Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-04-28

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just above the diversions of all iFiga-
ton canals, has an elevation of 600
feet, and the dam would cost S1,425,-
600. This reservoir could be used as
a governor for filling the Clark's val
ley reservoir and then for holding the
surplus water. The experts conclu-
sions are: That the observed flow Of
Kings river for the season of 1898
may be taken as minimum; that
these minimum years will probably
occur about once in 10 years; that
there will be enough water in Novem-
Der to February, inclusive, to fill every
year the Pine Flat reservoir, with a
capacity of 1887 acre-feet; that in
nine out of 10 years there viii be
enough water to leave the Pine Flat
reservoir full for use after July /; that
water that would DE stored in the Pine
Flat reservoir is water that wUald
otherwise be lost; that the Pine Flat
reservoir would irrigate the most val
liable lands in Fresno and Tulare coun-
ties, now dry and unproductive; that
the cost of storage would be $18.29 an
acrefoot, and the earning power of
the reservoir fully double that amount
The Clark's valley site is in Fresno
county, 16 miles east of Sanger, and
has the stage road to Wildwood and the
arroyo of Wahtoke creek through the
center of it. The elevation OF the base
of the dam is 400 feet. 1t is proposed
to fill this reservoir by a diversion
canal $4,000 feet in length, with head
works above the mouth of Mill creek
and at the Pine Flat dam site. Two
additional dams would be needed to
block the valley completely up. The
total cost, including supply canal etc,
would be 1881, OPS; the total storage
capacity would be 120-499 acre-feet of
water, and the cost per acre-foot
would be $11.05. Mr.. Lippincott thinks
that the Clark's valley dam Should
eventually be raised to los feet, with
a storage capacity Of 217,19G acre-feet,
and shows by a table that, with this
larger dam, there would have been
only one year out of II when both res
ervoirs could not have been filed
The report then shows that the
cheapest water supply in the valley
can be obtained by pumping with cleo
trio power generated by the river it.
self before it reaches points of diver
sion or storage provided the pumping
plants are operated at least half the
time. A good location for the power
house between the middle and south
forks, at an elevation of 1890 feet,
with an available head of $50 feet,
was found by Mr. Green, who estimat-
ed the total cost of construction at
$271, 1915, and the mean minimum
horsepower produced at 1886. The
supply of water in the valley for
pumping, based upon reports from ever
500 existing wells, indicated that $780,
600 acre-feet could be obtained with
certainty by pumping from the water
plane of the Kings river delta The
transmission of power and the opera
ton of the pumping plants were in
vestigated, and showed that the an
nual pump output would be 329,500
acre-feet on the basis of use for 1851
days, at a cost of $1,000 per acre-foOt
produced. By these means 100000 ad
ditional acres of irrigated land could
be added to the community.
F. H Newell, photographer in
charge, says in his letter of trans
initial: '"The situation on Kings river
is to a certain. extent typical OF that
along number of important streams
of the west, and as result of this in
vestigation it is believed that the re-
claimable area can be greatly extend
ed by the construction of storage
works, and also of power plants. by
means of which, through electrical
transmission, pumps can be operated
at small expense out on broad valleys
The demonstration of these condi-
tons will prove one of the most fRa-
portant steps toward the transforms
ton and utilization of the fertile but
arid lands. Washington Dispatch in
New York Tribune.