i vi 47 HYPE PRA

54TH CONGRESS, )HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES. ( DOCUMENT 

2d Session. ] \ No. 108.

DEPAETMENT OF THE INTEEIOE

WATER-SUPPLY

AND

PAPEES

OF THE

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WASHINGTON

OOVEBNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1896
54TH CONGKESS, ) HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES. ( DOCUMENT 

2d Session. j | No. 108.

DEPAETMENT OF THE INTEEIOK

WATER-SUPPLY

AND

IEEIGATION PAPEES

OF THB

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

No. 1
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DLRECTOE

PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION

HERBERT M. WILSON

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1896
CONTENTS.

Page.

Letter of transmittal.............-..-....._..-.-.....-..........._...-----.. 9

Preface..................................................................... 11

Introductory..-.-...-......-................................................ 15

Pumps and motive powers .----..----..-----.........-.--..---.-..---...---. 17

Animal motive powers ----.--------------....--.-------. .--.-----.--.--.. 20

Windmills ............ ...^...........'...................................... 25

Water wheels............--..---...-.--.-.......---.-----.-.------...------- 35

Hot-air and gasoline pumping engines........--.-................... ..... 45

Steam pumping engines .....---....----.................--.....-.......----- 46

Centrifugal and rotary pumps....... -----.......---.-......--...--....-.-... 50

Mechanical and siphon elevators ...------.....----.--..... .................. 51

Storage reservoirs........................................................... 54

5
ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

PLATE I. Home-made wind engine, as used on the Great Plains.............. 15

II. Steel windmill and tower carrying tank.........._ .......... .. 30

III. Irrigating ditch and earth reservoir................................ 32

IV. Windmills and circular reservoir................................... 34

V. Midstream wheel driving a bucket pump........................... 36

VI. Noria, or water wheel, lifting filled buckets........................ 38

VII. Tympanum ....................................................... 40

VIII. Centrifugal pump driven by threshing engine..................... 50

I.. Windmills and reservoir...._..................--.......-.......-.. 54

PlG. 1. Eaising water from well in India by paecottah..-.......--......----. 20

2. Series of shadoofs as used in Egypt.......-......-.-...---....---..- 21

3. Swinging water by basket, or latha.. --...--......-.-...-------.----- 22

4. Using the doon, or tilting trough.............-.--....--- --------.... 22

5. Bullocks lifting water by bag, ormot...--..-.--...----...-----.----- 23

6. Persian wheel driven by bullocks...-.. --.. -.-.-......- --.. ------.-.. 24

7. Modern adaptation of Persian wheel.........-...........-.----------- 25

8. Double zigzag balance.--....----...-.-.---.-----.-..-.-.--.-------- 26

9. Old type of windmill, mounted on central column........---.---.-... 31

10. Early form of head of tower windmill.........-...- ------ -.-........ 32

11. Undershot water wheel. --.........----....-.....--.....---.--.------ 37

12. Overshot water wheel.--.--..--..-.-...-...-. ...-.-.--.-......---..- 38

13. Turbine wheel driving centrifugal pump........-.-..--.--.----.-...- 40

14. Peltonwaterwheel......---....--.---......--...---..-..---------... 41

15. Wheel for lifting water on Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.... -. -. -. 42

16. Hydraulic ramming engine...... ...-....-....-.--....--------------- 44

17. General view and detail of siphon elevator.......................... 53

7
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL, SURVEY,

DIVISION OF HYDROGRAPHY,

Washington, July 9, 1896.

SIR : I have the honor to transmit herewith a paper entitled " Pumping water for irrigation," by Herbert M.Wilson, geographer, and to recommend that it be published as the first number of the series of papers 

"in relation to the gauging of streams and to the methods of utilizing 

the water resources," whose printing was authorized in the act making 

appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the 

fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, approved June 11, 1896. 

Very respectfully,

F. H. KEWELL, 

Sydrographer in Charge. 

Hon. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,

Director United States Geological Survey.

9
PREFACE.

This paper by Mr. Wilson is the first of a proposed series of publications relating to water supply and irrigation. The object in view in 

undertaking a new series is to afford an opportunity for prompt publication of short reports, generally popular in character, relating to the 

water resources and the methods of utilizing these, with especial reference to the employment of water in agriculture. To reply to questions arising in various parts of the country regarding the progress of 

the investigation of the water resources and the facts relating to the 

available supply of water for irrigation, power, or domestic use, it is 

necessary to have pamphlets which can be sent out freely, and which, 

in order to answer the particular needs of individuals or communities, 

will not be too general in character. The series of bulletins issued by 

the Survey would serve as such means of communication were it not 

for the fact that by law these must be sold, and thus can not be used for 

official purposes or for placing the information acquired by investigation at once in the hands of the persons seeking to know the facts. By 

the law authorizing this new series it is possible for the Survey to distribute these papers to correspondents and to the numerous volunteer 

assistants who at one time or another have kindly aided by replying 

to letters of inquiry or schedules asking for specific data. Without 

such opportunities for distribution of small publications the officers of 

the Survey are placed in an embarrassing position, from the fact, that 

they are compelled to ask favors in the way of statements and data of 

various kinds and are yet unable in general to more than thank the 

persons who have freely given their time to the preparation of letters 

and the filling out of blanks. Even when these persons have asked for 

a copy of the publication embodying the information which they have 

furnished, it has not been possible for a bulletin to be sent unless paid 

for by some member of the Survey.

Arrangements have been made for following this paper with others 

at short intervals treating of various subjects relating to the hydrography of the country and to details such as storing, pumping, and 

other processes of utilizing the waters. The following topics will probably be covered during the year: Measurements of Western streams; 

measurements of Eastern rivers; Northeastern water power; Southeastern water power; water supply of portions of Indiana and Ohio; 

artesian conditions of eastern Nebraska; underground water supply of

11
12 PREFACE.

a portion of western Kansas; recent progress in artesian developments 

and irrigation in the Dakotas; artesian conditions of eastern Washington and portions of Idaho and Oregon; irrigation in the Salt Eiver 

Valley of Arizona; methods of irrigation in California; seepage waters 

from irrigation; water storage in a portion of Wyoming; well waters of 

Nebraska; efficiency of windmills for irrigation; sewage irrigation, etc.

The data upon which these and other papers are based are being 

obtained largely through the field work of the Division of Hydrography, supplemented by correspondence carried on by means of schedules. Whenever practicable, arrangements are made with experts in 

various parts of the country to bring together the facts in their possession, rounding these out with additional investigation and preparing 

reports embodying this matter. Every effort is made, however, to 

preserve the distinctive character of an investigation and to push forward the work in directions where it is impossible for the individual 

to proceed unaided. It is not intended to bring together simply a lot 

of obvious facts and inferences relating to the water resources of the 

country, but to extend the bounds of knowledge in directions where 

exact information will have the greatest future value. It should be 

recognized that progress in new fields can never be so rapid as traveling over the old paths. It is only by bringing together clearly and 

concisely what is already known and building upon this that progress 

can be made in the utilization of the water resources of the country.

In the following paper by Mr. Wilson a general description is given 

of pumps and motive powers, and of windmills, water wheels, and 

various kinds of engines, noting the more important of these. The 

conditions surrounding the raising of water vary so widely that it 

is obviously impracticable to designate any one method as better than 

others, and a machine or device which to a man from one part of the 

country seems utterly useless may meet the requirements of some other 

locality. Mr. Wilson has therefore described, and in a few cases 

figured, devices which, while possessing no general applicability, yet 

contain suggestive features. It is not to be expected, for example, that 

in any part of the country human labor will be employed to any considerable extent in raising water, as is the case in Egypt, India, and other 

parts of the world; but the simplicity of the methods commend themselves, and a mention of these may serve to stimulate some inventive 

genius to make a practical application suitable for local needs. It is 

surprising to note how often the devices for raising water which in 

themselves are older than any written language have been reinvented 

and applied by the irrigators of the West. Again and again has the 

attention of the hydrographers of the Survey been called to the homemade devices for raising water based upon the principle of the Egyptian water wheel, or noria, or of the Persian bucket pump. These have
PREFACE. 13

been devised by men who have considered the idea original with themselves, and could with difficulty be persuaded that their pet invention 

was old in the days of the Pharaohs.

In a new and rapidly developing country, such as the arid region, 

where methods of raising water for agriculture are constantly being 

modified and improved, it is desirable to have in mind all of the ways 

which have been found of value in the past. This pamphlet can by no 

means mention all or even a small part of these, being considered only 

as preliminary to more extended discussions. It is hoped that through 

the investigations of the Division of Hydrography a considerable body 

of accurate figures can be obtained concerning the methods and machinery for pumping large quantities of water now being put into operation. 

It may be interesting to note in this connection that as machinery is 

being modified to suit the requirements of lifting a large amount of 

water through a relatively small vertical distance, and at the least practicable expense, there is a tendency to return to the simple forms used 

by the primitive agriculturist, adapting these to modern machinery. 

For example, after trying all the complications of valves and pistons, 

of tight joints and complicated motions, designers of machinery are in 

some instances turning back to the old simple Persian wheel, which 

lifts water in buckets with the minimum of ^friction and of load to be 

raised.

F. H. K

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. I PL. I

iS^sfjs^S.j^3wt>Pw> ^^^tss^sf &^te£&;?l§^^'^:"r:T> ~"J "

HOME-MADE WIND ENGINE, AS USED ON THE GREAT PLAINS.
PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION.

BY HERBERT M. WILSON.

INTRODUCTORY.

Until within the last decade the water supplies used in irrigation 

in our Western States were brought to the places of utilization almost 

wholly by gravity. There are, however, large volumes of water situated 

at such low levels that gravity will not carry it to the fields, and only in 

recent years have we come to a realization of the fact that this water 

may be raised by pumps or other lifting devices to elevations from 

which it will flow by gravity to the irrigable lands.

Extensive areas may be brought under cultivation through pumping 

after the supplies which gravity alone will bring have been entirely 

utilized. Not only is the water which may be raised from wells or lowlying streams available, but that which finds its way by seepage from 

irrigation canals and irrigated lands may be gathered into wells and 

pumped to the surface and again employed in irrigation. For, as irrigation is practiced, the subsoil becomes saturated, the ground-water 

level is raised, and much of the water delivered to the surface by 

gravity systems finds its way by seepage from the fields into the soil 

and may through pumping be used again in irrigation, thus adding to 

the duties of the ultimate sources of water supply.

The value of pumping for such purposes has been recognized for ages 

in the older European and Asiatic countries, and a large portion of the 

irrigation in Europe, India, Egypt, China, and Japan is carried on by 

such means. In Oriental countries pumping is performed almost 

wholly by animal or man power. In some portions of Europe, notably 

in Italy, some pumping is done by modern machinery, chiefly in raising 

water from existing low-level to high-level canals. In our own country 

numerous pumping plants actuated by wind, gasoline, water, and steam 

powers have been erected within the last few years, and they have 

proved so efficient and economic as to at once gain favor with Western 

irrigators.

The real value of pumping as a means of irrigation, and the extent 

to which it may be employed, are as yet scarcely appreciated. A great 

many windmills and some water wheels are utilized in our Western

15
16 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO. 1.

States for this purpose, and a little pumping is done by steam and 

gasoline. But the value of the water supplies to be derived from 

lifting is sure to increase greatly as the cheapness and adaptability of 

this method come to be fully recognized. It is now a well-established 

fact that pumping occasionally furnishes irrigation water more cheaply 

than does gravity, both as regards first cost of the pumping plant, 

equivalent to the cost of water rights, and as regards the cost of 

maintenance and operation, which corresponds to the annual water 

rental or rate in the gravity system. In pumping, the source of water 

supply is more directly under the control of the irrigator, while he is 

troubled by none of the vexatious controversies arising from questions 

of priority of right or of water appropriation, of time of supply, and 

of rotation in the ditches; nor is he so likely to have his supply cut 

down in seasons of drought.

According to the figures given by F. H. Newell in the report on 

Agriculture by Irrigation, prepared for the United States census of 

1890, the average first cost of water derived from gravity supplies for 

the whole United States was $8.15 per acre, varying between $3.62, the 

average for Wyoming, and $12.95, the average for California. The average annual water rental was $1.07 per acre, ranging between 44 cents 

in Wyoming and $1.60 in California. The average cost per second-foot 

of water on account of construction of some of the great gravity canals 

of the West, and based on the assumption that their whole supply was 

utilized, varied between $125 for the Bear Eiver Canal, Utah, and $730 

for the Turlock Canal, California. The cost per acre irrigated for the 

same works varied between $5 for the Bear Eiver Canal and $14.50 for 

the Turlock Canal. The average cost per acre irrigated by some of the 

greater of the storage reservoirs of the West varied between $19.96 

for the Hemet Valley Eeservoir in California and $81.80 for the Sweetwater Eeservoir in California.

