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1 9 MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or.
Sunday, Jan. 31, 1960
Reservoirs Low
For This Time of
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GATES EXPOSED "If you haven't got it at the fish screen below, checks the gauge
here, you haven't got it," Paul Culbertson which shows that Fourmile lake has not
waxes philosophically as he looks over the come up at all since last October,
water stituation at Fourmile laxe. Hoffbuhr,
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SINKS TUBE Hoffbuhr, right, pushes tube
Into the snow to draw out a core at the
Fourmile lake snow course. Some Indication
that the tube reached dirt must show after
it is extracted. If there is more than a
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EMERGENCY SHELTER Billie Creek
cabiii, maintained by the Medford Irrigation
district for emergency use,' served as lunch
room for noon stop on snow survey last
Wednesday. Hoffbuhr relates that the cabin
came in mighty handy the time he fell
Fire Destroys House
Applegate Valley Fire Fri
day night destroyed a small
frame house owned by Mr.
' and Mrs. John Deter about
two miles south of Ruch.
Cause of the blaze, which
was reported to the ranger
station here by passersby at
8:30 pjn., was unknown. The
house and everything in it
wer destroyed . when th
"stain," the excess dirt must be carefully
removed to give accurate reading. Culbert
son, at right is ready to weigh the tube. To
get the weight of the snow, weight of empty
tube is subtracted from the total.
through the snow into the icy canal water.
Approximate snow depth is indicated by
"cap" on woodbox at left. Many is the time
the ladder at right has had to be used to
gain entrance to the cabin because of deep
snow. Hoffbuhr said, but not this year.
In Applegate Valley
ranger crew arrived on the
scene.
Mr. and Mrs. Deter were
visiting friends in Jackson
ville at the time of the fire
and their three children were
attending a skating party in
Grants Pass.
Only a trailer house, which
the family used as a bedroom,
and a deep freeze were salvaged.
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ODD JOBS FOR MACHINES
New York -UPD- Electronic
computers are proving their
versatility by tackling an in
creasing versatility of odd
jobs. Some universities report
they use computers to pre
pare class schedules, while
other machines are being
readied for such specific jobs
as telling oil companies where
to build new gas stations and
abandon old ones.
Year, Crew Notes
By BOB VROMAN
Mail Tribune Staff Writer
"Water shortage next sum
mer? Ha! They said that last
year and we still had plenty
to go around."
A statement like this was
heard recently in a conversa
tion about our current irriga
tion water supply.
What this person didn't
take into consideration was
the fact that in order to give
everyone enough water to see
their crops through the driest
year on record, the water in
southern Oregon reservoirs
was drawn down to an all
time low. Now, right on the
heels of the driest year, comes
another one, which, so far,
has not brought enough pre
cipitation to fill the reservoirs
to anywhere near normal.
Serious Water Problem
Orchardists and farmers
are facing a serious water
problem. The only tiling that
can get them out of this "jack
pot" is a vast amount of pre
cipitation, coming in torren
tial proportions for weeks on
end. And this is not likely.
According to Jack Hoff
buhr, manager of Medford Ir
rigation district, there is only
about a month left for this
"miracle" to happen. - After
that, the chances of getting
precipitation that would real
ly count in the total water
picture tapers off rapidly.
Fruit growers, nevertheless,
must go ahead with prepara
tions for a normal crop, cul
tivating, spraying and other
wise caring for their trees.
They have to gamble on
whether or not the rains are
going to come, and most of
them feel they are sticking
their necks way out this year,
for none can remember a
water situation quite as bad
as this.
Snow Survey Trip
The sad picture was brought
sharply into focus last Wed
nesday when Hoffbuhr and
Paul Culbertson, chairman of
the board of directors of Med
ford Irrigation district, took
the monthly snow survey and
inspection trip in the Fish
lake and Fourmile lake areas.
Going with them on the trip
were Ben Garrahaw of North
American Weather corpora
tion (as an observer), Hoff
buhr's 11-year-old son, Den
nis, who helped record snow
measurements, and Jim Smith
driver of the Copco Sno-Cat.
The machine was loaned to
the Medford Irrigation district
under their cooperative snow
survey plan.
Since the Dead Indian road
had been plowed free of snow
by loggers in the area, it was
possible to take the 4-wheel
drive station wagon and the
truck to the Fish lake sum
mer homes junction before
putting the Sno-Cat to use.
There the cat was "walked"
off the truck on planks and
the party transferred lunches
and snow-measuring gear in
to the cab. Snow shoes and
skiis were already aboard. -First
Course
The first course to be
measured was the one on Rye
Spur, where readings are tak
en along side, the road. Since
this is a new course, no meas
urements from past years are
available for comparison, but
the situation didn't look good.
And what's more, the ground
beneath did not appear to be
saturated. The snow depth
averaged 27.7 inches with a
water content of 8.6 inches.
Ground saturation is the
"unknown factor" in measur
ing the season's water supply,
and a very important one.
The soil in this part of the
Cascades is mostly volcanic
ash and highly absorbent, and
before any water can run into
reservoirs, the ground must
satisfy its own thirst.
