grade. They have given some checks on the
position of this grade during the velocity measurements hereinafter
described. Their locations are shown on the profile, Plate V.
Nogal Reservoir.--Nogal Reservoir is the storage unit of the system,
and is on the north edge of a table-land, 1,700 ft. above the railway, on
the Carrizozo plain, 15 miles away. It is 11-1/2 miles from the head of
the pipe on Bonito Creek.
This reservoir is a natural basin or bowl, 1/2 mile in diameter across the
top, 1/4 mile on the bottom, and 36 ft. deep. A level line, 1,500 ft. long,
drawn from its bottom, comes out to grade on the north declivity of the
table-land. On this level line an open cut was made and the outlet pipe
laid. The cut was then closed by a dam.
The supply pipe from Bonito Creek delivers water into the basin over
the top of its southern rim, the water, as it leaves the pipe, flowing over
a standard weir, without end contractions, into a stone gutter. A by-pass
pipe, with suitable valves, passes around the western side of the basin
and connects to the outlet pipe.
This comparatively small amount of work equipped a very good natural
reservoir with a capacity of 422,000,000 gal., which can be increased to
1,000,000,000 gal. by embankments across low places in the rim.
Service Reservoirs.--At Coyote, an artificial service reservoir, 100 by
200 ft. on the bottom, with slopes of 1-1/2 on 1 and a total depth of 15
ft., serves as an equalizer of the flow to and away from the pumps at
that point. The pump-house is built alongside this reservoir. The
delivery pipe from the Nogal Reservoir runs directly to the pumps, but
has a tee-branch, 50 ft. long, into the Coyote Reservoir. This branch
passes through a valve chamber between the pump-house and the
reservoir. In this chamber there are controlling valves and an automatic
overflow. This overflow is provided against the contingency of a full
reservoir and idle pumps. If the pipe line is delivering water faster than
the pumps discharge it, the surplus goes into the reservoir. This
arrangement is self-acting and controlling. There is a similar
arrangement at the Luna pumping plant, also at the Carrizozo service
reservoir, and at the regulating reservoir on the Corona summit.
Each of the four service reservoirs is of the same size, and lined with 4
in. of 1:2:4 concrete. At Luna and Corona the concrete is reinforced
with 3/8-in. round rods spaced 12 in. from center to center, both ways.
This reinforcement should have been used in all the work.
Pumping Plants.--The pumps at Coyote and Luna are Nordberg duplex,
cross-compound, condensing, crank-and-fly-wheel machines, with 6-in.
plungers, traveling 600 ft. per min. at full normal speed, and designed
to work against 300 lb. per sq. in. They have a guaranteed efficiency of
135,000,000 ft-lb. per 1000 lb. of steam at 150 lb. and superheated 75
degrees.
The boilers are 125-h.p., Sterling, water-tube, with Foster superheaters,
and 33-in. stacks, 100 ft. high.
Each plant is in complete duplicate pump and boiler units, only one set
working at a time.
The pump building is a substantial concrete, brick, and steel structure,
50 by 80 ft. in plan, with a fire-wall, with two steel doors dividing the
floor space into an engine-room 50 by 50 ft., and a boiler-room 50 by
30 ft. A concrete coal-bin adjoins the exterior boiler-room door. Coal is
delivered directly from the car to the bin.
The plant is lighted by a small, but very complete, engine and dynamo
on one base and run by steam from the Sterling boilers.
The two plants are exactly alike throughout.
Reservoir Leakage.--The Nogal Reservoir basin is covered with from 2
to 5 ft. of good clay, except where it is punctured by a dike, or washed
down to the underlying sandstone by a few gullies. These punctures or
washes were covered or filled with clay from 1 to 4 ft. deep. During the
first season the leakage, above the 6-ft. contour, was at the rate of 2 in.
per day.
As the water fell, due to leakage, evaporation, and use, a herd of from
300 to 400 cattle were worked around the shore line. This reduced the
leakage to 3/8 in. below 8 ft., and to nothing below 6 ft., above the
outlet. As the flow line rises higher each season, the puddling will be
continued to the top. The leakage at 12 ft. above the outlet, or 17 ft.
above the bottom, is still approximately 1 in. per day. The total
puddling, to date, covering two seasons, is equivalent to 11,150 days'
work of one cow, and covers an area of 1,500,000 sq. ft.
The clay packed densely, the final hoof marks being not
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