On the other hand, numerous windmill pumping plants have been 

erected in the West, the first cost of which is equivalent to a charge of 

about $20 per acre irrigated, or less, while the cost of maintenance, 

equivalent to annual water rental, is practically nil. Hydraulic rams 

have been utilized in pumping for irrigation at a cost of about $10 per 

acre irrigated, with practically no charge for maintenance and operation. Gasoline pumping engines are extensively used in the West, 

the first cost of which has been equivalent to about $30 per acre 

irrigated, with a cost of operation of $1.25 per acre. Water-power 

pumping plants have been erected in the West at costs ranging from 

$1 to $15 per acre irrigated, and with operating charges varying 

between $1 and $2.50 per acre. Of steam pumping plants so far 

erected in the West the cost has ranged from $5 to $10 per acre irrigated, with an operating charge of from $1.50 to $3 and upward per 

annum per acre irrigated.

As an indication of the extent to which pumping, even in the crudest
WILSON.] PUMPS AND MOTIVE POWEES. 17

forms, may be utilized, either to supplement gravity supplies or independently of them, it may be stated that in one small area in India, 

between the Ganges and Jumna canals, there are over 350,000 wells 

supplying water by lifting to 1,500,000 acres of crops. In Madras, 

India, 2,000,000 acres are irrigated by water pumped from 400,000 wells. 

In one small province in southern India there are over 100,000 wellsr 

many of which have been sunk through hard rock to depths of from 80 

to 90 feet and are capable of irrigating in ordinary seasons from 1 to 

4 acres each. In our own country, on the great plains sloping eastward 

from the Rockies and on many of the broader intermontane valleys 

and in the great California valley, wherever the wind is comparatively 

constant and of relatively high velocity, vast areas of land may be 

brought under cultivation through irrigation by water lifted from wells 

by means of windmills. In like manner, streams which are flowing 

between steep banks may not only furnish water supplies for irrigation 

by means of pumping, through wind, steam, or gasoline power, but, if 

of sufficient size, may furnish water power for lifting. The extent to 

which water supplies are to be derived from such sources is yet difficult 

to estimate, but it is certainly within the realm of probability that 

eventually nearly one-half as much area may be brought under cultivation through lift as through gravity supplies.

PUMPS AND MOTIVE POWERS.

Pumps are machines for elevating water, and they may be divided 

into two principal parts: the pumping or water-elevating device, and 

the power by which this is operated. Pumps, as such, may be divided 

into four general classes, according to the principle on which they 

raise water, namely: (1) lift pumps, (2) force or plunger pumps, (3) 

rotary and centrifugal pumps; (4) mechanical or siphon elevators. 

The principle of lift and force pumping may be combined in one mechanism, and this may be either reciprocating or rotary, or it may be 

single or double acting.

The motive power may be derived from one of the six following 

sources, namely: animal, wind, water, hot air, explosive force of gas, 

and steam. Force, lift, and centrifugal pumps and mechanical elevators 

may be operated by almost any one of the various motive powers, 

distinguished from these are three additional classes of pumping 

mechanisms, in which the motive power and the pump are inseparable. 

These are (1) injectors, vacuum pumps, and pulsometers, in which 

steam is the motive power; (2) hydraulic rams and hydraulic engines, 

in which water is the motive power; and (3) siphons and siphon elevators, in which atmospheric pressure is the motive power.

Lift pumps operate by drawing water through a suction pipe as the 

pump bucket ascends; as the bucket descends the water is forced 

through a valve in it, and is then lifted as it reascends. This variety of 

6296 2
18 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO.I.

pump is dependent for its operation on atmospheric pressure for the 

creation of a partial vacuum below the pump bucket.

Force pumps draw water through a suction pipe as do lift pumps, but 

to less heights, and the water is raised above the bucket by the action 

of a piston or plunger which forces it through a delivery valve. Force 

pumps may be single or double acting, and nearly all steam pumps are 

of the latter variety, the discharge of these being practically continuous, for as the water is drawn in at one end it is forced out at the other.

Centrifugal pumps depend for their action on a disk to which are 

attached propeller blades revolving inside a chamber. These propeller 

blades create a partial vacuum which lifts water, though but a few feet, 

into the chamber by suction, whence it is forced by the following propeller blade. Rotary pumps are practically revolving piston pumps, 

differing from the latter chiefly in that the propelling piece moves forward continuously.

Mechanical water elevators include not only the various patented 

devices by which water is raised by means of disks or buckets arranged 

on a revolving chain, but also the various ancient mechanisms employed 

in oriental lands for lifting water from wells. Among these are chain 

pumps, Archimedean screws, the tympanum, Persian wheel, noria, the 

latha or basket, the doori, the lat or paecottah of India, which is the 

shadoof of Egypt, the mot, and numerous other curious devices.

All the motive powers except wind may be used to operate any of the 

various classes of pumps. Ordinarily, however, animal power is used 

to operate the lighter forms of pumping machinery which are intended 

to elevate small quantities of water, and the common lift and force 

pumps and mechanical elevators of various kinds. Wind is employed 

almost exclusively for the operation of lift and force pumps, as it is too 

uncertain in its action to work well with ordinary centrifugal pumps 

or many forms of mechanical elevators.

The various motive powers may be divided into two general classes, 

according to the manner in which they are attached to the pumps. 

These are (1) direct acting pumps; (2) fly-wheel and belting pumps.

Direct-acting pumps have, as a rule, no rotary motion, their action 

being reciprocating, both steam and water cylinders being mounted on 

a solid bed plate, so that the piston rod, which produces the power, has 

attached to it the plunger which elevates the water. Fly-wheel pumps 

may be direct-acting pumps or they may have the motive power at some 

distance from and independent of the elevating pump and be connected 

therewith through shafting or belting or some other mechanical device. 

The latter forms are usually not so satisfactory or reliable in their operation where used for irrigation, as they generally require more skilled 

attendance than do direct-acting pumps, though, on the other hand, 

their efficiency is often higher.

In the choice of pumping machines the irrigator should consider, 

among other things, the motive power which is most available and 

cheapest tor his purposes, and the quantity and accessiblity of his water
WILSON.] PUMPS AND MOTIVE POWERS. 19

supply. Having gotten from these considerations an idea of the general 

form of pumping machine which will best suit his purposes, he will do 

well either to consult a mechanical or an irrigation engineer or, if the 

extent of his enterprise will not warrant this, to obtain advice from 

various makers of the form of pumping machine which he anticipates 

using. These persons will furnish him with details of cost and assist 

him to select the variety of machine best suited to his purpose, and he 

will thus be able to choose the most economic and efficient apparatus.

The pump and motive power which are to be employed in each particular case depend on the service to be performed and on various local 

modifying conditions. The variety of pump must be chosen according 

as greater or less volumes are to be elevated to greater or less heights. 

The motive power must be selected according to the pump chosen, the 

work to be done, and the fuel available, be this animal, air, water, gasoline, wood, or coal. Where means are limited and the area to be irrigated is small, the motive power chosen will usually be either animal or 

water. The first is cheapest of installation, but least economical, and 

the latter is next cheapest, providing a sufficient water supply is available for the operation of an ordinary mid-current undershot wheel, a 

noria, or a hydraulic ram. Where the area is small but the means at 

the disposal of the irrigator are less limited, animal power will usually 

be left out of consideration, and the choice will rest between wind, 

water, hot air, gasoline, and steam pumping engines. If the wind be 

reasonably steady and the facilities for the construction of a storage 

tank be good, wind motors, though not less expensive to install than 

some others, and not the most reliable, are least expensive and troublesome to maintain and operate. Where water is abundant, it furnishes, 

through water wheels, turbines, or water engines, the next least expensive power to maintain and operate, though not the cheapest to install. 

The class of water motor selected will depend wholly upon the fall and 

volume of motive power available and the height to which the water is 

to be raised. Hot-air and gasoline engines furnish the most reliable 

power for pumping water, and are less difficult to operate than steam 

engines. Gasoline engines are especially economical where coal or 

wood are expensive, though hot-air engines have a wide adaptability in 

the variety of fuel which they may utilize. Steam engines, where coal 

is cheap, furnish the most satisfactory motive power, but are generally 

not so economical to operate, especially where small areas are to be irrigated. For the pumping of large volumes, water and steam are the 

only competing motive powers.

The irrigator who proposes installing a pumping plant should consider 

all the various circumstances which affect the case under consideration. 

He should carefully weigh the necessity of having a permanent and 

steady supply, the inaccessibility of the plant for repairs or replacement 

of broken parts, the relative cost and accessibility of different kinds of 

fuel or of water, and the degree of intelligence and skill possessed by 

those who are to operate the machine employed.
20 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO. 1.

ANIMAL MOTIVE POWERS.

Among the oldest and best known of these is the common domestic 

»rell sweep, which is the paecottah of India (fig. 1) and the shadoof of 

Egypt. In India this is operated by from one to two men who labor 

from six to eight hours daily and by its use raise from 1,000 to 3,000

I

t&

_ f

FIG. 1. Raising water from well in India by paecottah.

cubic feet per day. This apparatus is usually employed for but small 

lifts of from 5 to 12 feet, though under the name of shadoof in Egypt 

it is commonly employed for much greater lifts by using a series of several sweeps arranged one above the other, as illustrated in fig. 2. By
WILSON.] ANIMAL MOTIVE POWERS. 21

the latter means three men will irrigate from 2 to 4 acres a season. 

The average cost of irrigation by this means has been estimated in 

central India to be about $5 per acre irrigated. The paecottah consists 

essentially of a leathern or earthen bucket hung from the light end of 

a pole which is pivoted near its farther extremity and oscillates in a 

vertical plane, the short end of the pole being counterbalanced by a 

weight, so that the bucket when full requires but little force to raise it. 

The man working this contrivance stands o"n the edge of the well and 

uses his weight to depress the bucket into the water, whence it is raised, 

largely by the force of the counterweight and the water is delivered 

into a small ditch which leads it to the irrigable fields.

Others of the mechanical devices employed in India for utilizing man 

power to lift water are the latha, or basket (fig. 3), and the doon (fig. 4).

FIG. 2. Series of shadoofs as used in EgyptThe former is used for very small lifts of from 2 to 4 feet, and is operated 

by swinging the basket backward and forward in such manner that in 

swinging in one direction it dips into the water and is filled, and on its 

return to the farther end of its oscillation it is skillfully twisted so as to 

throw the water into a ditch. This apparatus is always operated by two 

men and is estimated to be capable of lifting 20,000 cubic feet of water 

1 foot in height in ten hours, and the cost of its operation in India is 

estimated to average $3 per acre irrigated, though this figure is doubtless too low. The doon is likewise used for very small lifts, and consists of an oscillating trough l pivoted near its center, so that one end 

is alternately pressed into the water and raised above the level of 

delivery, the water flowing from the other end into the ditch. The

1 Irrigation Works in India and Egypt, by Robert Burton Buckley, 1893,348 pp.

I
22 PUMPING WATER FOE IRRIGATION. [NO. 1.

weight of the water is partly balanced by a counterpoise, so that the 

man who stands over the water on the plank can depress the end of 

the doon into the stream by his foot, and then by stepping upon the

Fie. 3. Swinging water by basket, or latha.

plank he can, with a slight exertion, slope the trough to the point of 

delivery. This apparatus is quite efficient for trifling lifts, and is 

estimated to irrigate 1 acre at an average cost of $1.60, Indian wages.

FlG. 4. Using the doon, or tilting trough.

Of the mechanical devices used for lifting water by means of animal 

power, the more prominent are the mot and the Persian wheel, The 

mot (fig. 5) consists of a rope passing over a pulley and extending down 

into the well, and to the end of this is attached a bucket or other recep-
WILSON.] ANIMAL MOTIVE POWERS.

tacle. This is raised by two bullocks walking away with the rope down 

an incline, and thus drawing the bucket to the top of the well, where 

it is emptied into a distributing ditch. These animals are frequently 

so well trained that after reaching the bottom of their walk they return 

backward and at quite a rapid rate up the slope, while at other times 

they are trained to turn around and walk forward up the slope, again 

turning as they reach the top. The mot is frequently employed in lifting water from depths as great as 40 to 50 feet. It is operated by one 

or two men, according to the mode of construction of the water bag. 

