawing water toward them at low water, thus affording a sufficient discharge in front of the canal head. 

IKE 87 03 8
114 IBBIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

The Soane weir (fig. 12) is similar to the Agra weir in general construction, but resembles that at the head of the Midnapore canals 

more than any other. It consists of three parallel lines of masonry 

running its entire length and varying from 24 to 5 feet in width. 

The main wall, which is in the central axis of the weir, is 5 feet wide 

and 8 feet high, and all three lines of walls are founded on wells sunk 

from 6 to 8 feet in the sandy bed of the river. Between these walls 

is a simple dry stone packing. The upstream slope is 1 on 8, the 

downstream slope 1 on 12, and the total length of the lower slope is

w1 Head Gates 

\

1 

C

V* Cross Sect/on cfWeir.

FiG. 11. Plan of Soane weir.

94 feet. The total length of the weir is 12,470 feet, and it is 19.3 feet 

in height, including its foundations. On top, hinged to the lower 

edge of the crest wall, is a row of iron shutters (fig. 13), each 18 feet 

long and 22 inches high, which are supported by struts, so that when 

the river is low they increase the diverting height of the dam by 22 

inches, and in time of flood they fall automatically, thus giving the 

flood a solid masonry crest over which to flow. These shutters are 

held in place by an iron rod hinged to their centers on the upstream 

side at about one-third of the height from the base.
U. S. QEOLOQICAL SURVEY ER NO. 87 PL. XI

GANGES HIVEH

NARORA WEIR, LOWER GANGES CANAL, PLAN OF WELL FOUNDATIONS.

WILSON.] WEIRS. 115

The weir across the River Ravi (fig. 14) at the head of the Sidhnai 

canal represents a new and different type of construction. At the

point where the weir is built (fig. 15) the river bed for 250 feet on the 

left bank and 200 feet on the right bank gives a good clay founda-
116 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

tion for a reasonable depth below the top of the weir, but the central 

portion, 390 feet long, is of sand too deep to permit of carrying the 

foundation to the underlying clay. A trench was dug through this

up-stream slope

SOME CANALS, BENGAL . C/fOSS SECTION, DEfiRI WEIR

R.L. 4S3.SQ

FIG, 13. Shutter on Soane weir.

central sandy portion to a depth of 13^- feet below the crest of the weir, 

and for a distance of 400 feet, and sheet piles 10 feet long were driven 

into the sand as a protection for the foundation, and to prevent

excessive percolation below the level of the weir. 

The highest recorded 

flood would pass 10 feet 

over the weir crest. The 

crest of the weir supports 

a row of wooden needles 

which a re readily removable and are 7.5 feet long. 

They are placed between 

masonry pillars about 16 

feet apart, thus increasing the effective diversion height of the weir 

by their length. This 

mode of construction is 

indicated in fig. 19, and 

the action of the needles 

is more fully described 

elsewhere.

Of temporary weirs, 

the most notable example is that at the head of 

the Ganges canal above Hard war (fig. 18). At this point the bed of 

the river is composed of bowlders of various sizes to a considerable 

depth. The head-works of the canal consist of a number of separate 

structures extending up the river above the head of the canal proper

Cross section

FIG. 14. Sidhnai weir.
U. §. GEOL6GICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPEft NO. 97 PL. XII

NARORA WEIR, LOWER GANGES CANAL. PLAN OF SUPERSTRUCTURE.

CANAt BED R.L. 454'.5O

HIGHEST RECORDED FLOOD 463*30 ON 1

ORDINARY WATER SURFACE ABOVE DAM 

FIG. 15. Sidhnai canal; section of river in lin
118 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

a distance of several miles. The bed of the river is divided into several channels, the principal one being the Hardwar channel, from 

which the canal is diverted and into which the greater part of the 

water in the stream is trained by means of various works. The general plan of these works is given in the accompanying sketch. At the 

upper end of the bifurcation of these channels is a masonry wall or 

bar constructed across the left-hand channel, the object being to force 

the water toward the Hardwar, or right bank. The Hardwar channel 

from this point on is protected and trained by means of a .series 

of permanent bowlder embankments, terminating on their ends in 

masonry noses. On a minor channel a little lower down a permanent 

weir is constructed, close to the right bank, to prevent the Ganges 

from cutting too far in that direction; and a trifle below this, crossing a 

channel leading to the left bank, are the diverting weirs proper, consisting of a series of three temporary bowlder dams, built across the 

channel one behind the other in such a manner that the leakage 

through the first will be caught by the second and turned back into

PIG. 16. Details of temporary dams, Ganges canal heads.

the Hardwar channel, and that from the second will be caught by 

the third and diverted again to the Hardwar channel. These dams 

are destroyed each year by the floods and it has been found necessary 

entirely to rebuild them annually, new bowlders being brought down 

for the purpose, as the old ones are carried too far away to be economically collected. Experience has shown that this mode of construction of temporary weirs is less expensive than would be that of a 

permanent one at this place.

Large pyramidal-shaped cribs of timber are formed in the roughest 

manner and when placed in position are filled with bowlders (fig. 16). 

Bowlders are then thrown on top of these to strengthen and raise them 

higher and the channel face is covered with small branches and smaller 

bowlders and sometimes with earth to prevent excessive leakage. The 

velocity is about 10 feet per second in the major portion of the Hardwar channel, and its abrading effect is excessive, in consequence of 

which lines of temporary and of permanent bowlder banks and some 

masonry dams are carried from this point the entire distance along the 

sides of the channel to the main regulating weir below Hardwar. 

Just beneath and below the bowlder weirs above referred to masonry
WILSON.] SCOURING SLUICES. HO

bars are sunk in the bed of the side channel to prevent retrogression 

of levels, and a few hundred yards below and about opposite the city 

of Hardwar is a third channel leading from the Hardwar into the left 

channel. This is stopped by a permanent half-open masonry dam 

laid on a solid bed of masonry. In times of floods the sluice gates 

may be removed, while at low water their insertion closes the channel. 

The regulating gates are at Myapur, at the head of the canal. Here 

are also the weir and scouring sluices proper. The latter works consist of a weir of solid masonry founded on the bowlder bed, with 15 

scouring sluices, each 10 feet wide. The weir proper is only 525 feet 

in length, of which 200 feet are occupied by the scouring sluices and 

their piers. The sluiceways are deep and are closed by double sets of 

gates, some of which are raised and lowered by means of a traveling 

winch, the remainder being closed by simple planks or flashboards 

laid in the grooves.

SCOURING SLUICES.

The scouring sluices placed in open weirs consist of the foundation, 

the floorway, and the superstructure. The floor must be deep and 

well constructed and carried for a little distance above the weir and 

for a considerable distance below it. Above this are built up masonry 

piers at regular intervals, placed from 6 to 12 feet apart, and grooved 

for the reception of planks or needles, or closed with automatic gates 

or some other device which can be rapidly removed or replaced. By 

this means the water is kept under control and when low can be 

raised to the level of the crest of the weir by closing the gates, while 

in time of flood they are opened to secure a scouring of the river 

channel in front of the canal regulators. The masonry flooring is 

carried the entire width of the sluiceway, flush with the river bed and 

abuts well into the bank of the river. This is protected by a curtain 

wall of masonry up and down the stream.

The sluices in the weir at the head of the Lower Ganges canal at 

Narora are 38 in number, each 7 feet 10 inches in the clear. They 

have a total length of 427 feet, and the masonry piers separating them 

are but 24- feet wide. The total length of these piers parallel to the 

course of the stream and at right angles to the line of the weir is 36 

feet 4 inches, and they are practically two stories high, the upper deck 

or gallery having been constructed to have sufficient headroom to 

raise the gates (fig. 22). These gates are lifted by traveling winches 

running on rails on the upper deck. The sluiceways, like the main 

weir, are founded on a series of wells sunk in the sands and connected 

by brick masonry arches between which is a solid filling of brick (Pis. 

XI and XII). The total breadth of loose stones on the upstream 

approach to the sluiceways is 30 feet, and the total breadth of the bed 

of the sluiceways is 150 feet. Beyond this masonry flooring is carried 

and flooring of broken stone well packed for a distance of 100 "feet
120 IRRIGATION ITST INDIA. [NO. 87.

farther. The depth of the floor is 3 feet. The arrangement of sluiceway relative to the remainder of the weir and head-works is shown in 

PI. XIII. The sluice gates are substantially constructed of wood and 

iron, and are two in number in each opening, the upper row when 

lowered abutting against the top of the lower row. In time of great 

floods both sets of gates may be entirely raised clear of the flood line. 

The gates in the weir at Myapur, at the head of the Ganges canal, 

are similar to those described, and are represented in the accompanying illustration (fig. 17). The sluices in the weir at Okhla, at the head 

of the Agra canal, are similar in design to all others of this class, and 

contain 16 openings having a sluiceway of 138 feet. The openings, 6 

feet wide by 10 high, are built into a masonry structure 19 feet high, 

and the gates slide between piers 24- feet thick; they are raised by a

PIG. 17. Myapnr dam

traveling winch from above. The floor is founded on four lines of 

wells, and is 11 feet below the crest of the weir. The pavement of 

this floor is 8 feet wide upstream, 41 feet downstream, and 12 feet in 

the center of the weir. This is practically a single structure resting 

on the sand of the river bed, and is subject to considerable leakage. 

It is required not only to carry the weirs and their superstructure, but 

also to withstand the force of a torrent of water 16 feet deep.

Among the earliest and for that reason most interesting series of 

automatic sluiceways constructed are those in the Mahanadi weir, 

in lower Bengal, at the head of the Orissa canals. The sluiceway 

consists of 10 bays each 50 feet wide and separated by masonry piers. 

Each bay is closed by a double row of timber shutters fastened by 

wft)ught-iron bolts and hinges to a heavy beam of timber embedded
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO, 87 PL. XIII

HEAD-WORKS, LOWER GANGES CANAL, NARORA.

WILSON.] SCOURING SLUICES. 121

in the masonry floor of the sluice. 05 There are seven upstream and 

seven downstream or rear shutters, the latter 9 feet high above the 

floor, and the former 7i feet high. 5 During floods the upper row of 

shutters, which fall forward, are fastened down by clutches in an 

almost horizontal position, while the rear set, which fall backward or 

downstream, are kept in a horizontal position by the rush of water 

over them. In the dry season the rear shutters do duty by damming 

the water up, and for thia purpose are provided with strong wroughtiron struts attached to their lower sides. In order to lift these the 

upstream set are first raised. This operation being aided by the press 

of water beneath, they are permitted to rise to a vertical position by 

means of a chain guyed to the floor above them. Relieved of the 

water pressure by this upper set of shutters it then becomes possible 

to raise the lower set, after which the upper set are lowered again 

into their original position, and the weir is in position to withstand a

_____ MASONRY WAUL 

s= = rs TEMPORARY DAM

 = PERMANENT IVAU.

--- SUBMERGED BARS

FIG. 18. Head-works and weir training works, Ganges canal.

flood, as the lower set can be instantly dropped by merely removing 

the bolts which support them. The redamming of the water is accomplished in less than a minute. By reversing a lever each upper shutter 

is released, when they rise more or less rapidly, but with a comparatively slow motion until near the water surface, when they are brought 

houie with a jerk, which does not seem, however, to cause a great 

strain.

Probably the best example of automatic or self-acting sluice gates 

are those constructed in the weir at Dehree, at the head of the Soane 

canals/ The sluiceways in this weir consist of three separate sets, 

one of which is placed close to the head of the main western canals, 

and are 537 feet 4 inches in length, containing 20 openings separated

aRoorkee Professional Papers, vol. 7,1870, p. 75.

& Medley, Lieut. Col. J. G., Manual Thomason, College Civil Engineering, Irrigation Works, 

Roorkee, India, 1873, vol. 9, p. 118.

cBuckley, K. B., Fixed and movable weirs: Proc. Inst. 0. E. London, 1879-SO, vol. 60, p. 64. 

Medley, Lieut. Col. J. G., Manual Thomason, College Civil Engineering, Irrigation Works, 

Roorkee, India, 1873, vol. 9,- p. 118.
122 INDIA. [NO. 87.

by masonry piers. In the middle of the weir is another set of 1(3 

openings 419 feet in length, and at the extreme eastern end of the 

weir, below the head of the main eastern canal, is another set of 

sluiceways 537 feet 4 inches, with 20 openings. In addition to these 

sluiceways there are, as in all Indian weirs, one or more fish ladders. 

In the Soane weir there are four separate fish ladders, one at the end 

of each of the shore sluiceways and one on each side of the central 

sluice.

The crest of the weir is 9-| feet above the river bed. The gates by 

which the sluiceways are closed are each 20 feet long and 9-J feet high. 

They are separated by masonry piers each 6-J- feet wide and 32 feet 

long. As at first constructed these piers were much smaller, but it 

was found they would not withstand the jar produced by the manipulation of the gates and their thickness has since been increased. It is

FIG, 10. Dropping the Soane automatic sluices.

estimated that the velocity of the current through these scouring 

sluices is about 17^- feet per second. The floor of the sluices is 90 feet 

wide, parallel to the river channel. As at first designed this flooring 

consisted of a substratum 4 feet thick of rubble paved with good stone 

6 inches thick, but the difficulty of this construction was such that it 

was abandoned, and the foundations were finally set on blocks. These 

blocks are 10 by 6 feet, with .two well openings each, and were built 3 

feet high upon bamboo curbing laid on the surface of the sand, and 

when the brickwork had set they were sunk .until their tops were a 

foot below water. Concrete was then thrown into the wellholes and 

around them, and when set in left a solid foundation for the masonry. 

The ashlar pavement on this solid floor is 15 inches thick in the bottom 

of the scouring sluices and 9 inches thick over the apron. Twenty-five 

feet upstream from the sluice flooring is a line of wells sunk 10 feet as 

a curtain wall to the apron, and the wellholes and interspaces are filled 

with concrete, as in the foundation of the flooring. The space between
WILSON.] SCOURING SLUICES. 123

the curtain wall and the sluice flooring is packed with large bowlders 

and covered with pavement 9 inches thick. Twenty-five feet downstream from the flooring of the sluices a line of wells has been sunk 10 

feet and formed into a solid wall; the spaces between this wall and the 

flooring have been tiled and packed with bowlders and stone, and downstream from this point a talus, composed of large bowlders and blocks 

of stone, stretches 50 feet farther. The whole length of the sluice flooring parallel to the river channel is 200 feet. Notwithstanding the 

good workmanship of this foundation, the floods of 1874 proved very 

destructive, and tore away much of the river bed to a depth of 38 feet 

below the toe of the talus.

The mode of construction and operation of the sluice-gates themselves is as follows: These gates (fig. 25) are constructed of wood, well

ABAS

FIG. 20. Details of Sidhnai weir.

braced, and there are two for each opening. For each alternate pair 

of piers on the downstream flooring a low masonry wall 1 foot high is 

built out, which holds 1 foot in depth of water, thus forming a water 

cushion on which the lower gate falls and relieving the piers of a portion of the shock. The upper gate falls upstream, being hinged to the 

floor at its bottom, and abuts against a series of six struts, hollow iron 

cylinders with small vent holes in which pistons work, so that when 

the gate is raised by the water under it the impact against the struts 

is relieved by the pistons plunging in the water in the cylinders. The 

downstream gates fall downstream (fig. 19), and are supported by fouriron rods hinged to their upper face below the center of gravity, and 

when in position are held upright by chains attached to the piers. If 

both gates are open and it is desired to close the lower one, so as to
124 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

cause it to dam the water up, the operation is performed in this manner: 

The lower gate is first relieved by pushing aside the catch which 

attaches it to the floor, and is raised a little by means of a hand lever, 

whereupon the force of the water on the under surface brings it up 

slowly for a short distance, when it comes up with a jar against its 

cylinder struts.

The pressure is now relieved from the lower gate, which is then 

raised by hand levers and chained in an upright position to the piers. 

The upper gate is again lowered, now falling chiefly by its own weight 

through the water, and is fastened down. The lower gate, now acting as a dam, is prepared to be released at a moment's notice.

The needles used on the Sidhnai weir (fig. 20) are an improvement 

on a very ordinary form of gate found in most of the simpler and 

older structures. At the heads of many old canals, and in some sluiceways, gates are found closed by two classes of needles, the simpler 

consisting of planks or flashboards let horizontally into grooves in the 

piers and raised or lowered, one at a time, until a sufficient number 

have been removed or introduced to regulate the discharge of water. 

The needle is formed by inserting these planks vertically between 

timber guides or abutments laid horizontally between the piers, the 

water being regulated by the removal of as many as may be desired. 

The needles employed on the Sidhnai weir are made of hard wood, of 

such weight as to be manipulated by a strong man, each needle weighing not over 40 pounds. They are 7^ feet by 5 inches by 3-i inches in 

size, with a stout handle 1^ feet long ending in a knob. a

The most difficult problem when these needles are in position is to 

make the dam water-tight. Several methods were at first proposed. 

Grooved needles were found to be unnecessary; ordinary needles, if 

the interstices between them were filled with wood shavings and 

chopped straw, were found to be readily made water-tight. After the 

needles are placed in position they are forced together by being driven 

horizontally with a crowbar, and a basket filled with shavings, etc., 

is slipped down in front of the leak to be closed, the calking material 

being drawn by the current into the openings.

CANAL REGULATORS.

A set of regulating gates is always constructed at the head of a 

canal. They must afford sufficient way to admit all the water the canal 

is estimated to carry, and by them the amount admitted can be controlled. Like the scouring sluices, these regulators consist of a set of 

grooved piers resting on a foundation carried across the canal bed.

The water may be controlled by a set of planks or needles worked 

by hand in grooves, or, as is more usual, by drop gates raised and lowered by a winch from above. When not under too great a head, each 

opening is closed by a single gate raised by a hand windlass or winch.

« Sidhnai canal project: Selections of Records of the Government of India, No. 248, Calcutta, 1888.
WILSON.] CANAL REGULATORS. 125

In some cases, under considerable pressure, a double series of gates, 

one above the other, is used, or else valve gates are employed, 'which 

are worked by hand levers and screws from above. It is customary 

to connect the piers of the regulator by arches, so as to form a bridge 

across the canal, at the same time affording a convenient platform 

from which to operate the gates. The bed and banks of the canal at 

the head are protected by masonry, so as to be safe from erpsion when 

the gates are opened.

In locating the position of the regulating sluices, the principal 

object is to bring the water in the river through the scouring sluices 

in such a way that it shall pass directly in front of the regulator, preventing the deposit of silt at its head. This must be so established 

that the canal will receive the desired volume of water with the least 

liability of receiving the heavy silt through the regulators or to damage from matter carried by floods. Where this relation between 

scouring sluices and regulators is such that the least eddy or quiet 

water exists between the two, there is certain to be a deposit of silt, 

which is an element of danger arid must be removed. At the head of

CROSS S£CTJON

OLD METHOD OAf r/iEJUMMA /MPKOVEO METHOD O/V 7»£ GANGES

Fro. 21. Regulating gates, Ganges and Jumna canals.

the Ganges canal the location of the regulating gates is such that 

heavy deposits of silt are formed. At the head of the Soane canal 

the face of the regulator is set back 30 feet from the abutment of the 

scouring sluices, and here also is a heavy deposit of silt. At the Bari 

Doab head-works the regulating sluices are close to the scouring 

sluices and the current is so strong that small bowlders and gravel are 

carried through into the canal. The head-works of the Agra canal 

are excellently located, and the river channel and canal line are so 

nearly at right angles to each other that apparently no silting takes 

place. At the head-works of the Lower Ganges canal little or no silting occurs, owing to the excellent relative location of the various 

sluiceways.

At Myapur, the head of the Ganges canal, the regulating bridge has 

10 bays or openings, each 20 feet wide and 16 feet high, fitted with 

gates and apparatus for opening and closing. The breadth of the base 

or platform on which the piers rest is 48 feet, exclusive of the cutwaters, which project upstream 4 feet. The roadway on top of the 

bridge is 37 feet 9 inches wide between the rear parapet and the row 

of windlasses on the upstream front. The shutter for closing the regu-
126 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

lators, while an improvement on that used on the Jumna canal, is, 

however, rather crude compared with the modern and improved 

methods employed on later constructions. The accompanying sketches 

(fig. 21) indicate the method of arranging the regulators on the Jumna 

and on the Ganges canals. On the Jumna canal a regulator and 

drop gate are placed in a simple groove, and sleepers of scantling 6 

inches square are dropped in the top of the gate. This has always 

acted efficiently, but time and labor are required in its manipulation. 

On the Jumna canals there is no great volume of water to contend

CROSS SECTION

___ Bfftoee <- *£»* sis

Top of canal bank

RIVER ELEVATION

ELEVATION

FIG. S3. Narora weir, Lower Q-anges canal; detail of canal sluices.

with, nor is there as large a number of baysx as on the Granges canal. 

On the latter, as shown by the illustration, the bay is divided into 

three series of gates, the most advanced one having its sill at the level 

of the canal bed, and two higher series of gates, each having their sills 

revetted 6 feet and retrograding toward the face of the bridge. These 

are operated by separate windlasses over each. The two lower gates 

are quite independent of each other, the third or upper bay being 

closed by simple sleepers. The machinery attached to these gates is 

of the simplest character and readily understood by the commonest 

laborer, while it is not liable to disarrangement.,
WILSON.] CANAL REGULATORS. 127

From the plan of the relative locations of sluice-head (fig. 23) 

and regulating bridge it will be seen that the triangle in front of the 

hitter affords an immense backwater or eddy in which deposits of silt 

must necessarily take place. Designs have, recently been submitted 

for a new regulating bridge which shall be a skew arch, the front face ( 

or entrance to the regulators being parallel to the channel of the 

Ganges and at right angles to the scouring sluices, the rear side being 

at right angles to the channel of the canal.

An interesting and unique- set. of regulating gates, because of the 

great pressure under which they are worked, are those at the head of 

the Betwa canal (fig. 49, p. 177), and attention is called to them in this

ZOO feet

FIG. S3. Head-works, Ganges canal.

place, though they will be more fully described later on. The regulators at the head of the Soane canal are placed at right angles to the 

scouring sluices, though they are set back a short distance from the line 

of the curtain wall leading to the scouring sluices. The floor of these 

regulators is about 3 feet above that of the scouring sluices. The 

masonry work in connection with the head-works of this canal is well 

constructed, but perhaps too elaborate. These regulating sluices are 

designed to discharge 4,500 second-feet with a head of only 4 inches 

and a depth of 9 feet of water. They consist of 24 openings, each 6 

feet wide, and separated by the solid piers which support the bridge 

above. There are two shutters constructed of wood, opening verti-
128 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

cally (fig. 24). Usually only the upper gate is used, the chief deposit 

of silt thus taking place in front of the lower gate, where it is easily 

dredged out, but when the head of water is very low the lower gate is 

sometimes raised. The silt is thus flushed out and deposited in the 

canal, where it is still more easily dredged. These shutters are raised 

by a traveling winch supported on a hand car on rails on the bridge 

above. The figure shows the mode of raising these gates and of 

fastening them together when both are to be opened.

At Vir, where the head-works of the -Nira canal are situated, the 

regulating gates are simple, giving a water way through seven separate bays, each 4 feet wide, and operated from a masonry bridge 

above (fig. 45, p. 170). These are so designed that under the lowest 

available head of 9 inches the full discharge required will be admitted 

to the canal.

The regulators at the head of the Lower Ganges canal,-like the weir 

and scouring sluices (PI. XIII and fig. 22), are founded on two rows

VVmcfj car 

opening gate

Lower and upper Upper gate open Bofh gates closed 

gate full open

FIG. 24. Regulating gates, Soane canal head.

of wells. Curtain walls founded on wells are carried along the banks 

of the river and canal for a short distance. The flooring of the regulators is well paved with substantial masonry from 3 to 5 feet thick, 

and a rough loose-stone pavement is carried for some distance into 

the river above the regulators and 100 feet below them, the banks of 

the canal being revetted for some distance farther. The width at the 

canal head is a little greater than that of the canal, causing the 

velocity for a short distance to be diminished, in consequence of which 

the majority of the silt is deposited at this one place, where it can be 

most conveniently removed. The total width of the regulators at the 

head is 282-J feet. There are 30 bays, each 7 feet wide, separated by 

substantial masonry piers 28^ feet long by 2^ feet wide. The gates 

closing the entrance to the canal head are of iron and slide vertically. 

They are each 11 feet high, are raised by a winch traveling on the 

bridge overhead, and are closed by their own weight. In the piers on 

the upstream side of these gates are grooves in which planks may be 

inserted in order to reduce the head on the gates when operating 

them.
WILSON.] CANAL REGULATORS. 129

The regulator at the head of the Sidhnai canal consists of four 60° 

arches of 22.5 feet span, with jack piers 2.5 feet thick in the center, 

which divide the waterway into eight spans of 10 feet each. The arches

CROSS SECT/ON

CffOSS SECT/OH

FIG. 35. Soane canal, automatic sluice gate.

spring from 6 feet above the floor. The floor is 1 foot above the crest 

of the weir, and as the needles on the top of the latter are designed to 

hold up 7£ feet of water, 6-J feet can be forced into the canal. There 

IBR 87 03 9
130 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

is nothing novel in this regulator, the gates being made of wood bound 

with iron and sliding in cast-iron grooves. The lifting apparatus is a 

traveling winch working on rails on the top of the parapet of the 

bridge, so placed that the drum of the crab winch is centrally located 

over the gate to be lifted. There is an upstream set of grooves in the 

piers into which planks can be inserted to relieve the gate from pressure should it jam. Planks are generally used for regulating the 

supply in the canal, the gates being intended for use only when it is 

necessary to close the regulator quickly.

WELL FOUNDATIONS.

Wells and blocks may be considered as one and the same form of 

construction, though perhaps blocks are more properly rectangular 

wells having one or more well holes in them, while wells proper are 

circular in plan with a single central opening. They are in reality 

brick caissons from 6 to 20 feet in diameter, the walls varying in thickness from 2 to 4 feet and of any required height. Blocks are rectangular brick caissons, perhaps 6 by 10 or 12 feet, with 2-foot or 3-foot 

walls, and subdivided into two or even four vertical passages or well 

holes. For the piers of the Solani aqueduct the blocks are 20 feet 

square and divided into four well holes. At the head of the Agra 

canal they are rectangular, 13^ by 9 feet, and contain two well holes, 

each 4 by 3 feet. At the head of the Lower Ganges canal they are 

round, 12 feet in diameter, with walls 2 feet thick.

In sinking wells the water in the part of the river to be operated 

upon is usually temporarily dammed and the earth removed until the 

water surface is again reached. Curbing of bamboo of the size of the 

well is then laid, and on this the well is built up. It is commenced by 

placing on its lower edge a cutting surface of wood or iron, wedge 

shaped, with the cutting point downward. Into the top of this the 

masonry work is built. As the building continues the sand and gravel 

are removed from within by hand or by dredge, and the well sinks by 

its own weight. Much difficulty is frequently encountered in sinking 

these wells, owing to their uneven subsidence or on account of meeting layers of earth of different character, which must be removed or 

the well so loaded as to cause it to sink vertically. When the well or 

block is sunk to the required depth it is usually filled with concrete, 

and thus becomes a solid pillar. The spaces between the walls are 

then protected by sheet piling, and after the removal of the sand concrete is placed between them, thus forming a continuous wall. This 

method is simple and not costly. It is particularly effective in deep 

sand or in quicksand, and may be carried on by workmen with little 

risk of danger.

The depths to which wells are sunk differ greatly. In the case of 

the head-works of the Agra canal no wells whatever were made under 

the weir, as it rested directly on the sand. At the head of the Soane
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WATER-SUPPLY PAPES NO. a? PL, xiv

SINKING FOUNDATION WELLS, NADRAI AQUEDUCT, LOWER GANGES CANAL.

WILSON.] WELL FOKMATKWS. 131

canal the wells are sunk about 10 feet below the base of the weir; and 

at Narora, at the head of the Lower Ganges canal, they were sunk 20 

feet. Wells are built either in single or double rows, the distance 

between these varying according to the dimensions of the wells themselves. They have in some cases been connected by brick masonry 

arches, and the interspace below the arch filled with solid brick. This 

was done in portions of the head-works of the Lower Ganges canal.

The most striking case of the construction of wells as a foundation 

for a masonry superstructure is that of the wells for the support of 

the Nadrai aqueduct on the Lower Ganges canal over the Kali Nadi 

Torrent. The whole structure of the aqueduct, including river and 

canal wing walls, is founded on wells, the cutting edges of which are 

sunk 51£ feet below the level of the Kali Nadi Torrent at that point, 

the average depth of the wells being 56 feet. The wells are of three 

sizes, being 20 feet in diameter for the piers and canal land wings, 13 

feet in diameter for the river piers, and 12 feet for the abutments. 

There are 102 wells 20 feet in diameter, 44 wells 13 feet in diameter, 

and 122 wells 12 feet in diameter, or a total of 268 wells on this work. 

The total linear depth of well sinking amounted to 15,008 feet. Accompanying are given illustrations showing some of the details of these 

wells (PL XIV).

The well curbs were generally constructed of wood, with wroughtiron bolts 1^ inches in diameter projecting from them and built up 

into the brickwork. In the 12- and 13-foot wells only one dredger was 

worked at a time, and the average rate of sinking was 1 foot per day. 

In the 20-foot wells three or four dredgers could be used at once, and 

with this number the rate of sinking amounted to If feet per day. 

Building and sinking went on alternately in the construction, the 

brickwork being carried up in lengths of about 8 feet, as the wells 

sank that much. When 25 feet had been sunk the brickwork was 

carried up the full height, 47-t feet above the cutting edge, and the 

sinking continued until clay was reached. On a well showing even 

the slightest signs of going out of the perpendicular dredges were 

worked on the opposite side from that to which the well inclined. In 

extreme cases a '' jham" was worked from a windlass on top, which 

stirred up the silt in the sump less than did the dredger and allowed 

a deeper hole to be made on one side. Only two or three of the 20- 

foot wells were 1 in 40, and the majority less than 1 in 100 out of 

perpendicular when the under dredging was stopped. In the lines of 

the abutments, where the 12-foot double rows of wells were only 2 feet 

apart, there was a decided tendency for each pair of wells to lean toward 

each other and for the curbs to separate. In some cases where the 

wells got out of perpendicular or failed to sink in the hard clay, it 

became necessary to load them with railway iron or a temporary 

superstructure of brick. To test their resistance against subsidence 

some of the less satisfactory wells, after they had been hearted with
132 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

concrete, were loaded with a great temporary superstructure of bricks, 

which in the case of one well weighed 1,451 tons (PL XIV). The 

total subsidence amounted to but 1^ inches. After the well had gone 

through the blue clay and while dredging in the brown sand was in 

progress, inblows of the blue sand above the clay were of frequent 

occurrence. These were generally caused by the dredger being worked 

awkwardly. Sometimes the inblows were so rapid as to bury the 

dredger before it could be lifted, and at other times they were 

extremely gradual. These inblows frequently caused the well to 

incline from, the vertical. When it was found that some of the 12- 

foot wells inclined from the vertical, advantage was taken of it to 

make them incline, so that when finally loaded with the superstructure and arch they would be in the best position to receive the arch 

thrust.

Mr. Beresford, the superintending engineer, in a note on " Frictional 

resistance to sinking due to lateral pressure of earth on the sides of a 

well," a shows that the pressure Py exerted by earth against a vertical 

plane per unit of the breadth is

p _Wa;2 1-sin O 

J 2 ' 1+sinO'

where W=the weight of earth per cubic foot, ;v=the depth the 

plane is sunk below the surface of the earth, and O=the angle of 

repose of earth. The values found practially agree very closely'with 

those derived from this formula. From some computations it was found

that the value of P?/=~x582 x 0.33x63=3,496,878 pounds= 1,562

tons, taking W=100 pounds; O=30° and the coefficient of friction of 

the masonry on moist clay as given by Rankiue=0.33. Therefore the 

friction F=l,562x0.33=515 tons.

ESCAPES.

In order to establish a complete control over the water in a canal 

channel, provision is made for disposing of any excess which may arise 

from sudden rains or floods, or from water not being required for irrigation. This is effected by means of escapes or short cuts from the 

canal to the river or other natural waterway into which the excess of 

the water can be discharged. These escapes perform the additional 

service, in the case of streams carrying much sediment in suspension, 

of flushing the canal, thus preventing or removing excessive silt 

deposits. Colonel Cautley, in speaking of escapes and their employment on the lines of distributaries, says:

In times of flood, opening the heads of the distributaries relieves the main 

canals, and the former are in turn relieved by the escapes. Hence the distributary heads become the safety valves, and the escapes the waste pipes of the entire 

canal system.

"Gordon, W. B., Notes on Well Sinking, Nadrai Aqueduct, Public Works Department, Northwest Provinces, India, p. 30.
WILSON.] ESCAPES. 133

Escapes are provided at certain intervals along the entire canal line, 

and a double set of regulators are made at the point where the escape 

is taken off, as in the case of a branch canal or distributary. On the 

Ganges canal they are projected at every 40 miles, though much 

depends on the convenience with which they can be made and the prox- 

' imity of the canal to some water course into which the escape water 

can be conducted. They are also provided if possible at dangerous 

points, as above or along lines of heavy embankment where, in case 

of the bursting of the bank, much damage would ensue. The first main 

escape is always constructed at a distance of half a mile or less below 

the canal head, and when it becomes desirable to scour out the silt 

accumulated between the head and the escape the latter is opened and 

a large volume of water admitted to the canal. This runs off through 

the escape carrying the silt with it. It is usual in such cases to decrease 

the slope of the canal for a short distance below its head to cause the 

deposit of matter carried in suspension between that point and the 

escape.

The escape cut must be sufficiently large and have enough fall to 

carry off the whole body of water which can reach it, so that if necessary the canal below the escape may be left dry for repairs without 

stopping its running above. The complete control of the canal waters 

by double escapes consists of the construction of a regulator at the 

head of the escape, and another one across the canal channel immediately below the escape. These escape heads are similar to the regulating bridges previously described and to the various regulators constructed at the heads of distributaries. When a heavy rain occurs on 

the line of a canal the irrigators cease to use the canal water, and as 

the flow can not be immediately stopped at the head-works, great damage would be done by the surplus water but for the escapes, which act 

as though the head regulator of the canal had been brought so much 

nearer the point of application.

The Khutowli escape head on the Ganges canal is an interesting 

example. It is at the sixty-second mile and consists of a channel excavated 60 feet wide and -3^ miles long. The masonry head consists of 

ten openings, each 6 feet wide, the height from the flooring to the 

soffit of the arch being 8£ feet. The flooring is 64 feet wide, 40 feet 

of which forms the tail, and is laid on a slope of 1 foot from the level 

of the canal bed. The banks of the works are protected by masonry 

revetments and guards of piling and rubble which protect the floor 

from the wear and tear of the current.

Colonel Cautley made the following rules to control the location 

and regulation of escapes on the Ganges canal:

With reference to position, the distance between the escapes is limited to 40 

miles, considering that by adapting their capacity to the volume of water contained 

in this length of canal the facilities for regulation are ample. In the sandy tracts 

of the canal the number of the escapes is multiplied rather than having their waterway increased. The sites of all escapes are fixed in such a position that the
134 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

water may be plunged into the bed of the receiving channel and that the highwater mark of the latter shall never interfere with the free discharge of the canal. 

