The Florence tribune., 1901-06-15
IRRIGATION BY ELECTRICITY.
Mountain Waters Used First for the Gen. eration of Power. then for Irrigation. Then the Power Created is Used for Additional Irrigation by Pumping.

Then the Power Created is Used for Additional Irrigation by Pumping.
 lInterview with Photographer NEwELL.l Irrigation by electric power promises to work a revolution in many sections of the arid West. The streams are to be used in the mountains to generate power, and the power is to be trans lnitted to the fields below for pumping water on the land.
 Mir. Frederick H. Newell, the Hydro grapher of the Geological Survey, has just returned to his office from sur veying tour of the West, and he states that this power development will add immense and, at the present time, un- known areas to the irrigable land of the arid region, while at the same time the water supply under the system will be certain and most satisfactory to the irrigator.
 "The feasibility of transmission of electrical power for not 20 or 30 miles but for l50 or l80 miles has opened the way" says Mir. Newell, "for this new and enormous additional development to the hitherto supposed resources of the arid West.
 ''The method by which additional areas can be brought under irrigation with a given visible water supply, is this: We will suppose stream flow Ing from the mountains down into a large broad valley ora plain hundred miles below. The water from this river is sufficient to irrigate only one half or one-third of the plain; all the rest is, then, dead land. There is how ever, en underfow beneath this re- maining, or dead land, which can be found at depth of from 20 to 50 feet. This furnishes an inexhanstible supply of good water for irrigation could it be gotten economically to the surface. The great bulk of the lowlands of the valleys adjacent or tributary to the forests areas of the Rocky Mountains pr the Sierra Neyadas are underlaid with this water--a practically inex- hzustible supply against pumping.
 WATER FURNISHES THE POWER.
 "Fuel for pumping, however, is ex- pensive, and it does not seem practica- ble to get the water onto the land ex- eept at prohibitory cost. But here is where the power can be brought into operation. Storage reservoirs can be constructed way of in the mount aims in such a manner as to utilize the pow CT of the river or it's fall to the full ex- tent, and from this plant or plants tn 5 power generated can be transnirsed down the valley to the twenty or for ty-acre irrigated farms, where it ear be applied to an electric motor operat- ing centrifugal pump lifting water upon the land as required. This should be the ideal irrigation system. Tue farmer starts his motor and the water comes; when he has enough, he shuti 1t of. His water supply is right under him in great abundance, and he doe: not have to jump on his horse and tea of twenty miles toa canal headgate t find out why his water does not com, down the ditch"
 ''But is this theoretically possibl development, Mr. Newell, or is it some thing which has been actually tested :?
 NOT A THEORY BUT A FACT.
 "The practicability of this develop ment has already been demonstrate by the number of plants already in op eration in the San Joaquin Valley. 1 is claimed that water is actually being pumped at less cost than it is supplie by gravity ditches. There are man opportunities not only in California but also in Colorado, Utah, and othe States, where power plants can be eco nomically installed in the canyons and the water from these used to irri gate the fields. The power from thes plants can be conducted out to point beyond reach of the canals, and em ployed in lifting the underground wa ters to the surface. The ultimate de velopment of this class of work mul rest largely upon water conservation tbe holding back of the floods of u spring to supply ontiuuous dischart during the summer, keeping the pow CT plants in operation, as we'll as fui nishing water for the ditches.
 DEFENDS UPON CONGRESS.
 This complete conservation mu rest largely upon the government completing it's work in the forest r serves, not only in protecting the grow ing timber, but also by constructir large reservoirs where the conditio are favorable. By such works t largest possible use can be made of t irregularly distributed water suppl and the moisture which exists benea the surface aud which now is prac cally useless, can be recovered 8 made to assist in the creation of tho sands of homes upon the public landi
 
 One cannot pick up an Arizona nes paper these days without being pressed with the wonderful amount