In some cases this has to be emptied by one man standing at the well 

curb while another drives the bullock; in other cases the bag is 

emptied automatically by an ingenious attachment of the rope to an 

opening at its lower end, and one man only is employed, to drive 

the animals. With the mot it is estimated that two bullocks workPLANOFWELU

FIG. 5. Bullocks lifting water by bag, or mot.

ing ten hours a day will irrigate 3f acres in a season of ninety days, 

and the average cost of irrigation by this means is $3.50 per acre 

irrigated.

Perhaps the oldest, and certainly the most extensively used, of animal 

motive powers is the Persian wheel, which is employed commonly 

throughout India, Asia Minor, and Egypt. This consists of a vertical 

wheel (fig. 6) to the outer rim of which are attached buckets which dip 

into the well, or over its rim is hung a rope to which are attached the 

buckets, and these hang below the lower periphery of the wheel and 

dip into the well below. As the buckets reach the upper circumference 

of the wheel they spill their contents into a trough which leads the 

water through ditches to the irrigable fields. With the Persian wheel 

two bullocks will lift 2,000 cubic feet of water per day. This device is 

not uncommonly employed for lifts as high as 25 to 100 feet.
24 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO. 1.

Recently there have been patented in this country a number of adaptations of the Persian wheel, skillfully designed and constructed in such 

manner as to be more efficient than the ancient oriental device. One 

of these consists of large metal buckets hung on heavy linked chains 

which revolve over the vertical wheel and dip into the source of water 

supply beneath. This wheel is operated by iron-cogged gearing, turned 

by sweeps to which one or more draft animals are attached (fig. 7). 

These wheels have capacities varying from 500 cubic feet per hour for one 

horse to 2,000 cubic feet per hour for four horses for a depth of 20 feet, 

and their first cost ranges between $200 and $500. There are also on 

the market in this country a number of mechanical devices for utilizing 

animal power in pumping, consisting of various forms of sweeps to be 

operated by horses walking in a circle or by treadmills for utilizing 

horse, bullock, or sheep power through gearing and shafting. Most of

. 6. Persian wheel driven by bullocks.

these are simple in construction and operation and are not liable to get 

out of order. They furnish motive power usually for lifting water by 

means of mechanical elevators or force or centrifugal pumps, and are, 

with their pumps, capable of lifting sufficient water with a two-horse 

device to irrigate from 2 to 5 acres per season, while this amount 

could be at least doubled if a storage tank of sufficient capacity were 

provided for retaining water during periods when not wanted for immediate use.

An ingenious device for lifting water by man power is the double 

zigzag balance of Asia Minor and Egypt. This contrivance (fig. 8) 

consists of a double series of wooden troughs or gutters, the extremities of which are fastened and rise one above the other at an acute
WILSON. J WINDMILLS. 25

angle. At the junction of each pair of troughs are placed wooden 

valves to prevent the return of water. This balance is suspended at 

its upper end on a level with the irrigating ditch, and is caused to 

oscillate about this as a center, much as does a pendulum, the motion 

being produced by a couple of men pulling on ropes. The lower ends 

of the troughs dip into the stream from which the water is to be lifted, 

and at every oscillation each series of troughs empties its water into 

that immediately above, until it is finally lifted to the summit of the 

balance, whence it is discharged into the irrigating ditch.

FIG. 7. Modern adaptation of Persian wheel.

WINDMILLS.

Irrigating water is now being extensively pumped by windmills in 

various portions of the West, notably in the San Joaquin Valley of 

California, in Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, and elsewhere on 

the Great Plains east of the Eocky Mountains. Until recently windmills have been most extensively employed for pumping water for 

domestic use, but as water supplies for irrigation have become scarcer, 

and as practical farmers have come to appreciate the value of irrigation) 

they have in seeking new water supplies resorted quite extensively to 

windmills as motive powers for pumping water. The chief objection 

to windmills for this purpose is that they are dependent upon the force 

and regularity of wind for their operation, and as a result they do not 

urnish as steady and reliable a power as do water, steam, and other 

agents. This objection is, however, not serious on the Great Plains 

between the Eocky Mountains and the Mississippi Elver, especially if
26 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO.!.

storage reservoirs are employed as an adjunct to the mills, for in that 

region there is, throughout most seasons, a sufficiently steady and powerful wind to keep the wind wheels constantly turning. In other portions 

of the West the winds are less certain in their action, and may fail the 

farmer at the very time when he is most in need of a water supply. 

Windmills are too frequently employed to pump water for irrigation

FIG. 8. Double zigzag balance.

either from the uncertain supplies derived from drive wells or without 

the aid of a storage tank or reservoir in which to retain the surplus 

pumped at such times as it is not utilized in irrigation. As a result the 

supplies which they furnish are insufficient and unsteady, and this has 

led to their condemnation. The fault in such cases has not been with
WILSON.] WINDMILLS. 2T

the mill but with the user. In order to obtain good results from windmills they should not be used where the wind is uncertain and shifting, 

or in connection with a poor pump, or where a water supply equal to 

their full pumping capacity is not available; and they should invariably be supplemented by an ample storage reservoir.

The wind may blow at any time during the twenty-four hours, and 

is no more likely to blow in the daytime than at night, when water is 

not used in irrigating the fields. It is also likely to be as active at seasons when irrigation is not in progress and during the late winter and 

spring months as when water is being run upon the fields. For security, therefore, and in order to irrigate a reasonable area from a pump of 

given capacity, ample storage room should be provided for the water 

which can be pumped during several weeks. This storage room may 

be obtained by using one of the various forms of elevated wooden 

tanks supplied by windmill makers; or, better, if the windmill can be 

located at a high point on the farm an artificial reservoir may be constructed of earth at this point and be suitably lined with earth puddle 

or asphaltum. It should, if possible, be sheltered from the sun by a 

roof, so as to decrease losses by evaporation. Such a storage reservoir 

can easily be given sufficient capacity to retain a much larger volume 

of water than can economically be stored in a wooden tank.

The amount of work which a windmill will perform depends on the 

force and steadiness of the wind, the size of the wind wheel, its design 

and construction, and its location. An average wind velocity of not 

less than 6 miles per hour is required to drive a windmill, and, on 

an average, winds exceeding this velocity are to be had during eight 

hours per day; hence, about two-thirds of the total wind movement is 

available for work. According to reports of the United States Weather 

Bureau, the average wind movement of the entire country is about 6,000 

miles per month, or over 8 miles per hour. These averages are somewhat exceeded in Dakota, where the hourly velocity is from 10 to 12 

miles, as it is in Nebraska, Kansas, and neighboring States, while they 

are too great for some other portions of the arid West. The following 

table gives roughly the force of the wind for ordinary velocities:

TABLE I. Wind velocity and power.

Miles 

per 

hour.

6

10

15

20

25

Velocity in 

feet per 

second.

8.8

14.7

22.0

29.3

36.7

Pressure 

per 

square foot, 

in pounds.

.1

.5

1.1

2.0

3. L

Miles 

per 

hour.

30

35

40

45

50

Velocity in 

feet per 

second.

44.0

51.3

58.7

66.0

73.3

Pressure 

per 

square foot, 

in pounds.

4.4

6.0

7.9

10.0

12.3
PUMPING WATEE FOE IREIGATION. [NO. 1.

Table II, which is derived from Mr. A. R. Wolff's treatise on the 

windmill,1 and is based on scattered data of actual performances, 

shows the capacity of a windmill having various diameters of wheels 

with an assumed average velocity of wind of 16 miles per hour and 

working eight hours per day.

TABUS II. Capacity of windmill.

Size of 

wheel, 

in feet.

10

12

14

16

18

20

25

Revolutions 

of wheel.

60 to 65

55 to 60

50 to 55

45 to 50

40 to 45

35 to 40

30 to 35

Gallons of water raised per minute to an elevation of 

25 feet.

19.2

33.9

45.1

64.6

97.7

121.9

212.4

50 feet.

9.6

17.9

22.6

31.6

52.2

63.7

107.0

75 feet.

6.6

11.8

15.3

19.5

32.5

40.8

71.6

100 feet.

4.7

8.5

11.2

16.1

24.4

31.2

49.7

150 feet.

5.7

7.8

9.8

17.5

19.3

37.3

200 feet.

5.0

8.0

12.2

15.9

26.7

Horsepower developed.

0.12

.21

.28

.41

.61

.78

1.34

According to Mr. Wolff's estimate, the cost of operating a windmill 

for a 25-foot lift, including interest on first cost and charges for maintenance, ranges from f cent per hour for a 10-foot wheel to 2J cents 

for a 16-foot wheel and 4^ cents for a 25-foot wheel. From an inspection of the foregoing, it is evident that the windmill is one of the most 

economical of motive powers. Its operation calls for no expense for 

fuel and little for attendance or repairs. In comparison with it the 

steam engine requires large expenditures for fuel, repairs, and attendance, and nearly all water motors call for heavy outlay in providing 

and maintaining their water supply as well as for repairs and attendance. It appears that on the average the economy of a windmill is at 

least one and one-half times that of a steani pump, while it has an 

additional economy over the latter because of the attendance and 

repairs demanded by the steam boiler.

Extensive experiments with a view to obtaining a comparison of the 

efficiency of various windmills have been recently made by Mr. J. A. 

Griffiths in Australia. The highest net efficiency observed in Mr. 

Griffith s's experiments with the wind blowing 7 miles per hour was 

25 per cent. Table III gives the results of his experiments for the five 

American-made wind wheels tested.2

irThe Windmill as a Prime Mover, by Alfred E. Wolff, M. E., John Wiley & Sons, New Tort, 1890, 

161 pp.

2 Windmills for raising water, John Alfred Griffiths: Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of 

Civil Engineers, VoL CXIX, London, 1895, pp. 321-343.
TABLE III. Capacities and efficiencies of several windmills.

At maximum efficiency: 

Velocity of wind per hour ........................ . .miles. .

In 100 average hours, calm locality :

Average continuous horsepower developed per 100 square feet.

In 100 average hours, windy locality: 

Average quantity of water lifted per hour. ........ gallons. .

Average continuous horsepower developed per 100 square feet . 

Average continuous gross horsepower developed. . ..........

Stover solid hand-control 

rudder.

11.5 

4.5 

104 

43 

3 by 4 

29.2

5.8 

13 

.011 .011

8.7

153

.022 .023 

2.1 - 287 

.041 

.043 

.28

11.5 

4.5 

104 

43 

3 by 4 

61.2

6.6 

13.3

.025 .024 

14.4

135

.040 .042 

3.9

271 

.080 

.083 

1.11

Perking solid automatic 

rudder.

16.0 

6.0 

201 

36 

3 by lOf 

39.0

6.0 7.5 

.024 

.012 

8.9

259 

.025 

.050 

2.5

525 

.051 

.102 

.71

Althouse folding rudderless.

14.2 

4.5 

157 

30 

3 by 10 

66.3

7.0 

12.6 

.065 

.041 

19.3

267 

.057 

.089 

5.5

540 

.115 

.18 

1.59

10.2 

3.8 

81 

28 

3by4f 

38.7

8.5 

20.5 

.028 .035 

9.0

115 

.028 .023 

2.7

237 

.057 

.046 .78

Carlyle automatic 

rudder.

9.8 

4.2 

80 

50 

3 by 4 

30.7

6.0 

12.5 

.012 

.015 

10.4

145

.028 

.022 

2.7

270 

. 052 .042

.72
,30 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO.I.

While designed on lines somewhat similar to those of a water wheel, 

a wind wheel differs from the latter in that it is wholly immersed in a 

sea of air, while the water wheel is acted upon by a limited current of 

water; therefore, while the common paddle wheels of an undershot 

water wheel develop considerable power, as one side only is immersed 

in the stream, no result can be obtained by using such a form of wind 

wheel unless one side of the wheel be screened from the air. This 

effect is obtained in a crude \vheel used in some portions of the West, 

and known variously as the Wind Rustler, Jumbo, or Mogul windmill 

(illustrated on PI. I). Such a contrivance is of course less efficient and 

less reliable than the regular form of windmill, because it is placed so 

near the ground that it does not receive the full force of the wind. 

