Water for a thirsty region

Water is a precious commodity out here in the arid West -- one reason that these old rusty tanks in the outback are so poignant. The pair are located along the unpaved county road that parallels the Santa Maria River between US93 and the Bagdad Road and I would guess that they are still in use.

Also in the outback: above, in the desert near Bumblebee ... and, below, in the forest near Crown King.

Since dust is a no-no per the EPA (even in the Arizona desert -- huh?), portable water tanks are the first sign of a new construction project. The idea is to spray precious water when those bright yellow machines start moving earth.

This tank is near the railroad in Hillside; maybe it isn't for water -- but I recall the era of steam locomotives when special water dispensers were strategically located along the track.

Ash Fork's city water tank; the town's water comes from two reservoirs that had been created many years ago to serve the Santa Fe.

One of several water tanks maintained by the city of Prescott, visible from SR69.

These are also city tanks on a hillside just east of Willow Creek Road. The long zoom shot is from my balcony, where all I can actually see are the tall antennas; when I first viewed the image, I was quite surprised by the water tanks.

The old flume -- then & now

Friend Andy C. sent this image of an old postcard entitled simply "an irrigation system near Prescott Arizona". He believes it is the original flume carrying water from Willow Creek in the Dells to the Bianconi Ranch. A brief history he passed along:

This property may have been owned by Joseph Curtis who grew peaches and melons prior to sale to Alfred Clough in 1877. Sharlot Hall Museum has photos of vineyards, apple trees, and a fishing lake on the Clough property. He died in 1908 and the ranch was bought by John Bianconi. Bianconi had the largest peach orchard in the state here (34 a) and produced many other crops. The Bianconi Brothers won many ribbons at the Arizona State Fair and the Northern Arizona Fair (later YC Fair). The flume was present by 1911. In 1936 when the Willow Lake Dam was built, Bianconi sued and received an award of water from the Chino Valley Irrigation District. This was all for naught, as his peach trees caught peach mosaic and were destroyed to prevent spread of the disease. The ranch was sold to a cattle rancher in 1941 and was bought by Robert H. Kieckhefer about 1950.

The remains I photographed last fall are the final bones of the flume system.

Water towers here & there

Sometimes one looms just above the trees, like a cruising UFO scouting for a likely landing spot.

At other times, they're quite out in the open. But what I was quite aware of while driving the Memphis environs with my nieces was the ubiquity of water towers. Here, there and yonder. Often with the name of the particular suburban municipality (or other owner).

What's that all about, I asked my hosts, displaying my ignorance. Why all the water towers? Answer, of course, is for the same reason we have those tanks you don't really notice here in Prescott. To store water. And store it high up, giving the system a good head. Doh.

Up here in the mountains, we simply don't need all those girders and that steel. A good substantial hilltop will do quite nicely, thank you. Nor do we have to paint them a screaming white for visibility from aircraft. The tank I depend upon is pictured above. It's the Indian Hill facility that the city wants to expand, a project that has some neighbors up in arms. Unsightly, they say. (They should look at those Tennessee municipal tanks up on stilts!) Actually, friend Patty and I had to circle the tank quite carefully to find a spot or two where I could get a good shot. Furthermore, she had never even been aware of the tank's existence, though she drives the area regularly.

Here's another local tank picture I found among my archives. Again, the tank, on a hill just east of the Frontier Village shopping center, doesn't impinge on the eye nearly as much as that gouge in the mountainside at right. Perhaps it's the bluegray color, matching the chaparral, because the big white tank (below) on the ridgeline among all those houses is very, very evident. No doubt there are other water tanks around town, hidden in plain sight.

Linkage: the recent pelican post prompted Lucy to locate her photos from a trip to Australia, which she has posted at Box Elder. Wow, such elegant birds! Quite unlike the drab brown fellows that I photographed down in Louisiana. On the subject of birds, World Photos recently offered a look at a nesting stork and her young. Another subject: I tend to avoid Causes like the plague; however, if I were going to take up a cause, guerrilla gardening is a likely candidate.

Prescott necessity: good drainage

After all that moisture we've had the past few weeks, the local hills have sprung leaks. Here's a minor stream I saw on Beach Street two days ago; I've seen similar little water courses on several streets running downhill toward Granite Creek.

A Japanese-style water course in stone helps prevent erosion of the hillside here. Many years ago when my LH and I were looking at houses in Prescott, we noticed that structures on Park Avenue often had a small stream running through the basement (if they had one). I suppose had we been looking in the dry season, we wouldn't have been aware of this!

Pictured: a rather small drainage pipe (under 6" in diameter) at the edge of one hillside property hereabouts.

A larger tube (12") runs under the drive of another house.

Now we're getting into more serious drainage! This paved water course down the bluff takes rain and melt water away from the upper level parking lot at a former church on West Gurley Street.

Grand finale: a 3-4 foot conduit under the road as you leave the south end of Lynx Lake; it drains a hillside into upper Lynx Creek.

Excuses, Excuses: Last night, I had these pictures PhotoShopped and was about to begin posting when, OOPS! my modem called it quits. Had to call in my guru this AM to fix things -- the easy way, using a cable rather than the wireless option.

Patterns on water

Send a rushing stream down a steep spillway; one of the results is a beautiful set of bubbles and of foam. These are pictures the dotter took on our day out Lynx Lake way; she had my camera and I must say she knows just the sorts of pictures that grab me! Note sson also at work.

The bottom of the falls: here's where the bubbles build up.

And foamier patterns made by eddies accumulate in a backwater.

Wonderful bubble baubles.

