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Show K -- I.--" - - . - j; " T Bnlintti- ConMngngtnttn JOSEPH K. WILSON 1 I HYDRO ELECTRIC PUMPING PLANT ON BEAR RIVER WILL IRRIGATE 10,000 ACRES M The agricultural dcvelopeinent of the Lcwiston Flat, that I tract of land comprising 30,000 acres lying between the Bear and ' Cub rivers south of Fairvicw, Idaho, has progressed to a greater j extent In the last ten years perhaps than has any other section in ! I Cache County. This progress in due largely to the advent of the sugar beet nnd potato growing industries, also the development of the dairying interests, which have almost entirely replaced the less profitable agricultural pursuit of growing wheat. Land values ' have advanced enormously and particularly where the lands are I" best fitted for the growth of sugar beets ;as a consequence there- 1 I? fore, the greatest cfiforfs possible have been put forth by the farni- I er to get his lands in .shape to produce sugar beets. The beet acrc- H age lias been increased from car to year until now it is limited to U further increase because of lack of water for irrigation. il The Lcwiston "Flat" is irrigated from Cub river through the Cub River Irrigation Co's. canal. The flow of which is 150 second K feet in May and June and 70 to 45 sec. ft. in July , August and Sept. In the earlv part of the year therefore, there is ample water H but from July to the end of the irrigation season, when the re- aL quircmcut i& greater for sugar beets, the supply is entirely in- jl sufficient. jl; As early as 1902 some of the most progressive farmers con- M tributcd money and had surveys made, to determine the possibility il of storage in Cub river canyon to suppliment the summer supply ' This proved to be not feasible. Other investigations were made on Thorn Creek but all to no affect so far as increasing the wate-' wate-' supply was concerned. An appeal was finally made to the U. S. , Government for aid through the Reclamation Act. Surveys and investigations in-vestigations were made by the Government. It was proposed to store the water of Bear river n Bear Lake during the winter month, liberate it in such quantities as was necessary during the summer months and permit it to run into Bear river and be put to use for-irrigation by various canals taking water from said Bear river. So far as the irrigation of the Lcwiston Flat was effected . by the scheme, it was proposed to build a canal from Bear river or ' Mink Creek to the "Bluff" at Fairvicw, Idaho, a distance of 20 miles to suppliment the supply from the Cub river. For some reason, yet unexplained, the Government dropped the project and turned it over to the promoters of the Tclluride Power Co. While this attempt to secure additional water for the Lcwiston Flat proved a failure, like the others that preceded it, yet it eliminated ' ' , the thought of further consideration of securing water from Bear river by gravity. It was found by the Government survey that ' the canal route from Bear river was too long and involved too much side hill work in dangerous slipping ground to make its construction construct-ion possible. j ; As successors to the Tclluride Power Co's. interests, the Utah Power and Light Co. took up the development of the Bear Lake ' project and by means of storage in Bear Lake, absolutely cou- ' f trols the flow of Bear river below Montpelier, Idaho. The Utah Power and Light Co. has hydro-electric plants on Bear river at I Grace, Idaho, below Soda Springs, also at Oneida 20 miles above Preston. hen Ihe natural flow of Bear river is more than is required re-quired to piopell the wheels of these electric plants, as is the case in the spring time the surplus waters arc diverted into Bear Lake and stored to be liberated during the summer months to increase the natural flow of the river and thus keep the out put of the electric plants above referred to, up to required capacity. As early as 1913, the engineers of the Utah Power Co. approached the fanners of Lcwiston Flat with the proposition of selling them ' the stored waters of Bear Lake for irrigation after it had been used for power in the plants as above referred to. It was proposed by the Power Co. to sell to the Farmers electric power with which to pump the water from Bear river 3 miles west of Fairvicw, Idaho a vcrticlc distance of 87 ft. up on to the Lcwiston Flat. The expense of construction was great, the power charge seemed high, the water was not yet stored in Bear Lake and moreover more-over the farmers were skeptical about pumping. While a few were favorable to the proposition, the majority turned it down. The matter was presented again in 1914 and again rejected, but it was looked upon with greater favor. In 1915 following a year of extreme drouth, a committee of very prominent men from Lcwiston was selected, and as a result of their investigations a company was organized, later incorporated and in 1916 a contract was signed by the Utah Power and Light Co. to furnish 100 sec. ft of stored water from Bear Lake and electric power with which to pump it from Bear River to the Lcwiston Flat. The Lcwiston & Bear Lake Irrigation C .- m. -it....rti.l ui.d r the laws of Utah lfc with the following ili - x f 1 r..t,lj II Ili.gmj, m?cj T. S. Karrcn, Sam Weiser, J or. Quinncy, Win. Rigby and Dan Gilbert, Directors, and Nebckcr, Thatcher and Bowcn, Attorneys Backed with financial aid from the Amalgamated Sugar Co. the Lcwiston-Bcar Lake Irrigation Co. w cut about its work of securing se-curing additional water for irrigation. The contract for water and power has been signed as aforesaid, rights of way have been secured, se-cured, contracts for all pumping and electrical equipment and their installation have been awarded, and the construction of canals with subsidary structures, construction of pipe line, power house, transmission lines, etc. are now under way, and will be completed ready to furnish water for irrigation in June 1917 or as much sooner soon-er as it will be required to supplement the, gravity flow from Cub river. A.s stated the general location of the plant is near the cast bank of Bear river and about three miles west of Fairvicw. It is proposed to construct a supply canal of 100 sec. ft. capacity from the river westward one fourth of a mile and terminate it in a con crcte sump built 12 ft. wide, 30 ft. long and 20 ft. deep at the foot of a bluff where the ground begins to rise abruptly from the river bottom. Over this sump will be mounted four 18 inch centrifugal cen-trifugal pumps each directly connected to a 350 horse power electric elect-ric induction motor. The motor will be supplied with electrical energy from a transmission line built from Preston a distance of ten miles. The pumps, motors switch-hoard and other machinery will be housed by a modern brick building 26 ft. by 54ft. as shown on accompanying sketch. The pumps will be connected to a 5 ft. reinforced concrete 'pipe 300 ft. long reaching from the pumps to the Delivery canal on the top of the bluff a vertical distance o 87 feet. Kach pump will deliver 25 sec. ft. or when all four are in operation 100 sec. ft. will be pumped. The delivery canal beginning at the end of the concrete pipe, runs eastward for a distance of one mile and connects with the existing ex-isting canals. It has a capacity of 100 sec. ft. When completed the plant will furnish water for 10,000 acres, and will about double the beet acreage on the Lcwiston Flat. The cost of the plant will be approximately $75,000.00 and will l,e the best that money can buy, and represent the latest design in irri. gation pumping equipment. The cost of operation, maintenance, up keep, depreciation power charge and interest on investment can best be stated as being equivalent to less than the price of one half ton of beets per year for each acre irrigated. The plant is being degisned and installed by T. II. Humphreys, Engineer of Logan, Uah with D. E. Ilenny of Portland and B. P. Fleming o Iowa City, Iowa as Consulting Engineers. Allcs Chalmers M'fp Co. of Milwaukee, Wis. is making pumps and electrical C(iiment to be furnished by Salt Lake Hardware Co. of Salt Lake. Lynch Com. Co. of Salt Lake will install machinery. Jos. E. llson, Jr of Logan, Utah will construct pump house and pipe and 1 Stod-dard Stod-dard of Richmond, Ufth has the contract for canal constnu tjn |