The escape channel shall, when perfected, have, in addition ,o the initial slope 

of 12 inches from the bed of the main channel which is given to the tail of the 

escape head, a slope of bed equal to 1^ feet per mile.

FALLS AND RAPIDS.

As the natural fall of the country through which a canal runs is 

usually greater than the slope of the canal, it becomes necessary to 

compensate for this difference of slope. This is done by concentrating it at a few points where vertical falls or rapids are introduced.

WAT£R LINE.

WATER LINE

- 90 o" »~5-

WATER Z./A/,

CANAL B£O ,

^- 35' .- 

I>

FIG. 2&. Sections of canal falls.

The location of these is usually fixed by the place where the canal 

becomes too high above the surface of the ground, while their exact, 

position is made to coincide if possible with that of a bridge or similar 

work in order to economize masonry construction.

Ogee falls were first adopted on the Ganges canal and are of the 

shape shown in the accompanying figure, the intention being to break 

the force of the fall of the water. They were about 8 feet high, but 

the shock of the fall proved so great that they have been modified to 

give two vertical falls, the lower of which drops into a water cushion. 

On the Ganges canal were a number of ogee falls (fig. 26, A) 15 feet high. 

These have been so remodeled as to give an upper fall of 5 feet, then
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL. XV

ASAFNAGAR FALLS, GANGES CANAL.

WILSON.] FALLS AND EAPIDS. 135

a short level bench of 10 feet, and a vertical drop of 10 feet, ending 

in a shallow water cushion (PL XV). These falls have a solid 

masonry floor 4 feet thick. On some falls the action of the water is 

lessened by making it play, over a wooden grating. This reduces the 

shock by dividing the stream into a number of fine threads. Falls 

are invariably constructed of substantial masonry laid on a deep and 

firm foundation. The banks are protected by masonry and paving. 

The latter is carried for some distance below the fall both in the bed 

and on the sides, and the flooring terminates in a row of sheet piling. 

In broad canals like the Ganges the fall is generally divided into compartments by longitudinal dividing walls, so that when repairs are 

necessary one portion may be laid bare at a time. On the Ganges 

canal most of the falls are constructed at points where bridges would 

be necessary, and to the lower side of the bridge the fall is attached. 

Below this the channel of the canal is widened out, the flooring and 

sides to the extremity of the cistern in which the fall terminates being 

carefully and securely paved and revetted.

Experience seems to show that vertical falls with gratings, as used 

on the Bari Doab canal, and terminating in water cushions, are the 

best that have been devised (fig. 28). The grating consists of a number of wooden bars, resting on an iron shoe built into the crest of the 

fall, and on one or more crossbeams, according to the length of the bars. 

These bars are laid at a slope of 1 on 3, and are of such a length that 

the full supply water level in the canal is half a foot below their upper 

ends. The dimensions of the bars used where the depth of the water 

is 6^ feet are as follows: Lower end one-half inch broad by threefourths of an inch deep; upper end one-fourth inch by three-fourths 

inch deep. They are supported on beams 1 foot broad by 1 foot deep. 

At first these beams were 6 inches apart, but it has since been found 

best to increase this distance a trifle, and now 18 bars are placed in a 

10- foot bay. The bars are undercut from the points where they leave 

the shoe at the crest of the falls in such a manner as to make each 

space an orifice in a thin plate.

The effect of a fall at the end of a canal reach is to increase the 

velocity and to diminish the depth for some distance above the fall. 

This increase of velocity produces a dangerous scouring on the bed 

and banks of the canal, and is guarded against by heading the water 

up at the crest of the fall by means of sleepers dropped in grooves of 

the piers, thus increasing the height of the fall. The narrowing of 

the canal banks at the fall produces the same effect. The better 

method, however, is to raise the crest of the fall by a masonry weir, 

and the height necessary to raise it is found by the following calculation, given by Colonel Dyas :

in which H is equal to the height of the water above the crest of the
136 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87,

fall; a is equal to the sectional area of the open channel; d equals the 

hydraulic mean depth of the same; / is equal to the length of crest of 

the fall, and s equals the length of slope to a fall of one in same. 

When gratings are used these act instead of a weir in checking the 

velocity of the water, and the method of spacing them is such that the 

velocity of no one thread of the stream shall be either increased or 

retarded by the proximity of the fall.

On the Soane canal, where there are many locks, the falls are nearly 

always introduced at the points where the locks occur (fig. 27). The 

main line is carried through the locks, and the waste weir or branch 

channel is carried around them, and in it the surplus water over that 

which is required for the operation of the lock is conducted. In this 

branch channel a fall must be constructed. In one case noticed, where 

there were two locks, with a total lift of 20 feet, the fall was constructed

PLAN _ Parallet channel

FIG. 27. Soane canals, Bengal; arrangement of branches and escape at Dunwar.

in three bays. The channel was 40 feet wide and the falls were built 

of substantial brick masonry terminating in a deep cushion below. On 

the Agra canal are several interesting falls, perhaps the most elaborate 

of which is the Kushuk fall, on the Bata escape (fig. 30). This is a 

masonry fall, or rather two falls terminating in water cushions, the 

total height of which is 27 feet. The total length of the masonry work 

is 190 feet, and the depth of the concrete flooring is 3 feet, terminating 

on a well, on which the toe of the apron rests.

Instead of falls, rapids have been constructed with great success on 

the BariDoab canal (fig. 28). The slope of the rapid is paved with loose 

bowlders, confined by walls of masonry built at intervals of 40 feet 

longtudinally across the stream. From experience on these rapids it 

has been found that dry bowlder or rockwork is not to be depended on 

for velocities over 15 feet per second, and that over this the slope must 

be modified or masonry be used. On the Bari Doab canal rapids 

were adopted wherever bowlders were procurable at moderate expense.
WILSON.] DRAINAGE WORKS. 137

Bowlders form the best material for the flooring of a rapid. Brickwork should not be used with currents of high velocity, as the best 

bricks do not stand the wear and tear for any time, certainly pot for 

service in contact with velocities exceeding 10 feet per second. The 

bowlders were generally grouted in a good bed work of mortar and 

small pebbles or shingle, where velocities above 15 feet per second 

were employed. The tail walls on these rapids are of peculiar construction, for the purpose of turning back the eddies and of protecting the canal banks from the direct action of the water. Beyond a 

point where the heaviest action occurs and where the greatest width 

is given the tail-works, the banks incline toward each other so as to 

direct the set of the stream to the middle of the canal. The tail walls 

v* not kept to their full height throughout, but gradually become 

lower and lower, till they disappear altogether, where they reach the 

same level as the bed of the canal. In case no tail works are given, 

the banks are faced with bowlders or piling for a length of perhaps 

300 feet below the rapid. On distributaries and their branches falls 

and rapids are resorted to, as on the main canals, differing only in 

details of design.

DRAINAGE WORKS.

In canals where the diversion line is carried along the sides of hills 

or slopes, great difficulties are sometimes encountered in passing the 

side drainage which crosses the canal lines. Much can be done by 

diverting water courses or constructing short drainage cuts emptying 

into natural drainage lines. When the drainage can not be diverted 

it may be passed in one of several ways. If the stream is at a lower 

level than the canal the latter may be passed over it in an aqueduct, 

which in most cases will involve the construction of some embankments before the stream channel proper is reached. If the canal and 

stream meet at the same level the latter may under exceptional circumstances be permitted to enter the canal. This will necessitate the introduction of proper regulating works below the canal crossing, and an 

escape or dam on the opposite side to the inlet. In the case of very 

small streams entering a canal at level, an inlet only is necessary, the 

surplus water being passed off through the first escape in the canal 

channel. If the stream encountered is at a higher level than the 

canal it is generally carried over the latter in an aqueduct, which is 

called a superpassage. In the case of nonnavigable canals, less elaborate drainage methods than those described may be employed, and 

modifications of these methods are used, as when the canal is carried 

under the stream in an inverted siphon, or a combined siphon-aqueduct has been constructed.

By means of simple diversion of the course of a stream much 

expense may be saved. An instructive example of diversion is that 

of the Chuki Torrent on the Bari Doab canal. At the time of the 

construction of the canal this torrent had two outlets. Just above the
138 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

crossing of the canal the main channel divided, one channel running 

into the Beas and the other into the Ravi River. The latter was 

embanked close to the bifurcation by bowlder dams and spurs protected by masonry revetments. By this means the whole of the water 

was forced to flow into the Beas, and the expense of the work of crossing the canal was saved. Another instance is that at the head of the 

Betwa canal. The first 6 miles of this is protected by a drainage 

channel 15 feet wide at the bottom and 6 feet deep, which runs 

parallel to the canal and carries the drainage into a small stream 

whence it is let into the Betwa River. At the Betwa head-works a 

creek enters the river, and this was blocked up by a large embankment 

and turned back by a cut, through which it entered the river abov^ 

the head-works.

RAPIDS- BARIDOAb CANAL

ZZL Tbansrerse, section 

at crest aricL tail/ ora£ coin 

mencement and end, of slope.

FIG. 38. Rapids, Bar! Doab canal.

Aqueducts differ from bridges only in having to carry a water channel instead of a railroad or roadway. The bridge portion may be of 

wood, iron, or masonry. In India, masonry is almost exclusively 

employed because of its relative cheapness and permanency. On the 

Soane canal are several interesting aqueducts, one of which, across 

the Thora Nulla, carries the Buxar branch canal on a well-constructed 

masonry structure (fig. 8, p. 102). This aqueduct is 38^ feet in height 

and, exclusive of the wings or retaining walls, is 155 feet long, the 

width exclusive of wings being 54 feet. The waterway of the aqueduct 

is 42 feet wide on top, 40 feet at the bottom, and 7 feet in depth. The 

waterway for the torrent beneath the aquediict is constructed almost 

as an inverted siphon, the bed having an inverted arch beneath the 

piers. There are four spans, each 30 feet wide by 20 feet 9 inches
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL. XVI

SOLANI AQUEDUCT, GANGES CANAL.

WILSON.] DRAINAGE WORKS. 189

high, the arch above supporting the aqueduct. The height of the 

piers to the springing of the arch is 12 feet and the rise of the arch 

is 6 feet. The piers are each 6£ feet wide. The object of the invert 

is, that should a greater flood occur than is estimated for, the openings may act as siphons. They are estimated to carry 10,000 secondfeet.

One of the greatest and earliest aqueducts constructed is the Solaiii 

aqueduct on the Ganges canal at Roorkee (PL XVI). This consists 

of an earth enb'ankment 2f miles in length across the Solani Valley, 

and about 16|- feet high, its greatest elevation above -the river bed 

being 24 feet. This embankment, as sjiown in the sketch (fig. 29), 

is 350 feet wide at the base and 290 feet wide on top, and on this the 

canal banks are formed. The outer edges of these banks are 30 feet 

wide and 12 feet deep, and are lined throughout by masonry or revetments of stone. The exterior slopes of the embankment are 1 on 1^, 

and have been made with great care. The total length of the upstream 

revetted channel is 10,713 feet; that of the downstream channel is 

2,723 feet, and between these embankments is built the masonry 

aqueduct, the total length of which is 920 feet, with a clear water

SO 40 SO .Ift 10. ft

FIG. 29. Cross section of Solani aqueduct, Ganges canal.

space between piers of 750 feet in length, consisting of fifteen spans 

of 50 feet each. The breadth of each arch parallel to the channel of 

the river is 192 feet and its thickness is 5 feet. The arch is in the 

form of a segment of a circle with a rise of 8 feet, and the piers are 

raised on foundation blocks of masonry, sunk 20 feet in the river bed. 

The greatest height of the aqueduct proper above the river valley is 

38 feet. The waterway of the aqueduct is formed in two separate 

channels, each 85 feet wide; the outer walls of masonry are 8 feet 

thick and 12 feet deep, the aqueduct being intended to carry 12 feet 

of water. The velocity through the aqueduct is 3f feet per second.

Perhaps the most magnificent aqueduct yet constructed is that builfc 

across the Kali Nadi at Nadrai, which carries the waters of the Lower 

Ganges canal over that river. The first aqueduct at this place was 

much smaller than the present one. Before the great flood of 1885 it 

was calculated to permit the passage of 30,000 se'cond-feet through the 

five bays into which this water way was divided, and it was founded 

on the natural channel of the torrent. In 1884 an extraordinary flood 

occurred which discharged nearly 100,000 second-feet under the aqueduct, and greatly injured it. Repairs were at once commenced and 

slight alterations made in order to increase the channel. On the 2d of
140 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

October, 1884, a flood level was noted on the upstream side corresponding to a reading of 22.2 feet on the downstream gage, the difference 

of surface level above and below the aqueduct being 3| feet. The 

mean velocity of discharge in this flood was about 104 feet per second. 

This work had scarcely been commenced when, on the 17th of July, 

1885, another and greater flood occurred. This flood is fully described 

in notes made at the time by the executive engineer, Mr. W. Good. a

Early on the morning of the 17th the river began to rise and the 

water level rose in a wave 4 feet high and carried away part of the 

revetment. Other waves 10 or 15 feet high surged over it, and the 

whole of this revetment work and the abutments collapsed. Shortly 

afterwards the piers were carried away and parts of the aqueduct fell 

into the stream. The velocity was terrific. The water in the main 

stream was piled up in waves 20 feet high at intervals of 100 feet apart. 

By 3 in the afternoon 100 yards of the canal bank had been carried 

away and all of the aqueduct had been destroyed. From 4 o'clock in 

the morning to 3 o'clock in the afternoon the level of the water rose to 

a total height of 23 feet and had a velocity of over 18 feet per second. 

From estimates made by Mr. Good the discharge of that flood was 

probably 135,000 second-feet, and during the rain storm (which lasted 

three days), an average of 22 inches of rain fell on the whole catchment area. The greatest fall occuring in one day, the 16th, was 20 

inches on some portions of the basin.

In estimating for an aqueduct to replace the old one, this flood was 

considered as the greatest which was ever likely to occur, and the new 

aqueduct as now finished is estimated to discharge under it 140,000 

second-feet, with a velocity of 8 feet per second, thus requiring a 

waterway of 22,430 square feet. This is equivalent to a run-off of 55 

cubic feet per square mile of catchment, the total area of which is 

3,025 square miles. The waterway for the canal on top of this aqueduct will carry 3,175 second-feet.

The aqueduct (fig. 33) consists of 15 masonry spans, each 50 feet 

long, supported on wells. The maximum pressure on the foundation 

wells of the piers does not exceed 2^ tons per square foot. Under the 

aqueduct is sunk a concrete floor 5 feet in thickness. The total cost 

of this work was about $1,523,000.

On the Ganges canal are two of the largest as well as the most interesting superpassages constructed in India, one for carrying the Puthri 

Torrent and the other the Ranipur Torrent over the canal. In the construction of a superpassage especial care must be taken to give its bed 

such a slope that it shall not be filled up by the deposit of sediment, 

while the masonry and revetting of the banks must be carried a sufficient distance on each side of the canal up and down stream to protect 

the foundations of the work.

a Failure of the Kali Nadi aqueduct: Records of the Government of India, Publio Works Department, No. 240, Calcutta, 1888.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WATER-SUPPLY PAP£R NO. 87 PL. xvil

RANIPUR SUPERPASSAGE, GANGES CANAL.

WILSON.] DRAINAGE WORKS. 141

The catchment basin of the Ranipur Torrent is about 45 square miles, 

its average width being 4£ miles and its total length 10 miles. At the 

point where the superpassage is constructed there is an ogee fall with 

a drop of 9 feet, the base between the piers supporting the superpassage being used as a portion of the masonry construction of the fall 

(PL XVII). The foundations of the upper and lower levels are protected by lines of piling and box work; the former have a width of 10 

feet, and the latter of 70 feet. The flooring of the superpassage from 

the crown of the arches to its bed is in its thinnest place 3 feet thick, 

and the parapets are 7 feet wide and 4 feet high. These continue 

inland from the body of the work a distance of 100 feet on each"side, 

expanding outward so as to form wings for keeping the water within 

bounds. This superpassage is 300 feet long and provides a waterway 

for the torrent 195 feet wide and 6 feet deep.

At the Puthri superpassage the torrent of that name drains an area 

of about 85 square miles and discharges a maximum flood of 15,000 

second-feet. This superpassage consists of an aqueduct, under which 

the canal passes in nine bays, each 25 feet wide. The width of the 

superpassage is 296 feet. This waterway, as it now appears, was made 

too wide, and accordingly the decrease in the velocity of the torrent 

at this point, which in the natural channel is 16 feet per second, has 

caused considerable silting and the superpassage has been constantly 

filling up. This error has been obviated by decreasing the waterway 

by the construction of masonry groins projecting from the side parapets of the superpassage out into the stream at right angles to its 

course. This has nearly remedied the evil, as the silt previously 

deposited is now being rapidly cut away.

The Sasoon superpassage (fig. 36) on the Sirhind canal, whereby 

the Sasoon Torrent is carried over the canal, drains an area of 24 

square miles. The discharge of this stream is estimated at 7,750 

second-feet, and a waterway has been provided 150 feet wide by 6|- 

feet deep. The difference in level between the bed of the canal and 

the torrent is 21.9 feet, of which 7 feet are depth of water in the 

canal, 10 feet headway up to soffit of arch, 3 feet the thickness of the 

arch, and 1.9 feet brick flooring. The canal channel is spanned by 

three central arches, each of 45 feet span, and two at the sides, each 

of 32 feet span. There is an aggregate waterway for the canal of 184 

feet, but the mean waterway of the channel is only 177 feet. The 

side walls or parapets of the superpassage are 10 feet high and 5 feet 

thick at base. The mode of construction of this superpassage is indicated in flg. 36, p. 149.

An interesting mode of disposing of drainage is by a drainage 

reservoir, as is done on the Agra canal. Several streams cross the 

canal at a certain point. They are, however, all disposed of through 

one channel by constructing an embankment on the upper side of the 

canal, so that a reservoir is made. The object of this reservoir is not
142 IEJRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

K / -

?ft

storage, but drainage. The embankment is of earth and about 40 

feet high. The bottom or sill of the superpassage, which carries the

flood water over the canal, is about 30 

feet above the bottom of the reservoir, the object being that the lower 

20 feet of the bed of the reservoir can 

be cultivated and supplied from this 

water. A large revenue is returned 

to the government from the lands cultivated in the reservoir bed after the 

waters have been drawn down through 

the superpassage. This superpassage 

is constructed of boiler iron. It is 99 

feet long, 30 feet wide, 10 feet deep, 

cross braced by angle iron on top, and 

supported by two piers each 5 feet 

thick. It is well built and supported 

and the slope is steep, giving a high 

velocity to the water. The connection between the ends of the superpassage and the abutments is made 

of heavy sheet lead, to accommodate 

the changes due to expansion of the 

iron and to prevent leakage. After 

flowing through this superpassage the 

water falls vertically 12 feet, and then 

25 feet into the old channel of the 

River Jumna.

The Rutnioo Torrent is passed 

across the Ganges canal by a level 

crossing (PL XVIII). This consists of 

a simple inlet at the torrent entrance 

to the canal and of a masonry outlet 

dam and escape regulator in the canal 

bank opposite the torrent inlet, while 

there is another regulating bridge 

across the channel just below the 

inlet (fig. 31). By this means the 

flow of water is easily regulated, the 

amount admitted to the canal below 

the inlet being controlled by the regulator in the canal itself and the superfluous water being discharged through 

the regulating breach or dam in the 

canal bank. This dam consists of 

47 sluice ways, each 10 feet wide, with their sills flush with the canal 

bed. These are flanked on either side by overfalls of the same width

&
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL. XVIII

RUTMOO LEVEL CROSSING, GANGES CANAL

WILSON.] DRAINAGE WORKS. 143

with, their sills, 6 feet higher, and on the extreme flanks are platforms 

10 feet above the canal bed. These elevated platforms are 17 feet long 

and connected with the revetment on the canal banks by inclined planes 

of masonry. This escape dam is practically identical in construction 

with the ordinary scouring sluices at Myapur and other places. The 

waterway through the sluices up to the height of 6 feet is 470 feet wide, 

and between the levels of 6 and 10 feet it is 570 feet wide. Above that 

it is 800 feet wide. The closing and regulating of the opening in this 

sluiceway is conducted by means of flash boards fitting into grooves. 

The sluice gates are dropped rapidly, being constructed on a plan similar to the Soane scouring sluices, but more crude in their method of 

manipulation. When not

in flood, the water in the 1 i : } :^| 

torrent is carried under = : ' .* . .& 

the canal and returned 

to the Rutmoo Torrent 

below it by means of a 

little drainage tunnel or 

inverted siphon .about 

500 feet long. Owing 

to the high velocity of 

the floods in the Rutin oo Torrent, there is no 

deposit of silt in the 

canal, the greater part 

of the silt being carried 

straight through it by 

the rush of the flood 

waters. The torrent in 

late years has been cutting badly on the downstream, and to stop this 

retrogression of levels 5 

masonry bars have been 

put across it, each about

200 yards apart. These are composed of cribs filled with bowlders, 

and have acted as contemplated. The maximum flood anticipated 

and discharged through the Rutmoo Torrent is 25,000 second-feet. 

The regulating bridge across the canal below the crossing has 10 

waterways, each of 20 feet, and in addition to this there is a roadway 

over it forming a bridge. There is about a mile of revetment walls, 

all resting on blocks or wells sunk to a depth of 20 feet below the 

canal bed. This is protected by numbers of piles and cribs filled 

with bowlders.

The Kao Nulla on the twenty-first mile on the main western Soane 

canal is passed by a siphon aqueduct. This torrent is subject to 

great floods. They are estimated on the basis of 6 inches of run-off

FIG. 81. Plan of Rutmoo crossing, Ganges canal.
144 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

on the 57 miles of catchment, and the highest velocity is 8$ feet per 

second. The siphon passage for the flood provides 1,103 square feet 

of water way disposed in. 20 openings, each of 54 square feet. This 

work consists of substantial masonry carried well beneath the ground 

under the bed of the torrent aud above ground for the support of the 

aqueduct, and is only a semisiphon carried under the aqueduct, as 

indicated in the accompanying sketch (fig. 32). A similar work is

TOP OFBANK 334.OO

CROSS SECTION

.R.L.33Z.OO WATEH

PIG. 33. Kao Nulla siphon aqueduct, Soane canal.

that of a superpassage and siphon on the line of the Nira canal 

whereby the torrent is carried over the canal, the latter being in an 

inverted siphon. This work is indicated in fig. 46 (p. 171).

DISTRIBUTARIES.

Like the main canals, the distributaries or laterals are invariably 

designed and laid out by and are under the control of the canal 

engineers. From these the farmers take their private water courses 

and channels to their fields. Sir P. T. Cautley thus speaks of them 

in connection with the Ganges canal:

In our irrigation system the trunk and main canals with their great branches 

play the part of a reservoir to the distributaries. The latter hold the relation to 

the main canals of a system of distributary pipes in a town water supply, and 

the village or private water courses play the part of service pipes.

Distribution from a canal is most economically effected when the 

latter runs along the summit of a ridge so that it can supply water to
WILSON.] DISTRIBUTARIES. 145

its branches and to private channels on both sides of it (fig. 37). 

This location in the case of a large canal can happen only in occasional instances, but the secondary or distributary branches taken 

from these principal canals can and should be made to conform to

70'

FIG. 33. Nadrai aqueduct, Ganges canal.

dividing lines between water courses. The capacity of the distributary which then traverses each separate drainage divide is proportioned to the duty it has to perform, the bounding streams limiting 

the area it has to irrigate.

FIG. 34. Cross section of Nadrai aqueduct, Ganges canal.

For the more complete and efficient distribution of water the engineer treats them as of as much importance as the main branches 

themselves. Attention is devoted to the character of the soil traversed, to the alignment, to the safe and permanent crossing of natIRR 87 03 10
146 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

ural drainage lines, and to so maintaining the surface of the canal 

with relation to the ground as to command the largest irrigable area. 

In all well-designed distributary systems the capacity of the channels 

is exactly proportioned to the duty to be performed, the cross-sectional 

area being diminished as the quantity of water to be carried is 

decreased owing to its diversion by private water courses, though a 

sufficiently large margin is usually allowed for future possible 

development.

It is usual to take off the water of a distributary from the main 

canal as near the surface of the latter as possible. That is, the bed 

of a distributary should not be on a level with the bed of the main 

canal, the object being first to get the clearest water possible, which 

is found nearer the surface, and second to keep the bed of the distributary at as high a level as possible to admit of surface irrigation 

throughout its length. In level country great care is always taken 

in designing these distributaries that the natural drainage lines in 

which they tail shall be sufficiently large to accommodate any flood 

volume it may be necessary to pour into them, so that the distributary may be rapidly relieved during times of storms and the drainage 

lines shall not become clogged and flood the surrounding country. 

The slope of a distributary is usually planned to be as nearly as possible parallel to that of the district it traverses in order to avoid 

costly embankments and to insure the surface of the water being 

above that of the country. Falls are sometimes rendered necessary 

by the profile of the country, as is the case on larger canals, while 

escapes are introduced every 8 to 10 miles.

Distributaries as designed on the great Ganges canal have been 

made to conform as far as possible to a general design, which may be 

outlined as follows: The heads have been constructed at the points 

where bridges or falls were necessary, in order to economize in masonry 

construction. This location also insures their better inspection. The 

beds are generally from 2 to 3 feet above those of the main canal from, 

which they are taken. These heads are designed as mere open gateways with grooves for the introduction of shutters or planks. No 

further design has been attempted for the regulation of discharge. 

The distributaries are divided into main lines and feeders. The first 

or main lines run parallel to the canal on both sides, and these parallel 

lines are met in their passage downward by feeders coming from the 

different distributary heads in the neighborhood. This principle of 

constructing parallel channels to the main canal is one which would 

not recommend itself for use in the United States, as the chief object, 

or rather the cause of their employment, has been the navigative 

character of the main canal. As the main canal must necessarily have 

a very low slope in order that the velocity will not impede navigation, 

and as these main canals at their heads below lock are usually sunk 

some depth beneath the surface of the adjacent country, it becomes
WILSON.] DISTKIBUTAKIES. 147

practically impossible to distribute water from them, and accordingly 

the parallel lines have been employed, which, keeping near the surface 

of the country, facilitate the distribution of the water to other minor 

channels. Where the canals are not primarily designed for purposes 

of navigation these parallel channels may well be dispensed with, 

though they are found on nearly all of the larger Indian works.

According to Major Brownlow, R. E., the greater the amount of 

water discharged by a distributary the smaller will be the proportion 

of cost of maintenance, for a channel 12 feet wide discharges more 

than double that of two channels each 6 feet wide, while the cost of 

patrolling and repairing the banks will be half that of the two smaller 

ones. Experience proves that irrigation can be most profitably carried on from channels 18 feet wide at the bottom and with about 4 

feet depth of water. On the eastern Jumna canal, during the years 

from 1858 to 1860, the expenditure on all the distributaries of 12 feet 

head width and upward was 0.123 of the revenue, while on all those 

below 12 feet it was 0.223 of the revenue, or nearly double the first. 

The relative value per cubic foot per annum from the same experiments, on channels of respectively 12, 65 and 3 feet in width, was as 

10 : 7 : 4. Increased action of absorption in small channels, with 

diminished volumes and velocities, accounts for the difference. The 

depth of "water accordingly should be seldom less than 4 feet, and the 

surface of the water should be kept at from 1 to 3 feet above that of 

the surrounding country, not only to afford gravity irrigation, but 

because the loss by absorption is thereby diminished. This was 

shown in the experiments referred to in the previous part of this 

paper, under the heading "Duty and absorption."

Indian engineers unite in condemning the practice of raising the 

water in the channels to the surface of the country by means of dams 

oi' stops made by introducing planks into grooves made for that purpose. This practice, they say, converts a freely flowing stream into a 

series of stagnant pools, encouraging the growth of weeds, the deposit 

of silt, and an unhealthy condition of the neighborhood; and it is, 

moreover, extremely wasteful of water> since much of the latter is 

dissipated because of the loss of head. In designing the canal banks 

the width of the top of the bank should be sufficient to admit of easy 

inspection. On moderate-sized distributaries, such as those just 

referred to, 4-^ feet may be taken as the minimum width, and wherever the dimension of the channel will permit it this width should be 

increased. Should the cutting be so deep that a berm is necessary, 

it is always well to let the latter slope away from the canal and be 

drained off through the bank; the top of the bank, likewise, should 

slope away from the canal, and not drain toward it, as in times of 

heavy storms much silt may be deposited in the canal from this local 

drainage.

Ordinarily the water for the village ditches is taken from the dis-
148 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

tributary by means of hollow wooden or iron pipes let into the banks 

of the canal and nearly flush with its bed. These are stopped at the 

outlet by a valve or plug. The heads of the distributaries on the 

modern canal systems are more carefully designed. They are usually 

constructed of substantial masonry works let into the canal banks, 

and closed by a valve or other easily controlled shutter. In the Northwest Provinces a series of standard designs has been prepared, an 

illustration of which is given (fig. 38). The heads of the minor 

branches or the private water courses are, like those of the distributaries, 

usually placed where the existing masonry works occur, as at falls or 

bridges, while the private channels head in simple wooden or iron

 

LJ 

 

"~^HB

_^ __ Water ^__^L 

cushion ~~=S53

D

- = 

=~ 

 ^

.^5;

 K 

n

-< Distributary

Earth bank

FIG. 35. Plans of distributing head, Mutha canal, Bombay.

outlets. Substantial masonry falls are constructed at such points as 

the grade of the surface of the country makes necessary (fig. 35). 

These are usually simple vertical drops into a masonry well, and the 

scouring is generally lessened by creating a water cushion at the bottom of the fall.

In the Punjab and elsewhere rules have been laid down for the construction and estimate of the masonry works on distributaries. 

Among others are these: Siphon barrels shall have a sectional area 

equal to the bed width plus one-half the full supply. Siphon wells 

shall have the same area as above, the depth being equal to 14- times 

the fall supply. The depth of the cistern at the foot of a fall in order 

to form a water cushion shall equal one-third of the height of fall,
WILSON.] DISTKIBTTTAKIES. 149

plus the full depth of the water. Thus with a fall 4 feet deep on a 

canal carrying 5 feet of water, the cistern depth will equal ^ (4 + 5) 

= 3 feet. The minimum cistern length is qual to three times the 

depth counting from the drop wall to the reverse slope, which latter 

will be 1 in 5. The width of the cistern must be bwice the mean 

depth of the water in the channel, or twice the bed width plus the full 

depth.

While the water rate is at present charged in India according to the 

area irrigated and the crop raised, it is universally conceded that it 

would be fairer to charge for the water according to the quantity used, 

as it can make no difference to the canal proprietors what becomes of 

the water after it has been delivered and paid for. The difficulties in 

the way of delivering water by actual measurement have been insuperable, chiefly because no practical method of measuring water under

Section of wing wall________«_ 33' HALF ELEVATION Ha/f fong/tudinal section

PIG. 36. Sasoon superpassage, Sirhind canal. 

a constantly varying head has yet been devised. On all the olderestablished canal systems, especially when the supply entering the head 

of the canal is insufficient for the demand, a system called "tatil" 

has been established. This may'in general be said to consist in a mode 

of regulating the amount of water given to the irrigators by the canal 

officers closing their outlets for successive periods of time in regular 

rotation. Each cultivator is compelled to take the water when his turn 

arrives, be it in night or day, or else lose his share of water at that 

time. It is considered the best practice to impose these tateels on long 

portions of a distributary at once, as short ones have very little effect 

in forcing water down to the tail of the canal. In their operation an 

irregular period of rotation is employed. Thus the outlets may be 

^closed in the first length of the canal for four days, on the second portion for three days, and so on, and then this order may be reversed, the
150 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

period of rotation being such as to change the length of closure along 

variotis portions of the canal. One advantage of the imposition of 

tateels is, that by affording a constant but moderate supply in the distributaries the embankments are kept moist and are thereby less liable 

to crack, and the growth of weeds is to a certain extent checked.

The measurement of the quantity of discharge into any distributary 

is made by one of several methods. V weirs are usually constructed 

at the heads of these if the expense of the masonry will not be too 

great. Wherever falls or masonry head-works exist, V weirs can be 

cheaply added to the structure. For smaller channels standard-sized 

pipes let into the banks of the canal to draw off the water are used, 

and the discharge through this orifice under a given head is known 

from experiment. In larger distributaries the volume discharged is 

usually obtained by measuring a short length of bank, and, knowing 

the cross section, the velocity is determined by floats 011 this known 

length. The methods in use are generally rather crude and unsatisfactory. For, though the sectional area of the outlet is known, little 

or no attempt is made to regulate the pressure. The majority of these 

larger outlets are masonry tubes, from 10 to 20 feet long, and the friction in these is considerable. The outlets are rarely so arranged that 

the pressure on the head can be regulated, as is done in the measuring boxes employed in California and Colorado. The Indian engineers 

hold that the ordinary Italian module is not applicable to their distributaries because of the fluctuation in the height of the main canal 

and because of the amount of silt carried in suspension, which closes 

the tail and impedes the circulation of water.

METHODS OF APPLYING WATER.

There is little that is novel to American irrigators in the modes 

employed by the Indian agriculturist of applying water to crops. The 

chief peculiarity which at once strikes the observer is the great care 

with which each crop is handled and the expense with which the private ditches are frequently aligned and constructed. As India is an old 

cotintry, and one in which both land and water are valuable, and the 

various individual holdings being small, each cultivator having but a 

few acres, rarely over 5, sometimes less than 1, to look after, it is a 

frequent occurrence to see the cultivators irrigating their crops from 

their ditches by means of wooden scoops or wicker baskets, with which 

they toss the water out of the ditch and scatter it over the land. On 

sugar cane, rice, and the more expensive grain crops the action of 

gravity is brought into greater play and private channels are so laid 

out that the natural flow of water will cany it over the crops.

In irrigating from wells the water which is raised is usually emptied 

into a basin or shallow tank excavated in the earth, which may be 

lined with puddle, or, as is frequently the case, with masonry. From « 

this basin the water is conducted at first through masonry or well-
WILSON.] METHODS OF APPLYING WATER. 151

constructed earth ditches to branch channels, which are ordinary runways roughly excavated in the soil.

Rice is everywhere irrigated by dividing the land into small squares 

or blocks in an irregular checkerboard fashion. These are usually 

not less than 20 and rarely 100 feet square, depending largely upon 

source of supply and slope of country. These blocks are separated 

by low earth banks about 1 foot in height with cuts opening through 

them from one block or field to another. Where the slope of the surface is very light extensive fields may occasionally be seen within one 

block. On hillside country the steeper slopes are terraced by the construction along a contour line of a low embankment about 1 foot in 

height. These terraces retain the water from floods or storms, submerging the rice crop to a depth of several inches, thus acting as 

miniature tanks. In the more level rice country the various blocks 

are flooded from the canals, the rice always being submerged io a 

considerable depth.

