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- Avondale Project
Avondale Project
State: Idaho
Region: Pacific Northwest
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Avondale Project History (31 KB)
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Hayden Creek below North Fork, near Hayden Lake, Idaho (USGS)
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General
Rehabilitation of privately developed irrigation facilities on the 880 acre Avondale Project by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1954-1955 required the reconstruction of a pumping plant at the source of supply, Hayden Lake, and the construction of an elevated equalizing tank with a main water line and distribution system for sprinkler irrigation. However, the water source is now four deep wells drilled by the Avondale Irrigation District in lieu of pumping from Hayden Lake. Farming is on a part-time basis and subdividing continues since this is a popular resort area which also offers industrial employment.
History
Logging, mining, and construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad brought settlers to the Hayden Lake area during the 1880`s, expanding the market for local agricultural products. Although numerous irrigation schemes were promoted during the 1890`s to stimulate land sales, little in the way of irrigation construction was accomplished until after 1900. The Avondale development was one of several small irrigation ventures undertaken by private interests in this vicinity during 1900-1910. Like the others, it was developed as a fruit-raising area. The Avondale Unit originated in 1906 as the Avondale Stock Farms. It was organized in 1908 as the Avondale Irrigation Company, and a reorganization in 1912 established it as an irrigation district. The original irrigated tracts consisted of 5 to 10 acres. Many of the tracts have been subdivided and resubdivided and only in a few instances have holdings been consolidated into ownerships exceeding 10 acres. Most of the tracts are now used as suburban residences or part-time farms and there are approximately 1,300 user accounts.
Construction
Rehabilitation of the irrigation works began July 22, 1954, and was completed June 10, 1955. Emergency pipe rehabilitation work began in 1962 and was completed in 1964. The three wells were drilled and pumps installed in 1977, with funds furnished by the irrigation district. A fourth well was acquired in the early 1990's as part of an annexation. In addition, a 700,000 gallon storage/reregulating reservoir was constructed by the irrigation district in the spring of 1990. Although fruit production was the major enterprise during the early years of the Avondale irrigation venture, there has been a gradual shift to pasture and hay crops. Most of the farm units are operated on a part-time basis and are used to produce food for the family or as rural homesites. The Avondale Project lands are adjacent to a popular resort and recreation area along Hayden Lake. There are many permanent residences along the lakeshore. Several nearby lakes and streams offer excellent recreation opportunities which attract tourists from all over the United States and Canada. The Avondale Project was developed privately in the early 1900s to bring irrigation water to approximately 860 acres of land in northern Idaho. Reclamation stepped in to help rehabilitate and improve this irrigation system in the mid-1950s , and again in the early 1960s in order to provide local water users with a stable supply of irrigation and domestic water.(1) The Avondale Project is located approximately four miles north of Coeur d`Alene, Idaho, in Kootenai County. Project lands are in the Idaho panhandle on the eastern edge of an extensive glacial outwash plain known as Rathdrum Prairie. The plain is several miles wide, and is surrounded by forested mountains on the north, south, and east. On the west it merges into the Spokane Valley plain at the Washington-Idaho border.(2) The region experiences warm, dry summers, and cool winters.(3) Average annual precipitation is about twenty-five and one-half inches. Temperatures in the region range from minus 26 degrees Fahrenheit to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. The growing season lasts approximately 180 days.(4) Drainage within the region is very good, eliminating problems of salinity or alkalinity.(5) Early inhabitants of Idaho`s panhandle consisted of the Kootenai and Coeur d`Alene Indians, who were hunters and gatherers until the encroachment of trappers and explorers brought about changes to their lifestyles, turning them toward more settled agriculture.(6) Trappers, traders, explorers, and settlers on their way westward, traveled through this region of Idaho, but few had designs on settling the area until the latter half of the 1800s.(7) However, David Thompson established Kullyspell House as a trading post on Lake Pend Oreille in 1809; and Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet, a Jesuit priest, established a mission at Cataldo, Idaho in 1842, for the purpose of bringing Christianity to the Coeur d`Alene Indians. The first recorded settler in the region was a trapper named Conners, who established the town of Rathdrum in 1861.(8) Completion of Mullan Road by the US Army in 1861, increased the number of settlers in the region by creating a trail linking Missouri and Columbia River traffic, and bringing goods, soldiers, settlers, and miners from Fort Benton, Montana, around the north end of Coeur d'Alene Lake to Fort Walla Walla, Washington. The first extensive agriculture in the area resulted from the existence of Fort Sherman, which was built as a way station on Mullan Road in 1878. The post provided a market for feed, as the Army kept approximately 100 mules and horses at the post. Several of the region's settlers began growing barley, hay, and oats to meet the Army's needs. Additional agricultural markets appeared with the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad's mainline, which passed through Rathdrum Prairie in 1883. As a result, a number of irrigation schemes were promoted during the 1890s to stimulate land sales; however, little in the way of construction on these irrigation systems was accomplished until after the turn of the century.(9) The Avondale Project was one of several small irrigation projects undertaken in this region of Idaho from 1900-1910. Like most of the projects in the region, the project was developed for fruit-raising in small tracts. The Avondale Irrigation Company formed in 1908 to build an irrigation system for 860 acres. In 1912, the irrigation company reorganized to become the Avondale Irrigation District.