Moreover, the directing of the mill to the wind is not under the control 

of the irrigator, and it will accordingly operate only when the wind is 

blowing in a direction nearly at right angles to its horizontal axis. 

Such a contrivance may serve as a makeshift for the pioneer who does 

not possess means with which to purchase a well-designed wind wheel, 

enabling him to bring under cultivation a trifling area of land, and to 

get a start in life. A number of Moguls are successfully employed in 

the West which have wheels of 14 to 18 feet diameter, 6 to 8 fans of 

about 2 or 3 by 10 to 15 feet, and are each capable of pumping sufficient water to irrigate 1 to 2 acres with a 25-foot lift. Such a contrivance costs from $20 to $100, or even more, according to the amount 

of hired labor employed in its construction.

The well known forms of windmills consist of arms, cross bars, and 

clothing, and their vanes are made plane, warped, or concave. The 

older type of cloth or canvas-sail mill is common in Europe, especially 

in Holland, and has generally four arms. The narrow part of the sail 

is usually covered with a wind board, and the broader with wind slats 

of wood or with sailcloth. Modern American mills differ from the older 

European type in that they are chiefly of the propeller form, and 

instead of a small number of sails of considerable width are made with 

a great number of blades or slats of small width. 'They also differ in 

appearance from the European mill, as the wheel presents a closed surface as compared with the large open spaces between the arms of the 

European sail wheel. As a result of this mode of construction, the 

American mill is lighter in weight as well as in appearance than the 

European mill, and though the wide angle of the vane is not so advantageous as in the sail mill, the surface presented for a given diameter 

is sufficiently greater to more than compensate.

The direction of the wind is changeable, and, in order that the shaft 

on which the wheel revolves may be properly directed toward it, its 

support must be movable, so that it can revolve about a vertical axis. 

This revolution is effected in various manners in the old European 1 

mills, and, according to the method employed, they may be divided

1 The Mechanics of Engineering and of Machinery, Weisbach and Du Bois, Vol. II, Hydraulics and 

Hydraulic Motors, John Wiley & Sons, 1889.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. I PL. II

STEEL WINDMILL AND TOWER CARRYING TANK.
WILSON.] WINDMILLS. 31

into three classes: the post mill of Germany, the tower mill of Holland, and a type midway between these two (fig. 9), being like a tower 

mill in which nearly the whole mill revolves, as in a post mill, not 

merely the upper portion alone, as in the tower mill proper. In the 

post mill the entire building, wheel and all, revolves about a central 

fixed column or post. In the tower mill the dome-shaped cap, which is

1

FIG. 9. Old type of -windmill, mounted on central column.

the only movable portion of the mill, rests on a stationary tower of 

wood or masonry. The wind shaft carrying the wheel is set at a slight 

inclination to the vertical. This shaft transfers its power by means 

of cogwheels to the vertical shaft which turns the mill and actuates 

the pump. The wheel is turned in the direction of the wind by means
32 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO. 1.

of a lever or hand wheel or by means of a large vane or wind wheel 

(fig. 10) attached to a secondary axis.

The several types of American windmills are distinguished by the 

form of the wheel and the mode of regulating or governing its position 

and direction so as to obtain a uniform power and rate of revolution 

under varying wind velocities. These mills may be divided into two 

principal classes, namely: (1) sectional wheels with centrifugal governor 

and independent rudder, and (2) solid wheels with side-vane governor and independent rudder. In addition to these are a number

FIG. 10. Early form of head of tower windmill.

of special types, including various combinations of solid and sectional 

wheels and those having varying arrangements of rudder. Some of 

these special types are rudderless, the wind pressure upon the wheel 

being relied on to bring it into direction.

In selecting a windmill to perform a given duty the irrigator will havt 

many forms from which to choose, and, after a careful perusal of catalogues and circulars furnished by different makers, must use his own 

discretion in choosing that which seems to best fit his requirements. 

Below are enumerated a number of the more prominent American windmills. No attempt is made to name them in the order of excellence.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. I PL. Ill

IRRIGATING DITCH AND EARTH RESERVOIR.
WILSON.] WINDMILLS. 33

Moreover, no attempt is made to present a complete list, many forms 

of mills being on the market which may be equally as good as those 

named.

Of side-vane governor mills the Corcoran and Eclipse are excellent 

examples. Of centrifugal governor mill the Halliday and Althouse are 

good examples, the latter being folding and rudderless. The Buchanan 

is a good example of a special form of wheel dependent for its regulation on the tendency of the wheel to go in the direction it turns as the 

velocity and wind pressure increase. The Stover mill has a solid-sail 

wheel with vanes so regulated that it may be reefed, stopped, or other 

wise controlled to go slowly in heavy winds. The Perkins mill has a 

solid wheel with metal vanes, and an automatic rudder, which also acts 

as an automatic regulator. This, like many of the more recent American mills with metal vanes, as the Aermotor, Gem, Crane, and Ideal, is 

back-geared. The Aermotor is one of the most popular of this class 

of modern American windmill with steel vanes. The Leffel windmill 

has metal vanes made on a helical curve, and depends for regulation 

on the fact that the center line of the wheel shaft stands off from and 

parallel to the plane of the rudder.

Others of the modern American type of metal-vane wheels are the 

Cyclone and Woodmanse. The Advance is of the automatic-regulating 

rudder type, and has both steering vane and governing rudder. The 

Carlyle is a special type, having a rudder arranged to reef the sail in 

storms, and so attached by an adjustable cam as to cause the center of 

gravity of the rudder to rise as the rudder falls toward the wheel.

Drive wells should not, as a rule, be relied on to supply windmills, 

as the flow of water from such wells is usually limited, because of the 

small stratum of subsurface water from which they derive their supply. 

The well should be of ample size and properly lined. It is not infrequently necessary to place the pump down in the well if the depth of this 

below the surface is such that water can not be successfully raised by 

suction. The windmill should be placed directly over the well or other 

source of supply, and on a wooden or iron tower or scaffolding sufficiently high to raise the wheel 20 to 30 feet above all surrounding 

obstructions. As commonly constructed, this tower is supported on 

four inclined pillars which straddle the well, and on its top is built a 

platform or turntable with an open center through which the pump rod 

descends vertically to the reciprocating force pump in the well. Wooden 

towers of this form are built from 20 to 40 feet in height, with upright 

corner posts of 4 by 4 to 4 by 6 inch timbers, crossed-braced with 1 or 

2 by 6 inch planks. The corner posts are usually firmly anchored and 

doweled into foot posts buried in the ground and made of 8 by 8 inch 

timber. Nailed to one of the side pieces is a ladder by which to reach 

the platform.

Windmill towers are now often built of angle steel varying in size 

from 2£ to 4 inches, according to the size of the wheel and height of 

6296 3
34 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [uo.1.

the tower. These are in form more graceful than the wooden towers, 

and more stable, since they offer less resistance to the wind, and if 

properly proportioned should outlast wooden structures and withstand 

heavier gales. In the illustration (PL II) one of these towers is shown 

supporting a tank above which in turn is the windmill, this arrangement being adapted for village or domestic supply, combined with irrigation. In order to secure pressure for the former purpose the water 

is pumped by the windmill into the vertical pipe leading to the tank, 

but at the times when it is used for irrigation the water is not lifted to 

this elevation, but is only brought to a short distance above the ground, 

being allowed to flow out into an open pond or reservoir from which it 

can be drawn to the fields.

These steel towers are built as high as 100 feet, and at comparatively 

little cost, so that there is no difficulty in raising the wind wheel well 

above all surrounding obstructions. A recent development of interest 

in the construction of such towers is a tilting tower. This is constructed in such a manner that the upper part carrying the wheel can 

be tilted or brought down to the ground in a few moments and with 

little exertion, permitting easy adjustment and oiling. Metal towers 

are usually anchored on heavy wooden posts, or preferably in masonry, 

where the latter is easily obtainable.

In erecting either wooden or steel towers care should be taken to keep 

them plumb and to place the pump rod directly over the pump. Above 

the platform the horizontal crank shaft is supported in bearings on the 

upper movable part of the turntable and is connected with the pump 

by a swivel joint, in order to permit of rotation of the mill top in making necessary adjustments of the sails to changing directions of the 

wind. An overhanging arm of the crank shaft carries the wind wheel. 

This, in some forms of mill, is on the lee side of the tower, in which case 

it maintains its direction perpendicular to the wind by pulling the turntable around, and is rudderless. In other forms the pressure of the 

wind on a rudder vane of sufficient area and leverage to overbalance 

the wind keeps it nearly perpendicular to the direction of the latter 

and 011 the windward side of the tower. Most mills have, in addition, 

a controlling or regulating gear by which they can be stopped when the 

reservoir is full or repairs are necessary, and to prevent damage during 

gales. This gearing may be either automatic or operated by hand.

There are many varieties of force, siphon, and patent pumps used in 

lifting water by wind power. It is impossible to say which of these is 

best suited for general service. The irrigator will do well to leave the 

selection of the pump required for his particular conditions to the windmill maker, for every manufacturer of windmills is prepared to supply 

any of the standard pumps and is sure to suggest that type and size 

which he believes will best meet the requirements, that it may make the 

best showing for his mill.

Windmills average in cost from $50 to $400, according to size and
0. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WINDMILLS AND CIRCULAR RESERVOIR.
WILSON.] WATER WHEELS. 35

make. Storage tanks or reservoirs may be built for $100 and upward. 

The pump worked by the wind wheel should be of the best make and 

of a diameter not less than 3 inches and thence to 8 or 10 inches, certainly of sufficient capacity to handle all the water which the wind 

wheel is capable of lifting. On au average a 5-inch pump will discharge 250 cubic feet an hour, a 6-iiicli pump about 380, and an 8-inch 

pump 650. On this basis, and with the average water duty, a 5 inch 

pump will therefore irrigate 6 acres if running constantly, or 2 acres if 

running one-third of the time. The average windmill will irrigate from 

1 to 3 acres. If it is supplemented by ample storage facilities these 

figures may be multiplied by 3 or 4. In other words, it will irrigate 

from 3 to 10 acres. There are windmills of sufficient size in the West, 

where the wind is amply steady, to irrigate, with the aid of storage 

tanks, from 5 to 10 acres, pumping from wells 30 to 150 feet in depth. 

Theoretically, a 25 foot windmill working eight hours a day for one 

hundred and twenty days will pump 40 acre-feet to an elevation of 

25 feet, and if storage capacity for half this volume be provided it 

will be capable of irrigating about 20 acres.

An excellent example of a windmill pumping plant is that of Mr. 

E; E. Frizell at Larned, Kansas, shown on PI. III. This consists of 

three 14-foot steel windmills on 30-foot towers and discharging into a 

reservoir 130 feet in diameter, with banks 8 feet high. The pumps have 

10-inch cylinders, and with a lift of 25 feet can fill the reservoir in about 

two days. The available capacity of the reservoir is nearly 2 acrefeet (PI. IV), and in a season the plant is capable of irrigating 60 acres 

successfully. When the reservoir is filled a sufficient head of water is 

available to enable it to flow freely over any part of the irrigable area 

and in sufficient volume to thoroughly soak the soil.

WATER WHEELS.

Water acts as a motive power by its weight or by its impulse. In 

the former case it falls slowly through a given height, and in the latter 

it passes through tbe motor with a constantly increasing velocity. 

Water motors may be divided into two classes, (1) water wheels and 

(2) water engines, each of which may be subdivided into several 

classes. Of water wheels the principal varieties are (1) undershot 

wheels, (2) breast wheels, (3) overshot wheels, (4) Peltori wheels, and 

(5) turbines. In addition there are water-pressure engines, rams, 

bucket engines, etc., but most of these are antiquated or not economical, and it is therefore hardly necessary to describe them as 

machines for elevating water'for use in irrigation. Of these devices, 

however, rams are very economical where but a small volume is to be 

lifted.

In considering the subject of lifting water by means of water power, 

it may be said, as of other water-lifting machines, that the duty they 

have to perform may be the raising either of a large volume of water
k

36 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO.I,

to a small height or of a small volume to a large height. These duties 

may both be performed with a water power derived through either a 

large volume of water from a small height or a small volume of water 

from a great height. It is this intimate connection between volume 

and head of power and resulting work which calls for the exercise of 

discretion on the part of the irrigator in choosing the water motor 

best suited to his special requirements. A ram is nearly always called 

upon to utilize a large volume from a small height to raise a small 

volume to a great height. The Pelton water wheel generally utilizes a 

small volume from a great height to elevate varying volumes to varying heights. Undershot and breast wheels utilize large volumes from 

small heights to elevate moderate volumes to small heights.