In irrigating sugar cane an effort is usually made to obtain a freer 

flow of water than can be obtained by the above method, though as in 

the case of rice cultivation this crop requires a great deal of water 

and it is permitted to stand to a depth of several inches over the surface of the ground. Wherever the slope will permit, numerous cross 

furrows are plowed or narrow ditches run throughout the field of 

grain or cane in such a manner as to permit the water to flow in a 

thin layer over the soil, that which is not absorbed being caught up 

and utilized by the next lower ditch. Excepting in the irrigation of 

rice or occasionally of sugar, the land is almost invariably divided by 

some method of gridiron work of furrows and ditches as will most 

conveniently cover the area to be irrigated, excepting in cases where 

the water is sprinkled by hand.

In an interesting paper discussed by Mr. Baldwin Latham before the 

Institution of Civil Engineers,05 he gave a novel description of the circulation of water in soil as shown by some experiments which he had 

made with the object of discovering the precise difference between the 

application of water in rice irrigation where it stands stagnant on the 

land and other irrigations where a constant current is kept moving. 

The result of these experiments showed that where a surface velocity 

was created it would promote a circulation of water throughout the 

soil, a matter of considerable importance, as by that circulation inanurial matters were equally distributed while other material was removed 

which was not required by the plant, and which if allowed to stagnate 

would produce those ill effects shown when cultivating rice. The experiments were conducted in a water-tight glass tank which was filled with 

fine silver sand into which was poured a solution of perchloride of 

iron. Over this a solution of nutgalls was allowed to pass slowly and 

the course of the circulation could be readily followed, as the point of

«Discussion of irrigation in northern India: Proceedings Institution of Civil Engineers, London, vol. 35, p. 173.
152 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

contact of the two mixtures produced tannate of iron or ink which 

portrayed a perfect diagram of every stage of the experiment. The 

result of the experiment showed, among other things, that where there 

was an inclination of the surface resulting in the production of natural 

currents over it, a circulation through the soil took place.

Another tank experiment was made giving the conditions of a rice 

irrigated field. The same materials were used, but the tank was 

kept level, and it was found that after six months' contact no discoloration of the sand had taken place to a greater depth than one-fourth 

of an inch, showing there had been no displacement of the water occupying in terstitial spaces in the sand. Mr. Latham said that the circulation of the water through the soil, on all land having an inclination, 

had a marked beneficial influence on irrigation, as conclusively shown 

from the practice adopted for generations in the irrigated districts of 

Piedmont and Lombardy, Italy, where, as the headwaters are left, it 

is customary to increase the natural slope of the irrigated beds in 

order to create a greater velocity, and hence a greater circulation 

through the soil.
CHAPTER VIII. 

STORAGE WORKS.

CLASSES OF WORKS.

The employment of storage works in connection with irrigation 

projects is resorted to in order that an assured constant supply of 

water of a given amount may be furnished by their aid to any area 

of irrigable lands during each and every season, regardless of the 

amount of rainfall occurring and of the question whether it be an 

abnormally wet year or one of unusual drought. Where great perennial streams flow through land to be irrigated there is never any 

necessity for the addition of storage works as a protection against 

the failure of the water supply, but where valuable lands are to be 

irrigated and the source of water supply is from intermittent or very 

small streams, it becomes necessary to supplement the perennial flow 

occurring in these during the irrigating season by the storage of the 

flood or waste waters lost during the remainder of the year. This 

end is attained by damming the stream in some place where it will 

flood a broad valley and create a large artificial lake or reservoir, or 

by diverting its waters to some depression or other reservoir site 

where it can be conveniently stored.

Two classes of storage works are generally referred to by Indian 

engineers namely, reservoirs and tanks. There seems not to be any 

set rules for distinguishing the two, as works sometimes called tanks 

are frequently larger than the largest reservoirs. Merely for,purposes of convenience in discussing the subject, the author will adopt 

the common practice of considering reservoirs as bodies of water 

retained by a dam constructed wholly of masonry, while tanks are 

storage works the dams of which are constructed wholly or in part of 

earth. Reservoirs are usually deeper than tanks and are constructed 

on running and flood streams, while tanks are generally shallower 

and are constructed on minor and unimportant streams, the flood 

discharges of which are so small that all the water can be either 

stored or safely wasted, thus not endangering the integrity of the 

dam, or they are constructed in depressions on the plains or interfluves adjacent to the streams from which water is diverted to them.

In general, works for storage purposes may be filled from canals 

diverted from some large stream or filled directly from the discharge 

of the catchment basin of the stream upon which they are located.

153
154 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

The location of, necessity for, and probable return from the construction of a storage work is always a subject which receives much careful thought, both from the engineering and financial departments of 

the Indian government, before the work is finally sanctioned and 

undertaken. Many different considerations have first to be discussed 

and weighed in deciding the location. The work should be placed at 

a sufficient elevation above the lands which it is intended to irrigate 

to allow the delivery of the water to them by natural flow. The storage work may be so situated that it is immediately adjacent to these 

lands, in which case a very short canal will serve them, or it may be 

at some distance from the lands to be irrigated, thus requiring a long 

line of canal. Again, the storage water may be turned back into the 

natural drainage channel when required, and be permitted to flow

FIG. 37. Drainage map, showing arrangement of distributaries.

down to the neighborhood of the lands where it will be again diverted 

for irrigation purposes. The second case mentioned may be very 

costly if the canal line be long, but the last is invariably the most 

expensive method, as it is wasteful of water, the loss of which is 

greater by absorption and evaporation than in a well-constructed 

canal, while there is incurred the additional expense of a diversion 

weir at the point where the stream is turned from the natural channel 

into distributing canals.

Having decided upon the location of the lands to be irrigated, and 

knowing their area, the first consideration attacked by the engineer 

is the location of the storage site. This may be discovered after much 

time has been spent in making trial surveys and investigations. In 

order that it shall be desirable for its purpose it must be of such a 

character that the cost of its construction will not be prohibitory. In 

considering the source of the water supply from which to fill the stor-
WILSON.] CLASSES OF WORKS. 155

age work a thorough hydrographic survey of the catchment basin 

above the reservoir is necessary, in order to discover the maximum 

and minimum precipitation, the percentage and rate of run-off, and 

the total quantity of water available for storage. Stream gagings 

are maintained for a few years, and all possible effort made to discover the volumes of maximum floods as well as the total quantities 

of water discharged. To these ends a good topographic survey is 

first executed, as from the maps thus constructed the relation can 

best be studied between the irrigable land and the reservoir site and 

the latter and its catchment area. These maps enable the engineer 

to measure the areas of the catchment basins and to calculate the discharges from these areas, provided the rate of run-off is known. The 

Indian government has already constructed over most of its territory 

a good topographic map, 011 a scale of 1 mile to 1 inch, upon which 

the topography and outlines of hills and valleys are indicated in hachures, and numerous elevations are marked at prominent towns, passes, 

and mountain peaks. In addition to this, much of the more densely 

inhabited portion of the peninsula has already been surveyed and 

mapped for revenue purposes, on the large scale of 4 inches to 1 mile. 

"With the aid of the latter map it is possible to determine with much 

accuracy the various fields and plats of land which are to be served 

by the irrigation scheme and their general relation to the distributory 

channels, while the smaller scale maps enable the engineer to solve 

all the general problems in connection with the catchment basins, 

streams, general location of storage site, and the general course which 

the distributing canal or other medium must take in order to conduct 

the water to the lands to be irrigated. Such maps as these are of the 

greatest possible service in the designing of any scientific and general 

scheme for the development of the irrigation resources of a country, 

and enable the engineer, like the general in command of an army, to 

muster all his forces, look over and conceive at a glance the problem 

to be attacked, and decide upon the best mode for the utilization of 

all the resources at his command for the general good of the whole 

area to be served.

After the preliminary problems have been solved the more detailed 

considerations are investigated. In locating the dam site it is necessary, first, to have above it the largest possible basin or valley, with 

as low or flat a slope as is obtainable, in order that a maximum storage 

capacity may be had. The site should be so chosen that it shall 

require the shortest possible dam to close it and yet afford a sufficiently wide waste weir to discharge the maximum flood without injury 

to the dam. Finally, it must be so located that the geologic formation shall be favorable. The dam must not be founded on a porous 

formation, and, if of earth, the material of the abutments and foundation must be of suitable quality to afford an impervious connection. 

If a masonry dam, it should be founded on solid rock. A study of
156 IRRIGATION ITT INDIA. [NO. 87.

the general geology of the neighborhood in order to ascertain whether 

the valley which is to be used as a storage site is an anticlinal or synclinal valley, or one produced by simple erosion, is of great importance

as indicating the dip of the rock 

underlying it and the possible 

value of the same as a nonconducting medium for the water stored in 

the valley. Material for the construction of whatever class of dam 

is decided upon must be convenient to the site in order to reduce 

to a minimum the cost of transportation and construction.

In studying a catchment basin 

the Indian engineer has recourse 

' to a few simple formulas to assist 

in determining the flood discharge 

from the area under consideration, and as a check on the results 

obtained from local observation. 

The following are two of the formulas most used:

Ryves's formula, D=C y7 M 3 , 

Dickens's formula, D=G ^ M 3,

in which M represents the area 

of the catchment basin in square 

miles, C is a coefficient depending 

for its value upon rainfall, soil, 

slope of ground forming the basin, 

etc., and D is the resulting discharge, usually shown in terms of 

cubic feet per second. It should 

be borne in mind, however, that 

no such formula can be strictly 

applicable with the same coefficient to areas of varying sizes, 

even in the same part of the country and under the influence of the 

same intensity of rainfall, unless 

the other circumstances, such as 

the slope of the ground, character

of the soil, etc., be approximately similar. The chief difficulty will 

be found in the selection of a suitable coefficient, and a few of these 

for different districts in India, which correspond in general characteristics to the arid region of the United States, are here given.
WILSON.] CLASSES OF WOEKS. 157

In regions where maximum recorded rainfalls of from 3 to 6 inches 

in twenty-four hours have occurred, the coefficients for Dickens's 

formula, which have been settled upon, are about as follows:

Maximum rainfall 3.5 to 4 inches, in flat country, C = 200; mixed 

country, C = 250; hilly country, C = 300; and for a maximum rainfall 

of 6 inches C varies between 300 to 350, according to the nature of the 

country. The corresponding number of inches of drainage for a standard area of 5 square miles from these figures would vary, for the first 

group between 5 to 7.5 inches, and for the second group between 7.5 

to 8.5 inches. ForRyves's formula the coefficient varies between 400 

and 500, and for very hilly areas, where the maximum rainfall is high, 

it may reach as high as 650. The flood discharges are invariably 

proportionately less for large basins than for smaller ones.

A very interesting paper on this subject of maximum flood discharge 

from catchment areas was read by Mr. James Craig before the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1884. a The details of the argument entered 

into in this paper are too elaborate to be presented here. In general 

they are an amplification and discussion of results obtained from 

variously shaped catchi lent basins, showing new methods of determining the loss of disci arge other than those obtained by the two 

formulas given above.

In order to show the character of the detail connected with the 

various investigations a id problems to be solved when the value of or 

necessity for the construction of the storage work is under consideration in India, attention will be called to a few of the questions which 

the Indian engineer is directed by his superiors to investigate. These 

points and others not included herein are laid down by General Mullins, chief engineer of irrigation for the Madras government in India, 

for the guidance of engineers in that presidency.5 The general circumstances of investigation are whether the valley or drainage area 

under consideration is partially occupied by tanks or is unoccupied. 

There will be some prima facie evidence available about particular 

sites or what the inhabitants suppose would be suitable sites. It may 

be desired to supply water to a definite area of new land to be irrigated or to land that had a previous supply which has been stopped 

by the silting up or destruction of existing tanks.

In the preliminary information the average rainfall of the country 

and its character are obtained from any records which may be in existence. The irrigation duty of the drainage area in square miles or 

some other unit is ascertained, as well as the quantity of water derivable from this unit of catchment area and the average rates of assessment for irrigable lands. The preliminary investigation includes, as 

before stated, a study of the atlas sheets of the survey of India and 

of the revenue survey maps, an examination in detail of the country

a Maximum flood discharge from catchment areas: Proceedings Institution Civil Engineers, 

London, vol. 80, pp. 301-220. 

& Irrigation Manual, E. F. Spon, London, 1890, p. 55.
158 IRRIGATION IF INDIA. [NO. 87,

in order to ascertain the most suitable reservoir sites, and an examination of the drainage lines thence downward. To be considered, sites 

usually must be in a valley which has a moderate longtudinal slope, 

with moderate transverse slopes on either side of the axis of the valley, must admit of a moderate length of dam with suitable abutments 

at either end, a probable moderate depth of water and corresponding height of dam, suitable material for the formation of the dam, 

and possess facilities for the disposal of surplus, preferably by wasting over detached saddles through rock soil or subsoil. Land below 

the site must also be available for irrigation^ and there should be an 

absence of much or valuable cuMvation and of villages within the 

probable area of the water spread. Whether water storage may be 

obtained on financially advantageous terms will depend largely on 

the difference between the values of the land when irrigated and 

when not irrigated. In order to ascertain this difference in value 

it is necessary in India, as in America, to know what area a given 

quantity of water can irrigate, what that area will pay for the water, 

and what the storage and distribution of the water will cost.

In various discussions of storage capacity and water duty, hereafter 

to be entered into, the author will for convenience use the storage unit 

employed by the United States Geological Survey, 1 acre-foot. This 

is 43,560 cubic feet, or the quantity of water which will cover 1 acre 

in area to a depth of 1 foot. In dealing with large quantities of water, 

such as those stored in great reservoirs, it is inconvenient and troublesome to speak of capacities in millions or billions of cubic feet, and 

the much smaller figures which will be dealt with by using the acrefoot as the unit of measure make the subject-matter more intelligible. 

Likewise the area of land irrigable from a given amount of storage 

water can be more conveniently considered; that is, the duty of the 

storage water can be spoken of in more convenient terms if we refer 

to the duty performed per acre-foot. Thus, in portions of Colorado 

the duty of an acre-foot, providing the distance which the water has 

to be carried to the land is not so great as to cause excessive loss by 

absorption, may be stated as being 1^ acre-feet per acre.

As an instance of the cost of storing water, the investigations of the 

Bombay engineers show that in favorable cases where water has been 

stored in reservoirs of the.first class 56,700 cubic feet, or about 1^ acrefeet, of water has been stored at an average cost of $1. The cost of 

the water, however, when served to the field will be considerably above 

this, as the loss due to evaporation and absorption in the reservoir 

during storage period and the loss due to the same causes in conveying the water through the canals to the fields to be irrigated must be 

included in the estimates. In this same locality in Bombay, after 

considering these losses, it appears that about 38,000 cubic feet of 

water can be stored at an average cost of $1.
WILSON.] STORAGE WORKS. 159

RESERVOIRS.

Before entering into a description of the details of construction of 

various notable reservoirs employed in India for the storage of water 

for purposes of irrigation, it will be well first to look at some of the 

financial results and general statistics relating to these works. In the 

following table, compiled from the irrigation revenue report for Bombay for the year 1900-1901, are given the principal data in connection 

with the chief reservoirs of that presidency, namely, Bhatgur and 

Lake Fife:

Reservoir works, Bombay.

Average annual rainfall . _

Available contents ______ _ _ _

Surface area- ________ ...... ... .

Height: 

Above foundation .. ______ . .

Above river bed ._ _-.__.- _.

Main canal _____ ________ _______

Distributaries .__.____.__ ___ .__

Total cost, including canals _ _ _ _

Area irrigated: 

Summer crop _ . _ _____

Autumn crop _ ______ _ . ...

Total... ___..___...__._______.

Area irrigated, per second-foot of 

acres .._. _ _. .._.

._ ._ ......inches .

. _. ---.acre-feet--

acres

. __-.._ ---do___.

----_-_ ___do___.

_.--__.. __._.__feet-_

________ ____-_do--_-

_ miles

. .do

_ _ ..--... --acres .

............ -do....

discharge utilized,

Bhatgur 

dam and 

Nira canals.

128

145

126, 500

3,584

374, 447

113, 280

127

108

100

139

$3,138,000

21,602

30, 136

51, 728

103

139

Lake Fife 

and Mutha 

canals.

196

33.4

75, 500

3, 630

94, 087

16, 800

97.8

88

70

$4, 448, 000

7,575

629

8,204

8.7

64

The following table gives some of the figures connected with the 

water supply of the irrigable land served by these two projects for the 

year 1889:

Duty, autumn (four months) .____-__.____

Cost of water measurement per acre _ _ . _

________ acres__

. . _ .cents

___.--_-_feet-_

Nira canals.

15.1

118

1.5

31.0

Mutha canals.

31.5

60.5

4

4.5
160 IRRIGATION IIS

The working expenses on the Nira c

f,000 $170 per mile on the main c 

gated and 89 cents per second-foot of 

returns realized being from plantatio 

were $231, and the water rate charge 

cents per acre irrigated, or $56 per 

canal head. The total revenue was $ 

profit $27,400, or 1.45 per cent on the

On the Mutha canal I960 were real 

the plantations maintained 011 the ca 

per acre irrigated was $3.91, or $260 pe 

ing the canal head. As will be uotic 

Mutha canals was very high relative 

very high as compared with that cha 

in India. The cause of this was the g 

vated along the canal, a crop requir 

mature it.

In the following table are given sonte 

the cultivation of the various crops o

Crop.

Wheat _-.-_--. __-.._-_-__--__--.__.-

Jowar _ . _ __. --_.__-_-

Bajri--. -----------------------------

Total _-____---_ ______________

Acr

3,

10, 

3.

17

Nira.

s.

190 

143 

320 

038 

"SB

474

Value.

$37, 200 

7,100 

86, 000 

30, 200 

5,200

165, 700

Mutha.

Acres.

2,861 

4,277 

854 

1,336 

440

9,768

Value.

$17, 800 

649, 000 

5,300 

6,000 

5,100

683, 200

INDIA. [NO. 87.

ual for the year 1900-1901 were 

inal, or 33 cents per acre irridischarge at canal head. The 

s of trees on the canal banks

during the same year was 37 

?cond-foot of discharge at the 

'0,000, and the net revenues or 

apital invested.

zed during the same year from 

tal banks, while the water rate

second-foot of discharge enterd, the water rate levied on the 

? to that on the Nira, and also 

2jed on any other canal system 

eat amount of sugar cane culting a great amount of water to

of the revenues derived from 

the Nira and Mutha canals:

MUTHA PROJECT.

The Mutha canal scheme was first proposed by Colonel Fife, R. E., 

in 1863, with a view to irrigate a Iarg9 district in the neighborhood of 

Poona and to furnish the water supply of that city and cantonment. 

The Mutha River, a tributary of the Bhima, rises in the Western 

Ghauts, 30 miles east of Poona. The rainfall on the Ghauts above 

Poona is seldom less than 200 inches per annum and has never been 

known to fail. Plans and estimates for the project were finally submitted in 1868, and in the latter part of that year the construction of 

the work was commenced.

The scheme comprises (fig. 39) a large storage reservoir. Lake Fife, 

on the Mutha River, 10 miles west of Poona, with two canals, one on 

each bank of the river. It is the reserve storage supply from this 

reservoir which assures an unfailing flow of water in the canals, as
WILSON.] MUTHA PKOJEOT. 161

the rainfall is always more than sufficient to fill the reservoir. The 

canal on the right bank is 99^ miles long, and is designed to discharge 

412 second-feet at the head; however, its usual discharge is somewhat

less, while if necessary it can be increased to as much as 535 secondfeet. This canal passes through the town of Poona and commands 

147,200 acres of land entirely within the dry zone of the Deccan,

IRE, 87 03- 11
162 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

where the rainfall seldom exceeds 20 inches. In this area the variations in the rainfall and risks of drought are as great as the absolute 

rainfall is small. The left-bank canal is but 14£ miles in tength and 

extends but a short distance beyond the town of Kirkee. It commands 

an area of 4,300 acres and the discharge at the head is 38 second-feet.

The reservoir is formed by a masonry dam founded on solid rock. 

This dam is constructed of uncoursed rubble masonry. Its total 

length is 5,136 feet, of which 1,453 feet are -used as wasteway. Its 

height above the river is 98 feet, while its maximum height above the 

foundation level is 108 feet. The crest of the wasteway is 11 feet 

below the top of the dam, thus giving a maximum stooge depth of 

87 feet. The dam backs the water up the valley a distance of 14 miles. 

The available contents of the reservoir are 75,500 acre-feet, and the 

area of water surface exposed is 3,681 acres. In order to command a 

sufficient elevation the beds of the canals are taken off at an elevation 

of 59 feet above the river bed or bottom of the storage reservoir. 

Thus the available depth of storage is but 29 feet. The river above 

the reservoir has a catchment area of 196 square miles, over which 

the rainfall is so great that only one-sixth of the whole discharge of 

the river is used. The design of the dam is unquestionably crude. 

As at first constructed it was 14 feet wide on top, with straight slopes 

on either side of 2 on 1 downstream and 20 on 1 upstream. The dam 

soon showed signs of weakness, and to strengthen it a great bank of 

earth 60 feet wide on top and 30 feet high was piled up against its 

lower face. The line of the dam. is built in several tangents, with 

changes of top width for each, according to the height of that portion 

of the dam, the points of juncture of the various tangents being backed 

up by heavy buttresses of masonry. The cost of this structure was 

about $1.75 per cubic yard, and its total cost was $630,000. While 

under construction a temporary wall of masonry was erected at some 

distance below the main dam in the river bed, which was built up to 

a height of 50 feet. The object of this was to form a temporary 

water cushion for the floods to fall on, so that they should not undermine the main dam while the wasteways were being prepared.

The discharge of water from the reservoir into the right-bank canal 

is regulated by ten sluices, each 2 feet square. These sluices are 

closed by iron shutters and are' operated by means of capstan and 

screw from the top of the dam. There are in addition eight circular 

sluices, each 2 feet 6 inches in diameter, which are 1.33 feet lower than 

the canal sluices and are designed to supply water to turbines for mill 

power. These latter discharge into the canal through the turbine 

chamber. Three sluices of a similar pattern to the canal sluices mentioned are at the opposite end of the dam, for the supply of the left 

bank of the canal.

The right-bank canal has a bottom width of 23 feet and depth of 8 

feet, though its usual supply of water is about 5 feet. Its fall is 4
WILSON.] NIEA PROJECT. 163

inches per mile to Poona, at which place there is a drop of 2.8 feet, 

which is utilized by means of an undershot water wheel to drive pumping machinery for the supply of water to the town. The canal is carried through Poona in a tunnel excavated in rock. At the fifty-first 

mile the canal supplies Matoba tank, which is constructed as a relief 

work and commands an area of 8,550 acres of irrigable land.

The Mutha project was designed and has been operated as a productive work, and was constructed from borrowed capital. As originally 

estimated for, the total cost of the work, including land compensation, 

was to have been $2,664,000. The estimated revenue, including the 

revenue from mill power and water supply to the city of Poona, was to 

have been $207,000, or 7.78 per cent on the capital outlay. The total 

cost of this work to the end of 1889 has been $2,082,000. The working 

expenses were, in the year 1889, $2.08 per acre irrigated; the gross 

revenue from irrigation was $37,000, and the total net revenue was 

$72,000, including the revenue from all other sources, or 3£ per cent 

interest on the capital invested.

NIRA PROJECT.

Bhatgur reservoir is located in the Presidency of Bombay, about 40 

miles south of Poona, on the Yelwand River just above its junction 

with the Mra. The topography of the country thereabouts, in its 

physical characteristics, its climatology, and the appearance of its vegetation is very similar to that in northern Arizona in the neighborhood of 

Peach Springs or Hackberry. It consists of high mesas or table-lands, 

terminating in abrupt and nearly perpendicular rock slopes, and cut 

into by deep canyons, which open out rapidly onto broad bottom lands 

and valleys, leaving the mountain masses standing out boldly like the 

ruins of great old fortresses.

The frequent failure and the general uncertainty of rainfall in the 

portion of the Poona collectorate through which the upper Mra River 

flows caused Colonel Fife to turn his attention to devising some means 

for supplying this district with water for irrigation. Surveys made 

under his direction in 1863 showed that the system of small tanks 

which had been generally considered applicable to this region was, 

financially speaking, impracticable, as the slopes of the smaller valleys are as high as from 30 to 50 feet per mile. The result of the 

detailed surveys then made was that these tanks at best afforded but 

a limited area of irrigation, while a tolerable site for a tank was almost 

invariably occupied by gardens irrigated from wells, thus rendering 

the land expensive.

Preliminary surveys for the Mra project were made in 1864, but 

were soon discontinued. They showed that the canal must commence 

near the town of Shirwal. In 1868 a committee was appointed to 

investigate this scheme further, and the result was that it reported 

the district to be drought stricken, and said it would be advisable to
164 IRBIGATION IN INDIA. two. 87.

have surveys made at once for the construction of a reservoir on the 

Mra River, with a canal from the same. Surveys were resumed in 

the same year under Lieutenant Buckle, R. E. These were continued 

for some time, and were finally taken up by Mr. J. E. Whiting, C. E., 

under whose direction the project was finally constructed. Mr. Whiting's observations and surveys proceeded until 1871. They included 

the examination of several different sites and comprised detailed surveys not only of these sites, but of river-gaging and rainfall observations, and the cross sectioning of the valley along the canal line. The 

scheme as finally submitted, and as now constructed, consists of a 

reservoir on the Yelwand River and of a canal heading at Vir, on the 

Mra River, 19^ miles below the reservoir site, the canal being 129 

miles long and discharging 945 second-feet at the head (see fig. 39).

The catchment basin above the dam site has an area of 128 square 

miles, and the fall of the river bed within the reservoir limits is 5 feet 

per mile. The water in the reservoir is backed up the valley a distance of 15 miles, and its total capacity is 126,500 acre-feet. The dam 

is 4,067 feet in length, and is composed of the best uncoursed rubble 

masonry laid in hydraulic cement. It is 127 feet in height above its 

foundation and its crest is 8 feet above high-water mark. Its extreme 

bottom is 74 feet wide, and the top is 12 feet, and is intended to be 

used as a roadway. The dam is designed on a modern cross section, 

by a formula very similar to M. Bouvier's (fig. 40). When full the 

pressure on the toe is 5.8 tons per square foot, or 90.8 pounds per 

square inch, and when empty is 6.7 tons per square foot on the heel 

of the dam. The water supply is such that this reservoir can be filled 

eight times in the year. Accordingly, it is evident that there is an 

immense volume of water to be wasted. The alignment of the darn 

curves in an irregular manner across the valley so as to follow the 

outcrop of rock on which it is founded. These foundations are excavated to a depth of 2 feet in the solid rock, which has required an 

excavation sometimes as deep as 30 feet in order to reach homogeneous 

material. The greatest flood over the darn may be 50,000 secondfeet, and this is passed off by 2 wasteways and 20 undersluices. 

The wasteways are constructed at either end of the dam, in the body 

of the dam itself, and are arched over so that the roadway is continuous above them. Their total length is 810 feet, and the flood may 

pass 8 feet in depth through them. The northern wasteway, that on 

the left bank, consists of 45 arches of 10 feet span each which can be 

closed by automatic falling gates. The wasteway at the south end 

consists of 36 arches, with the same dimensions and construction as 

the others. Jutting out from the main dam on the downstream side, 

in such a manner as to inclose these wasteways, are constructed walls 

of masonry which guide the discharged flood water into separate channels, which carry it into the rivers below the main dam.

Of the undersluices (PL XIX), 15 are constructed in the center of
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL. XIX

BHATGUR DAM, NIRA SYSTEM, BOMBAY.

WILSON.] NIRA PEOJECT. 165

the dam at its deepest point and are placed 17 feet apart, each being 

4 by 8 feet in dimensions, with their sills 60 feet below the high-water 

line. With this enormous head these undersluices will discharge 

20,000 second-feet, which is an average maximum flood, and they have 

successfully withstood several years of flood without injury to the 

joints of the ashlar masonry with which they are lined. Under full 

head the velocity through these sluices is 36 feet per second. Above 

this row of 15 undersluices, and near the surface slope of the valley, 

are two others of the same dimensions, one 2 feet above the main row 

and the other 50 feet above the main row. These sluices are constructed, as are the main sluices, with a lining of the best ashlar

GENERAL PLAN CROSS SECTION

FIG. 40. Plan and cross section of Bhat^nr dam, Nira system, Bombay.

masonry, with pointed joints. They are closed by iron gates, which 

slide vertically. These gates weigh 2 tons each, and are operated by 

steel screws worked from, above by a female capstan screw operated 

by hand levers. The gates are protected from injury by floating 

objects by means of stout gratings of wood on the upstream entrance. 

There is 30 feet of idle space below the undersluices, and. this is 

expected to fill up with silt.

The object of these sluices is primarily to discharge the water of the 

reservoir, which then flows for nearly 20 miles down the Nira River to 

the diversion or pick-up weir at Yir, which turns it into the head of 

the Nira canal. Fewer sluices would have accomplished this end, but 

additional ones were constructed with the object of keeping the reser-
166 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

voir above them free from sediment. This can be accomplished only 

by leaving the sluices open when much sediment is carried in suspension, and it is very doubtful if they would clean the reservoir of silt 

if it were once permitted to fill up.

Mr. A. Hill, superintending engineer, says of the scouring effect of 

these sluices:

Scouring sluices have little effect unless the area of the openings is great compared to the area of the floods. To remove silt already deposited they are useless, 

as has been proven by the manner in which they have silted up at Lake Fife and 

at Vir and other places where their area is small compared with that of the area 

of the floods. At Bhatgur they are intended not to remove silt deposited already, 

but to prevent its deposit by carrying it off while in suspension. If the dam is

ELEVATION CROSS SECTION

We/'r

\

' '

1

A ( 

,

} 

} =

J

1

Gate

\

(

/

\

j

\

 0 (

:

\ (.

i »

J

'rest

Inlet hi

(

Countt

wei£

/

Rope

We// and counterpoise

FIG. 41. Diagram of Keinold's automatic weir gate.

high and the discharge of the undersluices will keep the flood level below the full 

supply level, then they will be efficient. If the dam is low and the sluices will 

not keep the flood level below full supply level, they will have little effect.

Experience on the Betwa reservoir and elsewhere bears out these 

conclusions, with the addition that their scouring or preventive effect 

is felt a very few feet to either side of the sluices, and silt will deposit 

close to their entrance. In other words, they do little more than keep 

an open channel above them.

The automatic sluice gates which are to be used on the wasteway 

of this dam are peculiar, and are well worth describing; They are 

patented by Mr. E. K. Remold, their inventor, and their object is 

that when the flood reaches its maximum height, 8 feet below the
WILSON.] NIEA PROJECT. 167

crest of the dam, the gate shall be, entirely open, and as the flood 

subsides the gate shall automatically rise until it is entirely closed, 

thus adding to the reservoir capacity by the depth of the wasteweir. 

The gates are 8 by 10 feet, and they thus increase the depth of this 

reservoir by 8 feet. Where water is valuable such an expedient may 

be of the greatest financial importance.

These gates have been in successful operation since about 1892, or 

for ten years, and have worked admirably. So much so, in fact, that 

similar gates are being placed on the Lake Fife dam, and have been

TOP OF DAM ff.L.333-ZO \ 

SECTION ON E.F. 

\ PU,

or OPENING

PIG. 43. Section of automatic gates and crest, Bhatgur dam.

planned for others. The leakage at Bhatgur has been too slight to 

be taken in account.

The gate has two contact surf aces, one on the standard face against 

which it presses, and one on the face of the gate. These surfaces 

slide parallel to each other and are the surfaces of inclined planes. 

The gate rests on wheels running on rails and the axes of these wheels 

are parallel to the line of rails and at a slight angle to the contact 

planes, so that the latter do not touch until the gate is fully raised or 

closed, thus permitting by leakage a large amount of the flood water
168 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. fNO.

MAXIMUM FLOOD, ff. U. 3ZSFIG. 43. Detail of automatic gate.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATFR-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL. XX

A. VIR HEAD-WORKS, N IRA SYSTEM, BOMBAY.

KURRA AQUEDUCT, NIRA CANAL.

WILSON.} OTEA PROJECT. 169

to run out of them until the last moment. The accompanying illustrations (figs. 41-43) explain the operation of the gate. It is automatically operated by means of counterpoises balanced in water cisterns, the weight of which exceeds the weight of the gate by a little 

more than the amount of the friction, and they act by displacing their 

volume in water in the cisterns in which they plunge, thus lessening 

their weight by that of this volume of water. As the water flows over 

the top it flows simultaneously into the cast-iron boxes in which the 

counterweights hang, through inlets placed on a level with the gate 

top. This water entering the cisterns reduces the weight of the counterpoises, and the gate then, being the heavier, sinks, opening the wasteFIG. 44. Plan of head-works, Nira canal, Vir.

way. When the water ceases to enter the boxes, owing to its having 

fallen below the level of the inlets, it soon runs out from holes at the 

bottom and the counterweights then become heavier than the gate 

and lift the latter. Giving the proper weight to these counterpoises 

is one of the important details of the apparatus.

The Mra canal heads at Vir, 19^ miles below the reservoir (PL 

XX, A). The river bed between these two points being of a rocky 

character little or no loss from absorption takes place. The pick-up 

or diversion weir is constructed across the Nira River at its junction 

with the River Vir, and it crosses both of these streams and the point 

of land between them (fig. 44). The total length of the weir is 2,340
170 IEE1GATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

feet, and its greatest height above the foundation is 43^ feet. The 

dam is constructed of uncoursed rubble masonry and is 9 feet wide on 

top (fig. 45). The rear slopes are 8 feet on 1 for 20 feet, and 6 on 1 

for the remainder or lower part. The upstream face has a uniform 

batter of 20 on 1. At no place is the mean thickness less than half 

the weight of the dam. The main weir consists of two straight portions connected by a curved wall over which the water will not flow. 

This wall extends through the point of land connecting the two rivers, 

and a channel 126 feet in width is excavated below it, connecting the 

rivers. The weir is founded on solid rock throughout, but to form a 

water cushion and break the force of the great flood which passes over

CffOSS S£CT/OJV

FIG. 45. Plan of regulator head and cross-section of weir and canal banks, Nira canal.

it, a subsidiary weir, situated 2,800 feet below the main weir, is provided. The total length of this subsidiary weir is 615 feet, and it is 

24-J- feet high, with its crest 20 feet lower than that of the main weir. 

It thus forms a permanent water cushion 20 feet deep below the main 

weir. Like the main weir, this subsidiary weir is constructed of the 

best uncoursed rubble masonry, and has a roadway on top. During 

a maximum flood, it is estimated that the cushion will be 32 feet deep 

when the overfall will be only 8 feet deep.

The catchment basin above this diversion weir is 700 square miles 

and the greatest flood estimated to pass over it is 158,000 second-feet, 

corresponding to a run off of nearly half an inch per hour. The 

greatest flood which has occurred rose 8 feet over the crest of the main 

weir and 13 feet in depth over that of the subsidiary weir (PL XXI).
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

MAIN CANAL AND SUBSIDIARY WEIRS, NIRA SYSTEM. VIR IN GREAT FLOOD.

WILSON.) IHEA PROJECT. 171

The main weir backs the water up the Nira River a distance of 12 

miles to Shirwal and impounds about 1,400 acre-feet, or sufficient to 

afford a reserve supply for the canal for a few days. It is expected, 

however, that this basin will silt up in the course of time. The canal 

heads from the left bank of the river at right angles to the River Yir 

(fig. 44), and in a portion of the weir just below this head it has been 

found necessary to construct a second subsidiary weir of trifling 

dimensions which catches the direct flood from the Vir on a water 

cushion (PL XX, A).

