The herald., 1897-09-28
IRRIGATION BY PUMPING

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Few people are aware Of the extent 10
which the resources Of Southern Cali
fornia are being developed by pumping
water with the gasoline engine. But a
few years ago it was almost a maxim
that irrigation cannot be profitably done
by pumping if the lift Is more than few
feet. Even then the crop had 10 be
some very valuable one.
In general the maxim was correct, as
many an enthusiastic tenderfoot learned
to his sorrow. Many another who felt
very much outraged because some COM
pany wanted a hundred dollars an acre
for water-right started in to show them
that he could have his own system,
paid for the plant more than hundred
dollars an acre first cost and from
20 to so per cent year interest upon that
for the cost of operation; and even then
had very little water, or in a very un-
satisfactory shape. Where the attempt
was made with a steam pump water
enough generally came out of the end
Of the pipe provided there were enough
in the we'll to stand the draught. But
| 1t was very expensive and the "inex-
haustible WELL" of which the land owner
boasted so much, proved like all other
seepage wells-inexhaustible so long as
you do not exhaust them. They are all
very fine as long as you don't need any
water. But when the trees get to the
point where they must have plenty then
comes the test. During the early stages
of this business the windmill is quite at
tractive, but when you need much water
| you need more windmills and this means
more wells.
| The gasoline engine has changed all
| this. To be Independent of all water
companies where possible, even of land
| owners companies, is an advantage, and
| there are many cases where this is
possible with the gasoline engine. The
great trouble has beer to find what these
engines would do. They are rated at so
much horse power and this rating is gen.
orally reasonably honest. But this is
the theoretical horse power. The actual
power, or what remains after the fric-
tion of the machinery and attachments
is deducted is quite another matter and
the maker of the engine can scarcely be
expected to figure all this out for us even
if it were possible. Many a man who
gravel stream we'll filled with water
from some large water shed, from which
he could pump for days at time a
stream large enough to irrigate twenty
or thirty acres. has been deferred from
pumping on account of the bad expe-
rience of the past with steam and be-
cause he could get no reliable data
about what the engine would do. For
upon this question it's horse power rat
ing throws very little light.
Ever since these engines came out I
have been trying to find what they
would do, but the owner Of one always
has some of the data defective, either
the amount of the fuel consumed per
hour, the height Of the lift the amount
of water thrown or something that made
the conclusion worthless. Lately have
found two plants In which the data were
quite accurate about the amount of fuel
per hour and the day. One of them
got quite an accurate measurement on
the amount of water discharged by tim
ing the strokes of the pump and getting
the area and length of the cylinder
which corresponded almost exactly at
the other end with time measurement
of the water in kerosen can. The dis
tance was over 1000 feet, but the height
was rot known. 1t was certainly over
125 feet but discounted this to 100 for
safety. The other plant had a lift of
ffty-three feet known, but had much
smaller engine. The cost for the high
est lift was one cent an inch an hour; for
the other one about six-tenths of this.
The larger engine was laboring against
much more friction in the pipe, from
which ii is safe to infer that it would
have done the work on the fifty-three
foot lift for considerably less than six
tenths-probably for considerably less
thar half a cent. Assuming the amount
of fuel and its cost as correctly given,
which I have no reason to doubt, as
neither Of the owners had any interest
in, deceiving me and were both anxious
to get the information for themselves,
there cannot be over ten per cent of
error in this calculation.
One cent miners inch an hour is the
highest rate for irrigating in those COM
panies where the stock is owned by the
irrigator. and the plant is operated for
maintenance only, and not for profit.
At Riverside it is much less than half Of
this, and at Santa Ana still less But the
highest amounts to about ninety dollars
an inch year. At the rate Of an inch
to ten acres this would be about nine
dollars an acre a year-a rate that any
one could we'll afford TO pay for water on
good land, provided he could get it no
cheaper. Properly used for almost any
kind of fruit, orchard or garden work, or
even for alfalfa, this will pay a good
profit on the investment. Whether it
would not be better to- find land with
cheaper water is quite another question.
The question of pumping generally arises
where one has the land and IS satisfied
with the situation, and has perhaps made
Improvements that he could not sell for
what they cost unless the place can be ir-
rigated. There is many such a place
with a bored we'll that does not raise the
water to the surface, but from which a
steady stream could be pumped after 1t
had been drawn down to certain level
They are called negative artesian
wells" and are very valuable II they can
be cheaply pumped. There are thou
sands Of other places in cienegas, gravel
washes and other drainage lines from
large water sheds where enough water
can be had to feed large pump, but In
which it would not pay to put a wind