Of undershot water wheels there are practically three varieties 

midstream wheels, the common undershot wheel, and the Poncelet 

wheel. The midstream wheel is actuated by the velocity or impulse of 

a current of water in the middle of a broad stream in which it may be 

set. Such wheels are rarely employed, but when they are it is almost 

exclusively to raise water for irrigation. They are simple in construction and operation, and may be advantageously employed where water 

is abundant, even in streams having moderately low velocity. Such 

wheels produce the best result when their float boards or paddles are 

made straight, but not radial. They vary from 12 to 25 feet in diameter, 

their float boards varying between 10 and 15 in number, 2 of which 

should always be immersed at the same time. These project from 24 

to 30 inches from the wheel rim, dipping into the water about one-half 

their depth. In rivers, the water levels of which fluctuate, the axle of 

the wheel is placed on movable supports, as shown in fig. 11, to render 

it capable of being raised or lowered at pleasure. An interesting adaptation of the midstream wheel for lifting water for irrigation is that 

illustrated on PI. V, which represents such a wheel floating in the 

Colorado River, and by means of gearing and an endless cable, causing 

buckets attached to an endless chain to lift water from the river to the 

irrigating ditch above, a height of about 25 feet.

Numerous midstream wheels have been employed in the West for 

pumping irrigation water. They are almost always used as norias, 

having attached to their outer riins a number of buckets which dip 

into the water as the wheel revolves, and, as they reach the upper portion of their cycle, spill their contents into a trough which leads into 

the irrigation ditch (PI. VI). Such wheels are of very ancient origin, 

having been used in almost every country in the world, most extensively, perhaps, in Egypt and Italy. Some very large wheels of this 

variety have been successfully employed on the Green River in Colorado. The diameters of these wheels are from 20 to 30 feet; they are 

hung on wooden axles 5 inches in diameter, and their paddles dip 2 feet 

into the stream. The buckets attached to their outer circumferences 

are of wood, having an air hole in the bottom closed by a suitable
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. I PL. V

MIDSTREAM WHEEL DRIVING A BUCKET PUMP.
WILSON. J WATEE WHEELS. 37

leather flap valve. These buckets are 6 feet in length and 4 inches 

square, and have a capacity of two-thirds of a cubic foot each. The 

largest of them raises 10 cubic feet per revolution, and handles in all 

about 4,000 cubic feet per day, or, approximately, one-tenth of an acrefoot. An apparatus not unlike the noria is the ancient wheel employed 

111 Egypt and known as the tympanum (PI. VII). This wheel is a common undershot wheel turned by paddles dipping into a flowing stream, 

but instead of lifting water in buckets, the water enters a series of 

spiral gutters, and as the wheel revolves flows through these until it 

finally reaches the center of the wheel near the hub and passes out at 

this point into the irrigation ditch.1

Common undershot water wheels are better than midstream wheels 

 where a fall of sufficient height to give a good velocity can be obtained. 

These are placed in a channel or mill race of about the width of the 

wheel, but a little wider at the inlet than at the wheel. The paddles

FIG. 11. Undershot water wheel.

are similar to those of midstream wheels, though they are sometimes 

curved and of iron (fig. 11). They vary in diameter from 10 to 20 feet 

and have usually from 30 to 40 paddles of from 1£ to 2£ feet in depth 

and with face lengths of from 2 to 6 feet. In the illustration, fig. 11, a 

simple form of undershot wheel is shown, diagrammatically, exhibiting 

a common method by which the wheel can be raised or lowered to suit 

the fluctuating height of the stream. The axle of the paddle wheel (G) 

is supported at about the middle by heavy timbers (D), the ends of which 

on the downstream side are pivoted in line with the axle of the wheel 

(M), which transmits the power. The upstream ends of the timbers are 

liung on chains passing over a windlass (E), by which the timbers can be 

hoisted or lowered, thus adjusting the height of the paddles. Greater

1 A form of wheel similar to this, carrying the water through curved pipes instead of rectangular 

compartments, is illustrated in the Scientific American of September 5, 1896, page 17.
38 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO. 1.

efficiency can be obtained from undershot wheels if the paddles are made 

concave or of the type known as Poncelet. These latter are immersed 

nearly to the height of their axle, the water being partially screened 

from them by a curved breast-piece or apron, so that the current impinges against the curved blades somewhat in the manner of the action 

in a turbine.1

Overshot wheels are economical in their use of water, and are therefore employed where it is scarce. In these the water is delivered above

FIG. 12. Overshot water wheel.

the wheel by means of a flume, mill race, or penstock, and they are so 

constructed that the water may be thrown upon either the near or the 

far side of the wheel, according to the arrangement of the outlet gates 

controlling the supply. On the outer circumference of the wheel is a 

series of buckets of the full length of the wheel face. Into these buckets 

the water pours, and by its weight carries the wheel down, causing it 

to revolve (fig. 12). As it turns, each bucket (D D) fills in passing the

1 The Mechanics of Engineering and of Machinery, Weishach and Duhois, Vol. 2; John Wiley & 

Sons, 1889, page 316.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. I PL. VI
WILSON.] WATER WHEELS. 39

inlet orifice (A) and empties as it approaches the outlet channel, so that 

on one side are always a certain number of filled buckets. Such wheels 

may be employed to utilize falls of from 6 to 60 feet. In order to lose 

as little of the fall height as possible, the bottom of the wheel should 

approach close to, but Dot dip into, the lower water surface. The 

greater the width of the faces of these wheels the larger volume will 

their buckets hold, and, accordingly, the greater power will they exert. 

Overshot wheels may be employed to operate, through gearing or belting, any of the usual forms of reciprocating, centrifugal, or force pumps, 

and they will elevate volumes of water to heights proportional to 

the power which they are capable of developing. The largest, and 

therefore, perhaps, the most interesting, overshot wheel ever constructed 

is on the Isle of Man. The diameter of this wheel is 72 feet and 6 inches, 

and it is claimed to develop 150 horsepower, which is transmitted several 

hundred feet by means of wooden trussed rods to a series of pumps 

capable of raising about 33 cubic feet of water per minute to a height 

of 1,200 feet.

Turbines are horizontal water wheels and may be classified according 

as they are acted upon (1) through impulse, (2) through pressure, or 

(3) through reaction. Impulse wheels have plane or concave vanes or 

float boards on which the water strikes more or less perpendicularly. 

Pressure wheels have curved float boards along which the water glides. 

Reaction wheels are actuated by an arrangement of pipes from which 

water issues tangentially. To this latter class belong Pelton and 

other forms of tangential wheels. Pressure and reaction wheels, 

though similar in construction, differ in that in the former the passages 

between the vanes are not completely filled with water, while in reaction wheels the water fills and flows through the whole section of the 

discharge pipe. Turbine wheels are again subdivided into the following three classes: (1) outward flow, (2) inward flow, (3) mixed or 

parallel flow, the latter really combining the first two classes. Outward-flow turbines receive the water at the center and deliver it 

at the periphery of the revolving wheel. Inward flow turbines act in 

practically the reverse manner from that of outward-flow wheels.

Turbines possess an advantage over the older types of wheels in 

that they may be used with any fall of water, from one to several hundred feet. They have many other advantages over such water wheels ; 

they may be regulated according to the power required and the water supply available, the regulating apparatus being such that the efficiency 

remains nearly the same, whether water is scarce or abundant. Again, 

turbines may be submerged, while other forms of water wheels must be 

elevated above the tail-race. The turbine takes its supply at the bottom 

of the fall, while overshot water wheels take it from the top of the fall, 

thus the former utilizes practically the whole height of fall. Furthermore, turbines move with a greater velocity than vertical water wheels, 

and hence may be materially reduced in size and weight for an equal
40 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. f NO. 1.

production of power. In fig. 13 a turbine is shown geared to a centrifugal pump, as employed in irrigation.

There are a number of successful forms or types of turbine water 

wheels made in this country. The advantages of each of these are 

fully described in the trade catalogues of the various makers, and much 

additional useful information relative to them can be obtained by the 

prospective irrigator through correspondence with the manufacturers. 

In the West are a number of irrigation pumping plants operated by turbines. The wheels range in size and power from a few inches in diameter, operated under but a few feet of head, and developing a fraction of a 

horsepower, up to enormous engines rivaling those recently built for utilizing the fall of Niagara, capable of producing as much as 2,000 horsepower each, and operated under several hundred feet of head, their

PIG. 13. Turbine wheel driving centrifugal pump.

diameters being as great as 6 to 8 feet. They range in price, likewise, 

from $100 to several thousand dollars. There has been recently erected 

at Prosser Falls, Washington, a turbine power and pumping plant 

capable, it is estimated, of irrigating 4,000 acres besides furnishing 

power for factories and other purposes. This plant pumps water to an 

elevation of 100 feet, with a power-producing fall of 20 feet. There 

are two turbines, each 48 inches in diameter, and each capable of developing 135 horsepower under a 12-foot head. Each operates a duplex 

pumping engine of 25-inch cylinder and 24-inch stroke, each having a 

capacity of 4,000 gallons a minute.

Tangential water wheels are simpler in construction than turbines, 

less liable to get clogged or out of order, and they may be worked 

under much greater heights of fall than other forms of water wheels. 

They derive power from the impulse of water discharged from a nozzle
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. I PL. VII

TYMPANUM.
WILSON.] WATER WHEELS. 41

at buckets on the lower side of the wheel (fig. 14). They do not work 

so satisfactorily as turbines with heads less than 30 feet, though they 

produce small powers with great efficiency at even lower heads. But 

above 50 feet and up to 2,000 feet there is no other water wheel so efficient as the tangential. It has a wide range of adaptability to varying 

conditions of water supply by simply changing the nozzle tips. As 

the buckets are open, there is no uncertainty from derangement of 

parts or stoppage by driftwood. They are relatively cheap of installation, and admit, by varying their diameters, of being placed directly 

on the crank shaft of power pumps without intermediate gearing. The 

Pelton is the most common form of tangential wheel.

Few Pelton wheels have yet been employed in pumping water for 

irrigation, but as they become better appreciated it is probable that 

their value in utilizing small volumes of water from great heights will

FIG. 14. Pelton water wheel.

render them more popular. Pelton wheels are made of varying sizes, 

from those capable of developing a fraction of a horsepower from the 

water supply of a house faucet or mountain spring to the largest size. 

That recently constructed for the North Star Mining Company, Grass 

Valley, California, operated under an effective head of 750 feet, is 18£ 

feet in diameter and of 300 horsepower capacity. This wheel is 

mounted on a bicycle-spoked frame having a 10-inch steel shaft. Its 

peripheral speed is 6,000 feet a minute, and its efficiency is about 90 per 

cent. Another Pelton wheel working under 810 feet head is but 40 

inches in diameter and develops 600 horsepower.

There is now being made by the Austin Manufacturing Company, of 

Chicago, an apparatus called the Improved Current Motor, the object
42 PUMPING WATER FOE IRRIGATION. [NO. 1.

of which is to develop power from the water flowing in a large stream 

something in the manner in which it is developed by the ordinary undershot water wheel. This apparatus consists of a narrow, floating, scowshaped pontoon, a sort of floating platform, about 100 feet in length by 

11 feet in width. The upstream end of this is pointed like the prow of 

a boat, that it may part the current of the stream. This float is 

anchored in midchannel and carries a couple of endless chains running 

over sprocket wheels 5 feet 6 inches in diameter hung ou 2-inch shafts. 

These sprocket wheels are situated at each end of the pontoon, and the 

endless chains bear between them, at intervals of 8 feet, float boards 

6 feet lOf inches in length by 3 feet in depth. These float boards are 

acted upon by the current, which carries them along beneath the pontoon, over the rear sprocket wheel, whence they return above the platFIG. 15. Wheel for lifting water on Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

form to the front sprocket wheel and again pass into the water. The 

power developed by this motor is transmitted by belting and gearing 

to an ordinary endless chain carrying buckets or other mechanical 

water elevators (see p. 51) which lift the water from the stream into 

the irrigating canal.

A curious and at the same time interesting form of water wheel, 

which is not a water motor, but is used to lift or pump water, is one 

which is employed on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal to elevate 

water from a lower to a higher level. This wheel (fig. 15) is similar in 

its mode of operation to the tympanum of Egypt, shown on PI. VII. 