This year, lack of fall rain
was reponsible for low ground
saturation. When precipitation
did come it was in the form
of snow which stayed on the
surface instead of soaking in.
Just how much of this year's
snow pack will melt and drop
into the ground instead of be
coming run-off cannot be cal
culated, but from all indica
tions the ground is still
"sponging" it up. This fact
was verified more substantial
ly later on the trip.
To Fourmile Lake
After taking the readings at
Rye Spur, which is just north
of Fish lake, the party headed
for Fourmile lake, some nine
miles away. The group stop
ped for lunch at Billie Creek
cabin, an emergency shelter
maintained by Medford Irri
gation district.
The snow was noticeably
deeper. After half an hour
the Sno-Cat was again forging
toward its destination.
At Fourmile the snow-measuring
tubes and scales were
removed from their canvas
feel t J sSruT'. - xv.
CHECKS SCALES-Weight of snow in tube, to get accurate reading. Hoffburh's son, Den
indicated by sensitive scales, Is used to de- nis, records figures as they are called out.
termine water content. Paul Culbertson, The picture above was taken at the Fish
chairman of the board of directors for Med- lake snow course near the summer home
ford Irrigation district, left, holds scales site,
while Manager Jack Hoffbuhr steadies tube ,
LOW WATER The picture above, taken
last week, shows a big part of the gate tower
at Fish lake dam above the water level.
The staff gauge on the tower indicates that
the lake contains 3,773 acre feet of water
now as compared to a normal for this time
U4
EN ROUTE As the Tucker Sno-Cat rumb- employee. The Sno-Cat was loaned to Med-
les up the road to Fourmile lake, Jack Hoff- ford Irrigation district by Copco, under co-
buhr turns to talk to Paul Culbertson in operative snow survey setup. Machine is
the back seat. Driver is Jim Smith, Copco radio-equipped.
bag. Hoffbuhr and Culbert
son were apprehensive of
what these readings would
tell. After all 10 of the cores
were taken it figured out that
the average snow depth was
37.2 inches, with a water con
tent of 11.4 inches. This is
49 per cent of the 1938-52
normal late January reading.
The water content averages
23.8 inches over the years,
and this year it is less than
half that figure.
No Water
A look at the water level
guage at the dam showed that
no water had entered the lake
since last October. This meant
that what snow had melted
up to now, both from on top
and from the warmth of the
earth, had gone someplace be
sides into the reservoir. It
was soaked up by the ground.
Calculations showed that
the lake did contain 4,209
acre feet of storage water at
the present, compared to the
average 6,700 acre feet for
this time of year.
Full, the lake holds 16,600
feet and it's the top half that
really counts, for wien the
water gets low it takes "for
ever" to run out. Besides
that, if the lake has to be
drawn down to nearly empty
much work must be done to
remove silt deposited in the
channel immediately in front
of the release gates. This has
not had to be done since the
water shortage in 1930-31,
Hoffbuhr said.
' The same situation was re
vealed at Fish lake, although
the percentage of water for
this time of year was slightly
higher. The lake now con
tains 3,773 acre feet instead
of the 4,400 acre feet that is
considered normal, or, 84 per
cent of what it should be.
Hoffbuhr explained that un
derground springs in Fish
lake bring the water up rath
er rapidly at first, then after
the springs are submerged, a
of year of 4,400 acre feet, or 84 per cent of
what it should be. It is a certainty that it
will not come up to normal unless unusally
heavy precipitation occurs within the next
30 days.
balance in pressure cuts off
the flow and the lake fills
largely from run-off water
after that.
Near Normal
Although the snow depth
and water content was near
normal at Fish lake, precipi
tation reading showed that
only about half the usual
amount of rain and snow had
fallen in the area so far this
year. Precipitation is record
ed by means of an automatic
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613 E. MAIN PH. SP 3-5345
1 Block East of Hawthorn Park
Open Sundays and Holiday
10 A.M-9 P.M. .
Weekday 8:30 A.M. - 10 P.M.
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READS GAUGE Jack Hoffbuhr, above, reads the automatic
cone gauge that shows precipitation fallen in the Fish lake
area so far this year. The reading is cumulative because of
a layer of liquid, resembling arcti-freeze, that prevents evap
oration after wate- has settled to the bottom. The gauge
showed that only about half the normal amount of rain and
snow has fallen in the area this year.
cone gauge located on the pier
at Fish lake dam.
Other elements that are to
be considered in the water
supply picture are evapora
tion, intensified by warm
southerly winds, ice crust,
snow compaction and numer
ous other variables.
The truth is, we are way
short on irrigation water this
year, and the fact must be
faced up to. Other irrigation
districts in southern Oregon
will feel it, and our general
economy must be ready to
"roll with the punch" if our
fruit, cattle raising, and farm
crop industries suffer from
lack of water. Just because
we have never run short be
fore, common sense tells us
it is no reason to think that it
can't happen.
Two out of every three
housewives found newspapers
to be the most helpful adver
tising medium in the buying
of food products, according
to an Illinois Consumer Survey.
Our Beautiful New
MORTUARY
2100
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Inspect our cemetery. Estab
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Go over your carpet with
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