ELEVATION

Top of canal 

 

tiantr 

/Qquecfvct

CROSS-SECTION

PIG. 46. Nira canal; superpassage at siphon for Jewhar Torrent.

The canal after leaving the head-gates makes a long sweep through 

.a low ridge, curving until it is parallel to the river. In the cut 

through this ridge, which is 400 feet in length, the average depth of 

excavation is 50 feet. The velocity in the canal averages 1.8 feet per 

second. The regulating sluices (fig. 45) at the canal head are 7 in 

number, each 4 feet wide and have an available head of 9 inches. In 

the weir adjacent to the head regulators are a set of two scouring 

sluices which have not a sufficient area to remove silt which may 

deposit, but which act as all other scouring sluices in keeping open a
172 * IRRIGATION IN INDIA. ' [NO. 87.

clear channel past the head of the canal. At its head the bottom width 

of the canal is 23 feet, the depth of water 7^ feet, and the discharge 

ordinarily 470 second-feet, while the fall is 6 inches per mile. As at 

present constructed the main canal is 103 miles long and controls an 

irrigable area of 300 square miles. There have been constructed 175 

miles of distributaries commanding a portion of this area. The slope 

of the canal increases to 3 feet in a mile in rock cuts with a corresponding cross-sectional area. In earth where the canal cross section is 

small the greatest fall is 18 inches in a mile. The accompanying 

fig. 45 is a cross section of the canal showing the way in which the 

berms and banks are formed.

Numerous cross drainages are passed in the line of the canal, the 

largest works being aqueducts over the Kurra River and the Wargaon 

and a superpassage over the Jewhar Torrent. The Kurra aqueduct 

(PL XX, B) consists of 20 arches of 30 feet span each. The discharge 

of the river is estimated to touch the crowns of the arches at a velocity 

of 9 feet per second through them. The superpassage for the Jewhar 

Torrent is novel (fig. 46) and has an advantage over weirs, as the silting of the canal is avoided. This structure differs from an ordinary 

superpassage in being in solid rock, thus acting as a weir; also in the 

canal being carried under without any great drop or fall. The canal 

clears the arching to avoid loss of velocity; in this it differs from 

siphons. There is extra velocity and consequent narrowing of the 

waterway. Regarding the aqueducts, it may be observed that, like 

the superpassages, the object has been to make them as narrow as 

possible without sacrificing too much fall, and the narrowed channel 

is smoothly paved and grouted. It is estimated that the acceleration 

along this steep incline, together with the original velocity of approach, 

gives the requisite speed before the water enters the aqueduct. An 

inclination is given along the aqueduct sufficient to maintain this 

velocity and carry the water across, but directly the passage is cleared 

the canal is gradually widened and gets its regular fall per mile.

The total outlay on the Nira project to the end of the year 1888 was 

as follows:

Total outlay on Nira project to end of 1S88.

Canals, distributaries, etc.......-.-----.-------.-_-----.---_------.-. $526,000

Bhatgur reservoir (uncompleted) ..----.-------------.----,---.---.-- 355,000

Twenty-three sluice gates and the subsidiary weir .................... 32,000

Canal head-works at Vir......._..._.........._.._........._......... 125,000

Nineteen aqueducts. - ...............................-..^.-.-......... 140,000

Two siphon superpassages _-__-___--__-.__. ..-..-.-'_--..--. ---------- 22,000

Seventy-five small weirs_________________ _--_--__.--_---_---_----._-- 92,000

Hydrants, turbines, etc ___--__-.-_---_--__---_-_.---_----_-----_---- 40,000

Compensation for land-..____.__________._-___--_---.-_---_,_-.--.-_- 116,000

Total, including sundry others --.._-....--.-..-.----.---------. 1,448,000

To the close of 1901 the expenses, exclusive of the Bhatgur reservoir were: For main canals, $630,000; distributaries, $68,000; head-
WILSON.] BETWA PEOJEOT. 173

works, $706,000; establishment, 1342,000; tools and plant, $41,000; 

total, $1,787,000. The re venues to end of 1901 had been: Water rates, 

$362,000; plantations, $3,000; rent of buildings, $1,600; total, including miscellaneous, $367,000.

BETWA PROJECT.

The first proposal for the construction of a canal from the Betwa 

River- was made by Major-General Strachey in November, 1855. The 

question was again considered after the mutiny in 1859, but nothing 

was done until 1867, when Lieutenant Home, R. E., was directed to 

conduct the inquiry.

Lieutenant Home made examinations in 1867 and 1868, and submitted a preliminary report which showed that it was practicable to 

utilize the waters of the Betwa River for irrigating a tract in Bundelcund, in the Northwest Provinces, lying between the Rivers Junma, 

Pahuj, and Betwa, whereupon more complete investigations were 

ordered. The examination was continued by Lieutenant Bagge and 

estimate submitted. Further examinations were made later, in 1869, 

by Mr. Anderson, under the general direction of Colonel Greathed, 

chief engineer, and the conclusions arrived at by him were that Parichi was the best position for a diversion weir; that for four or five 

months of the year 1,000 second-feet could be depended on even during years of minimum rainfall, but that final further examination was 

advisable. In November of the same year Lieutenant Bagge submitted a detailed project and estimate of the Betwa canal, including 

a provision for water storage. The estimates were so high that the 

project was shelved, especially as there was no prospect of the enterprise realizing more than from 3^ to 4 per cent interest on the expenditure. Finally, in November, 1873, the Government sanctioned the 

estimates, restricting the canal to wet-weather irrigation without provision for navigation and without being supplemented by storage.

The works "of the canal were designed and carried out under these 

general plans, but were afterwards modified so as to include a storage 

reservoir and irrigation throughout the year. Various sites were 

discussed for the location of the storage works, that at Khoord being 

the most favorably considered for some time, but finally Paricha, a site 

previously decided upon for the diversion weir, was accepted as the 

best location.

The area covered by the Betwa canal system is about 1,500 square 

miles. The surface formation of the bench land covered is very peculiar. The highlands border on the valleys of the Pahuj and Betwa 

rivers, while the lowlands occupy the central part, being drained by 

two separate channels which unite as they approach the River Jumna. 

Owing to the irregularity of the rainfall and the excessive fertility of 

the soil on this area of land, it is difficult to make a canal project 

remunerative without supplementing its perennial discharge with
174 IBEIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

storage water, since during the ordinary season of the year, when the 

river flows an abundant stream of water, the rainfall on the irrigated 

area is sufficient for most of the needs of the agriculturist. The site 

chosen for the diversion weir is an excellent one, the unusual width 

of the river bed at this point affording an ample wasteway for the 

great floods which may be expected during certain periods. It was 

necessary to design the storage dam as an overfall weir throughout its 

entire length, as the maximum flood to be discharged amounts to 

750,000 second-feet. A rocky barrier or ledge runs across the bed of 

the river at this point and forms an excellent foundation for the weir. 

The river has a straight run between good stiff banks, and there is a 

plentiful supply of good building stone in the neighborhood.

For the first 20 miles the canal runs in a direct line, and is in an 

excavation varying in depth from 5 to 40 feet. This portion of the 

line is fortunately in earth and may be considered as purely diversion 

line, being too deep for purposes of flow irrigation. The first 6 miles 

of the canal are protected by a drainage channel parallel to it, which 

catches the discharge from the varioiis small streams crossing it at 

right angles to the direction of the canal. Through this first portion 

of its length the cross section of the canal is 20 feet at the bottom 

with a depth of 12 feet of water. The first 3 miles below the head are 

revetted both on the banks and the bed of the canal. This revetment 

consists of a paving of loose stones carefully laid by hand. No silting 

of any importance takes place in the canal, as the water is admitted 

to it only during the season of moderate discharge in the river, and 

as it is taken from the storage reservoir most of the sediment has been 

previously deposited. The growth of weeds, however, is rather excessive, owing to the low slope of the canal, and the latter is periodically 

closed in order that the weeds may be cleared by hand.

One of the principal branches the Hamirpur branch is designed 

with a bottom width of 15 feet for the first 30 miles and a depth of 

water at head of 6 feet, its slope being 1 in 3,000, which gives a velocity 

of If feet per second and a discharge of 340 second-feet. From this 

point on, the branch diminishes gradually in dimensions and carrying 

capacity, the slope being continually altered so as to give an average 

velocity throughout of about 3 feet per second. Another main branch, 

called the Kathund branch, has a bed of 30 feet and a depth of & feet, 

and is designed to carry 500 second-feet of water. a

The local drainage met in the first few miles is disposed of by means 

of a parallel drainage canal having an inlet into the canal, and by 

another channel near the canal head discharging into the Betwa River. 

There are two drainage siphons, one in the seventeenth mile and one 

on the Hamipur branch. The siphon on the main canal will discharge 

1,300 second-feet and is provided with five vents of 30 square feet, 

which head the water up 1£ feet and discharge it with a velocity of 8£

« The Betwa Canal Project in the Northwest Provinces, Records of the Government of India, 

Calcutta, 1877.
WILSON.] BETWA. PEOJECT. 175

feet per second. The falls along the lines of the canal and the bridges 

are of the usual pattern described elsewhere.

The minimum discharge of the river may be taken as about 50 

second-feet, while the maximum discharge may be as great as 750,000 

second-feet. The average rainfall over the irrigated lands is 39 inches. 

The gross area of land commanded is 522,800 acres and the cultnrable 

area is 348,586 acres, while the area irrigated at present is 180,000 

acres. The expenditure on the works, including all charges to the 

year 1893, was $1,435,000. These works include 19 miles of main 

canal, 163 miles of branch canals, and 380 miles of distributaries. 

The duty performed in 1887 during the fall crop was 67 acres per 

second-foot of the discharge at the head, or 76 acres per second-foot

FIG. 47. Betwa project; plan of dam and head-works.

of the discharge utilized. The principal crops raised were wheat and 

barley, with a small amount of pulses, indigo, and opium.

The weir alignment has been skillfully located so as to make the 

most of the rocky barrier whieh crosses the river at the point where 

it is constructed (fig. 47). The weir is placed on the ridge of this 

reef, which curves away from the left flank and is convex upstream, 

so that the water will be thrown toward the middle of the channel. 

The height of the weir above the river bed varies between 0.4 of a 

foot and 60 feet, except on the left bank, where the rock was higher 

than the sill and had to be cut down. The total length between the 

steps on either protected bank is 3,296 feet and it is calculated to produce an afflux in extreme flood of 6.5. The cross section of the weir 

as at first proposed is a trapezoid with sides of equal slope, viz, 10
176 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

horizontal to 25£ vertical, the top width being 10^ feet. The chief 

engineer, Colonel Greathed, did not approve of this cross section, but 

decided that the downstream face of the weir should be nearly vertical 

in order that a 6-inch film of water passing over the weir would fall 

clear of the toe, and in order to increase the stability of the weir it 

has been extended upstream somewhat. The upstream edge has been 

rounded in order that driftwood may pass over without obstruction 

and injury to the masonry, and a curve has been given to the upstream 

face, instead of a batter, in order to facilitate the passage of water 

and drift.

The accompanying section of the weir (fig. 48) is for the highest 

part. Fifteen feet has been adopted as a convenient and uniform 

width for the top, which is coped with ashlar 18 inches thick, the upper 

blocks being not less than 15 inches wide and weighing about 1 ton each.

FIG. 48. Cross section of Betwa weir.

The body of the weir is built of rubble masonry coursed on both faces, 

the minimum dimensions of the stones being 9 inches long, 8 inches 

wide, and 6 inches high, with a due proportion of bond stones. The 

ashlar is set in Portland cement and the rubble in native hydrauliclime cement. The body of the weir appears to be unnecessarily thick 

and heavy; especially is this true of the great block of masonry which 

is placed at the toe. The cross section, however, was considered by 

the engineers to be necessary, owing to the steepness of the slope of 

the river and the magnitude of the floods which it discharges.

As shown by the accompanying plan of the river and of the weir 

crossing it (fig. 47), the latter is constructed in three different lengths, 

separated by a large island, on which it abuts in one place and by a 

rock which projects above the surface of the water in another place. 

The deepest portion of the channel is adjacent to the left bank, and 

the greatest height of the weir at this point, including foundations, is
WILSON.] BETWA PROJECT. 177

somewhat over 60 feet. At the toe of the weir on the downstream slope 

is built out a great block of masonry from 15 to 16 feet in width, which 

is intended to receive a portion of the jar caused by the impact of the 

flood water passing over the weir. Adjacent to the left bank a row of 

undersluices, four in number, are constructed in the weir itself, the 

object of which is to give a scour past the canal head, thus keeping^ 

the latter free of silt. The canal itself heads just above these undersluices, the regulator consisting of five openings, arranged with a double 

tier of gates, one above the other, in such manner that either the upper

FIG. 49. Betwa project, plan of regulator and scouring sluices.

or lower series may be used at will according to the depth of water in 

the reservoir.

Below the portion of the weir across the main channel is constructed a subsidiary weir at a distance of perhaps 1,400 feet, the 

object of which is to back the water up against the main weir, thus 

producing a water cushion on which the floods shall fall. The 

extreme height of this subsidiary weir is about 18 feet and the height 

of overfall from the main weir to the water cushion formed by it is 

21-J feet, though in time of flood this will be reduced to 8 feet. The 

top width of the subsidiary weir is 12 feet, and its walls are nearly

JRB 87 03 12
178 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

vertical on the downstream side with a slope of about 10 on 1 upstream. The main body of the weir between the island and the narrow right-bank channel is very low and the overfall is onto a solid 

rock bed. It was accordingly not necessary to construct a subsidiary 

weir below this portion of the weir, but across the right-bank channel, 

where the height of the weir nearly approaches that at the extreme 

left bank, a secondary subsidiary weir has been constructed at a 

distance of about 200 feet below the main weir, and with the same 

object and same crest level as ij subsidiary weir just described.

The available net storage depth of the reservoir is 21^ feet, and its 

capacity above the canal bed is 36,800 acre-feet, though it has been 

found that the lower 6 feet of depth is of little service, as the head 

above is not enough to force the water into the canal with sufficient 

freedom to make it practically available.

I ^"^===fc-^\T

/ Slide piece ^^5:rai 633.oo

~r I f>32.60.^ ' ' / > ' ' ~ 

628.5

OLD WEIR RUBBLE MASONRY 

Fro. 50. Automatic drop shutters, Betwa dam.

In 1897 the subject of increasing the storage capacity of this dam "by 

adding automatic drop shutters on its crest was considered, and the 

plans for carrying out this work were finally approved and carried to 

completion in 1901. These works consist of two parts, namely, the 

building up of the weir crest by the addition of 1 foot in height of the 

best rubble masonry, and of shutters 6 feet high placed on top of 

these, thus making the total increase "in height to which the water 

can be raised amount to 7 feet (fig. 50). By this means the gross 

increase in storage capacity of the reservoir with the shutters raised 

was 1,800 acre-feet, which is equivalent to an additional nine days' 

flood supply of the canal.

The shutters are illustrative of the latest Indian practice in the 

design of automatic drop gates. Moreover, they were subjected to 

the unusual test on completion, in 1902, in the form of an extraor-
WILSON.] BETWA PROJECT. 179

dinary flood of 970,000 second-feet volume instead of the greatest maximum anticipated, of 750,000 second-feet. This flood passed over the 

crest of the dam to a maximum height of 16.4 feet, when it had been 

designed only to stand a previous known flood height of 6.5. Fortunately, the shutters worked successfully and rapidly, and neither 

weir nor shutters sustained any material injury. These shutters are 

each 6 feet high and 12 feet long, and as the length of the weir crest 

is .3,600 feet there are 300 such shutters. They are made entirely of

12'0'

\ M.S.plate /

\ ;, » / \ 'A /

/ \ Gusset :

/ \ **" / s

/* /"a

\ /

/ M.S. plate \ '"

 Ll.stiffener

tfplate 

I

ki

./. stiffener 

''^'

ELEVATION . 

.I. brace 3'/z*2'

NSAoe

___ 

i____________ 

BOTTOM PLAN ^./.stiffener 3X*2£*K"

FIG. 51. Shutter gates, Betwa dam.

steel, consisting of two one-fourth inch plates joined along their middle and stiffened both longitudinally and laterally by angle iron 3^ 

by 2^ by f inches (fig. 51). To the flanges of the vertical stiffeners 

are pivoted If-inch tension bars. The other end is similarly attached 

to anchor bolts built 2 feet into the masonry crest of the weir. There 

are four such tension bars to each 12-foot gate. The point of attachment of the tension bar and shutter is so designed that the gates fall 

automatically with a given depth of water passing over them, thus 

securing safety in case of excessive floods. The bottom of each gate
180 IBKIGATION INDIA. [NO. 87.

is supplied with four steel shoes which rest upon sliding plates built 

into the weir crest, thus reducing the frictional resistance when the 

gates fall (fig. 51). Wooden boulks, 4 feet by 4 inches, are fixed to 

the ends of the shutters, which have a space of 1 foot separating them, 

which is calked when the gates are raised.

If the 300 shutters were to fall together, the shock would unduly 

strain the weir and the flood volume submerge the river banks below. 

Hence the attachment of the tension bars has been so arranged that 

each third gate falls under different depths of water. The first third 

fall with a depth over top of 2 feet, the next with 3 feet, and the last 

with 4 feet. Thus after the first third fall the released water reduces 

the flood depth, and the latter must increase considerably to top the 

second third, and so on. It was not anticipated that all the shutters 

would ever fall, yet this occurred in the flood above mentioned.

Careful calculations were necessary to determine the point of 

attachment for each group of shutters, and as a fraction of an inch 

would make a great difference in upsetting the gate careful experiments were made with a model gate to determine the exact point of 

attachment of the tension rods. So as to have uniformity of length 

of the latter, the pivot holes in the shutters were arranged in an arc of 

circle at the required height from the bottom of the shoe (fig. 51, A).

Hole.

1

2

3

H.

Ft. in.

2 Of

2 If

2 2f

Depth required to 

upset.

Feet.

2

3

4

The undersluices which are constructed in the main body of the 

weir opposite the canal head are placed at right angles with the face 

of the canal regulator in order to give sufficient scour along the canal 

head to prevent the deposit of silt. The height of the face wall is 

given a margin of 6 feet above the calculated afflux level. The undersluices consist of four vents, the bottoms of which are on a level with 

the sill of the canal and are each 16^ by 16f feet in dimensions. The 

piers of the undersluices are 5 feet thick in order to support the great 

superincumbent weight of masonry. The abutments, piers, arches, 

cut-waters, etc., are of ashlar, the rest of the work being of rubble 

masonry, the upstream face being pointed with Portland cement. 

A peculiar curve is given to the upper face of the piers between the 

sluice vents, forming a venar-con tractor in such manner as to pass the 

water with the least friction through the sluiceways. The sluices are 

each closed by a series of two plain drop gates, the upstream set of 

gates being operated by a screw by means of hand levers from above,
PLAN OF PERIYAR PROJECT, MAD

WILSON.] PERIYAE PEOJECT. 181

the lower openings being closed by slash boards let into grooves in the 

piers.

The gates of the regulating sluices of the canal are of such crosssectional area as to admit 1,000 second-feet of water. The number of 

openings in the regulator is five, each 6 feet in width by 5 feet in 

height, and, as before stated, are two decks in height, being closed by 

separate gates in such manner that either the upper or lower series of 

gates may be opened at will, according to the depth and pressure of 

water in the reservoir. Below the main regulator gates, which are 

operated by screws by means of hand levers worked from above, are 

a set of two safety drop gates, which are raised by means of a traveling winch. The accompanying drawings (fig. 49) illustrate some of 

the details of construction of the regulating and flushing sluices. 

These regulating gates, like those of the flushing sluices, are constructed of the best rubble masonry, finished with ashlar. The total 

cost of the head gates and flushing sluices was $100,000, while the 

main weir, inclusive of the subsidiary weirs, cost only $160,000.

The left flank of the river is protected up and down stream by a 

wing wall, the former 140 feet long and the latter 75 feet long. The 

whole length of the wing walls is founded on rock, and, excepting the 

parapet, they are constructed chiefly of rubble masonry. In order to 

avoid inundation by the afflux caused by the weir, embankments have 

been constructed on both sides of the river. The top width of these 

is 20 feet and the center of each is hearted with a puddle wall 3 feet 

thick.

The Betwa project was sanctioned as a protective work. The total 

expenditure on it up to the end of 1901 was $1,500,000, the total revenue's from irrigation were $9,300, and the total working expenses 

were $30,000; while the net revenue account showed a deficit overall 

receipts, including those from irrigation, of $20,000. This work has 

been in operation but a few years and the revenue has been constantly increasing in amount relative to the working expenses.

PERIYAE, PROJECT.

The Periyar project for the irrigation of the Vaigai Valley, in Madras Presidency, is probably the most interesting illustration of the 

combined storage work and irrigation canal system to be found in 

India, especially as it was sanctioned as a protective work. The project (PL XXII) includes the construction of a dam to close the valley 

of the Periyar River to store 300,000 acre-feet of water, of which 

150,000 acre-feet are above the sill of the outlet tunnel and are thus 

available for irrigation; the construction of a tunnel through the 

watershed dividing the valley of the Periyar from that of the Vaigai 

River for the purpose of drawing off the water from the reservoir, 

with the necessary sluices and subsidiary works for controlling the 

passage of the supply of the Periyar down the valley of the tributary
182 IRRIGATION" IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

called the Sooroolly, by which it reaches the Vaigai; and finally, the 

construction of the works necessary for the regulation and distribution of this supply for the command of 107,650 acres of land in the 

Vaigai Valley, of which 76,445 acres were irrigated in 1898-99. As 

the waters of the Periyar flow westward into the Arabian Sea, they 

are thus diverted across the peninsular divide, the Ghauts, to the eastern' coast of India, where they enter the Bay of Bengal.

The area of country which is irrigated by this project was described 

by Major Ryves, R. E., in his early report 011 the project in 1867, as 

being about 1,200 square miles in extent, with a population of nearly 

half a million. Up to the present time irrigation has been practiced 

from native tanks, most of which, however, have become very shallow, and from which the 

waste of water by evaporation is at least 30 per 

cent. In very good years 

the water supply from the 

Vaigai itself is sufficient 

to irrigate 20,000 acres. 

Agricultural operations 

in this region are rarely 

rewarded by a good crop, 

although the land where 

water can be provided 

is of the most fertile 

character. During the 

famine of 1876 as much 

as $600,000 was expended in relief in this 

district.

The idea of utilizing 

the water of the Periyar 

for the irrigation of the 

Vaigai is an old one. It was first reported in 1808 by Sir James Caldwell, who condemned the project as decidedly chimerical and unworthy 

of further regard. The subject was occasionally discussed from time 

to time, but it was not until 1867 that it was practically brought forward by Major Ryves. Major Ryves's proposals included an earth 

dam 162 feet high, with an escape crest 142 feet above the river bed, 

and the water was to be diverted into the Vaigai Valley by a cutting 

having a maximum depth through the watershed of 52 feet. Other 

examinations were made, and finally a project was submitted by Mr. 

Smith in 1872, which included a dam 171 feet in height, to be constructed by the silting process and having an escape of 400 feet in 

length blasted out of the saddle at the right bank.

The final project, and that which has been adopted, was the outFIG. 52. Cross section Periyar dam.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL. XXIII

PERIYAR D/tM DURING CONSTRUCTION.

WILSON.] PBKIYAE PROJECT. 183

come of further examinations made by Mr. Smith and Major Pennycuick, though to the latter are due most of the later details, and under 

him is being conducted the construction of the works. It was in this 

report that Major Pennycuick submitted the first proposals for the 

substitution of a masonry dam for one of earth. These final proposals 

were submitted in 1882, and included the construction of a dam (fig. 

52), located at the same point as that chosen by Mr. Smith, 7 miles 

below Major Ryves's site, the height to be 155 feet above the bed of the 

river, and the summit surmounted by a parapet 5 feefc high and 4 

thick. The dam proper is 12 feet thick at the top and 114£ feet at the 

lowest part. It is constructed throughout of concrete composed of 25 

parts of hydraulic lime, 30 of sand, and 100 of broken stone. The 

front face is covered with a plaster composed of equal parts of lime

FIG. 53. Periyar head-works, plan of dam and escape.

and sand. A temporary dam 30 feet in maximum height was constructed above the main dam. and a similar dam 10 feet high below the 

main site, in order to enable the latter to be completely cleared and 

the foundation trenches blasted out before the main dam. was begun. 

For the formation of wasteways two saddles are utilized, one on 

each bank (fig. 53). The one on the right bank has solid rock at a 

minimum level of 154 feet above the river bed, and will be cut down 

for a length of 420 feet to a level of 144 feet. On the left bank the 

solid rock is at a level of 104 feet, and the saddle will be built across 

with similar material to that of the main dam to the same level, 144 

feet. The wall thus formed has a length on its crest of 403 feet and 

a further length of 97 feet in excavation, making 500 feet in all. The 

aggregate length of the two wasteways is thus 920 feet. At a distance of 60 feet from the escape wall on the left bank is built a sub-
184 IKRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

sidiary weir 10 feet in height, with its crest 30 feet below the upper 

wall, thus forming a water cushion. In the side of the valley tributary of the Periyar, just' above the dam, a cutting was started at a 

height of 113 feet above the river bed running down toward the watershed, 21 feet wide at bottom, with a fall of 1 in 440. The depth of the 

cutting in rock is 50 feet at a distance of 5,400 feet from the starting 

point, where it is replaced by a tunnel with an area of 80 square feet 

and a fall of 1 in 75. At its lower end the tunnel will communicate 

with the bed of a small stream by a cutting similar to that at the south 

end, 160 feet in length, the total length of the tunnel being 6,050 feet.

The rock in the river bed and on the watershed ridge is a hard syenite 

free from fissures and suitable both for a foundation for the dam and 

for material for its construction. Most modern dams of any magnitude have been built of uncoursed rubble masonry. Major Pennycuick 

argues that "concrete is nothing more than uncoursed rubble masonry 

reduced to its simplest form." As regards resistance to crushing or to 

percolation the value of the two materials is identical; he further 

says, "unless it be considered as a point in favor of concrete that it 

must be solid, while rubble may, if the supervision be defective, contain void spaces not filled with mortar. The selection depends entirely 

upon their relative cost, the quantities of materials in both being practically identical." At the site of the Periyar works skilled labor is 

abnormally expensive and difficult to procure, while the facilities for 

the use of labor-saving machinery which can be largely used in the 

manufacture of concrete are unusually great. Accordingly, after full 

discussion, it was decided to adopt concrete as the material for the 

construction of the dam. Excellent sand is procurable from the bed 

of the river in numerous places above the dam.

The section of the .scape dam (fig. 52) on the left bank is designed 

so that the lines of pressure shall be within the middle third when a 

depth of 12 feet of water is passing over its crest, and so that the water 

shall have a clear fall to the surface of the water cushion below. As 

before stated, at a distance of 60 feet from the upper escape dam is 

constructed anothei*dam 10 feet in height, with its crest 30 feet below 

that of the former. The depth of water passing over this dam will be 

about one and one-half tuat passing over the upper one, so that the 

fall from surface to surface will vary from 24 to 30 feet, and the depth 

of water cushion from 10 to 28 feet. The length of the right bank 

wasteway is fixed by the quantity of stone required for the dam. This 

quantity is 3,600,000 cubic feet, of which 1,400,000 are brought from 

the watershed cuttings, the cost of conveyance being less than that of 

quarrying at the dam site. The balance after the material has been 

supplied from other convenient sources is 1,600,000 cubic feet, to be 

obtained from the right bank waste way. It is contemplated that a 

great flood will raise the water to a level of 153.1 feet, while it would 

take several times this discharge to raise it to 155 feet. The maximum
WILSON.! PEEIYAE PEOJECT. 185

flood recorded occurred in 1869, and amounted to 65,500 second-feet; 

being 131,200 acre-feet in twenty-four hours, and 7,100 acre-feet in 

an hour.

From the mouth of the watershed tunnel the water of the Periyar 

passes by minor tributaries into the Sooroolly River (PL XXII), and is 

controlled by numerous regulating works along the course of the various tributaries of the Vaigai. These works consist chiefly of sluices 

of simple form, their object being to pass the Periyar water around the 

different weirs which have been constructed by the natives or Government in past times for the utilization of the water of the local drainage basin. None of these old works are provided with head-sluices. 

Accordingly, the regulating sluiceways which are planned in connection with the Periyar project are designed to discharge the maximum 

amount of water which that project will furnish when the surface 

level of the stream above each weir is flush with the bed of the existing channel.

In 1898 a Stoney patent free-roller gate was erected at the tunnel 

head to replace the equilibrium shutters which were found unworkable. 

It wo*rks in a cast-iron frame built in a masonry sluice chamber 15^ 

by 15 feet in plan, the sill being 494- feet below the top of the platform 

and 37 feet 3 inches below the full lake level. The gate is 12 feet 

9 inches high and 9 feet 6 inches wide and is supported on 20 

pairs of cast-iron rollers. It is of f-inch steel plate, suitably braced, 

is worked by a screw-lifting gear and winch and is balanced by a 

counterweight to two-thirds its weight.

From the mouth of the tunnel to the junction of the Sooroolly with 

the Vaigai is about 46 miles, and for a further distance of 40 miles the 

water is conveyed by the latter river, no works being required in connection with it until it reaches the Peranny, at which point the distributive works begin. The Peranny weir is a substantial structure 

already existing and requiring but little improvement, the only alterations made being the closing of the undersluices, the leveling of the 

crest 5 feet above the floor of the latter, and some slight additions to 

the wing walls, apron, etc. Two main distributive canals have been 

planned, passing close under the foothills surrounding the plains about 

Madura. These and their branches all terminate in natural drainage 

channels. The quantity of water designed to be carried by the southern main canal is 1,500 second-feet at its head, where the depth is 6 

feet, and it is designed to irrigate 75,000 acres of land. The existing 

or northern main canal is to have a head-sluice of 20 vents, all of 5^ 

feet span. The steepness of the Vaigai Valley necessitates the construction of numerous drops or falls in both the main and branch channels. For the passage of cross drainage there are in all 26 inlets and 

32 level escape outlets on the main canal, besides 2 aqueducts and 6 

culverts, 3 inverted siphons, and other works. The head and regulating works for the main canal and a secondary channel called the
186 lEEIQATIOTST IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

Vedacunay channel, are only 1,460 feet apart. It is necessary, however, that both works be built, for the ground between the two is unfavorable for an open channel. There 36 miles of main canals and 

164 miles of distributaries.

The water supply is derived from the Periyar, the drainage area of 

which is 300 square miles, and is undoubtedly sufficient. The estimated rainfall in the Periyar Valley varies between 65 and 200 inches

/52' 4-oa' Flood level

\4-OS' FL // supply

Weight of masonry, /50 lbs.per s<p. ft.

Pressures reservoir empty, in Ibs.persq. inch.

FIG. 54. Tansa dam, Bombay.

per annum and averages 125 inches, while the depth of run-off from 

the catchment basin is 49 inches. The estimated discharge of the 

river available for storage is 760,000 acre-feet, while the loss by evaporation in Periyar Lake and in the beds of the Sooroolly and Vaigai 

rivers is 70,000 acre-feet, leaving a balance available for irrigation of 

680,000 acre-feet. The amount of water required for the irrigation of 

the lands in the Vaigai Valley is 600,000 acre-feet. It is estimated that
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER MO. 87 PL. XXIV

A. FOUNDATION, TANSA DAM.

B. CARRYING STONES TO BUILD TANSA DAM.

WllSON.] TANSA RESERVOIR. 187

not over 7,500 acre-feet will be required to fill the beds of the rivers 

down which the waters of the Periyar will be passed.

While the maximum storage capacity of the Periyar reservoir is estimated at 300,000 acre-feet, the total available storage capacity above 

the sills of the discharge sluices is but 150,000 acre-feet. It was estimated that the total cost of this work, including the latest additions 

to the project and interest charges, would amount to $2,894,000, and 

this sum has been expended. The works were completed within six 

years from the time when they were commenced, and the irrigation 

was expected to be fully developed within ten years after their completion. The gross revenues are estimated to be $350,000 and the 

working expenses and collection charges $62,000. In 1898-99 the 

gross revenue was $157,000, the working expenses $49,000, and the 

net revenue $108,000.

TANSA RESERVOIR.

This reservoir is designed not for irrigation, but for supplying water 

to the city of Bombay for domestic uses. It is, however, constructed 

upon the general principles involved in water storage for purposes of

FIG. 55. Tansa project, longitudinal section of dam.

irrigation, and the dam which forms it is of such great size and excellent workmanship and design that a description of it here will at least 

be instructive. The project for the construction of the great reservoir 

on the Tansa River for the storage of water for the supply of the city 

of Bombay was first brought prominently forward by Maj. Hector 

Tullock about 1870. The plans of the reservoir and dam as at present 

constructed were worked out and the construction undertaken by Mr. 

W. Clerke, chief engineer of the water supply of Bombay.

The Tansa River heads near the summit of the Western Grhauts, 

where the rainfall is great, ranging from 150 to 200 inches per annum. 

The area of the catchment basin above the dam site is but 52£ square 

miles, but the slopes are so steep and the precipitation so great in 

amount that the discharge is estimated to be about 8,000,000 cubic 

feet per day. The area of the reservoir is 5.5 square miles, at full 

supply level 405 feet elevation, and the maximum available depth of 

water above the sills of the discharge sluices is 20 feet. Its net available capacity is 59,000 acre-feet, less 18,000 acre-feet, which is equivalent to a loss of 6 feet in depth by evaporation and absorption,
188 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

leaving 41,000 acre-feet. The gross storage capacity of this reservoir 

is far greater than the figures given above, and much more water 

could be utilized if it were needed for purposes of irrigation by taking 

off the discharge sluices at a lower elevation.

The dam (figs. 54 and 55) is constructed of the best uncoursed rubble masonry, laid in hydraulic mortar, which is made near the dam 

site. The total length of its crest is now 8,800 feet, but may finally 

be 9,350 feet, of which 1,650 feet are utilized as a wasteway at the 

south end of the dam. It is constructed in two tangents in such a 

manner as to get the shortest line on a bed-rock foundation. These 

tangents meet near the center of the dam in a sharp rocky hillock, 

which projects a little above its crest. The top of the wasteway is 3 

feet below the maximum flood height of the dam, and the volume of 

flood which will have to be wasted is estimated to be 25,000 secondfeet.

The total cost of this work was about as follows:

Cost of Tansa reservoir.

Compensation for land, etc. ............................................ $40,000

Excavations for foundations, 4,000,000 cubic feet, at 30 cents per cubic

yard ................................................................ 44,000

Rubble for masonry for the dam, 10,000,000 cubic feet, at $3 per cubic

yard ................................................................ 904,000

Total_._......... .............................._-..._...........- 988,000

MASONRY DAMS.