It is 39 feet in diameter, 10 feet in width on the outside, and 7J feet 

on the inside. Of its face width 24 inches is occupied by two bands 

or rows of heavy iron cogs, which bind the outer edges of the wheel.
WILSON.] WATER WHEELS. ' 43

This revolves on a 15-inch iron axle, reduced at the bearings to 12J 

inches, and is turned by a couple of cogged pinions, each 4 feet in diameter, mounted on a 12-inch crank shaft. These pinions gear into the 

cogged bands on the outer edges of the wheel. The shaft bearing the 

cogged pinions is connected directly, through cranks, with two large 

low-pressure condensing beam engines. These engines have each 7-foot 

stroke and 36-inch cylinders, and are each capable of developing 175 

horsepower, or a total of 350, on a consumption of 900 pounds of 

coal per hour. The central portion of the wheel, 8 feet in width on the 

face between the cogged bands, is divided into twelve openings, each 

about 18 inches wide at the mouth, and these are the entrances to spirally curved buckets of the full width of the wheel, which enlarge as 

they approach the center and then diminish at their inner or discharge 

orifices to a width of 2 feet. Surrounding the main axle is a conical 

wooden hub, from 8 to 11 feet in diameter, so designed that the water 

falling on it from the buckets is thrown in either direction and empties 

into two canals, one leading away from each side of the wheel, discharging a little beyond into the main canal. The buckets terminate 

within 4 feet of this central hub, and have an inside depth along the 

diameter of the wheel of 12 feet. As the wheel revolves, the buckets 

fill by immersion in the feeder canal, and the water falls out at the 

lower end of these buckets onto the hub and thence into the out-take 

canals. The lift from the surface of the feeder canal to the surface of 

the out-take canal is 14 feet. The wheel makes 100 revolutions per 

hour, and is capable of lifting 300,000 cubic feet of water per hour to 

this height. This is equivalent to about 170 acre-feet of water per day 

of twenty-four hours, or about 83 second-feet flowing continuously. 

This, on a consumption of about 10 tons of coal for twenty-four hours 

at $5 per ton, or $50, is equivalent for fuel alone to a charge of about 

$1.30 per acre-foot. The efficiency of this machine seems to be relatively so high as a pumping machine for low lifts and large volumes 

that it is not improbable that it may be found advantageous to employ 

some such apparatus in irrigation.

Hydraulic rams may be utilized where there is a trifling fall and but 

a small amount of water is to be lifted. They work on the principle 

of a large volume of water having a small fall forcing by impulse blows 

a smaller volume to a higher elevation. Water is delivered to the ram 

from a reservoir or stream with steady flow through the supply or drive 

pipe. At the end of this is a check valve, opening into a chamber connected with the discharge pipe. As the water passes through the drive 

pipe it flows, with a velocity due to its height of fall, through a weighted 

pulse or clack valve which opens inward. It almost instantly closes 

this valve, and at the moment the issue of water ceases a ramming 

stroke is created which opens the delivery valve and permits the water 

to enter the air vessel, and at the same time, because of its velocity, 

the water flows back through the drive pipe. At the instant the backward flow begins the delivery valve closes and the pulse valve opens
44 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO. 1.

to allow the passage of the water from the supply pipe, and the operation is repeated. In general, it may be stated that a hydraulic ram will 

elevate one-seventh of the supply volume of water to a height five times 

the fall, or one-fourteenth part to ten times the height of fall. The fall 

should range from 2 to 10 feet, but not more. Hydraulic rams are very 

cheap, both to purchase and to maintain, and are unaffected by tail 

water, as they will continue working even when flooded. It may be 

stated that in placing a hydraulic ram the length of drive pipe should 

be increased as the height to which water is lifted is increased, so that 

water shall not be forced back in the drive pipe as the pulse valve 

closes. The length of the drive pipe should in general be five to ten 

times the height of fall. The delivery pipe is usually from one-third to 

one-fourth the area of the drive pipe.

Of the many types of hydraulic rams in the market but few are of

FIG. 16. Hydraulic ramming engine.

sufficient capacity to perform the amount of work required in supplying 

irrigation water. Those which are capable of performing this work 

partake chiefly of the nature of hydraulic ramming engines, and are 

constructed somewhat differently from rams proper. They may be 

actuated by dirty as well as clear water, but are more intricate in their 

construction than are simple rams. One of the most effective of these 

engines is the Rife hydraulic ramming engine (fig. 16). This is said to 

be capable of elevating water to a height of 25 feet for every foot of 

fall, and to deliver one-third of the water used in operation to two and 

one-half times the height of fall, or one-sixth of the water to five times 

the height of fall. Only the largest of these are capable of elevating 

enough water for irrigation. Those having a drive pipe 8 inches and a
WILSON.] HOT-AIR AND GASOLINE PUMPING ENGINES. 45

delivery pipe 4 inches in diameter are capable under a head of 10 feet 

of elevating about one-half of an acre foot per day of twenty-four 

hours to a height of 25 feet. Such a machine costs $500, or at the 

rate of about $10 per acre irrigated.

HOT-AIR AND GASOLINE PUMPING ENGINES.

These machines have been extensively used in the East for pumping 

moderate quantities of water for domestic consumption and for small 

factories or villages. Lately they have been successfully employed in 

pumping small irrigation supplies in the West, and are undoubtedly 

destined soon to gain popular favor, chiefly because of their simplicity, economy, and the ease with which they can be stopped and 

started and maintained in successful operation by unskilled labor. 

Hot-air pumping engines do not depend for their operation on power 

developed by the expansion of steam to convert heat into motion. 

Gasoline engines are likewise operated without converting the heat into 

steam, but by the expansive force produced by the explosion of vaporized gasoline when ignited in contact with air. Both of these types of 

engines are made only to develop comparatively small powers, and 

therefore are utilized in pumping but comparatively small volumes 

of water, usually irrigating from 5 to 50 acres. These engines have 

decided advantages over water and steam motors in that they can be 

employed where there is not sufficient water supply to operate a water 

motor and because of the kind of fuel which they consume, gasoline 

engines being serviceable in arid regions where fuel is expensive and 

difficult to obtain, and hot-air engines being capable of utilizing almost 

any variety of fuel. Moreover, these engines are small and compact, 

simple of erection by comparatively unskilled labor, and may be operated with the minimum expense for supervision and with little skill on 

the part of the operator.

Hot-air engines are constructed almost wholly for pumping purposes, 

the motive power and pumping apparatus being combined in one 

machine inseparably connected in one frame. They are so simple in 

operation that anyone capable of lighting a match may run them. 

There is no possibility of explosion, and when once started they require 

no further attention than for replenishment of fuel. They are made in 

capacities ranging from a few gallons per minute to one-tenth of a 

second-foot, equivalent to two-tenths of an acre-foot per day of twentyfour hours, limited by the height of lift, which varies from a few feet to 

500 feet. The chief objection to hot-air pumping engines is their great 

first cost, which for the larger size is $600, or $6,000 per second-foot, 

equivalent to about $100 per acre irrigated.

Gasoline engines are used extensively in some portions of the West, 

notably in Kansas, for pumping water for irrigation. They are made 

of various dimensions, up to those capable of developing 50 horsepower 

and pumping a correspondingly large volume of water, and they are
46 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO!.

constructed as combined motive and pumping plants or as separate 

motors to be attached to varying forms of pumps. The chief advantages 

which these machines have over other motive powers for pumping are 

their compactness and simplicity of installation and operation, and, 

above all, their cheapness, not so much for first cost as for ultimate 

maintenance, though in this latter item they do not surpass hot-air 

pumping engines. The largest of these engines are capable of elevating 

for low lifts as much as 3 second- feet of water, or 6 acre-feet per day of 

twenty-four hours, and lesser quantities to greater heights in proportion. The cost of operation of such a machine as this has been asserted 

to be for gasoline as low as $1.25 per day, or 20 cents per acre-foot. It 

is stated that these engines will pump water at a cost of about 1 cent 

per hour; and working ten hours a day, the largest size will elevate 

sufficient water to a height of 20 feet to irrigate about 320 acres if 

storage be provided. The first cost of the plant is from $400 to $600 

for engines capable of irrigating IX) to 20 acres, and larger plants in 

proportion. This is at the rate of about $30 per acre without storage, 

and the cost of operation is about $1.25 per acre irrigated.

STEAM PUMPING ENGINES.

Of the many forms of motors utilizing steam power, the following 

two classes cover most of those which are of interest to irrigators: 

(1) those which utilize steam power by indirect transmission to the 

pump through gearing, belting, or other separable connection; (2) 

those which utilize steam power through an engine directly coupled 

with the pump, as direct-acting or fly-wheel pumping engines. It is 

not desirable to refer here to the many forms of steam engines and 

boilers employed in developing steam power for actuating plunger, 

centrifugal, or other pumps. They are innumerable and are manufactured in all varieties, forms, and sizes and at all prices. The irrigator 

must determine by consultation with makers of steam engines and 

boilers those which are best suited to the work which he has to perform. On the other hand, direct-acting engines, being inseparable 

from their pumps, may be here considered, as each differs not only in 

its motive power but in its pumping mechanism.

In endeavoring to determine the power required of a pump that it 

may elevate a given volume of water to a given height the same considerations must be dealt with as in transforming power developed by 

windmills or water motors into volumes lifted to given heights. This 

may be roughly stated by the formula: horsepower required, H. P., 

equals time of work in minutes, £, multiplied by volume of water in 

cubic feet, v, multiplied by weight of a cubic foot of water (62£ 

pounds), w, divided by 33.000 pounds, the result to be multiplied by 

the height to which the water is elevated in feet, 7i, plus the resistance 

due to friction in pipes, /.

The frictional resistance to flow is an indefinite quantity which may
WILSON.] STEAM PUMPING ENGINES. 47

be most easily determined by reference to such tables as Trautwine's or 

others giving fractional resistance for pipes of given diameters and 

lengths.

Direct acting steam pumping engines differ from other steam pumps 

in that the motor and pump are combined inseparably in one mechanism, the power which performs work being derived from an ordinary 

steam boiler, not through an engine separately geared or belted to the 

pump, but directly from pump plungers which form part of the steam 

piston or connecting rod. Such direct-acting pumping engines may be 

either single or double acting. They have the water and steam ends 

centered in one line, so that the water plunger and steam piston are 

attached to the same piston rod and work together without an intervening crank or other connection. This is the simplest and most compact form of steam pumping apparatus, and is more extensively used 

for pumping than all other varieties of pumping machinery combined, 

though it is, perhaps, one of the most wasteful and expensive forms of 

steam engines. It is undoubtedly the most substantial and satisfactory 

form of steam pumping apparatus for lifts exceeding 20 feet, for it is 

less liable to derangement or accident and better fitted to perform constant, hard work than any of the separable steam engines and pumps. 

Machines of this class are manufactured by many establishments, and 

the qualities and efficiencies of the various makes are well established 

by competition and experiment. Steam pumping engines are similar 

in nearly all the various makes, differing chiefly in details of valve 

motion. Among the best of these are the Knowles, Blake, SmithVaile, Dean, Cameron, Worthington, and Davidson valve movements.

In selecting steam pumping engines, among the points most desirable 

are strength and simplicity of working parts, large water valve area, 

long stroke and ample wearing surfaces, continuity of flow, simplicity of 

adjustment and repair, and moderate steam consumption. In choosing 

from the various makes of pumping engines it is well in corresponding with their makers to inform them, among other points, of the purposes for which they are to be used, height of lift and height to which 

water is to be forced, quantity of water to be elevated, motive power, 

and quality of fluid, as clear or muddy.

Direct acting steam pumping engines may be either high-pressure or 

compound. The latter are economical in both fuel and water consumption, and their cost for operation is correspondingly less, though their 

first cost is a little greater. The best form of direct-acting are the 

duplex pumping engines, consisting of two direct-acting steam pumping engines of equal dimensions, side by side on the same bed-plate, 

with a valve motion so designed that the movement of the steam piston 

of one pump shall control the movement of the slide valve of its opposite pump so as to allow one piston to proceed to the end of the stroke 

and come to rest while the other piston moves forward on its stroke.

All single-acting pumps should be provided with air chambers.
48 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION- [HO.I.

