The herald., 1897-11-14

ested in these companies. The canaigrc
company purchased u large tract OF
land in the vicinity Of Rialto and during
the past season has spent large sums OF
money in improving the same, having
planted nearly four thousand acres to
| canaigre. A portion Of this tract was
| irrigated and some of the earlier plant
| ing last spring, started to grow in good
| shape, but, of course, died down during
| the summer season, as it is the nature of
the plant to do. but 1t commences to
grow again with the approach of cooler
weather. These eastern capitalists are
| reported as being good, reliable men, and
| they regard the business as permanent
| investment. They purchased the prop
erty at low price and they intend to
| improve 1t, no matter what becomes OF
the canaigre experiment. They realize
that they have a valuable tract of land
whether it be planted to canaigre or
oranges.
Messrs Carruthers and Wall, two of
the incorporators of the enterprise, have
| been in charge of the enterprise at Ri
alto until recently. when Mr. Wall re-
tired. 1t seems as though their manage
ment had not been satisfactory to the
men who have been furnishing the sin
ews of war
THE NEW SCHEME.
Recently the same management has
given to the public the statement that
they proposed to build a system of res
ervoirs in Lyte Creek watershed for the
purpose of impounding enough water
to irrigate 100000 acres of land and
they are now trying to contract and sell
water rights to owners of land in San
Bernardino county.
1t is this proposed system of reser-
voirs that is being criticised by the pub
lie at the present time.
There are to be seven reservoirs in
the system, the capacity and description
Of each of which was published in the
San Bernardino correspondence to the
Herald some days since. Each reservoir
is to have a dam $50 feet in height The
average length of these dams is 676 feet
on top and 391 feet at the bottom. The
total area covered by the reservoirs is to
be 1856 acres. The average depth is said
to be about so feet and the capacity of
the seven is to be 43.401 acre feet The
largest reservoir covers about 209 acres.
while the smallest covers only Sc acres.
1t is q well-known fact that, with
one exception, it is not known how deep
it is to the bedrock at the points where
the dams are to be constructed. 1t is
also a well-known fact that nothing but
a masonry dam anchored solidly on bed
rock will be Of any service in such
work.
1t is also generally recognized that
these reservoirs. with the exception of
faI in,
the main stream or in some of it's
branches, and that this stream and those
branches carry down during times of
winter floods large quantities of debris
that would in the course of few years
MI up any reservoir that might be built.
1t is a further well-known fact that
10 reputable engineer in Southern Cali
fornia has ever endorsed six of these
reservoir sites, and the other one is
not considered as good as it might be,
although possibly it might avail. 1t is a
well-settled proposition that no one can
afford to build dam $50 feet high to
make a reservoir covering only Sc
acres and holding only 1906 acre feet of
water--that is, enough water to cover
35O6 acres of land one foot deep.
1t is not necessary to call attention to
the loss of water by evaporation. which
at the very lowest estimate is three feet
per annum, thus losing to the system
210S acre feet or nearly two-thirds the
capacity of the smallest reservoir.
The watershed of Lytle creek is placed
at 57.3 square miles, or $3.50 acres. Ex-
perience shows that a system of reser-
vors will not catch and save over 1873
per cent Of the rainfall under the most
favorable circumstances, while under
less favorable conditions the saving
may not exceed % per cent of the rain
fall. If an average of so per cent of the
rainfall can be saved in Lytle creek
watershed, then it would require an an
nual rainfall of about 2S inches, for
dry season, to fill the reservoirs.
A FUTILE PROJECT
But the man who would propose to
put his money into such an enterprise,
if he examined the matter carefully.
would never get beyond the cost of con-
struction. A competent engineer es-
Inmates that it will cost $11, ,314, 500 to put
in the masonry for these seven dams
above the surface Of the ground, to say
nothing of the cost of getting foun6a-
tion on bedrock at an unknown depth
and building up to the surface. This
would make an acre foot of water cost
$259.72. An acre foot of water will irri-
gate one acre of land on basis of one
inch to eight acres. provided the water
is used judiciously in summer and not
wasted in winter fall and spring. A
water right from such source of sup
ply would therefore cost $259.72 per acre,
to say nothing of the distributing sys-
TEN, loss of water by evaporation, con-
structing the foundation for the dams,
cost of delivery, etc. This is high tariff
that doesn't protect either the producer
or the consumer.
Any attempt to build any kind of q
equally good and for all practical
purposes equally expensive would be
money thrown away. If the reservoirs
held at all under other conditions, such
as a dirt dam built on the surface of
the ground, 1t would be only for a short
time till the reservoirs We're partly filled
when a break would send down flood
that would endanger property along the
stream below, taking in the city of San
Bernardno itself. No such death trap
would be allowed
1t Is but justice to the three capital
lists who are furnishing the money for
the Rialto Improvements to predict that
they will never put their money into the
proposed reservoirs on Lytle creek and
that in the near future they will inaugu-
rate management of their affairs that