It may be generally said that all of the masonry dams constructed 

by Indian engineers in recent times have been designed according to 

the most approved modern formulas and the material of which they 

have been constructed has been almost uniformly uncoursed rubble 

masonry. The Tansa dam (PI. XXV) is the most logical instance of 

the use of uncoursed rubble masonry throughout without any coursed 

work either in the facing or coping, thus giving an almost homogeneous wall. Mr. W. Clerke, chief engineer of this work, holds 

that the strains due to shrinkage and settlement in a dam thus constructed are uniform throughout its mass and have little or no effect 

to rupture it. Whereas in other dams, such as those at Betwa and 

Bhatgur, where a deep layer of coursed stones has been laid outside 

of the central core of uncoursed rubble or concrete, the homogeneity 

of the whole may be destroyed, owing to unequal shrinkage or settling, 

thus diminishing the effective cross section of the dam by the amount 

of the coursed facing.

The Periyar dam is the most logical example of a dam constructed 

throughout of concrete without any facing or other material to 

destroy the homogeneous character of the material of which it is 

constructed. The great dam at Bhatgur is an example of a com-
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 87 PL. XXV

NATIVES BUILDING TANSA DAM, BOMBAY.

WILSON.] MASONRY DAMS. 189

bined structure; all of the upper portion of this dam above the lines 

where the limit of pressure exceeds 60 pounds per square inch is 

constructed of concrete faced with coursed rubble masonry. Below 

the point where the limit of pressure of 60 pounds per square inch is 

reached, the material used throughout is uncoursed rubble masonry, 

faced, however, as is the upper portion, with coursed stones. In 

building up this structure the coursed facing and the interior hearting of concrete were run up simultaneously in layers, and the various 

thicknesses of concrete were bound together by the insertion in them 

of great irregular stone blocks which projected above each layer of 

concrete as laid. The upper 10 feet of this structure above the highwater line is composed entirely of a filling of spoil from the foundations and this is inclosed between the coursed facing.

The same general mode of construction, a combination of concrete 

and rubble, was used in the great diversion weir at Vir. The great 

weir dam at Betwa is constructed of uncoursed rubble masonry coursed 

on both faces; in addition to this the coping is of the best ashlar. 

The coursed facing is laid with headers not less than 2 feet long and 

stretchers, two of which equal in height that of the headers. The 

material used in the rubble work is a kind of igneous granite, very 

hard and excellent for the purpose. The ashlar work, however, consists of hard sandstone. In a few cases brick has been used for the 

construction of low weirs. A notable instance of this is the great 

diversion weir at Narora, at the head of the Lower Ganges canal, which 

is constructed almost throughout of brick. This material has proved 

entirely satisfactory, as the Narora weir is not very high and has to 

withstand but moderate pressures. The material used in the construction of the Tansa and Bhatgur reservoirs is a heavy trap or 

greenstone.

The cement used almost universally in the construction of works in 

India is of local manufacture, being made from dirty nodules of limestone which are found in the clay soil distributed very generally 

throughout the country. These limestone nodules are called kunkar, 

and when burned in a kiln produce an excellent hydraulic lime nearly 

equaling the best cement in hydraulic properties and resistance to pressure. Ordinarily these limestone nodules are comparatively small. 

The best hydraulic cement made from these is that produced near Vir, 

at the head of the Nira canal. The nodules used for this are scarcely 

ever bigger than a man's fist. In other places they are much larger, 

notably in the Ganges Valley, where the material used in the construction of the Lower Ganges head-works was found in lumps and blocks 

weighing some hundred of pounds each. For the manufacture of 

hydraulic cement the limestone nodules are burned in a common kiln 

with coke, charcoal, and cinders to hydraulic consistency. This 

hydraulic lime is then slaked and crushed, usually by means of the 

"churus," big stone wheels drawn by oxen, though occasionally in
190 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

modern mortar mixers, and is then mixed with the proper proportion 

of sand, either in the native mortar machine or more usually now in 

an iron mortar mixer.

The stones used in the construction of uncoursed rubble masonry 

are rarely larger than can be carried conveniently by two men, as 

almost all labor is manual, and rarely is carrying machinery used. 

The method of quarrying the stone and of transporting it by means of 

tramways is similar to that employed in America and Europe. The 

following are a few extracts from notes made by Mr. A. Hill, superintending engineer on the Bhatgur dam, on the masonry construction 

of that work:

In the facing the masonry is laid in courses, each of which does not exceed 9 

inches in depth, as large stones are too troublesome to handle. The stones are 

wetted and the mortar and stones are well rammed. The stones for the nibble 

are as large as can be conveniently handled by two men, while the smaller stones 

are broken up for metal to be used in making concrete. In uncoursed rubble the 

 stones touch along their whole sides, not at points or edges merely, and small 

chips are used to fill in spaces between the larger stones. All awkward projections 

are knocked off and the stones are well rammed into the bed of mortar in which 

they are laid, and which must be at least 1 inch in thickness. The average weight 

of these stones is perhaps 100 pounds.

The concrete is made of broken metal and river gravel, the former 3^-inch gage, 

the latter one-eighth to 3 inches; the proportions used are, metal, 16 parts, gravel 

16, mortar 12. The concrete is laid in two layers, each 4J- inches in thickness, 

and rammed for twenty minutes and one hour, respectively, and is kept constantly 

wetted for at least two weeks, that it may set properly. The concrete is mixed 

both by hand and machine, the hand mixing being done on a floor with a hoe; 

the machine mixing in iron barrels or mixers. The stone and gravel are wetted 

before being mixed. Briquets of concrete used on this work, 15 by 10 by 10 

inches in dimensions, after six months' setting raptured under a crushing weight 

of from 400 to 800 pounds per square inch.

In making mortar only sharp, clear, river sand is used. The lime, after being 

burned to hydraulic consistency, is slaked for five hours, stirred and ground for 

three hours more, and then clean wet sand is added in the proportion of 1 to 1 and 

stirred again for two more hours. For testing, this is made into 2-inch cubes or 

briquets, which are kept damp and are allowed to set for forty-eight hours, after 

which they are placed in water until tested.

The f olowing are average tests of mortar made in this way at Bhatgur:

Average tests of mortar at Bhatgur,

Pounds. 

Age 12 months, crushing weight per square inch.___________ --___--__._____ 815

Age 9 months, crushing weight per square inch. ___.-___--_._-_--__________- 600

Age 6 months, crushing weight per square inch, ____________________________ 500

Age 3 months, crushing weight per sqtiare inch- __-___-_---.___--__-__--____ 300

Age 1 to 3 months, crushing weight per square inch ________________________ 250

Some briquettes stood as high a crushing weight as 1,100 pounds 

per square inch when one year old. The hydraulic mortar used at Vir 

gives even better results. Several briquettes of mortar made there 

and mixed in proportion of 1 to 1 and from eight months to one year
WILSON.] DESIGNS OF DAMS AND WEIES. 191

old required a crushing weight of 1,500 pounds per square inch to 

rupture them. Vir mortar mixed with 2 of sand to 1 of hydraulic 

lime breaks at 800 pounds pressure per square inch. The mortar used 

in the construction of the Tansa dam showed an average crushing 

strength of 800 pounds per square inch, though numerous specimens 

stood a test of from 1,500 to 1,800 pounds per square inch.

At the head of the Ganges canal in the Northwest Provinces, the 

concrete blocks used for groins in retaining works and for dams are 

of a peculiar composition, as hydraulic lime is scarce. They are composed of 1 part quicklime to 3 parts of broken stone (about 1-inch 

gage) and 2 parts of brick dust. These blocks are not very strong 

nor hydraulic. At this place the blocks whjch are used under the 

water and subjected to the greatest pressure are composed of hydraulic 

lime, 2 parts; sand, 1 part; broken stone, 3 parts. The Periyar dam, 

which, as before stated, is constructed throughout of concrete, is 

designed to withstand a limit of pressure of 9 tons per square foot. 

The quantities of material have been estimated on the supposition 

that every cubic foot of concrete will require 60 cubic feet of solid 

stone, plus 10 per cent for wastage, to 25 cubic feet of unslaked 

hydraulic lime.

DESIGN OF DAMS AND WEIRS.

As stated in speaking of reservoirs and storage works, the Indian 

engineer designs the cross section of the dam on some theoretic profile which will be most stable and economical. All of these are similar to the profile which has recently been discussed and described by 

Mr. Edward Wegmann in his treatise on the '' Design and construction 

of masonry dams." Modified formulas, based on Rankine, Delocre, 

Krantz, or Bouvier, are generally used. Little value has been given 

to methods sometimes adopted of constructing the dam on a plan 

curved horizontally. None of the high dams seen in India were sufficiently short to have been curved in this manner. A formula for the 

design of cross sections which is generally employed by Indian engineers is that which was worked out by Mr. Guilford L. Molesworth in 

1883, and is as follows: «

v_ / .05 a? . _ J, "" -V / ^ ~r 3T~T T* * tJ - *

A+(.03a?)

A vertical line being drawn from the top front edge of the dam to 

the base, Y is the width from this line to the rear face and Z the corresponding width from the line to the front face at any distance from 

the surface of the water or from the top of the dam. Y is further 

equal to O.Qx as a minimum; 1 is the limit of pressure of the masonry

TT

in tons per square foot; H=top height of dam; a=Y at from the 

top; B=top width=~.

aRoorkee Professional Papers, Roorkee, India, 1883.
192 IEEIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

The accompanying diagram (fig. 56) shows how this formula is 

applied. It is intended to secure the requisite stability at the front 

face when the reservoir is empty and at the rear face when it is full. 

This formula of Mr. Molesworth's, which has created considerable discussion among Indian engineers, is considered an excellent empirical 

formula for general use. Major Pennycuick, who designed the Periyar

! tefOH'/lf.lKi.

A A to outer face of

ISO, \

cssU--

FIG. 56 Profile of masonry dam, Molesworth's formula.

dam, suggested a somewhat different formula/' and General Mullins, 

in his Manual,6 proposes a modification of Molesworth's formula, 

which may be generally stated as follows:

1=1 +Vj

with

A+.05 (x 12) 

> = 12, or for smaller top widths.

3-b)+ /

v 05 (a; 12)

and adjusting the part above a;=12 to the top width selected.

For weirs with water cushions the depth of the latter is sometimes 

determined from the formula ~D=ci/h?\/d in which D represents the 

depth of the cushion below the top of the retaining wall; c is a coeffiaPeriyar project. Records of the Government of India, No. CCXV, Calcutta, 1886.

&Mullins, Lieut. Gen. J., Irrigation Manual, E. & F. N. Spon, London and Jtfew York, 1890.
WILSON.] MATERIALS, LABOR, AND COST. 193

cient, the value of which is dependent upon the description of the 

material used for the floor of the cushion, and varies between 0.75 for 

compact stone and 1.25 for moderately hard brick; li is the height of 

the fall, and d is the maximum depth of the water to pass over the 

weir crest. The width of the floor of the cushion will dependjsornewhat on the section of the_vreir, which need not exceed 8 i/d, and 

should not be less than 6 Vd. For works with a vertical drop and a 

horizontal apron on the same level as the retaining wall, this masonry 

apron should be formed of fairly regular blocks of stone or of Portland cement concrete, the width varying as just given, and the 

thickness or depth of stone from one-fifth to one-fourth of h+d.

It is difficult to find any set rule for determining the depth of the 

water cushion by the height of the fall and the volume of water. At 

the Gairsoppa Falls, in the Western Ghauts, the Rajah Fall has a 

clear drop of 825 feet in height, and the pool into which it falls is 138 

feet deep at low-water stage. The greatest depth of the hole formed 

by the waterfall in the new outlet of the Mudduk Masur tank is 24 

feet. In ordinary states of the river the general depth of the water 

cushion is to the height of the fall as to 3 to 4 where the greatest 

action takes place and 1 to 2 in other places. An experimental fall 

on the Bari Doab canal had a height of 6.9 feet and depth of well of 

9 feet, and 3.6 feet on crest, which gives the depth of the well to the 

height of the fall as 3 to 4. The water had no injurious effect on the 

bottom of the well. The subject of water cushions is one which is 

not very well understood, though these are very extensively used in 

India. They appear to be a most effective and interesting addition 

to nearly every weir where they are placed, greatly increasing its 

stability and firmness.

COST OF LABOR AND MATERIAL.

It has generally been held that owing to the great relative cheapness of labor in India, compared with that employed in the United 

States, few lessons, especially of a financial character, could be drawn 

from a consideration of the results of Indian irrigation works. The 

reports on the returns derived from Indian works, the percentage of 

profit gained or loss incurred, are not of the most encouraging character. A thorough examination of this matter, both in the field and 

in the reports, has, however, allayed any doubts which I had on this 

subject, and leads me to believe that yet better results may be 

obtained in the United States, even in comparatively uninhabited 

regions.

As was shown in the earlier part of this report, the returns derived 

in India from works constructed with borrowed capital on such works 

as the perennial canals of the Northwest Provinces show profits 

varying from 4 to 20 per cent per annum. It was also shown, however, and this is the least promising phase of the investigation, that 

IRR 87 03 13
194 IEEIGATION JN INDIA. [NO. 87.

in scarcely any case had storage works been profitable. The loss in 

most cases on this class of works has been trifling, while in several 

cases a profit has been gained. Moreover, the older works of this class 

are rapidly becoming more popular. The value of irrigation is becoming better appreciated, even where a constant rainfall occurs, and such 

works are annually increasing in value.

It was soon seen that any attempt to ascertain the relative value, 

both cost and return, of works constructed in India by comparison of 

the rates of labor paid in that country and in America, was altogether 

futile. Notwithstanding the remarkable cheapness of all classes of 

native labor, the relations of the laborer to the government, the character of the laborer, and the exhausting heat of the climate, all tend 

to make his day of labor a relatively short one, both in time and in 

work done. Few or no mechanical appliances are yet used in the construction of Indian works. It is claimed by some that the seeming 

cheapness "of the labor seduces the engineer. This in most cases is 

not true. The average engineer appreciates the value of labor-saving 

machines, but has contended so long with the carelessness of the native 

laborer and his lack of interest in learning new ways that he has finally 

given up the struggle of trying to teach him to use modern appliances, feeling convinced that the native cooly achieves as good results 

in his own way as he could with better apparatus which he would misuse or fail entirely to avail himself of.

The long time required in the excavation of works, in filling, carrying, and emptying a little basket which holds perhaps a shovelful of 

dirt, tends decidedly to make the native labor expensive. The slow 

mode employed of cariying comparatively small stones for the construction of great dams, consisting of tying ropes around the stones, 

attaching them to poles, having them lifted onto men's shoulders with 

the aid of assistants, then making a slow, plodding journey from the 

stone pile to the top of the dam, all tend to increase the expense of the 

labor employed (see PL XXIV, B). In the construction of such works 

"in the United States, machinery would dig the canals in great part, 

and a vigorous, skilled workman, using with intelligence labor-saving 

appliances, would in a day accomplish many times the amount of work 

that is done by the Indian cooly. In every individual operation is 

seen the slowness of native methods. If it be grinding mortar, oxen 

walk in a circle drawing a large stone wheel attached to a wooden 

beam, which laboriously and slowly grinds the mortar as the old Mexican arrastre grinds the quartz. Occasionally a modern mortar mill is 

seen operating beside the native churus and doing in a few minutes 

the work which the latter take hours to accomplish. In the blacksmith 

shop half a dozen men are needed to perform the work of one. The 

forge is blown by a boy, who pumps air through a couple of leather 

bags beneath his arms, taking much more time to create the same 

degree of heat than a modern blacksmith'^ bellows would require.
WILSON.] MATERIALS, LABOR, AND COST. 195

The works constructed in India are invariably of the most substantial masonry and will last for centuries. Along the roads and railways the smallest bridges and culverts are constructed of stone and 

brick. On the canals the least important regulator, aqueduct, or 

bridge is likewise constructed of the best masonry for all time. In 

our construction of such works, iron and timber would be extensively 

used for bridges and aqueducts, or, as we call them, flumes, and for 

many parts of the head-works and works along the canal lines, thus 

greatly reducing the cost.

Another great expense incurred on Indian works has been the effort 

to combine navigation with irrigation. This effort has been comparatively unsuccessful if viewed from the light of the modern requirements of a country possessing good railways and wagon roads. As 

before stated, in order to make the canals navigable their expense is 

greatly increased by the construction of locks throughout the whole 

length and of parallel canal channels; of bridges of greater headway, 

in order to admit boats to pass under them; and of. expensive aqueducts or similar works, instead of the cheaper contrivances which 

might be used if navigation were not practiced. Above all, navigation entails great loss of water.

In the neighborhood of Poona labor is perhaps as cheap as anywhere 

in India. It is performed by all classes, ages, and sexes, the more 

skilled laborers, as masons, carpenters, and blacksmiths, usually being 

grown men. Most of the burdens, as gravel, sand, mortar, and materials which have been excavated, are carried away on the heads of 

women and children. Common labor is paid about 8 cents per day. 

Masons and carpenters get from 16 to 20 cents a day, while a laborer 

with a team of bullocks gets 25 cents a day. On the Bhatgur dam 

donkeys and bullocks were frequently used as pack animals for carrying stones and earth. A donkey will carry a cubic foot of stone per 

trip and earns 6 cents a day. Common laborers were paid 8 cents, 

women and children 4 cents, and skilled laborers 20 cents per day. 

It was estimated that 8 skilled masons could lay and dress 3 cubic 

yards of masonry per day on this work. Owing to the slow mode in 

which the work was conducted it was necessary to employ a great 

number of laborers at one time, so many in fact, that a large portion 

of them were frequently idle through interference with one another. 

About 2,000 men, women, and children were engaged on small portions 

of the dam at once and the daily rate of progress was about 5,000 

cubic feet of rubble and concrete work and 1,000 cubic feet of course 

masonry facing.

At Tansa the work was done by contract, and the prices paid were 

a little higher than elsewhere. Rubble masonry cost $3 per cubic 

yard. On Lake Fife and Bhatgur the same class of good uncoursed 

rubble masonry cost but |2 per cubic yard. On the Tansa darn over 

5,000 people were at work at one time. On the Betwa canal earth
196 ' IKBIGATTOlSr IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

excavation in deep cuts, not exceeding 40 feet in depth, cost but 6f 

cents per cubic yard; surface excavation in earth with short haul cost 

3 cents per cubic yard; uncoursed rubble masonry cost $2.30 per cubic 

yard; coursed rubble masonry, $6.25 per cubic yard, and dressed ashlar work $22.50 per cubic yard. On the Periyar works the ordinary 

price of unskilled labor was 12 cents per day; for special work, such 

as feeding machinery, etc., the coolies were paid 20 cents per day; 

while head coolies, artisans, etc., were paid from 30 to GO cents per day. 

All kinds of material other than those found in the country itself 

are most expensive in India. Coal is usually brought from England 

at a cost never below $20 per ton. Iron, steel, and machinery are 

relatively very expensive, as is Portland cement and wood of every 

kind. In fact, masonry work is generally cheaper than wood, and 

iron is always dearer than masonry. The great cheapness of masonry 

is owing to two causes cheapness of labor, and cheapness of the 

hydraulic lime which is manufactured in the country almost invariably near the site of the work which is being constructed. On the 

Periyar work drilling cost $10 per hundred running feet of drill hole, 

and the labor of quarrying, including plant, boring, dynamite, and 

all other expenses, amounted to about 85 cents per cubic yard, or as 

much as it would in the Western States of America. On the same 

work in tunneling, the heading cost $6.50 per cubic yard, and for 

enlarging the tunnel $2.60 per cubic yard was paid; lime cost $1.30 

per cubic yard, sand 40 cents per cubic yard, and concrete cost $1.70 

per cubic yard laid in place. Of minor items, the removal of earth 

or cutting cost 6-J cents per cubic yard, steel 15 cents per pound, and 

wrought iron 8 cents per pound. On the Sidhnai Canal, in the Punjab, concrete cost $1.80 per cubic yard, rubble masonry $2.16 per 

cubic yard, and brick 95 cents per hundred laid in lime mortar. 

Earth excavation cost 4^ cents per cubic yard, and the best hydraulic 

lime cost $2.50 per cubic yard to manufacture.

TANKS.

Tanks were constructed in great numbers by the natives of India 

many centuries ago, and in some places, notably in central and 

southern India, in the Deccan, Madras, and Mysore, there are immense 

numbers of them. These old tanks were usually rude .in construction, little care having been taken to economize in labor, and as a 

consequence the dams constructed were usually made much heavier 

in cross section than was necessary. In recent years the British engineers have constructed several very large tanks, though many of the 

higher dams have masonry cores. The conditions controlling the 

location of a tank are similar to those before described for reservoirs. 

The water supply must be adequate to fill the tank, the location must 

be such that a suitable dam can be constructed at a reasonable cost, 

and an ample wasteway must be provided. In the location of the
 W1MON] TANKS. 197

wasteway for a tank, even more care must be exercised than is necessary for a reservoir; for if the water be permitted to rise too high on 

the dam or much worse, if it is allowed to discharge over it it will 

speedily cause its destruction if it is built of earth.

It is desirable always to allow waste water to flow off by a side channel, which may be closed by a low rock or crib-work weir, or may consist only of an open rock cut. By such means there is no danger to 

the dam of having the shock of water falling over it. It may, however, be necessaiy to have a masonry waste way constructed in the 

dam itself, but this is not advisable and is generally avoided. Such 

a wasteway is usually made by constructing a portion of the dam of 

masonry, the top of which is a few feet lower than the rest of the 

dam. When the catchment of the tank is small it is possible to provide for wasting flood waters through an outlet or discharge channel 

in the dam itself. Such a discharge sluice is necessary in order to 

draw off the water for irrigation, and must be of sufficient capacity 

to empty the tank in the shortest irrigating season. The level of the 

sill of this outlet sluice is generally that of the bed of the tank, but 

there are occasionally constructed one or more higher outlets to irrigate lands which lie above that level. These sluices are expensive 

works, and require a well-constructed masonry or iron conduit to be 

carried through the dam, emptying into the canal at one end and 

receiving its water supply at the other end through a well or water 

tower from which its admission can be controlled. It is usual to make 

the outlet tunnel of good masonry, and it must not be smaller than 

2£ feet high by 2 feet wide, in order to permit a man to go through it 

to examine, clean, or repair it, if required.

One cause of the frequent breaching of Indian tanks is that great 

numbers are often constructed in one valley, the bed of one beginning where the cultivation of that of the next above it ends, so that 

the breaching of one often results in the destruction of a succession of 

those below it. Regarding the depth of tanks, if they be shallow a 

great loss of the stored water is sustained, through evaporation. Shallow tanks are never intended to hold more than water enough for one 

crop. In India aquatic plants which grow from the bottom in shallow 

tanks are injurious, while those which spread on the surface, like the 

lotus, diminish the loss by evaporation. When water is not deeper 

than 7 or 8 feet the rays of the sun can penetrate to the soil, and 

growth of aquatic plants is the consequence. In the smaller tanks, 

intended to cultivate limited areas of land immediately below them, 

the most economical height for the dam on gently undulating ground 

where there is a natural and long slope to the rear has been found to 

be from 10 to 25 feet.

In the construction of modern tanks the same precautions are usually 

taken and the same detailed investigations made as for a reservoir 

project. The catchment basin, the discharge of the streams, the rain-
198 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 82.

fall, and other physical phenomena are carefully studied; the lands 

to be irrigated are examined and their relative position to the location 

of the tank and catchment basin is surveyed and mapped. Careful 

surveys are made for the reservoir site to determine its capacity, and 

of the dam site in order to choose the best and most economical location 

and to ascertain the cost of the works.

The interior and exterior slopes of earth dams are usually considered 

as planes, forming together an angle of not less than 90°, and the figure should be so formed in order to increase its stability, that lines of 

pressure passing from the interior faces at right angles may fall within

its base. Upon the calculation that 1 cubic foot of 

rammed earth weighs 99 

pounds and 1 cubic foot of 

water 624 pounds, and supposing that the earth would 

stand at any slope, we find 

that the base of the prism 

resisting the lateral thrust of 

the body of water does not 

require to be more than twothirds the depth of the column 

it supports, so that all quantities above that are due to the 

natural slopes, the stability 

of the dam, and the prevention 

ofpercolation. Consequently? 

when large works are projected it is a subject of close 

calculation which is the more 

economical, those exclusively 

of earth or those whose inner 

slopes have retaining walls of 

masonry. a

As constructed in India, the width of the top of the dam depends 

not so much on the pressure of water it has to sustain as on the prevention of percolation. The usual width now allowed is from 8 to 12 

feet, thus giving room for a roadway. The top of the dam is made 

sufficiently high above the highest line of flood over the sill of the 

wasteway to prevent its being topped by waves. On a large spread 

of water a strong breeze forms waves sometimes 3 feet high, which 

on a long slope may be raised to 5 feet. The dam must be of such 

height that water can not pass over it, as the latter would quickly 

scour away the back slope until the thickness was sufficiently 

reduced to cause the dam to give way. Additional security against

PIG. 57. Cross sections of earth and coxubined dams.

« Victor, H., Notes on irrigation in the Bombay Presidency: Roorkee Professional Papers on 

Indian Engineering, Eoorkee, India.
WILSON.] TANKS. 199

such an accident is obtained by raising a low masonry parapet on 

the outer edge of the slope, paving the top, and giving it a slight dip 

inward to prevent the settlement of water.

The number of disused tanks is remarkable. Many are not 

breached, but the discharge sluice is left open so that no water is 

collected. In many cases this is probably owing to the bed of the 

tank having been gradually raised by silting and thus converted into 

so productive a soil that it yields as much as or more than could be 

obtained by means of a diminished quantity of water applied to the 

comparatively barren soil below. An example of one of these old 

tanks thus abandoned, but capable of restoration, is the Madag 

Masur tank, believed to have been constructed about four centuries 

ago. It was formed by an embankment rising from the sides of a 

narrow gorge through which the Ghoardy River passed, and was 

supplemented by two dams in saddles 011 a range of hills, that on the 

east bank 1,350 yards and that on the west 760 yards from the main 

dam, the length of the latter being 1,650 feet. The inside slope of 1 

on 2i, in some parts 1 on 3, was revetted with large stones up to a 

cubic yard in bulk. This dam is from 945 to 1,100 feet wide at the 

base and is now from 91 to 108 feet high. There was a sluice under 

the dam at the east end above the level of the ground. The material 

of which the dam-is constructed is a strong red earth with a considerable mixture of gravel, and was taken from the sides of a hill in 

the neighborhood. The east supplemental dam has its base 74 feet 

above the sluice in the main dam, and had also a sluice under it at 

the ground level. The west supplemental dam, the breaching of 

which destroyed the tank, was of similar construction to the others, 

and its base was 60 to 70 feet above the bed of the tank. There was 

no trace of any wasteweir, and it is probable that the want of this 

was the cause of the ruin of the tank. From the heights of the 

dams and the levels of the sluices it is probable that the depth of the 

tank was 90 to 95 feet, and at that level its area would have been 40 

square miles and its contents about 870,000 acre-feet of water.

Another variety of tanks, constructed not on main drainage lines or 

streams but in depressions in a flat country, are usually closed by a 

different form of dam. There were many of these, and large numbers 

are breached or abandoned and their beds now cultivated. The 

embankments of these flat-country tanks are often of great length, 

not unusually 1 or 2 miles; that of the Veeranum tank is 12 miles 

long, and the ruined bank of the Puniary tank in the Trichniopoly 

district is said to be 30 miles long. The height of these is generally 

inconsiderable, being in many hundreds of cases only sufficient to hold 

from 6 to 10 feet of water. A few of these works, however, are 20 or 

40 or even 50 feet in depth. The inner slope is generally revetted with 

stone and has an inclination sometimes of 1 on 1, oftener of 1 on 2 or 

more. The height of the bank above the water level varies. For
200 IRRIGATION itf IKDIA. fro.*?.

instance, the Nundyal tank has a dam at one place 18 feet high, 2 feet 

above the water level, 16 feet wide on top, with an inside slope of 1 on 

1 and an outside slope of 1 on 2. The Kolevoy tank, in the Nellore 

district, has a bank 36 feet high, extending 9 feet above the water 

level, a top width of 12 feet, and equal slopes inside and outside of 

1 on 1-J.

As the accumulating alluvial deposit made year after year gradually 

raises the beds of tanks, these would become filled up were not some 

expedient adopted from time to time, such as adding to the height of 

the dam. This, however, generally involves an enlargement of the 

cross section as well as the raising of the wasteweirs and the construction of new sluices at higher levels than the one occupied. One 

expedient frequently resorted to successfully is to have the mud 

stirred up by hand at the beginning of the rainy season when the 

flood waters are permitted to carry it off through the discharge sluices. 

This, however, is only partially effective, like the scouring of the 

undersluices in a reservoir.

In central India there are many tanks; their history is rather modern and is very interesting. In 1820 the Mairs, a tribe occupying 

Marwar, Meywar, and Ajmere, were banditti living in the hills, constantly fighting and making raids on the Rajputs and other neighboring tribes. The Mairs lived chiefly by levying blackmail on isolated 

hamlets and on travelers. Col. H. Hill subjugated them, and by the 

establishment of a government, police, etc., caused them to live more 

peaceably and to commence the pursuit of agriculture. In 1835 Colonel Dixon succeeded to the charge of the Mairs and arrived at the 

conclusion that the lack of water, rendering agriculture impossible in 

a country whose rainfall was below 20 inches, was the cause of their 

predatory life. Their history from this time was similar to that of 

the nomad and bandit tribes which occupied the country now irrigated by the Sirhind Canal in the Punjab. Colonel Dixon commenced 

by causing the construction of terraced irrigation lands by means of 

retaining dikes, and of tanks by means of earth or masonry dams.

Having been furnished with an abundant water supply for fertilizing 

the crops, the Mairs have, owing to this enlightened policy of Colonel 

Dixon, now become peaceful and industrious cultivators. The small 

tanks furnish water for irrigation below them and water for wells 

near them, and when the water is drawn off their beds are cultivated, 

and, being very fertile and moist from the deposition of sediment, produce excellent crops. These tanks now support a large population 

and produce considerable revenues.

The following table exhibits the principal dimensions of some of 

the Mairwara tank embankments and weirs: a

a Smith, E. Baird, Italian Irrigation, William Blackwood & Sons, London, 1855, vol. 1, p. 430.
WILSON.] TANKS. 201

Dimensions of some of the Mairwara embankments and weirs.

Name.

Juwaja (escape weir added to

Length of embankment 

wall or 

weir.

Feet. 

630

.351^ 

533 

3,369 

460 

340 

343 

575 

954 

1,333

Breadth 

In foundation.

Feet. 

37

38 

10J 

43 

35 

30 

13* 

39 

5 

31

At upper 

surface.

Feet. 

10

3J 

6

4i

7 

et

3i

Depth 

of foundation.

Feet. 

9

6 

0 

OtolO 

10 

8 

10 

30 

6 

19

Height 

above foundation.

Feet. 

24

16 

18 

28 

38 

36 

30 

24 

14 

16

Spread 

of 

water.

Acres.

183

318 

35 

183 

94 

73 

73 

318 

36 

145

Area irrigated, including 

cultivation in 

bed.

Acres. 

304

364 

36 

437 

350 

109 

39 

373 

83 

338

Cost.

$3,135

1,890 

1,100 

8,375 

3,135 

3,000 

1,380 

810

The following table exhibits the results of some of the works detailed 

above, showing the increase in number of families, of wells, and of 

village tanks, etc., during eleven years preceding the preparation of 

Colonel Dixon's report, 1835 to 1846:

Results of Maimvara embankments.

Name of village.

Kabra.._. -..........-_ ...

Kalee Kunkar , . . _ _ . . .

Burar -___-_____...________

Increase in number of -

Families.

38 to 133 

25 to 122 

0 to 118 

70 to 440

Wells.

3 to 46 

8 to 28 

Oto25 

131 to 301

Village 

tanks.

0 to 81 

OtolS 

Otol4

Increase in 

revenue.

$235 to $1, 

125 to 

Oto 

1,925 to 4,

030 

895 

545 

425

The following table shows the whole number of tank embankments 

constructed in Mairwara up to the date of the report:

Tank embankments in Mainvara.

Districts.

Ajmeer Mairwara _____ .... ........... .. ...

Mewar Mairwara __.. _ . _._ . . ....

Total ......................._.......... 

Number of embankments and 

weirs.

158

120

12

290

Spread of 

water in 

bed.

Acres. 

6,323

3,077

275

9,675

Area irrigated, including cultivation in 

bed.

Acres. 

10, 557

3,960

309

14, 826
202 TEEIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

From the above it will be seen that between the years 1835 to 1846 

the increase in the number of wells was from 2,230 to 6,150, or 3,920. 

The increase in the number of tanks was from nothing to 2,065; the 

estimated population increased 60,000 (from 40,000 to 100,000), and the 

revenue increased from $48,000 to $105,000, or $57,000. The estimated 

sums expended under the sanction of the government in all Mairwara 

during the same period of years was $125,000, while the aggregate 

increase in land revenue for the same period amounted to $320,000.

Lieutenant Home, in 1868,a reported on six principal tanks in Mairwara the average capacity of which ranged from 920 to 2,400 acre-feet. 

The total outlay on these to the end of the year 1865 was $40,000. The 

net income to the end of the same year was $2,000, or a net gain varying between 1 and 12 per cent. The results of Lieutenant Home's 

inspections showed that not only have Colonel Dixon's works enormously benefited the country, but they have returned the government 

150 per cent on the expenditure incurred. The whole of the six tanks 

especially mentioned paid nearly 10 per cent on the capital invested.

In Mysore in southern India there are 37,000 tanks, of which Sir 

Robert Temple says:

Wherever there is a depression in the land an embankment with a wasteweir 

and a sluice is thrown across it. The water is held up above it, and below it a few 

acres are sown with rice and sugar cane, and irrigated by means of sluices. A 

few yards lower down the depression comes another, and so on, increasing in size 

as they go on until a series of tanks may consist of more than one hundred all connected together, the overflow from the wasteweir of each being the chief feeder 

of the one below it and the stream that issues from the wasteweir of the bottom 

one being a river in magnitude. The tanks at the top of the series are mere ponds 

and those at the bottom are often good-sized lakes, and the area irrigated by these 

is frequently very large.

In Madras Presidency, including Mysore, there are said to be about 

75,000 tanks. All of the smaller tanks are repaired either by the villages or by the landowner. The smaller tanks are used during-the 

rainy season chiefly in order to keep up a constant supply of water for 

the fields during the intermission of the rainfalls. The larger tanks 

contain water supply sufficient often for one year and sometimes for 

several years. In Mysore, early in 1866, Major Sankey 5 reported that 

the percentage of the whole area of Mysore under the tank system was 

59.7, while the total area of the state is 27,300 square miles. Unless 

under exceptional circumstances, none of the drainage of 60 per cent 

of this area or 16,300 square miles is allowed to escape, or rather 

should, with proper attention, be allowed to escape, were all existing 

works in their normal condition. To such an extent has the principle 

of storage been followed that it would now require some ingenuity to 

discover a site within this great area suitable for a new tank. In 1854 

Major Sankey said that'' one-third of the tanks then existing in Mysore

"Home, Lieut. F., E. E., Tank irrigation in Ajmeer and Mairwara: Koorkee Professional 

Papers, No. 289, Roorkee, India.

b Sankey, Maj. E.H.,B. E., Irrigationin Mysore: Roorkee Professional Paperson Indian Engineering, Roorkee, India.
WILSON.] TANKS. 208

were large irrigating reservoirs." He found about one tank to the 

square mile and one village to the same area; the average quantity of 

cultivation was about 10 acres to a tank. In this area there are some 

great tanks, such as the Mudduck and Nuggar tanks mentioned elsewhere.

