The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1911-12-07
IRRIGATION PROJECT
ON LARGE SCALE NOT
FEASIBLE AT PIERRE
Scheme to Water Sd, 600 Acres
in Hughes, Stanley and
Sully Impracticable.

Pierre. S. d. Dec. 5.-The prelinin-
airy o~bservationaI report or Westing-
house, Church. Kerr & Co, the engineers
employed BY Hughes. Stanley and Sully
counties to examine the Little Bena
power and irrigation project with view
to its practicability is at hand, The glst
of which Is that the proposition is per
fectly practicable from a physical and
engineering standpoint. but that II VIII
cost too much to construct to be profit
able. However, in a detached personal
letter, Henry r. Kent, the vice presi-
dent, recommends the irrigation of the
large tracts of land lying along the
Missouri at an elevation of not more
than leo feet above the river by means
OF steam ard gasoline"power.
Steam Power Possible.
Says Mr.. Kent: The most promising
prospect IS in the direction of irrigation
by means of steam power on a large
scale. We would suggest for your con
sideTation the use of steam pumping
for any large areas that MAJ be avail.
able at elevations Of 100 feet or less.
Fol instance IL you could find ar area
of 60. 900 acres. more or less, at an ele-
walton Of about 90 feet above the river
In YOU vicinity. we believe you could
irrigate such an area by steam power
In this event an annual operating
charge to the farmer OF 50 per acre
should cover all operating expenses and
fixed charges and also = moderate prof
il 10 the i~rrigating company"
200 Feet Too High.
The report in detail showed that the
lands to be irrigated We're located at
an altitude Of about 400 feet above the
river, Il IN extent were limited only
by The amount Of Water available. Spe-
cial mention was made of the Fort
Bennett fiat near the mouth of the
Cheyenne with 1900 acres. and the
large fiat above Fort Pierre with 5000
to 10, COO acres available. Both lie low
along the stream. 1t was found that
the most suitable reservoir for i'm
pounding water for the highlands was
near the Sully Buttes, the head waters
of Okobojo creek being in so deep a
valley rs to limit the land %irrigable by
gravity from this point. The report
showed that the discharge of the Mis-
at Pierre was about 10, 600 cubic
feet per second. At Little Bend" Il
is possible 70 create Il fall of water of
IA feet. 1t had been previously sup
posed that a greater fall could be Sc.
cured but the report shows that while
the difference in the surface of the
water at either end is 1872 feet that
one and one-half feet would be lost
by the slope of the water through the
cut, The head of 10000 cubic feet per
secnnd falling IA feet would create APP
p|Fo&Hnately l2,OUU horsepower, or SUI
ffcient power to pump 200 cubic feet
per second to a height of 400 feet. This
would amount to 144,S00 acre
feet annually. bat allowing for evapora-
ton and loss it would furnish power
enough for ~irrigating "a, 900 acres.
Magnitude of Work.
To make q channel sufficient to di-
vert 10000 cubic feet per second across
the neck at Little Bend would require
a cut with a bottom width of about 300
feet, a depth of water Of about 10 feet,
with side slopes made on a ratio of
one and one-half to one. The channel
would have a length of approximately
two and one-half miles and at the best
location in Tho divide the maximum
depth would be about ESQ feet. The
construction of the channel would re-
quire the excavation of about 80, 900, 600
cubic yards of material at a cost of
SIC. 000, o00.
The report concludes:
1t is physically practicable to utilize
this owe in the irrigation of approx
imately $4,000 acres on the highlands
of Hughes and Sully counties, situa-
ted about 400 feet above the river lev
el. The first cost involved in this pro-
posed development is so great as to
make the project financially impractic-
able.