These are often an improvement even to double-acting pumps, for 

though the latter have a fairly steady discharge, the air chamber 

insures almost perfect uniformity of delivery. The capacity of an air 

chamber for a pair of double-acting pumps is about five or six times 

the combined capacities of the water cylinders, while for a single-acting 

pump it may be ten or twenty times greater. The air chamber performs 

practically the office of a stand-pipe attached directly to the pump. It 

neutralizes the variations of velocity of discharge in the delivery pipes, 

the fluctuations of which might cause danger of ramming and wastage 

of work. The air chamber obviates this by permitting the excessive 

delivery of water from a pump stroke to enter it and thus compress 

the air, while on the return stroke the expansion of the air forces out 

water to supply the deficiency.

Several extensive steam pumping plants have been employed in the 

West for providing water for irrigation. The first cost is usually a 

little greater than for centrifugal pumps, though not always so, depending upon the height of lift. Their efficiency is usually quite high as 

compared with all other forms of pumping plants, and their maintenance cost is usually less than that for centrifugal pumps. Their operation requires skilled labor, as does that of centrifugal pumps; but 

they are less liable to get out of order, and any injuries sustained can 

usually be readily repaired.

In Arizona is a high-pressure pumping engine capable of irrigating 

100 acres per season which cost when erected $1,000, or $10 per acre 

irrigated, while the cost of running it is but $5 per acre. A larger and 

more modern plant operated near Tucson consists of two compound 

Smith-Vaile pumping engines, capable, it is claimed, of irrigating 600 

acres per season at a cost for operation of $3 per day, the first cost for 

this plant laid down having been $4,200, and the height of lift being 

70 feet. Still another pumping plant, consisting of an automatic cutoif condensing engine with two 150-horsepower boilers, has been 

erected on the Yuma Kiver. The pumping engine has 18-inch stroke 

and 42-inch cylinders, and is of 165-horsepower capacity. This is an 

Allis pumping engine, having a fly wheel weighing 7 tons and making 

67 revolutions per minute, the capacity of the pump being 12 secondfeet, or about 24 acre-feet in a day of twenty-four hours. This pump 

delivers water through a 26-inch redwood stave main, elevating the 

water 80 feet, and this is stored in a reservoir having 23 acre-feet 

capacity. A year's test of this engine, according to the claims of the 

owners, shows it to be capable of discharging 12 second-feet at a cost 

of $3 per second-foot for fuel.

There has recently been erected at Eureka, Kansas, a pumping plant 

for the irrigation of about 3,000 acres. This consists of two horizontal 

return tubular boilers and two compound, duplex, direct-acting steam 

pumping engines of a maximum capacity of 530,000 cubic feet, or about 

12 acre-feet per day of twenty-four hours, equivalent to 6 second-feet,
WILSON.] STEAM PUMPING ENGINES. 49

with a total lift of 65 feet. The cost of this plant, exclusive of the 

storage reservoir, was about $8,000, while the cost for operation is estimated to be $1.60 per acre, assuming that the full area is covered.

In addition to the better-known forms of steam pumping engines, 

there have been built a number of patented types of pumps, gotten 

up with the special view of lifting large volumes of water to small 

elevations for use in irrigating or in draining lands. Three of the more 

notable of these are the Huffer and Nye irrigating pumps, formerly 

made in Colorado, and the Menge irrigating and drainage pump, made 

in New Orleans. The Nye pump is a curiously compact affair, worked 

directly from a steam boiler in such manner as to utilize atmospheric 

pressure in producing power through condensation of steam. It requires little steam pressure except for lifts above those made by an 

atmosphere, say over 25 feet at sea level. It consists of two large 

cylinders fastened vertically on one bed-plate. Steam is let into one of 

these and is instantly condensed by a spray of water, thus creating a 

vacuum or suction power nearly equal to atmospheric pressure, and the 

cylinder is filled with water. As one cylinder is being filled the other 

is being emptied, and at the same time receives steam for a similar condensation and vacuum. The action of the steam valves is automatic, 

and steam enters but one cylinder at a time. These engines have no pistons or packing to wear out and practically no loss of power by friction; 

they are simple in construction and erection, and little skill is required 

in placing or in operating them. They are made of varying sizes, the 

largest being capable of lifting nearly 7 second-feet of water to an elevation of 20 feet, and costing about $1,000, equivalent to a first charge 

for plant of about $140 per second-foot.

The Huffer pump works on a principle similar to that of the Nye 

pump, but while the latter is capable of forcing water to a height of 

nearly 100 feet by direct steam pressure, the Huffer pump is merely an 

atmospheric lifting pump, capable of raising water only to such height 

as the aid of atmospheric pressure will permit. The largest sizes of 

this pump are capable of lifting about the same volume of water as are 

the Nye pumps. Neither of these pumps has met with popular favor, 

chiefly because they are not economical motors. In consequence, their 

manufacture has been discontinued.

The Menge pump has been most extensively employed in pumping 

water from swamp lands or in lifting water to flood cranberry and rice 

swamps. Only recently have any of them been used for irrigation, and 

then only for low lifts, usually between 5 and 10 feet. Above the latter 

height a two-story or double lift may be employed, but is not quite so 

economical. For the lower lifts which are within the power of one 

pump this machine is considered one of the most economical made. It 

is a combination of wood and metal, and is operated by a stationary 

engine, belted to a pulley on a vertical shaft set in an upright wooden 

box. The upright box has two suction ports at the lower end, midway 

between which is the water wheel, from each blade of which is a free, 

6296 4
50 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO.I.

continuous delivery of water, which rises in the vertical box to the 

discharge outlet. These wheels are made in various sizes, from those 

which are but 4 by 8 inches up to wheels as great as 1C by 42 inches. 

The largest of these is claimed to be capable of lifting about 70 secondfeet of water, equivalent to about 140 acre-feet per day, to a height of 

10 feet on an expenditure of about 100 horsepower. The price of the 

Menge pump is exceedingly low, about $1,000 for the largest size, 

equivalent to a first charge for plant alone of approximately $14 per 

second-foot, plus the usual cost for steam boilers capable of producing 

this number of horsepower.

CENTRIFUGAL AND ROTARY PUMPS.

For lifting large volumes of water to moderate heights the centrifugal 

pump (fig. 13, p. 40) is most economical and efficient, as well as simplest 

in construction and cheapest in first cost of plant and erection. It is 

not, however, so substantial as a direct-acting steam pumping engine, 

and therefore not so suitable for large permanent works requiring considerable lifts. AVhere circumstances are suited to its employment it 

is one of the best pumps for irrigation. It is adapted to raising water 

heavily charged with sediment. In construction a centrifugal pump 

is similar to an outward-flow turbine driven in the reverse direction. 

Such a x>ump can not be put in action until it is filled with water, an 

operation which is effected through an opening in its outer casing when 

the pump is below water, or by means of a steam jet when the pump is 

above water. The efficiency of a centrifugal pump diminishes with the 

lift, and for lifts exceeding 25 to 30 feet a force or plunger pump produces better results. Centrifugal pumps are usually driven by water, 

steam, or gasoline motors, with which they are connected by belting 

or shaft and gearing, and they may be erected independently of the 

motors and at some distance from them (PI. VIII). They are also made 

to gear directly on the motor shaft.

Many forms of centrifugal pumps are now in the market. They are 

of varying capacities, from those having 2-inch discharge pipes up to 

those having 24-inch discharge pipes, the largest sizes being capable of 

elevating as much as 15 second-feet, or the same number of acre-feet in 

a day of twelve hours. Such pumps as these vary in cost according to 

circumstances, but the larger sizes cost for plant about $100 per secondfoot of capacity for moderate lifts, while for 15 second-foot pumps they 

require engines capable of developing about 5 horsepower per foot of 

lift.

Among the more notable centrifugal pumping plants for irrigation is 

one for the Vermilion Canal Company in Louisiana, consisting of six 

15-inch pumps, which are claimed to be capable of discharging 130 

second-feet of water against a head of 20 feet, and are operated by two 

engines, each of 250 horsepower. Another centrifugal pump, working 

on a farm in southern Arizona and operated by a 10-horsepower engine
WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. I PL. VIII

CENTRIFUGAL PUMP DRIVEN BY THRESHING ENGINE.
WILSON.] CENTRIFUGAL AND ROTARY PUMPS. 51

and boiler, has a capacity of two-thirds of a second-foot. The operation of this plant calls for the consumption of about 1 cord of wood per 

day of twenty-four hours, and it is capable of irrigating- about 3 acres 

in a season. A similar pump in the same locality and operated by a 

gasoline engine of 35 horsepower will handle about 11£ acre-feet in 

twenty-four hours on a consumption of about 84 gallons of gasoline. 

Other centrifugal pumps of small capacities and capable of watering 

5 to 10 acres per day, and in the course of an irrigation season from 50 

to 100 acres, are operated by one man at a cost of about $2.50 per acre 

irrigated for maintenance and $15 per acre for first cost of plant.

It is proposed to erect an extensive centrifugal pumping plant for 

the Summit Lake Water Company in California, and the estimates of 

the engineers for a plant capable of irrigating 40,000 acres, including 

distributing canals and other items, is $81,000, the cost of the pumping 

plant alone being estimated at about 75 cents per acre, while the cost for 

operation of and interest on the pumping plant during an irrigating ^ 

season is estimated to be about $1 per acre, on the assumption that 

the depth of irrigation will be 1 foot and the lift 20 feet. These figures 

are considerably below those of most gravity systems.

Rotary pumps, while theoretically the most efficient, are practically 

capable of elevating but small quantities of water, and have been found 

of small value in elevating water for irrigation. They may be termed 

revolving-piston pumps in distinction from direct-action pumps, and 

have the advantage of not changing the direction of flow of water 

during its elevation by each stroke of the pump. They can be run at 

high speed, and have no complicated leather valves or pistons to be 

choked or otherwise get out of order. They are probably most useful 

in lifting silt-laden water or heavy fluids. There are numerous forms 

of these pumps in the market. A large machine of this type, made by 

the National Pump Company, is stated to be capable of lifting about 

5 acre-feet of water in twenty-four hours to a height of 20 feet on an 

expenditure of about 5 horsepower, and to a height of 100 feet on 

an expenditure of 25 horsepower. The first cost of this machine is 

$400, or about $150 per second-foot. The efficiency of rotary pumps 

is low, there being an excess in driving power required over erfective 

work performed.

MECHANICAL AND SIPHON ELEVATORS.

There are several varieties of mechanical water elevators, nearly all 

of which act on the principle of an endless chain carrying buckets. 

This endless chain revolves on two wheels, one at the upper end of the 

lift and one beneath the surface of the supplying well or stream. As 

the chain revolves, the buckets dip into the water and become filled, 

and as they reach the upper end of their revolution they spill their 

contents into a trough which leads it to the irrigating ditches. Two of 

the more popular patented varieties of mechanical water elevators are
52 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO.I.

the link-belt box water elevator and the Seaman irrigating pump. 

The link-belt box elevator consists of an elongated box Avhich is set 

up in an inclined position over the water supply, at either end of which 

is a wheel of peculiar construction carrying on its periphery a metal 

link belt or chain, attached to which at short intervals are wooden projections of such dimensions as to fill the cross-section of the box. As 

the chain travels forward these projections are raised, carrying with 

them the water resting upon them until it reaches the upper end of the 

box, where it is discharged into the irrigating ditch. This machine 

may be operated by animal, steam, or water power, and the largest 

sizes are capable of lifting about 5 second-feet with an expenditure of 

7 horsepower for a 10-foot lift. The highest practicable lift of these 

machines is 20 feet, and one of this capacity costs $50 per second-foot.

The Seaman irrigating pump is similar to the apparatus just described, excepting that instead of a series of wooden nights or projections lifting water in a closed box it consists of a number of large 

galvanized iron buckets carried by the chain working in the open, the 

buckets being closed 011 all sides, with the exception of an opening on 

the bottom containing a ball valve retained by a little wire basket. 

When the bucket is filled the ball is pressed down in the basket so 

as to close the opening, and as the bucket reaches the upper part of 

its revolution the ball drops in the basket, permitting the water to flow 

out freely. The largest of these contrivances are capable of lifting 

about 1^ second-feet on an expenditure of 5 horsepower, the first cost 

being about $250.