I really dig the patterns made by the swirling foam.

An eagle pair & a green desert floor

The world is coming alive down in the desert. A neighbor, doing field work in the Ft. McDowell area, sent the pictures posted here. First, a bald eagle at attention and another, perhaps a mate, hunkered down in a humongous nest. No, I didn't get a look at the eagle nest over at Lynx Lake last week -- I had my camera, but not my binoculars.

More important for most of us, who aren't likely to come across any eagles, is his other message: the desert looks like a golf course.

Now is time to start planning wildflower trips. My AzPlants mailing list sent this message Friday: At Boyce Thompson Arboretum we have had just under an inch (0.86) of rain from the current system. Have had some little guys blooming at Picketpost trail head including Draba cuneifolia, Calandrinia, Lotus tomentellus, Jojoba, some little Gilia, and some little borage. Noticed yesterday that the Fairy Duster is blooming on the west side of Gonzales Pass along Hwy. 60, along with some brittlebush at Florence Junction. For the record, my favorite wildflower drive to catch the desert in bloom is the county road on the east side of the Santa Maria River. The Orme Road off SR169 is good for several drives as it drops from 5000+ elevation down to about 2500-3000 ft., with a wonderful mix of desert and higher elevation plants flowering at different times during our early spring.

Water Note: Remember that elephant sitting in on all those meetings about water? Well, the Sunday Courier is reporting that the SRP has written a letter stating that Prescott has NO rights to Big Chino water. Oops.

A pretty little dam...

...sits astride Lynx Creek upstream from the south end of the lake as you drive back out toward the Walker Road. Usually, there is a only small amount of water a couple of inches deep behind the dam. Thanks to all the welcome rain/snow we've had, water is pouring over. If you look closely, you'll even see the miner panning for gold on the near bank.

This stretch of Lynx Creek has been dedicated to the casual gold prospector -- unlike most of our public lands, which may be claimed for exclusive use (and most of them are, already).

At this point, I should confess -- not feeling up to the climb down to and up from the stream, I handed my camera to the dotter to take these pictures. She did a neat job, I'd say.

The water was making bubbles -- when it wasn't freezing.

I guess everyone -- well, at least some others -- were out looking at water cascading over local dams. After all, this is drought country and water over the dam is not a casual matter. In any event, on Sunday Tombo, Sadira and Rich all took pictures of Granite Creek topping the big dam at Watson Lake. And on the weekend, our little family of three couldn't resist photographing water-over-the-dam at Granite Basin and Lynx Lakes. I find myself wondering what about the Big Chino out at Sullivan Lake.

Note on Mom: Please take a moment to read the dotter's blog about missing Mom. She has expressed my feelings (and those of my bro) so well -- I couldn't begin to wrap the words around the subject as sensitively as she has. Thank you, OmegaMom!

The face is familiar

Yes, I realize I am repeating pictures. Most, at least. However, it's for a reason. It's because each reminds me of why Cubism. And because they all remind me of one another.

The top pair are obviously done by a child, in this case my granddotter. Both remind me of the next picture.

This creature -- my wonderful new Eunice the Cat -- was made as a deliberate "primitive" by the Grunge Goddess, a local lady who sells via eBay. So perhaps we can say that cubism is, in part, deliberately child-like.

But then we find this face right out there on a Park Avenue aspen tree trunk for all to see. So isn't it readily apparent that the cubists are really just artists, imitating Nature after all.

The moose? Well, I just included him 1) to honor the kids up in Alaska and 2) because it isn't often you meet up with a plush wall critter who sings when activated by, get this, his very own remote!

Assorted Notes: Lori of Chatoyance has challenged me -- in lieu of a meme tag -- to install a charitable widget to help buy books for a school in Africa. Take a look over at her blog; I'm not sure I'm up to doing the installation. However, I was led by the widget to a most interesting approach to small charitable projects using the Internet, pioneered by FirstGiving. The hows are explained at their site and their blog. In other news, my post about the dead cottonwoods was mentioned in the January Festival of the Trees, hosted this month by Hoarded Ordinaries, which is a blog worth a visit on a regular basis in any event. And, in a final note, remember that elephant that has been sitting in the middle of all the negotiations, planning sessions and plain talk-talk about tapping the Big Chino basin for water? Looks like that elephant is beginning to stir. Big Time. Funny -- when we first moved to the Prescott area, the SRP was never mentioned in the Courier -- almost as if it didn't exist (and own senior water rights to the Verde...)

Sullivan Lake: Water!

Looking east as Old Hwy. 89 crosses the Verde, bridges dominate. Plus the old lava flow which adds a third layer to the picture. OK, there's also that famous Big Sky for which the west is known.
But the most remarkable feature of our trip yesterday with sheoflittlebrain and E. is directly above: there's water in Sullivan Lake! The last time I saw Sullivan, it was bone dry.

Peer over the bridge railing to see still more water below the dam. A great place for frogs, algae and wild grape vines.

The pools under the old Santa Fe bridge are in the shadows; the petroglyphs are too small to be seen.

Slightly different lighting does make the pools more visible.

Obviously that railroad bridge is a perfect spot for 1) bungee jumping, 2) crossing the canyon on a dare, 3) other mischief. So the powers that be erected barricades at either end out of old rails plus loops of today's ubiquitous razor wire.

Of course, laws and razor wire do little to stop determined litter-atti, who dispose of old bedsprings...

...or harbor the urge to shout loudly in public places.

This particularly objectionable graffiti has been in place since I took pictures a year and a half ago. But despite the encroachment of uncivilization, twas oh so good to see the water!!