The ordinary Mysore tank is, however, a much smaller description 

of work, usually closed by a low and long dam; an average one being 

about 12 feet broad at top, 60 feet wide at bottom, and 18 feet high. 

In this description of tank the sluice is usually a large, substantial, 

and not infrequently expensive work. It consists of a square brick or 

stone cistern, 2 yards each way and 1 yard high, tol keep off the sand 

at the entrance of the sluice, with one or more valves or plug holes in 

a stone at the bottom, from 6 inches to a foot in diameter each. The 

valve is attached to a long pole which is held in an upright position 

by 2 or 4 vertical stone pillars, to which horizontal projections are 

attached, one at top and another midway down, through a hole in the 

center of which the valve rod works. The pressure of the water upon 

the top of the valve keeps it sufficiently tight when lowered into the valve 

hole to prevent the escape of water. At the rear of the dam another 

cistern of about the same dimensions, and usually of brick in mortar, 

is built, three sides of which are furnished with square openings and 

shutters to permit the water being turned off. The two cisterns are 

connected by a tunnel, the length of which depends upon the cross 

section of the dam through which it is laid.

Most tanks receive their supply from the high ground in the neighborhood; but there are exceptions to this, as numerous tanks are 

partly supplied by channels, either from water courses or canals, which 

wind around remote hills and catch the rain flowing down their sides 

and convey it to the tanks. A single tank may possess several feeders 

of this kind. Many old tanks which had failed during the early native 

government have been restored by the British engineers; others which 

were decayed have been repaired, and a few which were tolerable have 

been put in perfect order. None of these irrigation works have deteriorated since the British took possession, and their condition on the 

whole has been greatly improved. Judging from various reports the 

works are probably now in a more effective condition than at any 

other time of which we have a record, and the increase in efficiency 

has apparently kept pace with the increased liberality in the expenditure, taking no account of the great rise in labor rates of late years.

In the Madras Presidency mainly, exclusive of Mysore, there were 

reported in 1882 to be 53,000 tanks, having about 30,000 miles of 

embankments and 300,000 separate masonry works, weirs, escapes, 

etc., yielding a revenue of $7,500,000 per annum, and having invested 

in them a capital of $75,000,000. In 1882 the area irrigated for first or 

wet-weather crop amounted to 2,525,790 acres, and the area of autumn 

crop irrigated in the same year by tanks amounted to 675,400 acres. 

Some of these Madras tanks are, as before stated, of immense size.
204 IBBIGATIOW ItfDIA. [NO. 87.

The Virainum tank, which is a very ancient work, has an area of 35 

square miles and an embankment 12 miles long. It is still in full 

operation and returns an annual revenue of $57,000. The Cheinbrarnbaukam tank in Chingliput is so large that it resembles a great natural 

lake. Its embankment is more than 3 miles long, and its wasteways 

have a total length of 676 feet of escape. Its gross capacity is 63,780 

acre-feet, its surface area is 8.95 square miles, or 5,730 acres, and it 

irrigates of wet-weather crop 12,760 acres, and of autumn crop 3,200 

acres. The dam which closes this reservoir ranges from 9 to 28 feet 

in thickness at the top, and from 16 to 28 feet in height, and is constructed of earth. It supplies irrigation to the fields by means of ten 

separate sluiceways. In 1882 the capital invested in this work had 

reached $312,000, and the revenue for that year amounted to $16,300.

Some of the most interesting tanks to be found in India, because 

they are the most modern, are several of the great tanks recently constructed in the Bombay Presidency, which are more truly reservoirs 

than tanks, as the latter term fails to convey a proper idea of their 

magnitude and importance. Of these, the more important and interesting now in operation are the Ekruk tank near Sholapur, and the 

Ashti tank, also in the Sholapur district, and constructed on the Asliti 

River.

The following table gives some of the more important data connected 

with these tanks, and is derived from the Bombay revenue report for 

1900-1901:

Tanks in Bombay Presidency.

Available contents _ _ . _ _ ...

Surface area __________________

Area commanded _ _ _ --_-___

Area irrigated _ _ _ _________

Main canal . _ _ __ ________

Height of dam ___ __ __ _____

Total cost --_._ . -____ -. _.

Area irrigated: 

Autumn _ _ _ __ _______

Summer ___ ___ _____ _

Total ______ ._---__-._.__

Discharge utilized . . _ _ _ _ _

Area of autumn crop irrigated 

of discharge utilized .........

. ____. acre-feet .

-- -----.acres 

......... ..do.. _.

.____.. ___.do____

 -_.. miles..

.____._____do-___

.______. ___feet_-

.. ..-.--dollars--

.__________do-___

____.. __,-_do____

_ . . second-feet

per second-foot 

._ ------- .acres. _

Ekruk.

159

30.7

76, 130

4, 551 

17, 152

16, 941

48

76

953, 000

1,620

1,355

2,975

1 2 

33.3

40.8

Asliti.

92

26.7

32, 660

2,380 

17,882

11,780

27

2

57.7

278, 000

989

1,440

2,420

6.3

9.2

155.8

Mhaswad.

480

22.8

62, 500

4,014 

129,045

24,800

66

33

79.8

1,175,000

4,947

9,414

14,361

18

65

106
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SUfiVEV

EKRUK TANK.

WILSON.] TANKS. 205

EKRUK TANK.

The catchment area of the Ekruk tank is 159 square miles, on which 

the annual rainfall averages 24.7 inches and the run-off 41,400 acrefeet, or 4.87 inches per square mile. The rainfall on the irrigable 

lands served by this tank averages 22.8 inches per annum, the duty 

of the water supplied during the four months' autumn, crop was 76 

acres per second-foot, and the water rate charged on th^land served 

during the year 1888 was 86 cents per acre irrigated or $73 per secondfoot of discharge at the canal head. The crops raised in 1888 were 

distributed about as follows:

Crops raised on land irrigated from EJcruJc tank.

Wheat-__--

Sugar ------

Millet.----.

Beans

Total,

Crop.

-

including all others ._...... ________ . .........

Acres.

337

260

344

537

2,976

Value.

$3, 100

17, 300

2,307

2,700

38, 000

This work was undertaken by the Indian government and is situated 5 miles northeast of the town of Sholapur. The scheme, drawn 

up in 1863 and sanctioned in 1866, comprises a tank formed by an 

earthen dam and supplying three canals for irrigation. It receives 

its water supply from the River Adhila, a tributary of the Lina, the 

fall of which is 7 feet per mile, and its greatest flood discharge is 

37,000 second-feet. The dam which forms the tank has a total length 

of 7,200 feet, including 2,730 feet of masonry, of which 1,400 feet is at 

the northern end and 1,330 feet at the southern end. The maximum 

height of the earthwork above the bed of the Adhila River is 72 feet, 

or 7 feet above the highest flood line. The height of the masonry 

portion is 3 feet above the highest flood, exclusive of 3 feet of parapet 

above that. When full the maximum depth of the tank is 60 feet, and 

its contents 41,700 acre-feet of water, the surface area of which is 6J 

square miles. The wasteway is at the northern end of the dam, and 

consists of a channel 250 feet wide carried through a spur and discharging into a side drainage course. The calculated maximum 

velocity over the wasteway is 10 feet per second, and its capacity of 

discharge is 250 by 5 by 10 = 12,500 second-feet. The depth of evaporation during eight months is 7 feet, and the loss amounts to 17,250 

acre-feet.

This tank has three discharge canals. The accompanying PI. XXVI 

gives some details of this work. The lowest or perennial canal is 28 

miles long, and its sill is 20 feet above the level of the bottom of the 

tank. Its discharge amounts to 44 second-feet and it covers an irri-
206 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

gable area of 25 square miles. The next canal above this is intended 

to provide a four months' supply of water; it is 18 miles long, discharges 42 second-feet, and covers an irrigable area of 21 square miles 

of land. The highest canal is also calculated for a four months' supply, and is 4 miles long and discharges 21 second-feet of water. The 

discharge of one of these four-months' canals is compensated for by 

the supply of rain received during the rainy season. The lower perennial canal is taken from the left bank, the second canal from the 

right bank, and the higher canal from the left bank. The discharge 

sluice at the head of the perennial canal consists of a masonry tunnel 

through the canal bank, with a substantial masonry inlet tower on the 

water side. The diameter of the tunnel through the dam is 12 feet, 

and its total length is 200 feet. The discharge sluices for the fourmonths' canals consist of an iron pipe 145 feet in length and 5 feet in 

diameter through the dam, which is closed at the lower side by means 

of a valve worked by hand gear from above.

According to the revenue report for 1900-1901, the total outlay on the 

Ekruk tank to the end of that year amounted to $953,000, the total 

receipts from irrigation during the year were $3,040, and the gross 

receipts from all sources amounted to $8,030; the total working 

expenses amouted to $2,660, showing a net revenue of $5,370, equivalent to 1.2 per cent on the capital outlay. As originally designed, 

this work was estimated to yield a net revenue of 9 per cent on the 

capital expended. Its failure to do this is largely due to the small 

demand for the water, owing to the natural rainfall on the district 

served being ordinarily sufficient to raise crops without irrigation.

ASHTI TANK.

The catchment area of this tank is 92 square miles, and the rainfall 

over this area averages 24.1 inches per annum; the run-off amounts to 

8,000 acre-feet per annum, or 1.62 inches per square mile. The rainfall on the irrigable lands served by the tank averages 19.8 inches per 

annum. The project comprises a tank on the Ashti River, formed by 

an earthen dam 12,709 feet long and 58 feet in maximum height, having a total storage capacity of 34,500 acre-feet of water. There are two 

discharge canals, one on each side of the Ashti River, which extend 

to its junction with the Bhima River and command 25,270 acres of 

irrigable land.

This work is situated in the Sholapur district, about 16 miles southwest of the town of Madha. The project was originally prepared by 

Capt. C. B. Penny, R. E., in 1869. In 1876, when the great famine 

was imminent and the prosecution of relief works was urgently called 

for, this was one of the first works undertaken for that purpose. The 

project (fig. 58) was then thoroughly revised and complete plans and 

estimates prepared by Mr. Charles T. Burke a under the orders of Col.

a Burke, Charles T., The Ashti tank: Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. 76, 

part 2,1883, London.
ASHTT TANK. 207

C. J. Merriman, R. E., chief engineer. The available capacity of the 

tank is 32,660 acre-feet, and to furnish this quantity a run-off of 6.3 

inches per annum would be required from the catchment basin. The 

run-off during an average season is but 6 inches, or 4.87 per cent of 

the available capacity of the tank. The features of the ground, however, do not admit of the capacity of the tank being reduced, as the 

level of full supply was regulated by the only saddle available for the 

wasteway. Had that been lowered the quantity of rock excavation 

necessary would have cost more than the earthwork required to raise 

the dam, besides which there is manifestly an advantage in making 

the reservoir of large capacity if it can be done without increased 

expense.

PANDHARPDR

PIG. 58. The Ashti tank and canals.

The loss by evaporation, absorption, etc., was estimated at 4 feet in 

depth on half the area at full-supply level. From actual experiment 

after the completion of the work it was found that the loss from evaporation in 1880 during the six winter months of dry weather was 3.8 

feet; deducting this quantity the net supply of water available for 

irrigation is 25,300 acre-feet.

The total length of the dam is 12,709 feet. Its top breadth is 6 feet, 

its breadth at full-supply level is 42 feet; the side slopes above this 

point are 1 on 1^ below it, the inner slope is 1 on 3, and the outer 

slope 10112. Previous to its construction the site of the dam throughout was cleared of vegetable and loose material, and the sand and silt 

were removed from th.e entire area forming the site of the dam in the
208 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

river bed. Thus the dam throughout rested upon a sound and firm 

foundation. There is no puddle wall, but a puddle trench, the filling 

of which rises 1 foot above the ground surface, extends throughout 

the whole length of the dam, and is 10 feet in width, and has been 

excavated down to a compact impervious bed. Its composition is 2

parts sand and 3 parts of black soil. 

The central third of the dam is built 

up of selected material of black soil, 

extending, as shown in the accompanying illustration (fig. 59), in a triangular 

section, from the dam crest, where it is 

6 feet wide, to the base, where it is 60 

feet wide. Outside of this are two triangular sections composed of the brown 

soil of the country, and this is faced 

outside with from 1 to 15 feet of puddle 

of sand and black soil, while a similar 

puddle on the inner slope is paved with 

6 inches of large stone pitching to enable it to resist wave action. Across 

the river bed a trench 5 feet in width 

was excavated along the entire length 

of the dam down to the rock and extending 100 feet into the banks of the 

river. On each side this was filled with 

concrete and was connected with the 

puddle trench. The puddle trench was 

curved around the concrete wall and 

continued across the river at a distance 

of 20 feet from the concrete wall on the 

upstream side.

The following procedure was adopted 

in completing the foundation of the dam 

in the river bed. The puddle trench 

and concrete wall having been finished 

during the dry season, measures were 

taken to utilize the floods of the ensuing rainy season to assist in clearing 

away the sand, silt, etc., from the site 

in the river bed. Piers of loose rubblestoiie were disposed in rows upon

the upstream side of the site; these were about 5 feet in diameter 

and were placed about 40 feet apart. During breaks in the wet 

weather the sand to be removed was plowed and thus more readily 

acted upon by the scouring action of the floods, which flowed with 

a high velocity through the contracted water area between the piers
WILSON.] ASHTI TANK. 209

and caused the removal of a large quantity of sand from the site at a 

small expenditure. A low dam of dry rubble work was then constructed across the river about 100 feet above the site to prevent it 

from again being silted up, and during the dry season the work was 

carried up in the ordinary manner.

The pitching given to the inner slope of the dam was calculated as 

follows :

The thickness of the pitching depends upon the greatest height of 

the waves to which the dam is exposed, and the maximum height of 

the waves depends upon the "fetch" or distance from the shore 

where their formation commences and was determined by Stevenson's 

formula

where x = the height of wave in feet, F = the fetch in nautical miles. 

Again, Rankin states that where an embankment of loose stone is 

exposed to the action of waves it must be faced with blocks set by 

hand, the least dimension of any block in the facing being not less 

than two-thirds of the greatest way height. From these two considerations the thickness of the pitching was deduced.

The cross section of the Ashti dam is considered to be amply strong 

in every way, yet Mr. Burke deems it well to consider whether in 

works of such magnitude the adoption of a more liberal cross section 

would not be advisable. He says that the Ekruk tank dam has a top 

breadth unnecessarily great and not uniform, as it is diminished in 

proportion to the height. This does not improve the appearance of 

the dam, is unnecessary under any circumstances, and involves an 

increased outlay. The top breadth of the Ashti dam is too narrow, 

for, although sufficient in strength, Mr. Burke considers it objectionable for various reasons. A dam of this kind would warrant, if but 

for appearance alone, as well as for the convenience afforded by a 

roadway, a small outlay to increase its top breadth sufficiently. In 

preparing the plans of the Pangoan tank which was subsequently 

designed by Mr. Burke, the top breadth was increased to 8 feet, and 

even this appears insufficient for a dam 77 feet in height. Mr. Burke 

recommends the following as a minimum top width for works of this 

nature in India: For earthen dams 50 feet in height and over, top 

breadth to be 10 feet ; under 50 feet in height, 8 feet. In the course 

of time settling may occur in dams constructed wholly of earth, rendering repairs and renewals necessary. In the first ten years after 

the completion of the Ekruk dam, 24- feet in depth of new material 

was added to its top, and this could not have been properly rolled 

solid if the roadway had not been sufficiently wide for compression by 

a heavy roller.

The change of inclination from 1 on 2 to 1 on 1^ of the outer slope 

of the Ashti dam is undesirable. As regards the inner slope, the incline 87 03 U
210 IBKIGATIOISr IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

nation of 1 on 3 up to the level of the estimated maximum flood 

appears to be good. This should then change in tanks to 1 011 1A to 

the top of the dam. It is a matter for consideration whether the upper 

part should not be 1 on 1, rather than 1 on li. It would probably be 

an advantage, Mr. Burke thinks, that waves should be reflected rather 

than broken on the slope, and on the authority of Mr. Scott Russellit 

appears that a slope of 1 on 1 will reflect waves, while on flatter slopes 

they are broken. The cross section recommended by Mr. Burke for 

general adoption in India is as follows : The height of the dam above 

the full-supply level, or the crest of the weir, is h=d+x+c; in which 

d = the depth of water in the tank above the weir-crest level when a 

maximum flood is flowing over the weir; x = the height of the top of 

pitching above the surface of the maximum flood in the tank, found 

by the formula previously given ; and c = a constant of the value of 2 

or 3 feet according to circumstances that is, the vertical height of 

the top of the dam above the top of the pitching.

The wasteway of the Ashti dam consists of a channel having a clear 

width of 800 feet excavated through a saddle in the high ridge constituting the western boundary of the tank. The bed of this channel, 

which is excavated in rock, is Level for a mean length of about 600 

feet and then falls away, with a slope of 1 in 100, toward the Rapla 

Torrent, into which the flood waters are discharged, and thus pass into 

another valley distinct from that draining the tank. The discharge 

capacity of this wasteway is 48,000 second-feet, which will cause the 

water to rise 7 feet above its sill, or within 5 feet of the top of the dam. 

The discharge capacity of the wasteway was calculated as follows : 

L=width of channel=800 feet. 

d2=the depth of water in the channel=3.5 feet.

The surface slope of the channel being 1 in 100, the mean velocity 

is as follows :

v = 92.2Qj-xd2 = 17.25 feet per second

and the corresponding discharge is 48,300 second-feet. The head of 

water in the tank necessary to cause a discharge of this volume was 

determined by the formula

D=Cd L fi, X

where d,3 is the depth of the channel and the constant (7=75.

The Ashti tank was designed as a minor productive work, the total 

outlay on which to the end of 1901 amounted to $278,000. The revenues from irrigation in that year amounted to $1,780 and the gross 

revenues to $2,040. The working expenses during the same time 

amounted to $14,500. This excess expenditure, however, was largely 

due to additional works. There was earned, in fact, a net revenue 

of 1.46 per cent oii the capital outlay.
WILSON.] STORAGE WORKS. 211

TANK DAMS.

General Mullins in his Manual of Irrigation a lays down some different rules for the top width and various dimensions of an earthen 

dam from those above quoted from Mr. Burke. He says that the top 

width of an earth dam should not be less than 4f feet anywhere, and 

Avhile that width will suffice for the ends of dams of comparatively 

shallow tanks, the width at the deeper part of these should be 

increased to 6 feet. From 9 to 12 feet will be a proper top width for 

larger dams, and for very large ones one-fourth of the depth of the 

water is the prescribed minimum for the deeper parts and 8 feet at 

the ends. The top of the dam, the upstream slope of which is revetted, 

should always slope toward the rear edge, so that the rainfall may 

flow off down the rear slope and not on the revetment, with the risk 

of washing out the back of the latter; 1 on 16 for earth and 1 on 24 

for gravel will be suitable grades for this top slope. The grade of the 

interior or front slope will depend upon the description of protection 

against wash to be provided, revetted slopes ranging from one-third 

to 1^ on 1; for shingle, slopes of 1 on 2 or 2^ are suitable. The gradient for the exterior or rear slope will vary according to the nature of 

the soil from 1 on 1^, which is the steepest allowable, to 1 on 3.

In southern India at or near the center of the dam is considered the 

best position for a puddle wall. It is of primary importance that the 

wall should not crack during the considerable periods of each year 

that the tanks are either dry or the water in them is at a low level. 

The material most used for puddle walls in Madras is clay of the 

description used for tile making. It is well tempered and a puddle 

made not too wet. Any excess of moisture beyond th,at needed to 

allow of the entire wall being worked into a homogeneous mass increases 

the risks arising from settlement. The top width given to puddle 

walls, whatever their height, is about 2 feet, and the top level is made 

from 1 to 2 feet below the level of the top of the dam. Batters of from 

6 on 1 to 8 on 1 are given to the faces of the puddle wall. The thickness of the wall at the base, that is, at the ground level, is usually

27i found by the formula 2+^- in which li is the height from the ground

to the top of the wall and 6 is the batter. The foundation of the wall 

is frequently of concrete down to an adequate depth below the ground 

surface, viz, to 1 foot at least in clay or impervious soil and to 4 feet 

in more or less pervious soils. The cross section of the foundation 

trench is made as wide at top as the base of the puddle wall and somewhat narrower at the bottom, being cut with side slopes of 3 or 4 on 1. 

In revetting water slopes of dams a suitable backing of small stone 

and gravel is always placed beneath the revetment of uncemented 

stone.

« Mulling, Lieut. Gen. J., Irrigation Manual, E. & F. N. Spon, London and New York, 1890.
212 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

In designing the surplus weirs or wasteways the quantity of water 

to be gotten rid of must first be ascertained. The length of weir 

required is usually ascertained in Madras either from tables or by 

calculation with the formula for weirs :

D=Lxf cd

which, with c .6075 (a value applicable to very many tank works) becomes D=3.25 L V(?35 in which D is equal to the discharge in secondfeet ; c is a coefficient, the value of which varies with the form of; the 

weir, but seldom exceeds 0.65; d is the maximum depth in feet of 

water to be allowed to pass over the weir, and 2gr is a consonant 

representing the force of gravity.

As of interest, showing how even earthen dams which are constructed in a most substantial manner may slip or subside from some 

unexpected cause, the following is a description of the slips which 

occurred in the Ekruk and Ashti dams. The full-supply level of the 

Ekruk dam has a thickness of 91 feet, and at the maximum calculated flood level its thickness is 41 feet. From the date of its completion in 1869 until September, 1872, the dam was perfectly sound and 

in good order, but in that month excessive rain fell all over that part 

of the country in which the dam is situated. From 9 to 14 inches of 

rain were gaged at different places in the catchment area between 

the 19th and 23d. The water on this occasion rose to 6 feet over the 

crest of the waste weir and at the same time three slips occurred in 

the rear slope of the dam. Colonel Fife, the chief engineer, at once visited the tank and reported that the slope of the embankment where 

the earth had slipped or been washed down was not vertical, but was 

about 45°, and this for about 10 feet only, after which it became flatter. 

No leakage whatever was observed through the dam. Prior to this 

accident dry stone drains had been constructed at an angle down the 

rear slope to carry off the rains and prevent scouring of the embankments ; it was thought that these drains at the site of the slips had 

become choked or had sunk, owing to the saturated condition of the 

soil, and had thus allowed the water to accumulate and escape, washing away the earth below. These drains on the slope were accordingly 

done away with, the dam was carefully made up to its original section, berms were constructed to weight the toe of the dam at the sites 

of the slips, and surface drains were cut to carry off the slight leakage 

under the dam.

No further accident occurred to this dam until the summer of 1883, 

when another slip took place, coincident with heavy rain on the catchment basin. The position of this slip was directly in continuation of 

one of the slips of 1872, the rear half of the dam having for an. average length of 188 feet subsided vertically about 8 feet. This portion 

of the embankment was founded principally on black soil which had
WILSON.] TANK DAMS. 213

become saturated, resembling a pulpy mass, and had been forced 

upward by the pressure of the dam. To remedy this a dry stone 

retaining and draining wall was constructed at the toe of the dam at 

the side of the slope. This wall was sunk 8 feet into the ground and 

was 10 feet wide at the bed; cross drains were also cut to drain this 

in the direction of the creek below the bank, and a counterfort or 

berm 45 feet wide and 10 feet in height was raised on the toe of the 

embankment to counteract, by its weight, the tendency to bulge 

upward.

Early in November, 1883, owing to excessive rains, the water in the 

Ashti tank rose 1 foot over the crest of the waste weir; shortly after 

a small horizontal crack about 40 feet in length was observed in the 

pitching on the front slope, and it was immediately repaired by removing the stones, tamping the bank, and relaying the pitching. About 

a week later a crack 3 inches wide and 4 inches deep was found in 

the rear of the slope. This crack had a horizontal length of about 60 

feet and ran down the slope to a level of about 10 feet below fullsupply mark. It was at once repaired, but on the following day it 

reopened, when a settlement at the top of the dam was observed. 

From this time for several days 

the top continued to subside and 

the ground at the toe of the dam 

to bulge upward. Equilibrium 

was not established until a week 

later. The total settlement of

,, , /..IT , Flf*. 60. Asnti dam slips. the top or the dam amounted to

16 feet, bringing it 4 feet below the full-supply level of the tank; the

pitched slope, however, remained intact up to about 4 feet above this

level.

The causes of the slips resemble in a measure those of the slips at 

the Ekruk tank. A considerable length of the dam is founded on a 

clay soil, with nodules of dirty lime in it, and generally contains a 

quantity of alkali which causes it to become semifluid when soaked 

with water. It is probable that at the site of the slope the excavation 

for the puddle trench had not been made quite deep enough to prevent leakage of water under it. The length of the slipped portion at 

the top was 155 feet. The dam at this point is 44.3 feet in height and 

at the time of the accident the water was standing 31.7 feet deep at 

this point.

The permanent corrective measures adopted after the cessation of 

the movement were the digging of a trench at the toe of the rear slope 

which was filled with bowlders and broken stone (fig. 60), as was 

done for the Ekruk darn, heaping the excavated material and other 

earth on to the bulged-up ground to counterbalance the lifting action, 

remaking the dam to its original section, and adding earth and broken 

stone to give additional weight to the rear slope. The drainage trench
214 IRRIGATION LN INDIA. [NO. 87.

has been extended along the slope wherever the foundation was thought 

to be treacherous and this has been supplemented by additional drains, 

similar in character and running parallel to it, and two counterforts 

or berms have been added to the slope all along the rear portion of the 

dam, about 700 or 800 feet in length, to weigh the toe.

COMBINED STORAGE AND CANAL SYSTEMS.

Several combined storage and canal systems have already been 

described in their proper places. The Mra project, the Betwa system, the Periyar system, and the larger tanks just described are all 

combined systems of storage works and irrigating canals. There are 

two other combined systems which differ from these in their general 

characteristics and should be described as of peculiar interest. One is 

the Palar anicut system in Madras, whereby the water from the Palar 

River is furnished to a number of tanks by means of main and branch 

supply channels and is stored in these tanks until wanted for purposes 

of irrigation. The other is the Zhara Karez irrigation scheme in 

Beluchistan, by which a number of small detached tanks) situated in 

the bottom lands adjacent to the Machka Torrent are filled by a tunnel intercepting the subsurface flow and by channels taken from the 

torrent to the tanks during portions of the year when there is running 

water in the stream.

PALAR ANICUT SYSTEM.

The Palar anicut or wier was originally designed to give an improved 

supply to old channels which fed a series of old native tanks. It is 

situated on the Palar River, 4 miles below the town of Arcot, and has 

a catchment basin above it of 3,974 square miles, the maximum flood 

discharge from which is 25,000 second-feet. Anicut is a Tamil word 

which means literally wier, and the Palar anicut is a simple diversion wier constructed across the Palar River whereby water is diverted 

on both banks of the river into the supply canals which head above 

the wier.

The irrigation which commenced in 1853 with an area of 9,000 acres 

of wet-weather irrigation and 700 acres of dry-weather irrigation 

extended until 1882, when, there was an area of 66,700 acres of wetweather and of 20,600 acres of dry-weather irrigation. The net revenue derived from the system previous to the end of 1882, including 

the enhanced land revenue, was $290,000 or 36.5 per cent on the 

amount of direct charges. The amount of interest charged to the 

same date, however, was $670,000.

The weir itself (fig. 62) is 2,634 feet in length between wing walls 

and 7 feet high with a vertical fall, and is founded on a suitable row 

of circular wells. There are three aprons, the first of cut stone in 

mortar 36 feet wide, and the third of dry rubblestone 30 feet wide. 

The under sluices on the north side of the river consist of 22 vents of 

5 by 5 feet each, those on the south side of 10 vents of the same
WILSON.] PALAR ANICUT SYSTEM. 215

dimensions. The weir was breached for a length of 1,015 feet by the 

floods of October, 1874, previous to its final reconstruction. The 

channels on the north are the Mahendravadi channel supplying the 

tank of the same name, and the main channel which branches into 

two supply channels, one at 3 miles from the head and the other at 

21 miles from the weir. From this last channel other branches are 

taken off which terminate in various tanks. On the south side are 

three channels. The project has not realized the anticipations originally formed because the supply in the river bed was overestimated, 

besides which there were considerable defects in the channels themselves as originally laid out.

The water records show that on an average there are 273.7 days 

yearly on which no water is registered. The northern channels

FIG. 61. Palar anlcut system, showing main channels and offtakes.

receive a full supply when there is 5^ feet on the sill of the weir under 

sluices, and the southern channels not until there is 7 feet on that side.

The Palar River rises on the Mysore plateau and runs into the ocean 

after a course of about 220 miles. There is extensive irrigation from 

it by means of river channels, which are chiefly provided with masonry 

heads. The weir supplying the system here described is built at the 

one hundred and fifty-second mile, and is situated about 4 miles 

below the famous town and fort of Arcot. The drainage basin of the 

river to this point is about 3,974 square miles, the maximum flood 

discharge about 25,000 second-feet, and the maximum depth of flow 

passing over the weir 6.75 feet, as before stated.

There is little or no direct irrigation from the main or branch channels. In almost every case the water is first let into the tanks in 

which it is stored. These are frequently of large size, as the Kaveripak tank on the northern and the Dusi Mamandur on the southern 

side, which irrigate 5,870 and 3,050 acres, respectively. As at pres-
216 IKKIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

ent constructed, 

irrigating 38,260 

irrigating 14,750

feet during the 

65,000 acre-feet, 

the area capable

the system contains on the northern side 127 tanks

acres, or about 300 acres per tank; and 74 tanks

acres, or nearly 200 acres per tank, on the southern

side. Only a portion 

of these, however, are 

filled by river water, 

many of them receiving 

large supplies from the 

local drainage, which 

is conveyed to them by 

various channels.

The Palar River is an 

extremely objectionable 

one for the supply of a 

large irrigation system. 

The northern head 

sluices receive a full 

supply only during an 

average of 22.6 days in 

each year, as the latter 

are 1^ feet above the 

sills of the northern 

sluices. The carrying 

capacity of the northern 

main canal is not more 

than 3,140 second-feet. 

It is 215 feet wide, carries 4 feet in depth of 

water, and has a fall of 

3 feet per mile. The 

southern main canal is 

113 feet wide, carries 4 

feet in depth of water, 

and has a fall of 6 feet 

per mile with a discharge of 2,300 secondfeet. Combining these 

results with the number 

of days during which 

the water supply is 

available it will be seen 

that the northern channel carries 140,000 acreperiod of full supply and the southern channel 

These are assumed as the volumes which determine 

of being irrigated.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. £7 PL. XXVII

A. RUSSELLKONDA HEAD SLUICE.

B. RUSSELLKONDA DAM.

WILSON.] COMBUSTED STORAGE AND CANAL SYSTEM. 217 

RUSSELLKONDA TANK, RUSHIKULYA PROJECT.

The Rushikulya irrigation system consists of two canals drawn 

from the Rivers Mahanadi and Rushikulya, which are tapped by anicuts built at the heads of those canals, and the supply further supplemented from two reservoirs, the Russellkonda and Sarada. The 

Russellkonda is formed by damming up a valley in the basin of the 

Mahanadi and supplying it by an aiiicut and channel from the Gulleri 

River, one of the affluents of the Mahanadi. The Surada reservoir is 

constructed across the Pathama River, one of the affluents of the 

Rushikulya. The length of the Mahanadi canal is 19 miles, while 

that of the Rushikulya to the Chatrapur-Berhampur road is 57 miles.

The dam (PL XXVII, B) is entirely of earth, carefully worked in 

layers with a puddle wall through the center and carried up to within 

25 feet of the top of the bund, as it was considered essential to continue it above a point where there was less than 15 feet of water 

pressure at F. T. L. The front slope is carried up on an average of 

two-thirds of the height of the dam at a slope of 2:1 and from that 

point at a slope of 1:1, and revetted with stone-pitching 2|- inches in 

thickness. The rear slope is 2^:1 up to the same height and then is 

brought up in the ratio of 1^: 1. The rear slope is turfed throughout 

with a berm varying from 10 to 50 feet wide at the point where the 

break in ratio of slope occurs. The settlement throughout has been 

perfectly uniform, and no slips or dangerous percolation have as yet 

occurred. The maximum height of the dam is 75 feet and depth of 

water 58 feet. Its contents at F. T. L. will be 2,295 millions of cubic 

feet, and it can be supplied from the Gulleri River in thirty-eight 

days.

The head-sluice (PI. XXVII, A) is built of table-molded bricks 

and ashlar string courses and ashlar vents. The vents, three in 

number, are closed by cast-steel shutters worked from a platform by 

ordinary screw gearing with ball-friction bearings, and can be raised 

without difficulty by six men against the maximum head of 42 feet of 

water. The aiiicut is of the usual form adopted in the Madras Presidency, with a clear drop wall 6 feet in height, with an upper masonry 

apron, and longitudinal retaining walls, all founded on wells, with a 

packed rough stone and an adjustable loose-stone apron below.

The Mahanadi canal head-sluice and scouring sluices in juxtaposition thereto are built of random rubble and pointed with surki mortar. The sluices are fitted with shutters and screw gearings. The 

Janamalli anicut, built at the rear of the Rushikulya canal, across the 

river of the same name, consists of a main body wall and a sloping 

talus of rough stone, with one longitudinal retaining wall and an 

adjustable loose-stone apron below. The water from the Mahanadi 

canal, being passed into the Rushikulya, is arrested by the anicut and 

diverted through the Rushikulya canal head-sluices, twelve in num-
218 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

ber. The Grodahallow aqueduct, consisting of 15 arches across the 

river of that name, is 40 feet wide and will carry a maximum depth 

of 8 feet of water. The side walls are of random, rubble in surki 

mortar and the arches of brick in surki mortar. A depth not exceeding 3 feet has been passed over it, sufficient for present requirements 

of the irrigation below.

ZHARA KAREZ IRRIGATION PROJECT.

This scheme proposes to store in detached small tanks the water 

supply which runs in the Machka Torrent for a month or so in spring. 

The site of the scheme and the catchment basin of the torrent are in

OLD KA.RE.Z TUNNEL 

NEW KAffEZ TUNNEL ' 

OLD KAREZ CHANNEL ----- 

MEW KAfTEZ CHANNEL =*= =

F>L.A N

5330

S30O

5250

FIG. 63. Zhara Karez irrigation project, Beluchistan.

Beluchistan, in the neighborhood of Kho j ak Pass. In the winter a good 

snow generally falls on the hills and after melting filtrates through the 

shale and runs off in springs lower down. The bed of the torrent has 

a slope seldom, less than 1 in 70 where it leaves the hills; a short distance lower down its bed deepens until it is about 30 feet below the 

surface of the plain. There is no possible site for a large reservoir and 

accordingly five small sites for tanks were selected. About six of the 

last twenty years there has been no winter supply in the stream. In 

summer there are occasional heavy showers, but the floods last but a 

few hours and little or none of their water can be stored. The tanks 

are to be filled by small water courses leading from the stream (fig. 63), 

and,the water will then be utilized about the 1st of May in giving a
WILSON.] ZHARA KAREZ IRRIGATION PROJECT. 219

SKETCH

or

KlLA ABDULLATUNNEL

final watering to rain-sown wheat crops, as the spring rains are generally sufficient up to that time. When empty, the beds of the tanks 

will be utilized for small 

crops without irrigation. 

