The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1902-03-02

Hence the Importance of the water power
development corsidered in this report.
which is on the middle fork Of Kings
River, above all diversions for irrigation
or for storage. Kings River can be relied
on. in spite of occasional dry seasons. for
a great water supply, draining. as 1t does.
1.742 square miles OF area from banks of
perpetual snow.
In the investigation of the Kings River
basin a reconnaissance party Under Mr..
+. G. Hamilton. topographer from the
United States Geological Survey, reported
upon reservoir sites. four of which were
then surveyed by party under Mr. f. II.
Green OF these four sites. Mr. Lippin
colt thinks that two should be utilized,
and that storage work should be begun by
building the Clark Valley reservoir, with
35-foot dam. and should be followed
by the construction Of 140-foot dam at
the Pine Flat site.
Pine Flat Site.
The Pine Flat site on the main Kings
River, five miles below Trimmer, Just
above the diversions OF all irrigation
canals. has an elevation of 600 feet. and
the dam would cost 81, 425. 500. This reser-
voir could be used, as a governor for filling
the Clark Valley reservoir. and then for
holding the surplus water. Mr.. Lippin-
colts conclusions are:
That the observed flow Of Kings River
for the season of 1878 may be taken as
minimum; that these minimum years
years: that there will be enough water
during November to February, inclusive.
to fill every year the Pine Flat reservoir
with capacity of rs, 1877 acre-feet: that in
nine out Of ten years there will be enough,
water to leave the Pine Flat reservoir full
for use after July /; that water that
would be stored In the Pine Flat reservoir
is water that would otherwise be lost;
that the Pine Flat reservoir would irri-
gate the most valuable lands in Fresno
and Tulare Counties. now dry and unpro-
ductive; that the cost of storage would
be 1923 per acre-foot, and the earning
power of the reservoir fully double that
amount
The Clark Valley site is in Fresno
County. sixteen miles east of Sanger, and
has the stage road to Wildwood and the
arroyo of wahtoke Creek through the
centre of-it. The elevation Of the base
of the dam is 400 feet. Itsis proposed to
fill this reservoir by a diversion canal
SO 500 feet in length. with headworks
above the mouth of Mill Creek and at the
Pine Flat dam site.
Dams Badly Needed.
Two additional dams would be needed
to block the valley completely up. The
total cost. including supply canal. etc..
would be 81 .331 OBS; the total storage ca
pacity would be 120,499 acre-feet OF
water, and the cost per acre-foot Of water
would be s11o5. Mr.. Lippincott thinks
that the Clark Valley dam should even
tually be raised to 105 feet. with stor-
age capacity of 2l7196 acre-feet. and
shows by 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 cheap
est water supply in the valley can be OBJ
tanned by pumping with electric power
generated by the river Itself before IT
reaches points Of diversion or storage,
provided the pumping plants are operated
at least half the time. A good location
for the powerhouse3 between the Middle
and the South Forks. at an elevation OF
l $50 feet. with an available head OF 500
feet. was found by Mr.. z. H. Green. who
estimated the total cost OF construction
at s271 ,s75. and the mean minimum horse
power produced at 1886.
The supply of water in the valley for
based upon reports from over
500 existing wells. was investigated by