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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 1952)
EIGHT MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Sunday, Auguii 17, 193 urvey Gives Area ce Notice on Ad van Supply Water Water Work of Surveyors In Flooded Streams Is Often Hazardous First Station Set Up At Gold Ray in 1905 Water to many of us is often taken for granted as a somewhat tasteless liquid which can be made a great deal more palat able by the inclusion of fresh coffee grounds, lemons and the like. To others, especially farmers and orchardists, it is the life- blood of their livelihoods when used for irrigation. Water is also good up to a certain concentra tion, then it becomes bad.. when it strays from its well-worn course and results in floods. It gives us electricity, fish, watermelons, grass, timber, and just about everything else ex cept dryness. If then, it is so very important, somebody must be doing a lot of thinking about how it happens to be, where it comes from, how much is expect ed, its quality, eto. Three Branches That "somebody" throughout the United States is the Water Resources division of the U. S. Geological survey, Department of Interior. In the Water Re- principal functional branches: surface water, ground water and quality of water. The latter branch conducts studies of the chemical and physical quality of surface and ground water. While ground water is investigated for occur rence, quantity and availability for use, surface water .is studied for flow of streams, floods, droughts and utilization of re sources. Both ground and surface studies, though separated for in vestigation, are necessarily con current in many instances where ground water seeps into springs, rills and larger streams. The largest of the three divis ions is the surface water branch which has maintained an office in Medford since 1946. The Med ford office is a branch of the Portland district office with K. N. Phillips, district engineer, in charge. The local office is under his direction and investigations in southwestern Oregon are un der the .supervision of C. A. Young, hydraulic engineer, as sisted by D. R. Hansen and D. H. Giles. The local office maintains 55 river-measurement stations in the Rogue, Klamath, Umpqua and Coquille river basins as a part of the regular nationwide stream-gauging program for the investigation of the water re sources of the nation. These sta tions are maintained by the Geo logical survey in cooperation with the state of Oregon, the cities of Coos Bay and North Bend, and other federal agen cies. Stream flow investigations are also being made by the Survey for the California Oregon Power company, a licensee of the Fed eral Power commission. Stream gauging under the Copco-FPC license exceeds that for all other FPC licenses in the state, accord ing to Engineer Young, partly because this company has been the only private company to do any building of hydroelectric plants in Oregon in the last 20 years. The power company bears the maintenance and cost of operation of the stations where these investigations are made, j The engineer pointed out that ft. I- ; - " " ir-i , ) i . n1 S3 t t n H :rH7s m v :k?x - - - i l-4 Ml ' ttT - - V U'-J . - , J CONSTANT RECORD Shown (right) is the concrete tower at Dodge bridge on Rogue river which houses a water-stage or height recorder which keeps a constant measurement of the river's height and when it occurs. The instrument is housed near the top of the structure which is connected with the river by pipes below the water surface which keep the water level of a well within the structure the same as the river. A float on the surface of the well regulates the pen on the recorder's graph paper through a system of lines and weights. The recorder is reached by the ladder and walk (left) which is anchored to a remaming portion of the old Dodge bridge superstructure. -yr " aT- f tmiwinwn irmi imi inrmiiMi in riniiiwmn WINTER WORK Pictured is a -Tucker Sno-Cat, used In long trips into the mountains during the winter to places where stream flow investigations are made by the U. S. Geological survey, water resources branch, and the depth of snow measured at regular snow courses. The picture was taken en route to the gauging station at waiao lake in the Deschutes National forest, southwest of Bend (Aubrey E. Perry Photo) an extensive Copco rower de velopment is now in progress on the Upper .North Umpqua river above and below Toketee falls which is necessary to keeD ud with the rapid growth of the industrial development of south western Oregon. The survey has a stream flow record at one of the several gaug ing stations in the Toketee area which dates back to 1908. These records of discharge in the Un- per North Umpqua basin were used by the company in