There are no distributing 

canals, as in no case is 

anything larger than a 

large private water channel necessary.

The tanks are all on a 

comparatively small scale, 

the maximum depth having been fixed at 12 or 

14 feet. As no clay was 

available for making puddle, the top of the bank is 

3 feet above the full supply level, and the inside 

slopes are either pitched 

with bowlders or planted 

with willows. The outlet 

sluice is a simple concrete 

wall with numerous holes 

0.8 of a foot in diameter 

placed at various depths 

and closed by wooden 

plugs, which can be opened by hand from a movable ladder resting on top 

of the well. From the 

bottom of the well a culvert leads under the embankment with stop walls 

on the outside. There is 

scarcely any local drainage to any of the tanks, 

and hence no large escapes 

are necessary. As a preIOO SO O

Scale

ipo 200 30O 4OO spofeet

ingood>ord,ershown.-thus o, 

Ji'anex. fallen in " . 

Karex, doubt/fal in what condition! »

caution the top of the well 

is only carried up to the 

full supply level.

The total amount of 

water available in the 

tanks for purposes of irrigation, after deducting 

losses by absorption, will be 1,550 acre-feet, and this is estimated to 

be sufficient to irrigate 2,570 acres; from which deduct about 30 per

PLAN <*

TUNNEL

FIG. 64. Machka Nulla Karez.
220 IRRIGATION I1ST INDIA. [NO. 87.

cent for the bad years, when there will scarcely be any rainfall, the 

average acreage irrigable during the dry season will be about 1,800. 

To this may be added 200 acres of wet-weather crop sown in the tank 

bed. The total cost of constructing this system of tanks is estimated 

as being 12,800, and the total revenue is estimated to be 75 cents per 

acre, from which it will be seen that the scheme as a whole is estimated to pay 4 per cent.

In 1887 the construction of tank No. 4 was authorized, in addition to 

which a tunnel 5,800 feet in length was authorized to be constructed 

under the stream channel, with shafts at every 50 feet and curved 

passages around each shaft, with a short piece of open excavation 

900 feet in length. From the last shaft to the surface of the ground 

is an open channel 2,500 feet in length to connect the tunnel with 

tank No. 4. The object of this tunnel is to intercept the subsurface 

drainage and thus insure a supply to the tank, which will immensely 

increase its utility as an irrigating reservoir.

For many generations there has been an old tunnel at this site, 

which frequently fell into decay and disuse until again cleaned out. 

Its alignment is shown in the accompanying illustration (fig. 63). 

About the year-1883 a portion came to grief through a flood finding 

its way down some of the shafts, and since then it was not used 

until its repair was proposed in 1887. By the latter part of 1887, 40 

shafts and a half mile of the tunnel had been completed. The 

water-bearing stratum had been reached and a discharge of half a 

second-foot obtained. The old tunnel worked with a constant discharge of 9 second-feet for forty years. As the new channel is better located and in better soil, it is estimated to give at least as good 

results as the old one did. The slope of the tunnel is 3 in 1,000, the 

sections 3 by 1.7 feet, or, say, 5 square feet, which with a mean velocity of 1.8 feet per second will give a maximum discharge of 9 secondfeet.

The estimated cost of this work is nearly $4,000. The rates paid 

were 10 cents per lineal foot in depth of shaft and 20 cents per lineal 

foot of horizontal tunnel, the excavation being entirely in earth. The 

returns estimated are as follows: Discharge, 9 second-feet; area irrigable by 1 second-foot or duty, 150 acres; rate per acre, $1.50; 

gross revenue, about $1,600. The maintenance charges will amount 

to practically nothing.
CHAPTER IX.

RIVER TRAINING AND LAND RECLAMATION.

RIVER CONSERVANCY.

In connection with all irrigation works maintained on the great 

plains and deltaic rivers of India, river training and improvement 

works must be constructed in order to maintain the stream in the 

channel which will cause it to do least injury to the various irrigation 

works. During seasons of flood the branches of these great rivers 

change, as does the Missouri River, tearing into enormous tracts of 

the surrounding country, and they would, if not properly guided, 

destroy great portions of the canal and remove hundreds of acres of 

valuable irrigable land. In addition to this destruction of property, 

they cause severe inundations during the times of flood, which destroy 

valuable crops and property.

These inundations, when of small magnitude and confined within 

reasonable limits, do little harm and even much good may result from 

them. They do not increase the healthiness of the neighborhood, 

but the silt deposited by the water tends to fertilize the land, 

thus enabling richer crops to be produced with much less trouble. 

Autumn crops which lie along the edge of inundations of this minor 

class are usually defended by earth embankments, which are often 

miles in length. These embankments are of no great height or 

solidity, and are merely built in comparatively shallow water to save 

the crops, but inundations of greater magnitude, where the waters 

attain great force and extend through the heart of a large district, 

destroying houses, bridges, and canals, and washing away land, are 

of another kind. In providing a remedy for this class of inundation 

the engineer must possess great skill and patience.

The planting of Nanel grass, which is a long, coarse variety of 

water grass, when the plantations are properly arranged and progressively made, gives one of the best means of reclaiming parts of the 

river which are beyond the proper boundaries of the waterway. This 

grass thrives in the streams of India, the cost is much less than that 

of any other treatment, and the reclamation is performed by the 

action of the river itself, by the deposition of silt due to the reduction of the current, so that water highly charged with silt at the upper 

end of a plantation is often found to issue from the lower end with 

little or no discoloration.

Above and below the head-works of the Lower Ganges canal at

221
222 IKKIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

Narora the river flows through a low bottom land which is limited at 

some distance back from its banks by a bluff about 60 feet in height. 

It was immediately found necessary to construct training works to 

prevent the stream from cutting into this bottom land, thus turning 

the end of the weir from above, or perhaps cutting into the bank and

RIVER

' d

~O5|F=

m 

m

fe

-/ <v-=]U <[ - 

GANGES

toH,,*,^^

OF GROINS

CROSS SECTION OF PAVED NOSE

PIG. 65. Training works, Lower Ganges canal, Narora,

destroying the canal itself below the weir. These training works 

extend 4 miles above the head of the canal and about 15 miles 

below it (fig. 65). The works consist on the upstream side of the weir 

of a long earthen embankment from Avhich other embankments of 

earth jut out at right angles to the course of the stream, thus forcing
WILSON.] RIVER CONSERVANCY. 223

the current over to the other side. At first these embankments, or, as 

they are called, "groins," were constructed so as to point downstream, making an angle of perhaps 45° with, the course of the current, but it was found that they did not work well. They have since 

been realigned so that they project at right angles to the stream, and 

are placed exactly one-half mile apart, and they are found to perform 

their work excellently. As yet none have failed

These groins are often very long, some as much as 2£ miles in 

length. They are simply straight embankments of earth 10 feet wide 

on top, with slopes of 1 on 2. The last 150 feet at the end of the 

groin, or the nose, as it is called, is paved with heavy stones to a 

depth of 2 to 3 feet, and at 50 feet from the end a spur 50 feet in length, 

similarly paved, is run at right angles to the line of the bank, pointing upstream.

At Hardwar, the head of the Ganges canal, the river runs between 

high, steep gravel and rock banks, on which it is able to make no 

impression by erosion, and training works are therefore unnecessary 

below the weir. Above it, however, the bed of the stream is so broad 

and is divided into so many channels during the dry season that it is 

necessary to construct extensive training works to keep open a permanent channel, known as the Hardwar Channel, which passes in front 

of the head of the canal and supplies it with water. The fall of the 

river above the head-works is 8 feet per mile, and at low-water stage 

it has a velocity of 6 feet per second. This velocity is many times 

greater in periods of flood. As shown in the plan of the head-works 

at Hardwar (fig. 18), the training works consist of bars sunk into the 

river channels to prevent the retrogression of grades and the consequent destruction of the dams; of weirs to turn the water into the 

Hardwar channel; of rectangular groins projecting into the river 

similarly to those on the Lower Ganges canal, in order to keep the 

water in the Hardwar Channel; and, lastly, of embankments of bowlders to protect the weaker portions of the river banks. Great difficulty 

has been encountered in maintaining the integrity of the noses of the 

groins, as the heavy floods undercut these and cause them to fall into 

the river. Great concrete blocks 3 by 5 by 2 feet in dimensions, weighing 2 tons each, are first dropped into the river as a foundation for the 

groins. When these reach the water surface the end of the groin 

is built up of loose concrete blocks in a regular manner, and the 

remainder of the groins, constructed of bowlders, is run back from 

this end. As the floods wash away the foundation blocks the built-up 

portion of the groin falls in and replaces them, furnishing a new 

foundation, and this in turn is itself replaced. Thus in the course of 

a few years the bed of the river becomes filled to such a depth with 

these blocks that further destruction ceases to take place, and the 

groins will then stand for many years.

At the head of the Agra canal, at Okhla, the weir which diverts the
224 IRRIGATION IN INDIA. [NO. 87.

water into the canal head is, as before described, constructed of loose 

hand-placed rocks, and to preserve its integrity, and at the same time 

to train the course of the Jumna River toward its right bank and 

against the head of the canal, groins of a peculiar form of construction are run out at right angles to the line of the weir (fig. 66) and 

parallel to the course of the river. These works are known as " alliGeneral plan

DErA/LS OF ALLIGATOR GROINS

E/eisation

Weir.

Cross section 

f/oocf s^<r\ fine

FIG. 66. Training works, Agra canal, Okhla.

gator groins" from their peculiar form, which somewhat resembles 

that of an alligator. They are constructed of loose stones dumped 

into the river without any foundation on which to rest, the tops and 

sides of the groins being carefully hand laid, so as to give them shape 

and integrity. The floods annually wash away portions of these 

groins at first and during low season they have to be repaired, but, 

like those on the Ganges canal, in the course of a few years the mass
STORAGE WORKS. 225

of rock underlying the groin becomes so great that repairs rapidly 

diminish in amount or entirely cease to be necessary. The tendency 

of the water in the river is to flow in a direction nearly parallel to the 

line of the weir and toward the under sluices, thus destroying the 

weir. These groins cause portions of the water to flow over the weir 

at right angles to it, thus doing it no injury. Other portions of the 

stream are forced over against an island, indicated in the accompanying plate, and tend to remove it, at the same time furnishing a supply 

for the canal head.

Spoonbills, or legs, are run out from the groins at right angles, and 

a berm 10 feet in width is built around the end of the groin and the 

spoonbill. The portion annually destroyed is the berm. This falls 

into the river, leaving the main body of the groin intact. The top 

of the groin is built at an elevation of 1 foot above highest flood 

level, and the top of the spoonbill is 7 feet below flood level.

LAND RECLAMATION.

A good deal has been done in some of the more swampy portions of 

India toward the reclamation of swamps and their conversion into valuable agricultural properties. This reclamation has been most extensively practiced in what are known as " duns," especially because it 

increases the healthfulness of these regions by substituting for marshes 

dry land under cultivation. Swamp reclamation has been practiced 

in various parts of the United States and the methods are essentially 

the same in character as those employed for the same purpose in 

India.

In reclaiming marsh lands, such as those in the "duns," it has been 

considered usually essential first to make a complete survey of the 

region in order to discover the slope of the lands in the direction in 

which cuttings for the purpose of drainage can best be made. The 

lines on which the drainage cuts shall be made having been laid 

down, it remains simply to so design these cuts that they shall command the gross area of the swamp in the most economical manner, and 

shall completely remove the water from it. Some of these drainage 

works have added thousands of acres of valuable land to the agricultural regions, and have changed fever-stricken neighborhoods to 

healthy cultivated fields where fevers are scarcely known. The financial returns from some of these works have been even greater and 

more satisfactory than those from irrigation works proper, and reclamation works of this character are now prosecuted in India with as 

much zest as is the construction of canals or storage works.

IKK 87 03 15

INDEX.

Aboo, canal built by __ ___ __... __ 89 

Aboo, Mount,altitude of-...-.__....---.-. 41

rainfall at.__........._..__.._ 44

Absorption of water by soil, notes on . -.. 68-74 

Acreage of irrigated land, statement

showing .............. 35-36,57-58,60

Acre-foot, definition of................... 67,158

Aden tanks, Arabia, description of ..._._ §3 

plate showing,......................... 22

Agra, rainfall at................__..._ 44

Agra canal, aqueduct over................ 23

course of............................... 95-36

crops under..._ _.............._._ 96

drainage reservoir on............... 141-142

examination of..-.-.-.....--....--.... 22-23

head-works of................. 32,95,125,130

history of.............................. 95

Kush.uk Palls on, cross section of...... 142

revenue derived from...._.._.... 58

training works for .................. 223-224

water rate charged on lands under... 96 

water supply of, source of............ 22

weir at head of...................... 113,120

Agricultural results of irrigation, statistics showing------ ---....--.... 58-62

Akbar, Emperor, irrigation works built

by.............................. 47

All Murdan. Delhi canal constructed by.. 17 

Ali Torrent, aqueduct at.................. 23

Aligarh, Ganges canal bifurcation at.... 92-93

rainfall at-............................. 44

inspection made at-.-...--..-----.--_. 19

Alignment of canals, considerations determining...................... 107

Alkali, production of, by irrigation...... 64-66

removal of, by irrigation __......... 64-65

Alkali Commission, report of, extracts

from -_..-_-_..._-.-.__--___.. 65-66 

Allahabad, topography and agriculture

near... ---..--...........__ 16

visit to................................. 18-19

Ameen, dutiesof-...----..........____ 52

Altitudes of Himalaya Mountains..___ 39-41 

American irrigation compared with Indian, cost of works for each... 60-62 

Anderson, Colonel, cited on silt accumulation in canals-._.._-__ 106 

quoted on velocities of canals. __.... 106

Anicut. See Dam and Weir.

Aqueducts, descriptions of - -.. _ _. _.... 30,

23,92,138-144,172,218

plans and sections of- 139,143,144,145,149,171 

views of. _--_..--_.-._-.... 102,138,140,168

Arabia, Aden tanks in, plate showing... r 23

Page. 

Areas cultivated and irrigated, extent

of.......-......-........ . 35,57-60

Arrah canal, duty of water under ....... 103

expenses of ............................ 103

size and course of __.-_ .----_.. 16,102

Asafnagar Palls, Q-anges canal, view of,

plateshowing__--............ 134

Ashti dam, description of.... ...-..... 208-210

landslip at............... .. . 212,213

profile of......._......-...-......-..... 208

waterway of.............__--------- 210

Ashti tank, description of .............. 206-210

data concerning.__._____ __...... 204

hietoryof-... ........................ 206

Ashti tank and canals, map of _ ....... 207

Assam, area, topography, and other features of --. -_- . _--.- 41 

rainfallin.- - - -.-..-- .-.. 43,44 

tea cultivation in...................... 37-38

Atgoan, trip to ............-..- ..-...-... 14

Auckland, Lord, Q-anges canal sanctioned

by.... - .-- ...... 90

IB.

Bagge, Lieutenant, Betwa canal project

investigated by...---..-_--... 173

Baker, Maj. "W. E., cited on serviceableness of "Western Jumna canal. 32 

report made by, on canal from Sutlej

River........................... 97

work on Q-anges canal done by------- 90

Baker, Maj. "W. E., and others of committee, cited on causes of sickness 

along Delhi canal.............. 63

Baldwin, Latham, cited on circulation of

water through soil... . 151-152

Bari Doab canal, area irrigated under 99 

Chuki Torrent diversion on .... 137-138

cost of... ------. . 99

cross section of, dimensions of..... _ 104

discharge of ...-. ... ........ 99

duty of water along-.....--...-. .... 72

falls on.--................ . .... 135-136

head- works of, regulating sluices at.. 125 

historyof .. . .. .- .- ....... 99

rapids on.-....--... .. --.. 136

revenue derived from... ..-...--._ 99 

sources of supply of----.-. --------- 99

Barley, acreage and value of ............. 60

seasonfor growing ....-- .--.--.. 38

Baroda, tank on Surwa River above..... 23

Barrage du Nil,description of--........ 82

examination of ..-.._...-.-..--.--.... 24

Beale, H., aid by.......................... 13

Begari canal, data concerning .- ...... 80

327
228 INDEX.

Page. 

Belary, rainfall at......---------------__-. 44

Beluchistan, irrigation project in,_____ 218-220

Bengal, area and population of........... 35

area cultivated and irrigated iii_ _____ 35

canals in ___.____..________._..._____ 101-104

irrigation works in, data concerning- 57 

land tenures in .....--..-....-..--.-..- 55

rainfall in...___ ________________________ 44

taxation or land rental in, mode of

collecting.__._.__-.__.__-.--.._ 50 

Beresford, J. S., cited on duty of water.. 07-72 

cited on f rictional resistance to sinking of masonry wells.......... 132

Betwa canal, area served by-_.---__.-- - 173 

course of..-.....-.._-.... _..._.___.._ 173-174

cross section of, dimensions of ________ 104

description of_.______.___..._____-__. 173-161

diversion work on. ________________ -.-_ 138

duty of water along. __._._______..____ 73

liead-works of, description of. ___... 175-176 

plan showing _.__..__-.._--_-.-.-._ 175 

regulation gates at-------------- 127,177

historyof----_-..---__ _---..-_... 173

regulator and scouring sluices of, plan

of....___-.__._.__.__...______.. 177

Betwa reservoir, location and capacity of. 19 

Betwa River, discharge of __..____.__.__._ 175

Betwa weir, description of ___.___.._. 19,176-181

plans and sections of . _ _ - 175,176,177,178,179

shutter gates of, plan and sections of. 179

Bezwada, anicut at........................ 83-84

Bhatgur dam, construction of, method

of......................... 188-189,190

description of..................... 13,164-169

material used for____............ 188-189,190

mode of construction of __.__.... 188-189,190

plan and section of .._ _---_--.-___.. 165 

statistics concerning_---__-.-________. 159

view of----..__--..-.------.-----------_ 164

Bhatgur reservoir, capacity of --..-...... 164

cost of-----------.--.---------------- 172

location of, map showing ___...__.._.. 161 

Bhore Ghauts, railroad through, route of. 14 

Biropa River, irrigation from ............ 87

Blaine, Lieutenant, reference to ---------- 47

Block foundations, descriptions of. _. _. 130-132 

Boats, canal, description of.__-_.._...____ 17,18

Bombay, area cultivated and irrigated in. 35,57 

duty of water in_...................... 67

irrigation works in, statistics concerning ..--...-.....-..--...-.-..... 57

land rental or taxation in, mode of

collecting______________________ 50

land tenures in ___._.----_.-.-___.____. 55

laws relating to irrigation in _________ 54

rainfallin..._......................___. 44

reservoirs or tanks in_ _-..--._-_-___._ 204 

temperature in------------------------ 45

water rates in _-_--...-....-...--...... 57

water storage and distribution in _ _ 159,204 

Bonham, B. F., aid by-._..--_-..........., 16

Brahmaputra River, source, course, and

drainage area of _.--___ ....... 40

Brahmini Eiver, irrigation from ----_.._. 86-87

Brandis, Dr., reference to ...._-_______._- 45

Brandreth, Colonel, aid by .... ~ --------- 22

Page.

British territory, area and population of. 35 

Brownlow, Major, cited on cost of maintaini ng distributaries _.._.-.-_ 147 

Buckle, Lieutenant, surveys for. Nira

Canal made by ... ---..-..._ 164 

Buckley, R. B., aid by...._..._.._.-__-_.. 16

cited on cost of canals per acre of land

served ......................... 58

cited on deltaic canals ..__..___.__..._ 81 

cited on sluice gates of Soane canals

at Dehree__..-._..__--__-._._.. 121 

cited 011 use of dunds or sotas as headworks for inundation canals.. 79 

Budki Torrent, volume of _______._..___._ 98

Burar weirs, data concerning -.-__.-.--.. 201 

Burch, , and others of alkali commission, report of, extracts from. 65-66 

Burke, C. T., Ashti tank planned by _____ 306

cited on Ashtidam_................. 209,210

Burma, area cultivated and irrigated

in........- .-.. .--....--.... 35

Buxar canal, course of ___----_...--.__--__ 102

examination of ............-...--.--... 17

Byturni River, irrigation from........... 86-87

C.

Caird, James, and others, cited on value

of irrigation works............ 33-34

Calcutta, researches made at------------- 16

temperature at.....--......--.-.------ 45

Caldwell, Sir Jalnes, Periyar canal project considered by ..------.---- 182

Calicut, rainfall at ___..._.___-___..-_._-.- 44 

Camere, M., aid by......-...--_.-...---... 25

Canal boats, description of _-__-__.-___.-. 17,18 

Canal regulators, descriptions of....... 124^-130

Canals, alignment of, considerations determining-^....--_-__---___--__ 107

banks of, slopes of.......--...-..---... 104

beds of, slope of __..___.__..____.____. 105-106

classes of__...__._--.-__.___-. .___.._ 5(5 

cost of, per acre of land served.._---_ 58 

per cubic foot of capacity per mile. 67 

cross section of, determination of _.. _ 104 

cross sections of, figures showing . _ _ _ 105 

essential parts of ..__.__-....--._--..__ 89

expenses of _...._.__.___.--_-_-__._____ 103

head-works of, location of------------- 88-89

health conditions along lines of ______ 63-64

inundation, data concerning.----..... 78-81

irrigation, revenue derived from _ _ _. 32 

machinery of, description of..-._-. ._. 89 

mileage of __.____.__-.__..-..___....__. 58,59

navigable,mileage of._-___..____-___ 58

perennial, data concerning _ ________ 88-152

regulating gatesfor_._..___--.__--._ 124-130 

sections of, figures showing ---------- 105

sickness along line of........-...--. 63,64

silt accumulation in, prevention of. 105,108 

slopes of banks of _.-..-.__--'..__--.._. 104 

surveys for, character of -------- _ 89

injury to, act prescribing penalties

for __...........-..._. ......... 52

velocities of, discussion of.__..,_____ 106-107

Carnatic, rainfall in....-.---..------------ 43

Carswell, E. A., aid by.................... 19
INDEX. 229

Page. 

Cautley, Sir P. T., cited on duty of water

along Delhi and Doab canals-. 67 

cited on health conditions along Delhi

canal---.-..-------- ----------- 63

Ganges canal line projected by. _...__ 90 

irrigation works constructed by . - _ _ _ 4« 

quoted on distributaries of Ganges

canal---.-.----..-.---...--.-..- 144

quoted on use of escapes..-_-._. 132,1E3-134 

quoted on value of irrigation --------- 90

Cauvery canals, data concerning ------ 85-86,87

Cauvery Eiver, data concerning --------- 41,42

weir on.--------------- ...-..-......- 109

Cavour canal, Italy, examination of._.-.- 34,35 

Cawnpur branch of Ganges canal, course

of._-...___._-_____-_________.-_- 92-93

Cement, sources of.........^....--_-._-... 189

Central Provinces, area cultivated and

irrigated in.................... 35

CharaPunji, rainfall at.----------------- 44

Chattaparu outlet of East TaniileruRiver,

. construction of _---___--_--_-.. 85 

Cheela Bura tank, data concerning _..--- 201 

Chernbranibaukanl tank, data concerning ............................. 204

Chenab canal, data concerning -...___._. HI, 100 

Choardy River, reservoir or tank on_ -.. _ 199 

Chouting River, old canal deriving water

from.--.........-... ....... 47

Chuki Torrent, Bari Doab canal, diversion of. _-_-..-_____________ 137-138

Cigliano canal, Italy, examination of .... 24-35

Civil engineers, recruitment of..___.-..._ 51 

Clerke,W., aid by---.-------__-_---_______ 11

cited on effect of strains and settlement of darns.--..-________-___ 188

reference to.-.--...-.-..-............. 14

Cochin, temperature at ................... 44-45

Cockhorn, Mr., aid by......--.-..-........ 20

Cocoanuts, production of ---....-......... 37

Coimbatore, irrigation in, by wells ...... 75

Coffee, production of...................... 37

Collection of taxes or land rentals, methods of ...... ............. 49,50,52,55

Colvin, Col. John M., canal project of . _ _ 90 

reference to_........................... 48

Concrete, method of preparing ........ 190,191

Conduitt, H. W., aid by ................... 18-19

Cost of irrigation works, statistics showing.............. 9,32-34,57,58,99,172

Cost of material and labor, statements

concerning ...... ..._ ...... 193-196

Cotton, acreage and value of........ 10,36,60,96

season for growing.................... 38

yield of, per acre ...................... 36

Cotton, Sir Arthur, Ganges canal defects

reported by.-...-....-...-..... 90-91

Lower Ganges canal suggested by .. - 93 

reference to ..............-....._..... 84,101

Craig, James, cited on maximum flood discharge from catchment areas. 157 

Crofton, Colonel, aid by................... 22

cited on time required after completion to make irrigation works 

profitable...................... 33

cited on velocities in Ganges canal - -. 106

Page. 

Orops, character of..._.-------_-....-----. 96

double, notes on ----------------------- 66

extent and character of ,tableshowing 36 

method of irrigating----------..----.- 151

rotation of.................-..--..-.-.- 38

irrigated, character and value of.. _ _ 60,205 

Cross section of canals, determination of. 104 

Cruikshank, Colonel, reference to __-_._. 12 

Cultivated land in India, acreage of... 35,57-60 

Cunningham, H. S., and others, cited on

value of irrigation woi'ks..... 33-34

D.

Dams, descriptions of ..--......- 13,14,15,19,20,

22,82-86,94,95,109-119,120-124,175-176,

183-184,188-193,198-199,205,207-215,217

earthen,slopes of..._................ 198

foundations of----------- _--.------...- 155

materials used for............... 188-189,190

masonry, designs and construction

of ...__.- .-..-----.-. 188-193

plans and sections of... 109,113,114,115,116,

118,121,122,123,136,165,167,170,176,

183,183,186,187,192,198,308,213,216

profiles and sections of...... 198,208,213,316

sites for,selection of --...-------..-. 155-156

slopesof ............................... 198

temporary,details of-............... 118-119

tops of, width of-..-..--...----...... 198,309

views of -__-.--__-__......_-..__--- 84,114,

116,130,132,164,168,170,182,186,188,216 

Davidson, Prof. George, quoted on proper 

location of head - works for 

canals __________________________ 108

Debude, Captain, irrigation works

planned by-------------------- 48,89

Deccan, topogi-aphic and geologic features of -.._-_-__.---.--_---.-..--___- 41 

Dehree, head-works of Soane canal at.... 102

researchesat.......................... 17

Soane River at, disc harge of _. ....... 103

weir at head of Soane canals at - _ 121-123 

Delhi, astronomical observatories at.... _ 83

temperature at.-..--.----..-.......... 45

Delhi canal, construction of-___--__..._..- 47 

duty of water along------.---.--...... 67

sickness along,causes of _.-.-.__...._. 63

JDeltaic canals, discussion of .............. 81-87

Denipster, J., reference to................ 21

iDenipster, T. E.,and others of committee 

cited on causes of sickness 

along Delhi canal------.----... 63

Dera Ismail Khan, rainfall at ............ 44

Desert canal,data concerning ............ 80

Jiewatan tank, data concerning .......... 201

Dhanowri, examinations made at -------- 21

Dickens, General, cited on revenue derived from irrigation works 

in India.-.-..........._...... 33

Soane canal scheme proposed by ... 73,101 

Dickens's formula for flood discharge 

from catchment basin, statement of __....._...-____---__... 156

coefficients for...-.-. _._.__..________.. 157

iDistributaries,arrangement of----------- 154

descriptions of .---.----..---.--..--. 144-150
230 INDEX.

Page.

Distributaries, heads of, location and features of--- .---...-.- 146,148 

losses of water in, by percolation _____ 71

masonry outlet for, plan and section

showing---..------------------- 166

mileageof _.-_____-- _-_._______-.-- 68,59

Distributing head, Mutha canal, plans of _ 148 

Ditches. See Distributaries. 

Dixon, Colonel, cited on results of construction of Mairwara tank 

embankments _.-..----__-.._ 301

i rrigation works constructed by _ 300,301,303 

Doab Canal, duty of water along. _- - _ 67 

Dora Baltea River, Italy, aqueduct across,

examination of---------------- 34

Double cropping, notes on---------------- 66

Douleshwaram, irrigation works at ------ 83

Drainage works, description of _-_--___ 137-144 

Dredges, Soane canals, use of------------- 18

Dahlia, rainfall in.------------------ _--..- 44

Dunds, use of, as head-works for inundation canals.---..-_-.___--_---.- 78-79 

Duns, canals in, revenue derived from _ _. 96-97 

crops grown in ------- ._._..________ 97

irrigationin_----_ -----..-..---.-.-.-.-- 97

location of--...-_-___-___-____---------- 40

reclamation of._______....--- _______ 325

Duty of water, Arrah canal ______________ 103

Bari Doab canal __--__--_____----__-__- 73

Bombay.... ___..____-__-____-- -_-- 67

data concerning-.-_ - _ 67-74

deflnitionof---..--..._--____-.-_-__-_-_ 67

Ganges canal __________________________ 93

Lower Ganges canal _..__-___.________ 95

measurement of, unit for ..-_.________ 158

Sidhnaicanal.-.----------- -__-___---_- 100

Sirhind canal-.....--..-_--___________- 99

Soane canals._----------------.------.- 303

Duvur tank, work at............ -.....____ K5

Dyer, Colonel, cited on silt deposition in

Western Jumna canal. _---__ 106-107

ElBast India Company, irrigation works

constructed by -_ -_____--__-- 48

Eastern Jumna canal, construction of _ _ _ 47 

head-works of--..-..--.........----.-- 99

irrigated area under .................. 73

revenue derived from...... -___-..---. 58

Ekruk dam, landslip at................. 212-313

Ekruk tank, crops irrigated from -...-_._ 305 

data concerning ....................... 204

description of---.-.-.....-----.--..-- 205-306

irrigation from, crops raised by_._ _. _ 305 

plan and sections of -....----.-........ 204

Ellenborough, Lord, reference to. - _ - __. 90 

Engineering work, organization and administration of.---..-.-..---.- 51 

Engineers, recruitment of ---------------- 51

Escapes, descriptions of----------------- 133-134

Etawah,branchofGangescanal,courseof 92-93 

Evaporation, data concerning ------------ 69, 73

diagrams illustrating ................. 69

Everest, Mount, elevation of ............. 39

Excavation, cost of ---.--. . 195-196'

Expenditures on irrigation works, statistics concerning ........... 9,57-58

IP. Page.

Palls and rapids, discussion of _-_______- 134-137

views of.......-.-.-...-..--.--.-.--.... 134

Famine Commission (Indian), report of,

extracts from----.--.---------. 33-34

Parini canal, Italy, reference to____,_____ 24

Farms or fields irrigated, sizes of .--.__._ 55 

Peroze, Emperor, irrigation work done

under-. -__......._-_...___... 47,97,99

Fertilizer, use of ____..._._...___...________ 38

Fields irrigated, sizes of __-..----..___-___ 55

Fife, Colonel, cited on landslip at Ekruk

dam --............-...__..______ 212

Mutha canal scheme proposed by . . _ _ 160 

Nira canal project promoted by ______ 163

Fife, Lake, dam at, description of __ _ _ _ . 163

description of ................. _ .... 12.160

statistics concerning .................. 159

Financial results of irrigation, statistics

showing.----.--,. .._....-...... 58-63

Floats for stream gauging, use of -------- 74

Floods in rivers, precautions against. . . . . 221

Fodder crops, acreage and value of, 1900-

1901............................. 60

Forest reservations, area of. ------------- 45

Forests, effect of removal of .............. 45-46

preservation of, work done for .....-_ 45

revenue derived from_------__-__---__ 45

Forrest, James, aid by--. _ .............. 11

Foundations for masonry work, description of ....... ................ 130-133

Fruits, production of ..................... 37

Fuleli canal, data concerning- ............ 80

G-.

Gadanamathi Hi ver, discharge of .---- 43

Galton, Douglas, cited on effects of irrigation on health in India ...... 64

Q-auges canal, aqueducts along . _ _ 21, 92, 140-141

Asafnagar Falls on, description of .. 134-135

view of. ---___---------------------. 134

cost of -.----------._--------- . 58,93

crops irrigated from ____._-______-_-_- 93

defects of .----_-__------...--------.-. 90-91

discharge of .................... .-.. 93

dimensions of -_-................--..-.- 106

distributaries of, mileage of ---------- 93

duty of water along- ... ___________ 68-69,93

expenses of ------_..----------.-----.-- 58,93

Gopalpur bifurcation of, plate showing --.... --------------------- 93

head-works, description of... .._...- 136-127

figure showing ------------- _. _ 131

plan of -.-_.... _.-.....-....... 91,127

regulating works at. ------ ...... 135-126

health conditions along, provisions

concerning ......-.---.-.---..- 63-64

history of .----..-_____.'_-- .......... 89-90

land irrigable and irrigated from _ . 93 

Nadrai aqueduct on, figures showing

construction of ... ...... 145

ogee falls on... ------- -- --.... 134-135

plans of.- . -- .._.- --. 91,146-147 

profile of, Hard war to Eoor kee . . . 91 

regulating gates of, figure showing _ _ 125 

revenue derived from. ................ 58,93
231

PageGanges canal, Rutmoo level crossing on,

description of................ 143-143

view of............................. 149

slopeof ................................ 106

Solaniaqueduct on.................... 139

views on, plates showing .... 92,120,134,142

water supplied by, amount of........ 93

weir at Lead of.................. 116-117,121

Ganges canal. Lower. See Lower Ganges

canal. 

Ghar canal, data concerning -.....--.-... 80

Ganges River, area drained by and course

of....'........................... 40

breadth, fall, and discharge of ....... 42

dams (temporary) on ............... 118-119

discharge of........................... 66,94

navigation on, as affected by irrigation ......---.--------------...- 66

weir at Hardwar on.--.-.........-.. 116-117

Gangetan Plain, features of......._....... 16,40

Gates in dams, descriptions and figures

of.................... 83,116,119-130,

162,165,166-169,177,178-181,185 

Geology of India, general features of .... 42-43

G-hauts, features of ..-.----.-_....---.-. 41,43

western,rainfall in.................... 44

Goa,temperature at. -.....-.....-.....--.. 44-45

Godahallow aqueduct, description of. - _ _. 318 

Godavari canal, data concerning ......... 87

Godavari River, breadth, fall, and. dischargeof---_-.--.. ---------- 42

canal system in deltaof........ _______ 83

source, drainage basin, and deltas of _ _ 41 

Gohana tank,data concerning............ 201

Good, W., cited on Kali Nadi aqueduct... 140 

Gopalpur bifurcation, Ganges canal,

plate showing _..--.-.---- _-. 92

Gordon, W.B.,cited on well sinking for

masonry foundations -- .-. 132 

Governor-general of India, powers vested

Jn......_- -- --.._- _ 49

Grains, lands suitable for growing....... 38

Greathed, Colonel, Betwa canal project

examined by.....__.......... 173

opinion of, concerning weir for Betwa 

canal.__......._____. _-.--.-.

