La Junta tribune., 1909-09-11
NUMBER 81

amount Of grade available II there
is sufficient grade syphon will
probably prove more satisfactory.
| In order to catch the waters of
Crooked arroyo the automatic gate
should be left in and provision made
to divert the water OF Crooked ar
roya into the canal. Ample spillway
should be made across the creek to
take care Of the large floods and be-
low the crossing the canal should be
provided with spillways This can
be done very cheaply and efficiently
by construction Of over-flows through
the rock points in a manner similar
to what has already been done.
Just before crossing King arroyo
the canal can again be reduced In
size. A width of ten feet on the
bottom, with depth Of five feet of
water, will probably be sufficient to
serve the $4,000 acres lying east OF
King arroyo, as that size canal will
give a discharge Of about 262h sec
ond feet.
King arroyo should be treated in
manner similar to that Of Crooked
and Anderson arroyos.
Below the crossing the canal
passes through very large amount
OF rock cut on steep hillsides. There
is large fall and In the reconstruc-
tiOn Of the canal this fall could be
distributed SO that the section Of the
canal could be reduced as much as
possible. believe that the enlarge
ment along this point will not have
to be very great. but the banks of
the canal should be strengthened.
My opinion In general Of the canal
Is that the alignment is fair, and
surely equal to the average canal con-
structed' at the time the Otero was
built. There are many places where
the canal might have been straight
ened, at considerable cost. but when
one remembers that the price obtain
able for water at that time was per.
haps only twenty-five per cent OF
what 1t is toiay. the necessity OF
reducing the initial cost was para
mount. Under present conditions we
are Justified In building better and
more expensive canals. and II Is
probable that on the Otcro some i'm
provements can be made In the mat
ter of alignment. though generally
speaking these are not great. nor very
numerous.
Aside from slightly enlarsing the
canal our efforts should be directed
principally to making such improve
ments as VIII insure an uninterrup-
ted service. During the past year
think II is an admitted fact that II
there had been no breaks, and IL
the canal had teen able to carry
water whenever II was ln IN. river
the service would have been salts.
factory. To be sure the amount of
land now cultivated does not by any
means embrace all the land which
will ultimately be irrigated from the
system.
When all the land Is irrigated the
capacity OF the canal will probably
not be sufficient. In view OF the fact
that the river water cannot be oh.
tained more than sixty or seventy
days during the year. With the res
ervoir water, however. more uninter.
rupted runs can be obtained and wa.
ter can be had at critical periods.
Keeping the canal wet and even n
smal! stream running constantly will
greatly increase the efficiency.
GRADE OF CANAL AND vELoCI.
Ti-At the time OF the writer's visit
be made numerous measurements OF
the surface velocity Of the water.
and observed the effect OF securing
or deposit OF silt The surface ve-
locttics In the center Of the stream
were remarkably constant through.
out the entire length OF the ditch
examined. and varied from three TO
three and half fee, per second. In.
dicating mn average velocity. under
the conditions measured. of between
two and u hall and three feet This
velocity apparently carries all Of the
SILT readily. aud little or no deposit
II made except on the edges Of tho