There is manufactured in France, by Lemichel et Cie, an apparatus 

called a siphon elevator, which is claimed to attain an efficiency of 90 

per cent. It consists of a siphon erected at a fall or dam in a river, at 

a reservoir dam, or in any situation where the lower discharge arm can 

be carried below the suction pipe so as to give a difference of elevation 

for the creation of siphon action. At the highest point of the siphon 

are constructed air and valve chambers, the effect of which is to relieve 

the siphon at that point of part of the water passing through it, only a 

portion passing on down through the longer arm of the siphon to keep 

up siphon action. It is this contrivance which enables water to be 

elevated by the siphon to heights as great as nearly 30 feet at sea level, 

instead of being delivered, as by common siphons, below the point from 

which it is derived.

The siphon elevator (fig. 17) depends for its efficiency on the operation of the air chamber or receiver and the regulator, which are placed 

at the upper bend of the siphon pipe. At the bottom of the suction 

pipe is a check valve which allows the ingress of water but prevents 

its escape. At the bottom of the lower arm of the siphon is a stopcock which, when open, permits the escape of water, so that when it 

moves a vacuum is created behind it, which is filled with water, as in 

simple siphons. In action the siphon elevator must first be filled with
WILSON.] MECHANICAL AND SIPHON ELEVATORS. 53

water, and as this descends in the lower pipe and ascends in the upper 

or suction pipe it passes through the receiver (a), where it reaches an 

open check valve which intermittently cuts off its flow into the regulator (6). The water forces this valve (c) forward until shut, and, its exit 

being thus cut off, its momentum raises a puppet valve (d) in the 

receiver held down by a spiral spring. Through this valve the water 

escapes into a storage tank or irrigating ditch. While the regulator 

is being partially emptied into the pipe a vacuum is caused, which 

creates a depression in the corrugated heads of the regulator, as in an 

aneroid barometer, and the pressure on the clack valve (c) being diminished, it is thrown open by a weight on a lever, permitting the water 

to fill the regulator once more and the corrugated heads to again assume 

their normal position. This vibratory motion occupies but a brief time, 

as many as 150 to 400 such pulsations taking place per minute, so that 

the flow of water is nearly continuous.

FIG. 17. General view and detail of siphon elevator.

The capacity of these siphon elevators varies according to their 

dimensions and the height to which they elevate the water, but at sea 

level they have been built with capacities sufficiently great to elevate 

8 acre-feet in twenty-four hours. This is a very large quantity when 

the simplicity of construction and cheapness of first cost of this mechanism about $1,200 are considered; and it may be safely stated that 

if further experiment with it shows it to be as effective as claimed 

in the past, it will be a valuable water-lifting apparatus where only 

trifling heights say 10 to 15 feet are to be overcome and there is sufficient fall and surplus water to permit of the wastage caused by the 

operation of the siphon. Batteries of two or three of these siphon 

elevators have been erected, one above the other, whereby, with additional wastage of water for each siphon, heights two or three times 

those to be effected by one siphon elevator have been obtained.
54 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO.I.

STORAGE RESERVOIRS.

The storage reservoir or tank employed to retain water which has 

been pumped when not required for irrigation should be situated at 

the highest point on the irrigable land. When there is but little slope 

to the land it may be impracticable to build an earth reservoir at a 

sufficient elevation to obtain a good head, in which case a wooden or 

metal tank should be used. Such tanks can be gotten from any of the 

windmill makers, and range from 10 to 30 feet in diameter, their depths 

varying between 3 and 20 feet and their capacities from 1,000 gallons 

upward. These tanks (PI. II, p. 30), when constructed of wood, are made 

of the best selected clear pine and are bound by from 3 to 20 iron hoops, 

depending on the dimensions of the tank. Their prices range from $30 

to $800 each.

Where artificial reservoirs can be constructed on the land, it is best, 

provided suitable material for rendering them impervious can be found, 

to build them up by constructing about the reservoir an embankment 

rather than by making an excavation in the ground. The reason for 

this is that the former mode of construction places the water surface 

at some height above the ground level and, besides making a larger 

volume of the water supply available, gives a better head for flowing 

it through the ditches. The most economical way in which to construct 

such reservoirs is to find a gully or depression of some sort in one of 

the higher portions of the land and build across the lower end of this 

an earth embankment. This is rarely possible on the level plains, 

where it is necessary to wholly surround the basin by an artificial 

embankment.

For the latter type of reservoir the best shape is circular, as such is 

more easily built and has a larger capacity for the same amount of 

material moved (PI. IV, p. 34). The ground should first be deeply 

plowed and stripped of the surface soil, and this loose material be used 

as a portion of the outer face of the inclosing embankment. The crosssection of the latter should be rather flat, its slopes depending upon 

the nature of the soil. Where a firm, clayey gravel can be obtained, 

free of vegetable mold and other foreign substances, this will make one 

of the most impervious embankments. It may be given a cross-section 

as steep as about 1^ horizontal to 1 vertical on the inside, and about 2 

horizontal to 1 vertical on the outside, with a top width of not less than 

4 feet. For less suitable material, as more sandy soil, or that containing some admixture of loam, flatter slopes must be used, reaching 

even as low as 3 horizontal to 1 vertical inside, and 3£ or 4 to 1 on the 

outside. -In every case such an embankment should be built up in 

horizontal layers, well and deeply bonded with the subsurface soil, 

these layers not exceeding 6 inches in thickness and being separately 

tramped by animals or rolled by heavy rollers as laid. If there is 

available a gravel containing sand and a little clay matter, the embank-
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVt WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. I PL, IX

WINDMILLS AND RESERVOIR.
WILSON.] STORAGE RESERVOIRS. 55

ment may be built up dry, and will form one of the most impervious 

structures that can be made. With less firm materials a puddle wall 

should be built up through the center of the bank as it is erected. Such 

a puddle wall should consist of gravelly clay, moistened as it is laid, 

and at least 2 feet in thickness for low embankments, its base being 

firmly and deeply bonded with the subsoil. The top of the embankment 

should reach at least 2 feet above high-water surface (PI. IX), in order 

to prevent its being overtopped by waves during high winds, and the 

outer slopes should be sodded to protect them against erosion by heavy 

rainfalls. The reservoir should not be too large for the pump to easily 

fill, in which case the percentage of loss from evaporation and absorption would be too great. It should be as deep as practicable, for the 

deeper the less its area and the less the surface exposed to evaporation 

and absorption. A reservoir 100 feet in diameter and 5 feet deep will 

lose nearly all its water in a few months, whereas one 50 feet in diameter 

and 10 feet deep will lose scarcely 25 per cent by absorption and 

evaporation in the same time.

If homogeneous clayey soil underlies the bottom of the reservoir it 

will be unnecessary to provide a lining, though there may be some loss 

of water through percolation and absorption. If such a surface is not 

available for the bottom, the soil should be removed and the subsoil 

covered with a layer at least 1 to 2 feet in thickness of clay and gravel, 

the same being carefully puddled and rolled over the entire surface and 

up the inner slope of the embankment so as to make a firm bond with 

it. Better still, if means permit, is it to line the inner surface of the 

reservoir bottom and slopes with asphaltum. This is put upon the 

denuded subsoil much as is the asphaltum used in paving city streets. 

One of the best admixtures is about 75 per cent of La Petra asphalt, 

the remainder being of Las Conchas as a flux, both of which come from 

Lower California. This is boiled in open kettles for twelve hours at 

a high temperature, frequently stirred, and 20 per cent of it by weight 

is mixed with 80 per cent of sand previously heated to the same 

temperature. This should be put on with a thickness, for shallow reservoirs, of 2^ inches, spread with hot rakes, tamped with hot tampers, 

and held in place on the slopes by anchor spikes of sheet iron about an 

inch wide and driven in at intervals of about a foot. This lining should 

be painted over with a bitumen paint or Trinidad asphaltum fluxed with 

residuum oil and poured on hot from buckets. Such a lining laid over 

a well-leveled and well-rolled surface will last many years, will be impervious to water, and as it will cost but 15 to 20 cents per square foot, will 

probably more than pay for itself in a short time in the saving of water.

To control the flow of water from the storage reservoir a discharge 

or outlet gate should be firmly built into the banks in such manner 

that seepage water will not find its way along it and thus erode the 

reservoir wall. It should be located at the lowest point of the reservoir bed, which may be previously graded to slope toward it. Such
56 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION. [NO.I.

an outlet sluice may be satisfactorily constructed of wood by building out wing walls on both the outer and the inner surfaces of the 

embankments and inclining its bottom ends downward into the ground 

so as to prevent the seepage of water about the resulting box-like 

channel or flume. Additional security against the travel of seepage 

water may be had by running a row of sheet piling tightly connected 

with the box flume back through the center of the embankment for 

some distance. In this box flume should be erected a small lifting gate 

which can be raised to any desired extent so as to permit of the discharge of such volumes as may be required in irrigating the fields.
INDEX.

Page.

Animal motive powers, descriptions and figures of..-.....-...-.-..--..-.-..-.. 20-25

Austin Manufacturing Company, Chicago,

Improved Current Motor of........ 41-42

Buckley, R. B., cited ........................ 21

Centrifugal pumps, use of............ ... 50-51

Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, wheel for

liftingwater on.................... 42-43

Cost of water for irrigation ... ....... 16

Doon of India, description and figure of.... 21-22

Frizell, E. E., windmill pumping plant of... 35 

Gasoline pumping engines, use of.......... 45-46

Griffiths, J.A., cited....................... 28

Hot-air pumping engines, use of ........ 45-46

Hufler pump, description of................ 49

Hydraulic rams, use of........ ......... 43-45

Hydrographic papers in preparation, snbjeqts of.--.-......--..-....--.....-. 11-12

Irrigation, cost of water for....... ..... 16

use of wells for............... ...... 17

Irrigation and water-supply papers, char- 

. acter, subjects and proposed distribution of........................... 11-12

Isle of Man, large oversh ot water wheel on. 39 

Jumbo wind wheel, use of.................. 30

Latha of India, description and figure of... 21,22 

Lemichel et Cie, siphon elevator of........ 52

Menge pump,description of .. .... 49-50

Mogul windmill,use of..__............... 30

Motive powers and pumps, enumeration and

classification of...---..-....-...... 17-19

Mot of India, description and figure of..... 22-23

National Pump Company, rotary pump

made by..-. .................... 51

Newell, F. H., letter of transmittal and preface by.. ................. 9-13

cited ....... . ................ 16

Noria, nse of. ____................ 36

North Star Mining Company, California,

Pelton wheel of.................... 41

Nye pump, description of.................. 49

Psecottah of India, description and figure of. 20-21 

Persian wheel, description and figure of.... 23-24

description and figure of modern adaptation of............................ 23,24

Felton water wheel, description and figure

Of ......... ............ 41

Page. 

Prosser Falls, "Washington, turbine power

and pumping plant at.............. 40

Pumping engines, hot air and gasoline..... 45-46

steam .................................. 46-50

Pumps and motive powers, enumeration and

classification of ........... .. 17-19

Pnmps. irrigation in India by.............. 17

capacities of............................ 35

centrifugal................... _.... 50-51

rotary ........ .................. 51

Hams (hydraulic),use of.. ........... 43-45

Reservoirs for storage of water, form and

character of........................ 54-56

Eotary pumps, use of...................... 51

Scientific American, cited.................. 37

Seaman irrigating pump, description of.... 52

Shadoof of India, description and figure of. 20-21 

Siphon water elevators, description and figure of............_............... 52-53

Steam pnmping engines,use of............ 46-50

Storage reservoirs, form and character of.. 54-56 

Summit Lake "Water Company of California, centrifugal pumping plant of.. 51 

Turbine water wheels, description and figure of.............................. 39-40

Tympanum, description of................. 37

Vermilion Canal Company of Louisiana,

centrifugal pumping plant of...... 50

Water for irrigation, cost of................ 16

Water elevators (mechanical and siphon),

descriptions of.......-...--......-- 51-53

Water rental, cost per acre...... ....... 16

Water-supply and irrigation papers, character, subject*, and proposed distri 

bntion of........................... 11-12

Water wheels, descriptions and figures of.. 35-43 

Weisbach andDuBois, cited.......... .. 30,38

Wells, irrigation from...................... 17

Windmill pnmping plants, cost of irrigation

by ....................... ......... 16

Windmills, descriptions and figures of..... 25-35

capacities of........... ........ .. 28-29

Wind Hustler, use of._..... .......... 30

Wind velocity and power, table showing... 27 

Wolff, A.R., cited...........;.............. 28

Zigzag balance of Asia Minor and Egypt,

description and figure of........ 24-25, 26

57