Arizona weekly citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz) 1880-1901, 1893-07-22
BY PUMPING.
Wonders in Irrigation at the
Hartt Ranch.
FIGURES OF ACTUAL WORK.
Wonders of a Cord Of Wood
Pumping Better Than a
Ditch Company
FIGURES OF ACTUAL WORK.
Tucson, July II, 1893.

Tucson, July II, 1893.
Editor CITIZEN:
In answer to yours inquiring as to the
cost of producing water for irrigation
by pumping, l would say that IN actual
everyday service, as demonstrated by
numerous practical experiments at my
place, cord of sound wel[seasoned
mesquit wood, weighing about 1890
pounds, will operate my plant for ten
hours producing 1000 gallons of water
per minute at an elevation of sixty feet,
or a total of 100000 gallons raised
sixty feet high in ten hours. This
assuming thsta gallon of water weighs
eight and thirty-three hundredth pounds
amounts to 6OO,OOOOOO foot pounds of
utilized energy. And assuming that
seven and fifty hundredth gallons
make a cubic foot approximately and
that an acre of land contains 1850
square feet, the above amount of water
would food an entire acre of land over
forty-four inches deep or it would
food fifteen acres about three inches
deep.
If, as some authorities claim, an
acre foot, or that quantity of water that
will cover an acre one foot deep, pro-
perly applied, without loss, and in ad
ditlon to our annual rainfall will ir
rigate an acre of, land for year, there
is practically no waste to water that is
pumped, as it is applied direct and only
as needed. then cord of mesquit
wood properly utilized will irrlgate
three and three-quarter acres for a
period of one year. This, however, will
depend greatly on the class OF crops
and economy of the man using the
water.
ga miners inch, under a four-inch
head, as adopted in California, amounts
to a continuous flow of about nine
gallons per minute. By the above
figures it will be seen that cord of
mesquit wood will maintain a con-
tinuous flow of one miners inch, twenty
four hours in. a day, for over ninety-two
days, besides raising it sixty feet high.
A water right throughout the fruit
districts of California usually consists
of one-tenth of miners inch per acre.
From this it develops that cord of
mesquit wood will not only furnish the
water right but the water as we'll and
that from a depth OF sixty feet to If
rigate ten acres of land for period of
ninety-two days.
Such a cord of wood costs me laid
down at the furnace door $500, making
the fuel to produce an acre foot of
water cost tifty-three and one-third
cents and making the fuel necessary to
produce a quantity of water equal to q
California water right for one year cost
eighty cents or about four aud half
cents for every time an acre is covered
one inch deep.
POWER OF CORD OF WOOD.
Few people fully realize the enormous
energy stored ID a cord OF mesqult
wood and this suggests the fact that ia
as much as one pound falling 6OO,OOO,G0O
feet will rot develop sufficient energy
to raise 600,000,000 pounds one foot, that
were this cord of wood weighing $500
pounds suspended by cable and used
ss weight to drive suitable mechanism,
it would not pump as much water IN
running down shaft twenty-five
miles deep as it does by simply burning
it under boiler.
In regard to labor, one man does the
firing and gives the pump what little at
teution it needs. His wages at $500
per shift of twelve hours amounts to
$3.50 for the ten hours used In con-
Stunning the cord of wood and producing
the 100000 gallons of water which is
equal to sixty-eight cents for each acre
foot, S100 for a quantity equal to a
California water right, or nearly five
and three-quarter cents for each acre
flooded one inch deep.
The cost for oil and waste for ten
hours is about twenty-five cents, for
repair fund say twenty-five cents. in
terest on outlay fifty cents for shift of
ten hours, making S1.00 for incidentals,
equal to twenty-se cents for an acre
foot. forty cents for California water
right, or two and quarter cents per
inch, which sums up in total as follows:
Whole cost of producing an acre foot
of water, SI4S5. Whole cost of pro-
ducing an amount equal to water
right for one acre for one year, 81 20, or
the whole cost to food an acre one inch
deep about twelve and half cents.
If this pump we're run continuously for
one year at this rate, which is moderate
speed, it would furnish ,O51, 100000
gallons or 140, 10000 cubic feet of water,
or sufficient to cover 321S acres one foot
deep.
But let us be liberal for we do not
intend to stint our crops. With plenty of
water at hand, say taking all crops into
one with another, we
use two acre feet OF water per acre,
equal to one and half water rights and
when wesallow two feet for the entire acre
it means that the actual crop will get a
great deal more as in case of trr es and
vines they would not need n arly so
much, great deal of the ground not
being wet at all.
At this rate the plant would irrlgate |
1909 acres. Nov granting that |
an average water right costs $500 per |
acre as purchased from ditch company
and on the 1909 acres we have a fund |
of S24,135.O0 with which to build plant |
which is your water right.
init is needless to say it can be put |
for great deal less.