the de sign of hydroelectric equipment to be used in that area. CABLEWAY METHOD Shown above is D. H. Giles, employed in the Medford office of the surface water branch, Water Resources division, U. S. Geological survey, suspended from a cableway at Gold Ray dam on the Rogue river with a current meter (cups and fin above bomb-like sounding weight). The meter is let down into waici dim revoives irom tne speed of the water, measuring the ! velocity by timing a series of clicks through the earphones on the operator. Meter reading results, plus the width and depth of the; stream, gives the discharge in cubic feet per second. Other methods ' used in current meter tests are by wading, from a boat and from i a bridge. Other streams are currently being investigated where no power or irrigation development is anticipated at the present; in cluding spot measurements on streams along the coast and in land, which could be developed for power or irrigation. Takes No Sides . In regard to basin develop ment projects such as "Plan A" and other questions dealing with water, the survey does not enter into or take sides on such ques tions, but rather furnishes basic information that can be used to determine the feasibility of res ervoirs, channel development, soil treatment and flood fore casting. This information on the stream yield is published in the survey's annual water survey papers. A detailed report on the floods of October and November, 1950, in southwestern Oregon and north western California is currently being prepared and will be pub lished as a special report to make possible a detailed study of the behavior of flood crests, incidence of crests from differ ent tributaries, and the progress of flood crests throughout the river system. The survey's chief cooperator is the state engineer who is rep resented locally by the county watermaster. The basic data used by the survey is systematically collected at stream-gauging sta tions (see picture) where a rec ord is kept of the river stage or height, measurements taken of discharge or quantity of flow, and general information nspfnl in determining the daily stream flow. Recorder Used The record of stase is obtain ed by either periodic readings on a non-recording gauge or by a water-stage recorder which pro vides a continuous graph, of the stage. The instrument used here is a Stevens recorder, manufac tured in Portland, and widely used by various organizations over the nation. The instrument is housed near the top of a wooden or concrete tower (see picture), located on the river bank. The elevated structure is connected with the river by pipes below the water surface which keep the water level of a well within the struc ture the same as the river. ,A float on the surface of the well regulates the pen on the re corder's graph paper through a system of lines and weights and the pen thus draws a continuous line showing both river stage and time of the stage. Discharge Measurements Discharge measurements are made by use of a current meter (suspended below the cabiecar in picture) held by the engineer while wading if the stage per mits, or from a boat, cableway, or bridge. The meter, a series of cups which revolve (similar to wind velocity cups) from the speed of the water, measures the velocity by timing a series of clicks through the earphones of the operator.- The results of the meter readings, plus the width and depth of the stream, give the discharge in cubic feet per second at any particular stage. A cubic foot per second repre sents 449 gallons a minute. After these measurements are made at various low and high water stages, the stream is rated and a stage-discharge relation is obtained. With this information of discharge and stage, the daily flows and runoff figures are com puted. Indirect Methods At times when stations cannot be reached during floods in the daytime, or when they occur at night, current meter measure ments cannot be made. Selected sites are then picked and the dis charge is determined by indirect methods, using a hydraulic for mula jointly with the data from the field survey. Young pointed out that the work during floods is sometimes hazardous, owing to the nature of the measurements and wea ther conditions. Discharge meas uring during flood stages is "usually in the worst kind of weather," he added, "and sta tions in the remote areas are only reached after a hard and hazardous trip." He noted that the survey lost an engineer by drowning a few years ago when his boat capsized on the lower McKenzie river, and that investigating engineers risk their life during floods when they sound from bridges which may collapse at any min ute, and from cablecars where the sounding line can ; become snagged by a log. Danger is not always in flood stages, Young continued. Last winter