Groins of training works, descriptions

of ............................ 221-222

figures showing ....--.....-.....--.. 222,223

Gulleri River, irrigation from............ 217

H.

Haig, F. T., cited on revenue to be expected from the Soane canals.. 103

Hamipur branch of Betwa canal, description of ......................... 174

dimensions of... ....... ...... 174

Harbinge, Lord, Ganges canal project

aided by . ---------- --... 90

Hardwar, Ganges River at, discharge of.. 92 

Ganges River at, features of.......... 92

training works above ............... 222-234

inspection made at.. .. ........ 21

weir at head of Ganges canal near. 116-117 

Hastings,Marquis of,reference to........ 47

Head-works, descriptions of ............. 82-86,

94,95,107-109,120,125,175-176

Page. 

Head-works, location of, considerations

determining.... .... 88-89,107-109

plans and views of .. 127,168,169,175,188,807 

See also Dams, Training works, Sluices,

Weirs. 

Health, conditions of, along Delhi canal,

facts bearing on. .-..-.. 63 

Heywood, quoted on discharge of principalrivers..._..._......__ 42

Hilgard,B. W.,reference to __ ____ 65 

Hill, A., quoted on masonry construction

of Bhatgar dam ............... 190

quoted on scouring sluices.._.__ 166 

Hill, Col. H., mention of.................. 200

Himalayas, altitudes of mountains and

passes in .-, - ...... . 39-41

drainage of........................... 39-42

foothills of, altitude and topography

of............................... 40

geology of .....................__.... 42-43

origin of name........... 1._ .... 39

rainfaUin......................... .... 44

Sierra Nevada compared with.... _. 39

Hindun River,dam projected across..... 89-90

diversion of............................ 22

irrigation canal from . -. 96

Holdings of land, statistics concerning.. 55

Home, Col. F.J., reference to.............. 20

Betwa canal project investigated by. 173 

cited on Mairwara tank embankments .- --, .-..-- .---. 80.J 

Horn, Mr.,reference to................ 17

Hughes, W.C.,aid by---__-------_.--.... H

Hurron Torrent, siphon for, across Sirhind canal.................... 98

I.

India, administration and legislation of

irrigation works in............ 48-55

area of and area cultivated and irrigated in................ 9-10,35,57-^0

climate of.... ......... _........... 7

crops in, value of ............._ 10

cultivated area in _........... __. 9

geology of 42-43

irrigated area in............... 9-10,35,57-60

I irrigation in, ad ministration of....... 48-55

expenditures for -....... 9

value and necessity of...--...-.-.- 29-34 

works on (list)...... - 25-28

irrigation works in, cost of, compared 

with probable cost of similar 

works in United States ....... 60-62

legislation and administration of irrigation works in..... . 48-55

map of. -.-.-.... ...---.-. .. 11

population of ............. . 9

railway travel in..-.. -. 15

topography of central part of 15

Indigo, acreage of, under cultivation . 36,93,96

dutyof water for..... .......... 73

irrigation of, from Agra canal ------- 96

production of---------- ............ 37

Indus River, course and drainage area

of............................ 39-40,80

flood level and discharge of........ 42,80
282 INDEX.

Page.

Indus River Valley, inundation canals in. 78-81 

precipitation in.____________________ _. 31

Inglis,W. A.,aid by..------------ --_-.._- IT

computations regarding Arrah canal

made by ----------------------- 103

Inundation canals, cost of....._........... 80-81

data concerning .._____._._._..______-_ 78-81

expenses of ............................ 80-81

revenue froni_.____.......____._-___.__ 80,81

Irrigable area, acreage of ___....._.... 57-58,59

Irrigated area, acreage of ------- 35-36,57-58,60

Irrigated crops, acreage, character and

value of------------------------ 3(i

Irrigated fields, sizes of ------------------- 55

Irrigated lands, revenue derived from ._ 35,58 

Irrigation, agricultural results of-------- 58,62

development of, method of promoting ---.-..- ---.-.-.......-.... 50

expenditures for _....._________ 33-34,58,80

extent and character of-------------- 57-58

history of.............................. 50

laws relatingto..__........______-.-._. 53-54

objections to.-------------------------- 63-66

time required for, per a< Te ........... 73

value and necessity of ....-....---.... 29-34

water required for, amount of, per

unit of area.................... 73

wells used for __________________________ 75-77

works on, list of----------------------- 35-38

Irrigation canals. Nee Canals. 

Irrigation engineers, mode of recruitment of ---._-___-_._-_..-___--_ 51 

Irrigation works, administration of _._.__ 48-55 

agricultural results of ................ 58-fi8

area served and to be served by.-_._. 58,60 

classes of__---------------.____-__-._-_- 56-57

conditions governing construction

of.. ......................... 157-158

cost of .--.._... 9,33-34,48,57-63,80-81,99,173 

durability of......-.._..-..._-....-___. 195

expenses of......... 33-34,57-63,80-81,96,103

financial results of ____.......__. 38-34,58-62

history of.............................. 47-18

income from.._...-____-______ 33-35,58-«2,99

legislation concerning _---_-.--..__._. 53-54 

officers engaged in administration of- 51 

value of, statistics showing............ 33-34

two classes of, productive and protective ________...______..______ 38-30

Italy, irrigation canals in, examination of. 24-25 

Ivrea canal, Italy, examination of _-._____ 24,25

J.

Jamrao canal, data concerning -__. ---_- 80 

Janamallianicut,description of..-------- 217

Jehan, Shah, canals constructed under... 47,99 

Jewhar Torrent, siphon for, beneath Nira

canal, plan and sections of. _ _ - _ 171 

Jeypur, astronomical observatories at.... 33

rainfall at__------..---------------..--- 44

Jhelum canal, data concerning ___________ 81

Jumna canal, Eastern, construction of -. _ 47 

head-works of ------------------------- 99

irrigated area under---.... ___-..---.-- 73

revenue derived from. _._.._-_.-._---- 33,58

value of.......______..-_._____---_.... 31-33

Page.

Jumna canal, Western, cost of ------------ 99

crops raised under in 1838, value of _ _. _ 33 

cross section of, dimensions of______ _ 104

expenses of _-.._..__.---------.-------- 99

first construction of. _____.-__-_____._ 47

head-works of -__.--_.___..____..____._ 99

irrigated area under .__.________.___._ 74

revenue derived from. ________________ 99

silt deposition in ______-...._._____-_ 106-107

Jumna canals, earliest one constructed _ _ _ 47 

head-works of......................... 99

regulating gates at. ------------- 135,136

property saved by, value of........... 32

Jumna River, old canal deriving water

from___________________________ 47

irrigation canals from ................ 96,99

training works on, description of __ 22-23,234 

figure showing. _ _._._________.-__.- 233

Jute, production and export of ____________ 37

Juwa ja tank, data concerning ____________ 301

Kabra tank, data concerning. _-_____-_... 201

Kalee Kuncur tank, data concerning _ _ _ _ 301

Kali Nadi, aqueduct for Lower G-anges

canal over ........ 30,131-132,139-140

canal taken from._____ __.____._-.-_--_ 89

Kanigiri reservoir, escape from, plate

showing,___--__----_.-.__ _.-... 86

head sluices i >f, plate showing ________ 84

work at ________________________________ 85

Kao Nulla siphon aqueduct beneath

Soane canal, examination of _ _ 17 

description of____-----. ...--.... 102,143-144

figure showing ______.________..__.--_. 144

Kathund branch of Betwa canal, dimensions of....-........---.----.--- 174

Khoord, dam siteat.-_._____________--_.._ 173

Ithundwa, rainfall at____________ .....I...- 44

Khutowli escape, G-anges canal, features

of.. -_------.. --------- - 133

King, M.,aid by-_...--___----_.-----.----- 21

King, Dr. W., aid by ..................... 16

Kistna anicut, river in moderate flood at,

plateshowing----.---------.--- 84

Kistna canal, data concerning ............ 87

Kistna River, breadth, fall, and discharge

of..-.._-. __ - ----..-. 43

canal system in delta of -------------- 83-85

source, drainage basin, and delta of. _ 41 

Kolevoy tank, features of ----------------- 200

Kurnool canal, data concerning __-_.._..- 87 

Kurra aqueduct, KTira canal, view of -.. -. 168 

Kurra River, aqueduct for Nira canal

over --____-- ---_- -_------- 173

KushukFalls, Agra canal, cross section of- 142

JL,.

Labor and material, cost of---------- 31,193-196

Lahore, trip to .______._____._..____------. 20

Lake, Sir Atwell, i-eference to ____________ 84

Land irrigated, acreage of---------------- 60

Land reclamation, method of------------- 235

Land rentals, collection of, method of___ 49,

50,52,55
INDEX. 233

Page. 

Land tenures, statistics concerning______ 55

Landslips at dams, instances of _______ 212-214

Lat, use of, for lifting water ____________ 75

Latham, Baldwin, reference to.___-._____ 14

Laws concerning irrigation, quotations

from _--. - __ -_ -.____ 53-54

Le Quesne, W. H., reference to_.......... 13

Legislation concerning irrigation works,

features of.._..--_-..---.-.-.__ 53-54 

Levinge, H. C.,head-works of Soane canal,

designed by.._.-.......--.... 108

Loosanee weir, data concerning -... ._ 301 

Lower Ganges canal, aqueduct for, over

Kali Nadi_-_._..__ __-__ 139-140 

aqueducts over.........___...._.__.._ 20,131

area irrigable and irrigated from__._ 94-95 

cost of---..._.-._--.____-...__....__.... 94

course of......._..........-............ 94

discharge of ........................... 94

duty of water under _.___. ______._.. 95

expenses of ............................ 95

head-works and river-training system

of.................... .......... 20,94

head-works of, foundations for _____ 130-131

regulating gatesat..........._____ 128

history of ____--...._-___,_.___._.___- 93-94

Nadrai aqueductof__.................. 131

Narora weir of........ 20,113-113,119-120,136

revenue derived from. ................ 58,94

silting in, absenceof_________________ 125

training works on, description of .. 221-233 

figure showing----....-............ &J2

weir at Narora on.. __ 20, ] 12-113,119-130.126

M.

Machka Torrent, plan and section at... _ _ 319 

Madag Masur tank, description of _______ 199

Madras, area and population of........... 35

area cultivated and irrigated in...... 35,57

assessment rates on irrigated and nonirrigated land in ...--....--... 32

deltaic canals in ...-.---..-.......-.... 83-85

irrigation works in, area served by .. 57 

cost of........._--.................. 57

description of.................... 181-187

location of ___...._................. 57

revenue derived from............. 57

land tenures in ........................ 55

rainfall in......-.._.....----_-..... __ 44

tanks in.......................... 302,203-204

temperatures in ....................... 44

Madras Irrigation Company, construction of works by..-...-.......- 48

MadwaRou, mention of ...-.---_-....__-_ 109

Mahanadi canal, headworks of.____-...._- 217

length of.............................._ 217

Mahanadi River, irrigation from_.... 86-87,217

features of--_..---_...--..___....__..._ 82

Mahanadi weir, sluices in, features of _. 120-121

Mairwari tank embankments, cost of _ _ _. 201

data concerning..---...-------__--.. 201-202

irrigation from.._........__.__._.___.. 201

' results of construction of -__...---.. 201-302 

dimensions of-.._ ..._.............. 201

Maize, acreage and value of, 1900-1901 _ _.. 60 

Manalore, rainfallat..-_.................. 44

Manure, use of ................... ___.._.. 38

Maps of India, character of _____ _ _._.- 155

Marsh lands, reclamation of__.___.___.._. 225 

Masonry, cost of--.--..--- ------------- 31,196

durability of..-__.------ .--__-_ 195

Masonry dams, designs and construction

of............................. 188-193

Materials used in construction of irrigation works, cost of ............ 196

McNeill, Col. J.M., aid by.................. 16

Medley,Col. J. G.,cited on sluiceways of

Mahannudy weir-..--... - _ 121 

Medlicott,H. B.,and others of alkali commission, report of, extracts 

from _.__---._...-...-- ...- 65-66 

Merriman, Col. C. J., Ashti tank plans prepared under ordersof..-..-_ 208-207 

Meteorology, features of___ ............. 43-45

Mhaswad tank, data concerning______.... 204

Midnapore canal, Bengal, data concerning ......-....--. ...-. ....- 86-87

Millet, acreage and value of....._......__ 60

lands suitable for growing__- __.-.._ 37,38 

Misau, weirs at.'......._.....______________ 109

Mogul canals, construction of __.____.__.. 47

restoration of _-_.-. .- .......... .- 48

Molesworth, G. L., cited on designs for

masonry dams., .- ..__. _ 191 

Molesworth's formula for profile of masonry dams _________-_.-___-- 191,192

Moncr ieff, Col. Sir Scott, aid by __________ 24

Mooltan, rainfall at. .1..................... 44

temperature at ___. ....^............. 45

Mortality, rate of .......-.-......-.... 35

Mortar, method of preparing-........._ 189-190

tests of_..._-_.-___--_--__-.-___- 190-191 

Mount. f!ee next word in name. 

Mot, figure and plate showing.- ____. _ 74,77

use of, for lifting water. __..._ ___..... 75

Muddur weir, cross section of......___. 109,110

Mullins, Gen. J., cited on conditions to 

be considered in undertaking 

the construction of irrigation 

works _-...----. __- ----_- . 157

cited on dimensions of dams........ 211-212

formula of, for profile for masonry

dams _..-..._..--_..--.__ . 192 

Mutha canals, bridges and head-gates of,

construction of ___ -- __... 13 

city of Poona supplied by water from. 58 

cost of..-...-..-........-.- ..----. 159

distributaries on, plans of heads of _. 148 

duty of water along.... _............ 67

- head of................................. 13

history at............................... 160

inspection of... ._.. - .._...._.-_ 12-13

map showing location of......________ 161

municipal service of water by .... 58

revenues derived from....._ __ 160

sickness along, causes of .............. 64

statistics concerning............._ 159,160

Mutha irrigation project, description

of-.. ....................... 180-163

map showing ......... _... - ___ 161

Mutha River, course of, map showing.. _ _ 161 

source of...................._.......... 160
236 INDEX.

Page. 

Sidlmai canal, head-works of._-..-..... 100-101

head-works of, regulating gates at. 139-130 

historyof.................._ .... ... 97,100

revenue derived from _________ ______ 59,101

section of river in line of dam on _- _ _ 117 

water rate under _._-_._-____.-_---__-_ 101

weir at head of, plans and section of. 116

Sidlmai weir, plan and section of ___.__--. 116

sluice gates of, features of.-____.-_. 123,134

figure showing form of _____...___ 123

Sierra Nevada, comparison of Himalayas with____ ______ ._____--.__- 39

Silt, deposition of, in canals, prevention

of. ___._-__.__--_._---.-_-----_ 106,106

Simla, temperature at _.-_.._--._.-_-._--. 45

Sind, area cultivated and irrigated in. 31,35,57

inundation canals iu ________.__.--__-_ 78-81

irrigation in, cost of------------------- 57

irrigation works in, cost of _____..___. 57

revenue derived from. -_____._. 31,35,57

rainfall in'____.______.___-. .__ 31,43,44,98

Sirhind canal, aqueducts along ---------- 98

area irrigable and irrigated by._.__,_ 61,98 

coBtof--. ----------_-- --------- 61,99

course of_______..______ _-_ _.-_ 98

crops irrigated from, acreage and

value of________________________ (SO

cross section of, dimensions of..-.___. 1(14 

discharge of ---_____--_._-_-.__________ 9K

duty of water under __________________ 99

head-works of------------------------- 98

history of--.------...____--_-_._-_-_.-. 97-98

length of_.__.__.____.--_._____..-_.____ 98,99

map showing -_._----_______.______-__ 98

revenue from_-_____..__.-. ____________ 99

Sasoon superpassage over, description of .--_..._-_..--__-__.__.._ 141 

plan and section of _---.--__--___.._ 149 

torrents crossing._._......._..... 98,141,149

water rate under...... ----.__--_.__ 99

Siswan Torrent, volume of............... 98

Skipworth, Col. G. T., reference to ...... 18,31

Slope of banks and beds of canals, data

concerning -.____..__________ 104-107

Sluiceways, features of ---------- ...._. 119-130

Sluices, scouring, description of........ 119-134

plan of --. .--...-.....-......-..... 177

Smith, Col. R. Baird, cited on dimensions 

of Mairwari tank, embankments, and piers-.............. 300

cited on time required after completion to make irrigation works 

profitable...................... 33

citedonvalneofEasternJumnacanal. 31-33 

quoted on effect of irrigation on the

navigation of tapped rivers _ _ 66 

quoted on mode of construction of

weirs.......................__ 111

report made by, on projected course

of Sirhind canal............... 97

Periyar canal project submitted

by ._.................---.----. 182,183

Soane canals, aqueducts along............ 103,

138-139,143-144 

area irrigated from ................... 103

boats on, description of ._-_____-__..__ 17-18

Soane canals, cost of ............_...--.... 104

cross section of main western branch

of...-.-.............-. ---- 104

distributaries along, surplusage of . 73 

dredges used on ----------------------- 18

duty of water under ____..-_-.----- 103

examination of _______ _____-__..---- 16-17

expenses of ---------------------------- 104

falls on............-.-..------------- 136

head-works of, description of ___..__ 103,103 

foundation wells at --------------- 131

gates at .........._ ._ 135,137-128,139

history of....-.--...---_--..-.---..--.. 101

inspection of-...... --..-----_-----.---- 16-18

Kao Nulla siphon aqueduct beueath

main western branch of -... 143-144 

length of.----------------------------- 103

locksof __ -__.__--.._.--....---.- 18

map showing courses of -_.--.-...-... 103 

passenger traffic on .....--.-----..... 18,104

revenue derived from................. 104

traffic on-__--..--.----.---------. 17-18,104

trees on banks of -...-..... -_. --. 18

velocity of flow of water in. --........ 106

water rate under __..____.-___.---_. 103

weir at head of, description of __ 17,131-134 

plan of-------------------------- 114,115

shutter on, figure showing form

of-......-....... ............. 116

sluices of, figure showing..--. __. 133 

features of-----._.-.-------- 122-134

sluiceways in---- --- ---- 131-123

Soane Eiver, canals taking water from.. 101 

course of...-...--....---..--...------.. 101

discharge of - .- ...-....-.-. 48,103

weir across --. _-----_--._____.___--_ 17

Soil, absorption of water by, notes on___. 68-74 

circulation of water in, experiments

made to show _____-..-_______ 151-152

composition of------------------------- 43

fertility of--.--- ..- -- _- - 38

Solani aquednct, examination of _. _ _ _.. _ _ 31

foundations for.----.....--..---------- 130

crosssection of ________________ ._ 139

description of-___.____.----__.---____ 92,139

view of,plate showing ______._-.-. -___ 138

Sone canals. See Soane. 

Soorooly Eiver, utilization of, for irrigation purposes __----.____--____ 185

Sorghum, production of....... ____--___.__ 37

Sospizio, Carlos, aid by .--__--..-_____..-- 34

Sotas,definition of term _____-_._-.._____- 78

use of, as head-works for-inundation

canals.--......-..--.:..---...... 79

Spices,production of ____---.--___-..._.... 37

States, native, area and population of _ _. _ 35 

Stevenson's formula, statement of ____...- 309

Stoney free-roller gate at tunnel head, description of -_.--__-_-__--______ 186

Storage of water,cost of ______-.__.___.___ 158

Storage works, descriptions of _ _...... 153-230

Strachey, Gen. Richard, Betwa canal proposed by ---.__---...._-_--...._ 173

cited On time required after completion to make irrigation works 

profitable.. __-_._.____._ .._ 33
INDEX. 237

Page.

Strachey, Gen. Richard, Ganges canal defects reported by.-.--.-..-.... 91,93

Strachey, Gen. Richard, and others, cited

on value of irrigation works-_ 33-34 

Stream velocity, mode of gaging _________ 74

Sugar cane, acreage and value of... 36,37,60,93 

duty of water for _.____.__.__._. _--___ 67,73

irrigation of, methods employed for. _ 151 

season and district for growing ______ 37.38

Sukknr canal.data concerning -____,.._._ 80

Sullivan, H. E., and others, cited on value

of irrigation works------.-._ 33-34

Surada Reservoir,location of.__________ 317

Surveys for canal lines, character of.. _. _ 89 

Sttrwa River, tank on-______---_____---___ 23

Strbtej canals, data concerning- _._._,___._ 81 

Sutlej River, irrigation canal taken

from ___________________________ 97-98

Swamp lands, reclamation of ------------- 335

T.

Tahsil, administration of. _._.______-___.- 49

Tamileru River, east branch of, canal

from---..------__...._------- 85

Tanks, dams of------ 198,305,206,207-309,211-314

Tanks for water storage, descriptions

of ---___.__-_-_________._.__. 153-330

Tansa dam and reservoir, description

of--... -_--...--_--...- 14-15,187-188 

cost ot.................................. 188

views and sections of ________________ 186,188

Tarai, features of ___.______._-_____.-__... 40

Tatil, regulations concerning. __.__._ 51,149-150 

Taxes or land rentals, mode of collecting ----__------._----..._ 49,50,52,55

Tea, cultivation of. _____________________ 36,37-38

Temperature,notes on.________________ 43,44-45

Temple, Sir Robert, cited on tanks in

Mysore......-.-...- ___..___-._- 302

Theft of water, penalty for. -..-______-___ 53

Thomason College of Civil Engineering,

visit to __,._-_-_-___-__.______-. 22

Thora Nulla aqueduct, Soane canal, description of _______________ 17,138-139

figure showing __._-_____._-.-.__ _..___ 102

Thomton, W. T., cited on violent floods

due to forest removal. _________ 46

Thuillier, Col. H. R., aid by ____________ " 16

Timber, sale of, income derived from. _ - - 45 

Tobacco, production of _______ ____________ 36,37

Topography, featuresof___.______________ 39-43

Training works for rivers, descriptions

of.... _.. -....-__..._-__- 320-234

plans of ________________________________ 131

Trees along canals, species of............. 18

Tremenheere, Col., cited on silt deposits

in inundation canals __________ 79

Trichinopoli, temperatures at_._____,_.._ 44

Tulkad, old weir at..._____________________ 109

Tullock, Maj. Hector, Tonsa reservoir

project promoted by __. _-_.__ 187 

Tuticorin, rainfall at.. _ ___..._____.____ 44

temperature at______________ ___..___ 44

TJ.

United Provinces and Oudh, area and

population of __.___..____.__ 35

Page.

United States, irrigation works in, cost of, 

compared with cost of works 

in India __.._..---.._.....-..- 60-62

V weirs, condition favoring construction

of_____. ---.--- - -- - 150 

Vaigai River Valley, irrigation of, project for _-...__-----. _--. 181-18T 

Vanupshahr branch of Ganges canal,

course of _______________________ 93

Vedacunay channel, mention of ___----___ 186

Veeranum tank, dam of. ------------ ------ 199

Vegetables, production of ._...._....__.__ 37, 60

Velocities of canals, discussion of -_.___ 105-106 

Velocity of streams, mode of measuring. 74 

Viceroy of India, powers vested iu .-_.... 49

Vindhaya Mountains, drainage of .--__._. 41 

Vir, dam at, features of _....-._...-_.._ 13-14, 189

head-works of Nira canal at, description of ----__..-__....-.- 128,169-171

view of ___.-___ _--_-_.___.___.-.__ 168

Vir River, view showing. .--..____.._._.-- 170

Virainum tank, data concerning _ . . . _ _ 204

Vender Horst, W. P., aid by. ._________._. 19

Wargaon River, aqueduct for Nira canal

over ............................ 172

Water, circulation of, in soils ---------- 151-152

distribution of, rules and regulations

for...... -.....__...--_..-..._._ Si-52

duty of, data concerning _______.__.__. 67-74

unit of measurement for __________ 158

methods of applying _ _.__---_-__ 150-152 

storage of, costof.-.. -.-------.- _...._ 158

theft of, penalty for. .------_._---_.--_ 53

Water rates or rents, act fixing __________ 53

act regulating levying of ___._--__.._. 52 

collection of, method of- __ ____ 49,50,53,55

statements of. __._____-___.___--.__- 31,57,96

Weeds in canal beds, growth of, prevention of ______.__.__._____-___..-- 105

Wegmann, Edward, cited on design and

constructionofmasonrydams. 191 

Weir gate, plan and sections of _ _ _ _ . 166, 167, 168

Weirs, descriptions of _______. _.__ 13,14,15,19,

20, 22, 82-86, 94, 95, 109-124, 175-176,

183-184, 188-193, 201, 205, 207-215

form and construction of _ .. 109-119,188-193

formula for discharge over- .__.--__._ 103

open and closed, comparison of ------- 110

plans and sections of _______ 109, 112, 114, 115,

116, 118, 121, 122, 123, 126, 165, 167, 170, 175-

179, 182, 183, 186, 187, 193, 198, 206, 213, 216

views of __-.--__.-_-___------___------ 84,114,

116, 120, 122, 164, 168, 170, 182, 186, 188, 216 

Well foundations, descriptions of. --_._- 130-132 

Wells, irrigation by. ........ ....____ 56,75-77,96

Western Jumna canal, cost of --__-.__. 99 

crops raised under, in 1838, value of - _ 32 

cross section of, dimensions of --------- 104

expensesof ____-_..___._..__.__-.-_.-.. - 99

first construction of... ________ ....___- 47

head-works of _-__ _ _.._____-._------_ 99

irrigated area under _._.._ _..-_._. 74 

revenue derived from __-_ ___._ 99 

silt deposition in .................... 106-10?
338 INDEX.

Pago. 

Wheat, acreage and value of ...____ 36,60,93,96

cost of irrigating __.--__..___----._..__ 73

duty of water for ._................. 67,7^

season for growing........------...... j8

yield of,per acre ...................... r..-37

Whiting, J. E., surveys for Nira canpi

made by .....__....--.....-.. 164

Williamson,Mr.,aid by-------__--_.__- .. 17

Wilson,W.J.,reference to....... ._ ..... 21

Winds, direction and character j ....... 43

Works for irrigation, classes o -....__ 56-57

Yule, Lieut. H., and others, cited on causes

of sicknessalong Delhi oanal.. 63

Z.

Zabita Khan, ref ere ace to..___........ 47

Zemindars, functions of. -.--.-....._.... 50

land holdings of ....................... 55

Zhara Karez irrigation project, description of........_....___._...... 218-330

map and section of .................... 218

Zilahdars,duties of....................__._ 52

o
LIBRARY CATALOGUE SLIPS.

[Mount each slip upon a separate card, placing the subject at the top of the 

second slip. The name of the series should not be repeated on the series 

card, but the additional numbers should be added, as received, to the first 

entry.]

Wilson, Herbert M.

. . . Irrigation in India, by Herbert M. Wilson. Washington, Gov't print, off., 1903.

238 p., 1 1. 27 pi. (incl. map), 66 fig. 23Jcm. (U. S. Geological survey. 

Water-supply and irrigation paper no. 87.) 

Subject series I, Irrigation, 15. 

" List of works on Indian irrigation": p. 25-28.

Wilson, Herbert M.

. . . Irrigation in India, by Herbert M. Wilson. Washington, Gov't print, off., 1903.

238 p., 1 1. 27 pi. (incl. map), 66 fig. 23*cm. (U. S. Geological survey. 

Water-supply and irrigation paper no. 87.) 

Subject series I, Irrigation, 15. 

"List of works on Indian irrigation": p. 25-28.

U. S. Geological survey.

Water-snpply and irrigation papers 

no. 87. Wilson, H. M. Irrigation in India. 1903,

U. S. Dept. of the Interior. 

| see also 

I U. S, Geological survey.

SEBIES M GENERAL HYDROGRAPHIC INVESTIGATIONS.

WS 56. Methods of stream measurement. 1901. 51pp., 12 pis.

WS 64. Accuracy of stream measurements, by E. C. Murphy. 1902. 99 pp., 4 pis.

WS 76. Observations on the flow of rivers in the vicinity of New York City, by H. A. Pi-cr^ey.

1903. 108 pp., 13 pis.

WS 80. The relation of rainfall to run-off, by G. W. Rafter. 1903. 104 pp. 

WS81. California hydrography, by J. B. Lippincott. 1903. 488 pp., 1 pi.

SERIES N WATER POWER.

WS 24. Water resources of the State of New York, Pt. I, by G. W. Eafter. 1899. 92 pp., 13 pis. 

WS 25. Water resources of the State of New York, Pt. II, by G. W. Eafter. 100-200 pp., 12 pis. 

WS 44. Profiles of rivers, by Henry Gannett. 1901. 100 pp., 11 pis. 

WS 62. Hydrography of the Southern Appalachian Mountain region, Pt. I, by H. A. Pre^sey.

1902. 95 pp., 25 pis. 

WS 63. Hydrography of the Southern Appalachian Mountain region, Pt. II, by H. A. Prrssey.

1902. 96-190 pp., 26-44 pis. 

WS 69. Water powers of the State of Maine, by H. A. Pressey. 1902. 124 pp., 14 pis.

SERIES O UNDERGROUND WATERS.

WS 4. A reconnoissance in southeastern Washington, by I. C. Russell. 1897. 96 pp., 7 pis. 

WS 6. Underground waters of southwestern Kansas, by Erasmus Haworth. 1897. 65 pp.,

12 pis.

WS t. Seepage waters of northern Utah, by Samuel Fortier. 1897. 50 pp., 3 pis. 

WS 12. Underground waters of southeastern Nebraska, by N. H. Darton. 1898. 56 pp.. 21 pis. 

WS 21. Wells of northern Indiana, by Frank Leverett. 1899. 82pp., 2 pis. 

WS 26. Wells of southern Indiana (continuation of No. 21), by Frank Leverett. 1899. 64 pp. 

WS 30. Water resources of the lower peninsula of Michigan, by A. C. Lane. 1899. 97 pp., 7 pis. 

WS 31. Lower Michigan mineral waters, by A. C. Lane. 1899. 97 pp., 4 pis. 

WS 34. Geology and water resources of a portion of southeastern South Dakota, by J. E. Todd.

1900. 34 pp., 19 pis. 

WS 53. Geology and water resources of Nez Perces County, Idaho, Pt. I, by I.C.Bu&jell. 1901.

86 pp., 10 pis. 

WS 54. Geology and water resources of Nez Perces County, Idaho, Pt. II, by I. C. Russell. 1901.

87-141 pp. 

WS 55. Geology and water resources of a portion of Yakima County, Wash., by G. O. Smith.

1901. 68pp., 7 pis.

WS 57. Preliminary list of deep borings in United States, Pt. I, by N. H. Darton. 1902. 60 pp. 

WS 59. Development and application of water in southern California, Pt. I, by J. B. Lippincott.

1902. 95pp., 11 pis.

WS 60. Development and application of water in southern California, Pt. II, by J. B. Lippincott. 1902. 96-140 pp.

WS 61. Preliminary list of deep borings in United States, Pt. II, by N. H. Darton. 1902. 67 pp. 

WS 67. The motions of underground waters, by C. S. Slichter. 1902. 106 pp., 8 pis. 

B199. Geology and water resources of the Snake Eiver Plains of Idaho, by I. C. Eussell. 1902.

192 pp., 25 pis. 

WS 77. Water resources of Molokai, Hawaiian Islands, by Waldemar Lindgren. 1903. 62 pp.,

4 pis. 

WS 78. Preliminary report on artesian basins in southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon,

by I. C. Eussell. 1903. 53pp., 2 pis.

The following papers also relate to this subject: Underground waters of Arkansas Valley in 

eastern Colorado, by G. K. Gilbert, in Seventeenth Annual, Part II; Preliminary report on artesian waters of a portion of the Dakotas, by N. H. Darton, in Seventeenth Annual, Part II; Water 

resources of Illinois, by Frank Leverett, in Seventeenth Annual, Part II; Wat^r rt-^jurw-s of 

Indiana and Ohio, by Frank Leverett, in Eighteenth Annual, Part IV; New developmont? in 

well boring and irrigation in eastern South Dakota, by N. H. Darton, in Eighteenth Annual, 

Part IV; Eock waters of Ohio, by Edward Orton, in Nineteenth Annual, Part IV; Arte3ian 

well prospects in the Atlantic Coastal Plain region, by N. H. Darton, Bulletin No. 138.

SERIES P HYDROGRAPHIC PROGRESS EEPORTS.

Progress reports may be found in the following publications: For 1888-89, Tenth Annual, 

Part EC; for 1889-90, Eleventh Annual, Part II; for 1890-91, Twelfth Annual, Part II; for 1891-92, 

Thirteenth Annual, Part III; for 1893 and 1894, Bulletin No. 131; for 1895, Bulletin No. 140; for 1896, 

Eighteenth Annual, Part IV, WS 11; for 1897, Nineteenth Annual, Part IV, WS 15,16; for 1898, 

Twentieth Annual, Part IV, WS 27, 28; for 1899, Twenty-first Annual, Part IV, WS 35-39; for 

1900, Twenty-second Annual, Part IV, WS 47-62; for 1901, WS 65, 66, 75; for 1902, WS 82-85.

IBR 87 3
PAPERS RELATING ESPECIALLY TO IRRIGATION.

SEBIES I IKBIGATION.

WS 2. Irrigation near Phoenix, Ariz., by A. P. Davis, 1897. 98 pp., 31 pis. and maps.

WS 5. Irrigation practice on the Great Plains, by E. B. Cowgill. 1897. 39pp., 11 pis.

WS 9. Irrigation n-ar Gre«>ley, Colo., by David Boyd. 1897. 90 pp., 21 pis.

WS 10. Irrigation in Mesilla Valley, New Mexico, by F. C. Barker. 1898. 51 pp., 11 pis.

WH 13. Irrigation systems in Texas, by W. F. Hutson. 1898. 68 pp., 10 pis.

WS17. Irrigation near Bakersfleld, Cal., by C/E. Grunsky. 1898. 96pp., 16 pis.

WS18. Irrigation near Fresno, Cal., by C. E. Grunsky. 1898. 94 pp., 14 pis.

WS 19. Irrigation near Merced, Cal., by C. E. Grunsky. 1899. 59 pp., 1] pis.

WS 23. Water-right problems of Bighorn Mountains, by Elwood Mrad. 1899. 62 pp., 7 pis.

WS Water resources of Porto Rico, by H. M. Wilson. 1899. 48 pp., 17 pis. and maps.

WS 43. Conveyance of water in irrigation canals, flumes, and pipes by Sarauwl Fortier. 1901.

86 pp., 15 pis. 

WS 70. Geology and water resources of the Patrick and Goshen Hole quadrangles, Wyoming,

1 v G. I. Adams. 1903. 50 pp., 11 pis.

WS 71. Irrigation systems of Texas, by T. U. Taylor. 1902. 137 pp., 9 pis. 

WS 74. Water resources of the State of Colorado, by A. L. Fellows. 1902. 151 pp., 14 pis. 

WS 87. Irrigation in India, by H. M. Wilson. 1903. pp.. 27 pis.

The i'ollowing papers also relate especially to irrigation: Irrigation in India, by H. M. Wilson, 

in Twelfth Annual, Part II; two papers on irrigation engineering, by H. M. Wilson, in Thirteenth Annual, Part III.

All communications should be addressed to

THE DIRECTOR,

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

IRK 87 4