Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1912-01-25

The greater part of the land in the
West would be practically worthless
without water with which TO irrigate
It yet there is far less attention Civ
en- to the measurement of this water
than there is to the measurement of
the land. Under the Carey Act the
land is sold to the settler for so
cents per acre and would hardly be
worth that without the water while
water costs the settler all the way
from $25 to 800 per acre. No enc
would think of buying farm or any
piece of property without having its
boundaries located by the County
Surveyor or a competent engineer,
yet nine out of ten irrigators accept
the water that is given them by the
water master without measurement or
question, even though it is ten times
as valuable as the land to which il
is applied. These conditions should
be changed. Every irrigator should
install a measuring device in his
head ditch and learn how tol meas
ure water accurately and then see
that he secures whatever water he
is entitled TO. We have been far
too careless in the past about water
measurement.
Miners Inch.
Water was first used in Idaho
and other Western states for mining
purposes, the common method OF
measurement being called the min
er's inch method. The miners inch
was the unit upon which such meas
urement was based, being the amount
of water that would flow through a
sharp edged orifice one inch square
under a given pressure. The guam
tity called for by a miners inch,
however, varide in different states,
due to the fact that the pressure oy-
or the orifice was not the same.
The Idaho statute called for pres
sure of inches over the center of
bHG OililSS WINE III 4hOuldld Ia W
called for a 6-inch pressure. This
variation resulted in no end of con-
fusion and as the miners inch was
not adapted to the measurement of
large streams it's use has been dis
continued for the cubic foot per
second.
Cubic Foot Per Second.
The cubic foot per second which
represents a definite tangible amount
that is easily understood, was adopt
ed as the legal standard for the
measurement of water by the Idaho
Legislature in 1899 1t is commonly
known as the second foot" and rep
resents the flow of water which will
exactly fill a vessel containing one
cubic foot each second of time for
as long a period as it is allowed to
flow. Hence, flow of one cubic
foot per second delivers 60 cubic
feet per minute, or 5000 cubic feet
per hour, or $4,000 cubic feet in a
day of "a hours.
1t is found that one cubic foot per
second equals flow of almost ex-
actly so Idaho miners inches, or
$50 gallons per minute. A flume one
foot wide and one foot deep, if filled
with water that is flowing at the
rate of exactly one foot per second,
will carry one cubic foot per second,
and other fumes or bitches in the
same proportion. The quantity dis
charged depends upon both the We
lccity of the flow and the area of
cross section of the advancing stream
Of water. These two factors are
taken into consideration whine de-
the flow of large streams
and canals, it being only necessary
to determine the area of the cross
section and the average velocity, |
which two amounts multiplied togeth-
or gives the discharge. The cross
section is found by multiplying the |
average depth of the stream by the |
width. The average velocity is found |
by measuring the rate of the same |
either with floats on with a current /
meter especially constructed for the |
ourpsoe. A close approximation of |
he velocity can be secured by not
ng the time that is required for a
surface float to advance through 100 /
,r more lineal feet of the ditch. This
,ives the surface velocity, and to /
ind the average velocity one must
multiply the surface velocity by g,
iince the average velocity is that
much slower than the surface veloc-
ty, owing to the friction on the
ides and bottom Of the channel
While the above mentioned meth
IDS are those used by engineers and
'thers for the measurement OF large
annals and rivers, this method is not
ldapted to the continuous measure
nent of large canals and rivers, this
method is not adapted to the con-
inUous measurement of small