one of the local engineers was making a routine wading measurement near Butte Falls and "inadvertently stepped into a hole which filled his waders with water. The swift current made it extremely difficult to reach shore and he had a hard time making it without drown ing. The equipment was found later after the near tragedy." During the winter, measure ments are often accomplished in blizzard conditions. Areas Vary The gauging stations in this j area are located at points that : measure the flow draining from areas ranging from 8.6 square j miles (Powell creek near Wil liams, Ore.) to 2,420 square i miles on the Rogue river at the Grants Pass station. Many of the stations are reached by -automobile over the main highways, while others are reached by for est service roads. A few are so isolated that they can only be reached in the winter by snow vehicles or skis. The survey uses a Tucker Sno Cat (see picture), manufactured at Medford, for its long trips into the Cascade mountains where stream flow investigations are made and the depth of snow is measured at regular snow courses. The snow triDs are usu ally made under adverse wea-! ther conditions and occasionally a storm will force the engineers to hasten to previously stocked cabins until the weather mod erates. Winter Trips Winter trips are made into a Klamath drainage gauging sta tion on Beaver creek, near Lake O' Woods, by skis from the snow line on the Dead Indian road. Information from this trip is gathered to show the yield of this creek, now important to the Bu reau of Reclamation which is surveying it at the present time RUPTURE SPECIALIST! Ready Made and Made to Order SURE HOLD TRUSSES Users Say . . . "Rupture gone in a few months." FREE EXAMINATION So Be Sure with a Sure Hold NORTHWEST ORTHOPEDIC & SURGICAL SUPPLY CO. 2747 N. PACIFIC HIGHWAY Vx Mile North of Big Y for a dam site to provide supple mental irrigation water for Jack son county. The station is 14 miles from the snow line and in winter can only be reached un der ideal weather conditions. ; One of the longest continu ously operated stations in the state is the one situated on the Rogue river at Gold Ray dam between Bybee bridge and Gold Hill. The station was established in 1905 with the records provid ing a "good picture of the be havior of the Rogue river for the past 46 years," according to the engineer. The maximum ' instantaneous discharge for the period of rec ord at this station was 91,500 cubic feet per second on Feb. 21, 1927. The minimum daily discharge occurred on Sept. 6, 1931, when the river flowed at the daily rate of 616 cubic feet a second. Wagon Trip The next oldest station on the Rogue river is still in operation near Prospect. It was established in 1907. A district engineer in one of the southwestern districts of the United States told Young that at one time prior to 1910 he visited this station by a horse drawn wagon. Other stream flow stations on the main stem of the Rogue are Robertson Delegate To Elks Conference Harvey W. Robertson, 1955 Gregory road, left here Friday located above Bybee creek near Union creek, at Laurelhurst be low the South Fo?k of the Rogue, Dodge bridge (pictured), and Grants Pass. Reconnaissance will be made later this summer for the establishment of a station in the vicinity of Galice, Ore., near the mouth of Grave creek. Numerous gauges are in oper ation on tributaries of the Rogue and some of these streams have more than one station. for Salt Lake City, where he is to attend a regional confer ence of the district deputies of the Elks lodge of 11 western states. Robertson recently was appointed district deputy, Grand Exalted Ruler of Oregon South for the lodge. Robertson has served in all of the offices of the local Elks lodge and was exalted ruler for 1946-47. He served three years as a trustee and has been on numerous committees. Robert son has also been active in Ore gon State Elks association wor. MAKE A DATE" NOW For the mis Achievements of 4-H-F.F.A. Boys and Girls On Parade! URGE YOU TO ATTEND THE 4 mm U UD At the Jackson County IF AH m E IB D IU KT DD Sponsored by the Medford Rotary Club 41 MICE. DMOTS 111 -22-2 Complete Displays of Livestock, Poultry, Crops, Home Economics Achievements ! ! You'll ENJOY this fine showing of Jackson County's boys and girls mem bers of 4-H Clubs and Future Farmers of America . . . you'll be PROUD of their achievements . . . you'll lend encouragement to these thoroughly prac tical, thoroughly American youth movements. Jorgensen's urge you to attend ALL FOUR DAYS . . and heartily congratulate the Medford Rotary Club for supporting these fine two organizations, in which boys and girls LEARN by DOING! Jorgensen's FLAVOR-FULL FIESTA Ice Cream Jorgensen's Homogenized Grade A MULTI-VITAMIN MULTI-MINERAL Fortified Milk V
