New-York tribune., 1902-03-02
.RID LAND RECLAMATION.
CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT IN IRRI-
CATION.

,.,,or March 1 (SpeciaD.-'storage Of
- or Kings River. California, is the utle OF
-. & of the water supply ana niie8uoh papers
30 1-,tted states Geological Survey now in
press. ,ta western stone of the
- Nevada in Fresno County. Cal. from Mount
-1-h,,nsv on the south 10 Mount Oodoaro on the
49, Fully 50 per cent of the drainage basin is
- .rclpsed within the boundaries OF the Sierra
r-.-.st Reserve. a matter Of prime Importance TO
@,-.,ed lands below. for Il means the con-
n.vation OF the stream. The river debouches from
= fountain drainage tasin on the plains or
- Kines and Tulare counties sometimes
-, NJ as the Kings River delta, which are
sP0 r. eeocraphical centre of the State. and
-, Great variety of climate and SOIL Fresno
~ tJpnford the principal towns, are about two
snsre5 miles from San Francisco and Los An
geles. -.-o,o,.. ,-r,,,, or.,,,,o.
-o,s MANY varieties of deciduous fruits, grapes.
tsi,s wines and brandies are produced in this
.,ion in commercial quantities. There are more
- eve hundred thousand deciduOus fruit trees in
tresno County There are about forty thousand
res Of vineyards. 1t is the great raisn district
- california. The citrus belt, is the case in
soytbern California. is q narrow strip Of land at
,be base Of the mountains.
irrigation Is necessary for all varieties OF agri-
,,t,rsl products grain possibly excepted. There
are about 625 miles OF main irrigation canals cover
ing $4,000 acres of land on the Kings River delta.
A good water right adds about $50 an acre to the
value Of valley lands. and about $50 an acre TO the
so called frostess foothill lands where the citrus
fruits the most valuable crop. could be raised with
an increase Of the present supply of water which
has been diverted chiefly 10 the lower lands The
present combined capacity of the Kings River ca
nails is stated to be approximately 1000 cubt feet
recond IN September 1898. The supply fell 10 about
Ts5 cubic feet a second. In the last season the
nroAts from the irrigated districts around Fresno
we're in excess Of 100000. Land without irriga-
tion supply sells here for SO acre; the same
land with a good water right sells for about $50
Hence the importance OF the water power develop
nnent considered IN this report. which is on the
Middle Fork OF Kings River. above all diversions
FOR irrigation for storage. Kings River can be
relied on in spite Of occasional dry seasons for
great water supply. draining, as II does, l'Ii2
square miles of from banks of perpetual snow.
In the investigation of the Kings River Basin
reconnaissance party reported on reservoir sites,
four of which were then surveyed. OF these four
sites two should be utilized. and storage work
Shouts be begun by building the Clarks Valley
reservoir with 4 25-foot DAM followed by the con-
struction of a lf0-foot dam the Pine Flat site.
The Pine Fiat site the main Kings River, five
miles below Trimmer. just above the diversions OF
al irrigation canals. has an elevation Of six hum
drec feet. and the dam would cost I.4256oo. This
reservoir could he used governor for filling the
Clarks Valley reservoir and then for holding the
surplus water. The experts conclusions are: That
the observed flow Of Kings River for the season Of
-se-- rs may be taken a minimum that these
ton Years; that there will be enough water in No
tember 10 February. inclusive. I'LL every year
The Pine Flat reservoir, with capacity of 7s,l9T
acrefeet that in nine out Of ten years there will
b. enough water to leave the Pine Flat reservoir
fun for use after July !: that water that would be
stored Ia the Pine Flat reservoir is water that
would otherwise be lost; that the Pine Flat reser-
Noir would irrigate the most valuable lands in
ductive: that the cost OF storage would be SIS %
acrefoot, and the earning power of the reservoir
% liz do f11E rhrW QFfan
The Ciark's Valley site is in Fresno County, six
teen miles east Of Sanger, and has the stage road
70 Mulwood and the arroyo OF Wahtoke Creek
base Of the dam is 400 feet It is proposed to iii
this reservoir by diversion canal SO 800 feet in
length. with headworks above the mouth OF NH
tional dams would be needed to block the valley
completely up. The total cost including supply
capacity would be 100 .499 scre-feet OF water and
Mr. Iippincott thinks that the Glarks Valley dam
should eventually he raised 10 105 feet. with
a table that with this larger dam. there would
have been only one year out of eleven when both
reservoirs could not have been filled
The report then shows that the cheapest water
with electric power generated by the river itself
before II reaches points of diversion or storage,
I time Pooa oSaton for oR the power house
dhe Miaoe ana SCUM orks & al an s5e s,
WAS found by Nr. Green. who estimated the total
q "a at @ The s sappg Of
vaior IN The valley for pumping based upon re re-
r4tcd tina. 100000 acre-feet could be obtained with
e.-tafntv b,- nunping from the water plane of the
KINGS River delta. The transmission OF power
and the operation Of the pumping plants were In
vcs;ieated. and showed that the annual pump out
Vut would he 32sJ00 acfe-feet on the basis of use
for 32a days cost Of $40 80 per acre-foot pro-
dJrced By these means 100000 additional acres Of
ir-fcated land could be added to the community.
/ H Newell. photographer in charge, says in
fis letter Of transmittal THE situation on Kings
River IS 10 certain extent typical OF that along a
result Of this investigation il is believed that
the reclsiunable area can be greatly extended by
The construction Of storage works, and also or
power plants. by means of which. through eles-
frical transmission. pumps he operated at
small expense out broad valleys. The demon
stration Of these conditions Will prove one OF the
most irnportant steps toward the transforms tion
ard utilization Of the fertile but arid lands"