The Water Supply of the El Paso and Southwestern Railway from Carrizozo to Santa Rosa, N. Mex.

Water Supply of the El Paso and
Southwestern Railway from
Carrizozo to Santa Rosa, N. Mex.,
The

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Southwestern Railway from Carrizozo to Santa Rosa, N. Mex., by J. L.
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Title: The Water Supply of the El Paso and Southwestern Railway from
Carrizozo to Santa Rosa, N. Mex.
Author: J. L. Campbell
Release Date: August 5, 2005 [EBook #16440]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS
INSTITUTED 1852
TRANSACTIONS
Paper No. 1170
THE WATER SUPPLY OF THE EL PASO AND SOUTHWESTERN
RAILWAY FROM CARRIZOZO TO SANTA ROSA, N. MEX.[A]
BY J.L. CAMPBELL, M. AM. SOC. C.E.
WITH DISCUSSION BY MESSRS G.E.P. SMITH, KENNETH
ALLAN, and J.L. CAMPBELL.

Location.--The El Paso and Southwestern Railway traverses the arid
country west of the 100th Meridian in New Mexico, Texas, and
Arizona, as shown on the map, Fig. 1. The water supply herein
described serves that division of this road lying between Carrizozo and
Santa Rosa, a distance of 128 miles.
Rainfall.--The average annual precipitation is 9.84 in. The year 1909
was exceptionally dry, with a rainfall of less than 5 in.
Original Water Supply.--East and west of El Paso, for distances of 270
miles in each direction, the railway crosses no streams, and the supply
was obtained from wells ranging from 100 to 1,100 ft. in depth. On the
division served by the new supply, this well-water is of very bad
quality, as shown in Table 1.
After the most thorough practicable treatment, these waters were still so
bad that they caused violent foaming, low steam pressure, hard scaling,
rapid destruction of boiler tubes, high coal and water consumption,
extraordinary engine failures and repairs, small engine mileage, low
train tonnage, excessive overtime, and a demoralized train service.

[Footnote A: Presented at the meeting of May 4th, 1910.]
TABLE 1.
---------------------------------------------------------------- | Incrusting solids,
in | Non-incrusting solids, Station. | grains per gallon. | in grains per
gallon. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Carrizozo
| 31 | 7 Ancho | 14 | 14 Gallinas | 91 | 8 Varney | 180 | 14 Duran | 127 |
55 Tony | 115 | 11 Pastura | 141 | 6 Pintado | 81 | 9 Santa Rosa | 140 | 29
----------------------------------------------------------------
New Water Supply.--The writer was directed to find, if possible, a
supply of good water, and his efforts proved successful. The pure water
now in use has eliminated the adverse conditions before mentioned; has
improved the esprit de corps of the train service; and, in a short time,
the reduction in operating expenses will liquidate the first cost of the
new supply.
This supply is taken from the South Fork of Bonito Creek, which flows
down the eastern slope of White Mountain. The latter is 12,000 ft. high,
and is 16 miles south of Carrizozo (Fig. 1). The watershed is a granite
and porphyry formation, heavily timbered, and the stream is fed by
snow and rain. This combination yields an excellent water, carrying on
an average 6.05 grains of incrusting and O.95 grains of non-incrusting
solids per gallon. The North Fork of the creek carries 16.60 and 2.40
grains, respectively. Below the junction of these forks, the water
contains 10.48 grains of incrusting and 1.57 grains of non-incrusting
solids per gallon; and a branch pipe line takes water from the creek
during intervals in dry years when the daily flow of the South Fork is
less than the consumption.
The Water Plant.--The water is taken to and along the railway in pipe
lines. The system includes 116 miles of wood pipe, 19 miles of iron
pipe, one 422,000,000-gal. storage reservoir, four 2,500,000-gal.
service reservoirs, two pumping plants in duplicate, and accessories of
valves, stand-pipes, etc.
From a small concrete dam across the creek at an elevation of 7,728 ft.,

the pipe line drops down the narrow valley eastward, 5-1/2 miles, to an
elevation of 6,980 ft, where it turns abruptly north, rising in 1 mile to a
table-land, 7,215 ft. above sea level, across which it continues
northward 5 miles to the storage reservoir, which is on the north edge
of this elevated country. Hereafter, this reservoir will be called the
Nogal Reservoir, from the old mining village of Nogal lying 1-1/2
miles to the north and 600 ft. below it. From this reservoir, the line
drops abruptly