American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1911-04-22
SIPH0N PLAN BEST
Allows Water to Flow Gently
Without Erosion.
BY This Plan Ditch Banks Are Not
Disturbed and Harden Until There
10 No Danger Of q Break-Soil
10 Thoroughly Soaked.

i had two seasons experience as an
irrigator In California before | tried
irigating In Idaho, writes Miller Pur-
Wis In the Breeders Gazette. IN the
benches in the foothills OF the coast
range in northern California, where
the SO. Is a reddish clay. we simply
cut the ditch banks. regulate the
flow through the cut by laying two
stones In the opening and let he wa
ter run for a day or two. never think
ing of erosion. ! tried this in Idaho
and within a few minutes all the wa
ter in the service ditch was going
down one lateral and washing a deep
channel through the ash soil.
Then meo told me that the
best way to do was to make a long
box-lke tube by mailing the edges OF
four plastering laths together and
sink this In the ditch bank. l was
told this would prevent the water
from washing its way into n lateral
and make 1t possible to divide evenly
the water among all the laterals In
the field. made a lot Of these lath
boxes but they did no work on my
kind of soil as the fields were too
steep. A couple of young chaps, who
remembered something about physics.
concluded that they could carry the
water over the banks of the bitches
IN siphons. They bought some ordi-
nary gaspipe three-fourths OF an inch
In bore, cut it into five-foot lengths.
bent the pieces owe a wagon wheel
and tried them out. Then they imme-
diately got busy making more siphons.
I then tried the siphon plan and the
water that came down the service
ditch became so gentle and obedient
that 1t went wherever l wished, In
any quantity l wished and with the
least possible erosion of the land. 1t
gently flowed through the pipes and
trickled across the fields. soaking the
soil thoroughly without carrying more
than a small quantity with 1t. ! have
watched irrigators trying all sorts OF
plans to prevent erosion In this sol
but not one Of them works 30 well as
the siphons.
Necessarily my various service
bitches must run down hill. making a
swift current which rapidly washes
deep into the soil until the water In
the ditch is not available. To pre-
vent this we use canvas dams OIL
checks. These are simply widths Of
common canvas fastened to a strip
They are long enough to reach vel
across the ditch. An Illustration
shows the manner in which the can
vas is fastened to the cross bar sc
as to allow surplus water to run ou'
at the center Of the ditch. In using
these checks the bar Is laid acros.
the ditch, the canvas spread on thu
bottom and a little earth puddlet
along the edge. Each check raise:
the level of the ditch, kills" the cur
rem and prevents erosion, also max
ing II easier to use the siphons By
raising the level of the water. The
same illustration shows the siphon!
in use. where two checks are close
,ogether. Just here the grade pitches
down quite steeply and on the left be
tween the two checks is shown thu
upper end of a ditch which run steep
ly down hill. 1t was necessary to rur
the ditch here to get below the crater
shown in another illustration and
will be seen how steep the land lies
To save wasting land the ditch wa!
run around this pile OF lava rock anC
comes to a dead end. BY raising thu
cross bar in one of the checks more
water can be held back, or lowering
1t will let more water through thu
opening in the check. 1t was neces
sary to regulate the flow of wateI
very nicely. If toe little came dow
the siphons would draw the water GU
and stop. If too much came dowI
the dead end Of the ditch would over
flow.
BY this system the ditch banks arr
not disturbed and soon harden unit
there is no danger of q break. B.
putting the siphons in deeply or les'
deeply the flow of water they delivel
can be regulated. There is no DANCE
that the water will wash out tn,
ditch bank where they are set ant
the flow is so gentle hat the ligh
soil is not carried down the ditch
Cuts in the ditch bank must be fiHet
as soon as one irrigation is finished
lath boxes must be reset at every ir
rigation and often several times dur
ing one irrigation. but siphons can b.
moved from place to place at an,
time and are always ready to work
Since they have been introduced her
more and more ranchers are putting
chem in.