The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1916-06-07
PROJECT OPERATIONS
DURING THE PAST MONTH
Water In Lahontan Reservoir Now
SO Feet Deep, Representing Stor-
age OF 103,000 Acre Feet.


furnishes the following resume of
operations ON the Truckee-C Carson
project during the month of May:
Construction Work: The princi-
pal item of construction work on
the Truekee-Garson project during
May was the excavation of about s.
100 linear feet on the extension of
the Ad open cut drain in the Sheck-
Ter district This work was done
with the Monaghan gasoline operated
drag,ine excavator with one cubic
yard bucket The machine was op-
Grated &c working days in which
1881 cubic yards of material were
moved or an average of 532 cubic
yards per day.
This drain is being dug in a sec
ton where the soil is a me sandy
,oam underlaid with course sand and
gravel. This material has yielded
heavy flow into the drain, and
measurements taken in test wells on
either side of the drain indicate that
the ground water under adjacent
lands is being rapidly lowered In
digging the drain a few clay ridges
Lave been encountered and when
the excavation passed through such
hanks there was a very heavy flow
of water from the sandy soils be-
yond The portion of the drain ex-
caVated last manth averaged about
seven feet in depth and the banks
we're given a Hat slope to prevent
them from sloughing OFF into the bot
tom of the drain.
Water Supply: During May there
was no precipitation on the project,
md on the watershed the precipita-
ton was considerably below normal.
This condition resulted in a further
reduction of runoff expectations al
though the water held in storage
early In the spring will insure an
ample supply during the present ir-
rigation season. At the end OF the
month the surface of Lake Tahoe
was at elevation 6229.16 and pres
ent prospects indicate that the run
off will increase he elevation 4 or 5
inches more before the maximum
for this season is reached. This will
create storage that will insure an
ample supply for the lands under the
Truckee-Carson canal and for pow
er purposes. During the month the
storage in the Lahontan reservoir
was increased by approximately 49,
600 acre-feet and practically the
same quantity was discharged
through the outlet conduits for ir-
rigation purposes. On May 31st the
water surface elevation of Lahontan
reservoir was 1865 which means
that in front of the dam the water
was Sc feet deep. This represents
storage of 103,300 acre-feet If
the inflow during June equals the
average for previous years, there
should be about 175,000 acre-feet
in the reservoir by July 1st. With
this quantity in storage, the water
would be 100 feet deep in front of
the dam and only 10 feet below the
spillway crest
Operation and Maintenance: Up
to May 31st about $4,000 acre-feet
of water had been delivered to farms
which is about an acre-foot per acre
for the land irrigated. During the
month IA small breaks occurred in
iaterals all of which were repaired
before any material damage result
ed. Other maintenance work con-
sisted of raising banks in several
weak places, brush riprapping, the
replacement of few wooden struc-
lures. minor structure repairs and
drain cleaning. Project accounts
were adjusted in accordance with an
inventory of supplies and equipment
taken during April. Collections
we're made amounting to approM-
mately $3.50 covering
Receipts from auction sale $ $50
Lease of land .......... $50
Sale of surplus equipment and
materials .....#.... ....,. z'VV
And water collections .... 5000
Purchase was made of materials for
ditchtender' station in the Still
water district and for the gate
keepers cottage at the Lake Tahoe
dam.
Surveys: Surveys conducted by
the project force consisted of well
measurements connected with the
Soda Lake Investigations, surveys
for extension of project irrigated
lands. and drainage estimates. Some
duty of water experiments were un-
dertaken in the Fernley district by
e. p. Osgood. For this work Mr..
Osgood has secured control of por-
tions of the farms of w. w. Cogs-
we'll. Thos. Kelly and w. G. Rawles.
He was able to irrigate these tracts
thoroughly with considerably less
water than is used on the average
by the farmers in that vicinity,
Illegal Sale of Fish
Hans Christian Anderson of