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PAYETTE VALLEY WATER WHEELS

IRRIGATION AGE
Volume 20, Number 10, August 1905, Page 300

DIRECT LIFT WHEELS IN IDAHO In the Payette Valley, Idaho, are a dozen direct-lift wheels of the same general type shown in fig. 14. This large wheel is very carefully made, fitting into a flume with only two inches clearance. The construction is shown in Figs. 14, 15, 16, and 17. The crude method of raising and lowering the wheel contrasts with its excellent workmanship. At the end of the season it is laboriously raised out of the water by jacks and is blocked up until the opening of another season. While in use it remains at one height regardless of the stage of the water.

In several ways the efficiency of this wheel could he raised. When the water is too high to run the wheel to advantage, part of it could be carried away in a second flume, leaving just enough running under the wheel to give the greatest speed. Or, better still, a "stop" could be placed in the ditch and the water run into the flume under a gate, giving it great velocity. In a great many eases a "stop" or "drop" already existing in a ditch could be utilized to good advantage in this way.

The cost of the wheel, flume, and supports was $150. For six years there were no repairs and no running expenses except for grease and for raising and lowering the wheel twice in a season. In the seventh year, 1903, repairs cost $50, mainly for a new shaft, and in subsequent years repairs will doubtless be required to the extent of $10 or $15 a year.

Twenty-five acres in alfalfa and fruit are irrigated by this wheel, the value of the crops raised being estimated at $2,337 annually.

Page 301

WHEELS FOR RUNNING PUMPS (IDAHO) In the lower Payette Ditch, in Idaho, are eight wheels, used to run pumps. One of these plants is here described as an example of a well-built and expensive outfit, which is, however, eminently successful. The plan and construction of the wheel are shown in Figs. 18 and 19. The wheel is connected by chain and sprocket to a 3-piston, 5-inch pump, which forces the water through 1,800 feet of four and three-fourths inch pipe to the upper side of the owner's ranch, thirty feet above the canal. The pump has three parallel pistons connected to eccentrics on the same shaft, so arranged that each piston in turn comes into action. The cost of the plant was as follows:

5-inch trible action pump.....................$165
3-inch steel shaft, 18 feet long.................. $35
3 castiron flanges, 3 feet diameter.............. $30
2 boxings for main shaft ..................... $8
Castiron sprocket, gear wheels, and chains....... $115
Lumber................................... $60
1,800 feet of 4 four and three-fourths inch galvanized iron pipe....... $274
Labor..................................... $50
Total .................................$737

Of this cost only about $120 is for the wheel. No attention other than daily oiling is required. As the plant was put in in 1903, no repairs have as yet been necessary. The annual cost for maintenance should fall below $10.

The amount of water raised is about 0 3 cubic foot per second, which is used to irrigate twenty-seven acres in fruit. Water is applied 145 days, making the total depth of irrigation in the season almost exactly three feet. The orchard of 2,500 young trees - prunes, apples, and pears - should, when older, yield an annual crop worth $5,000.

Figure 14, Page 312

Figure 15, Page 339

Figure 16, Page 340

Figure 17, Page 341

Figure 18, Page 342

Figure 18, Page 343

Visit archive.org to view Irrigation Age, Volume 20

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