(10) The project's original facilities consisted of a pumping plant with one, seven cubic foot per second capacity pump. This pumped water from Hayden Lake into a 720 foot low-pressure, wood-stave discharge line, which was connected to a concrete pipeline, three small low-head wooden storage tanks, and a low-pressure pipeline distribution system. The irrigation district built a new pumping plant in 1922 on the foundation of their original 1906 plant.(11) Through the years the district's irrigation system experienced frequent system failures, and often proved inadequate to serve the water users' needs. The district's pipelines had deteriorated causing leaks, and bursting at the joints. Additionally, their pump was old, worn out, and inadequate for their needs. In fact, the pump was so obsolete that the irrigation district could no longer acquire replacement parts.(12) In the early 1950s, these problems prompted Reclamation to conduct a survey of the project, and produce a reconnaissance report. Initially, Reclamation regarded the Avondale Irrigation District as a possible unit to the much larger irrigation development known as the Rathdrum Prairie Project, on which Reclamation had worked, beginning a decade before. What Reclamation was considering as the Eastern Division of the Rathdrum Prairie Project consisted of three small irrigation districts which used Hayden Lake as their source of water. These districts were Dalton Gardens, consisting of 979 acres; Avondale, consisting of 860 acres; and Hayden Lake, consisting of 1,577 acres.(13) In the summer of 1952, Reclamation conducted an investigation of the irrigation systems within the proposed Eastern Division of the Rathdrum Prairie Project. In October of 1952, Reclamation issued a report which stated the necessity of rehabilitating the irrigation works within all three districts. As a result, both Dalton Gardens and Hayden Lake Irrigation Districts immediately appealed to Reclamation for assistance in rehabilitating their systems.(14) The Board of Directors for the Avondale Irrigation District took time to consider the changes Reclamation proposed for the district. Reclamation suggested that the pump house be remodeled with equipment with a capacity of 4,500 gallons per minute at a dynamic head of 167 feet. The pumping plant would pump water from Hayden Lake into a twenty-four inch welded steel pipe which would decrease to twelve inches at the highest part of the district. Reclamation suggested that the main supply line traverse the district at its center, and have the laterals branch off in opposite directions every quarter mile. They proposed using welded steel pipelines treated with coal-tar enamel on the inside, and coated with asphalt and double-wrapped with asbestos on the outside.(15) After reviewing this plan, the Avondale Irrigation District also requested rehabilitation assistance from the Government. Early in 1953, each of the three districts submitted their own separate reconstruction plans to Congress. Reclamation agreed to proceed with the work on the basis of separate projects, the districts believing that pushing for the one larger development might cause delays with Congress in appropriating funds.(16) As a result of the frequent service failures within the Avondale Project, the request for appropriation did not go through regular Reclamation or Executive Channels. The district was able to obtain direct Congressional action due to the emergency nature of the requirement. Construction and emergency rehabilitation of the Avondale Project was authorized by the Interior Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1954, dated July 31, 1953 (67 Stat. 261).(17) Because of later problems with the irrigation system, Congress authorized further rehabilitation of the project under the 1955 appropriation act of July 1, 1954 (68 Stat. 365); and again under Public Law 87-298, 87th Congress, 1st Session (75 Stat. 588), which was approved September 22, 1961. Rehabilitation work included replacement of the district's laterals, lining of the interiors of the discharge pipelines, and any other work required in replacement, modification, or improvement of the district's facilities.(18) The condition of the district's irrigation system which led to rehabilitation by Reclamation included, frequent interruptions is service caused by leaks and their repair; the increasing cost of emergency repairs; and the resultant problems of inadequate water deliveries. None of the district's original facilities could be used in the improvement program due to their obsolescence, deteriorated condition, and inadequate capacity.(19) The rehabilitation contract called for construction of a new pumping plant; installation of new pumping equipment; installation of a new twenty-four inch diameter steel intake pipeline; and installation of a twenty-four inch diameter steel discharge line from the pumping plant to a 50,000 gallon elevated steel reservoir. The contract also called for installation of approximately ten miles of buried steel pipelines, ranging from four to sixteen inches in diameter, as well as several laterals and turnouts.(20) The Government awarded this contract to Intermountain Company, on May 13, 1954. The contractor acknowledged notice to proceed on May 18, 1954, and began work on June 10, 1954. The contractor encountered no problems during the construction period. Construction of the irrigation works was completed on April 14, 1955; and the contractor finished the elevated steel tank on May 7, 1955.(21)
Plan
The water supply for the project had been pumped from Hayden Lake, which has a drainage area of 62 square miles, with an average annual inflow of 45,000 acre-feet. Three small irrigation districts, Avondale, Dalton Gardens, and Hayden Lake were using water from the lake. In 1955, reconstructed facilities by the Bureau of Reclamation were placed in operation. These consisted of a pumphouse, two pumps, one 6,684-cubic-foot (50,000-gal) elevated steel equalizing reservoir, and 2,400 feet of 24-inch steel pipe for the main line, which delivered water to the distribution lines. Ninety-six irrigation turnouts were located so that a turnout was available for every 5 acres. Zoning valves and draining valves were subsequently installed for domestic water supply use. The pumphouse, on Hayden Lake about 0.25 mile east of the district lands, house two 6.7- cubic-feet-per-second capacity horizontal centrifugal-type pumps. The pumps are designed to operate against a total dynamic head of 215 feet. The discharge line is 24 inches in diameter and 450 feet long terminating at the equalizing reservoir which is about 130 feet and is equipped with automatic pump control facilities. The State of Idaho, by court decree, issued a mandate that the water level of Hayden Lake is not to fall below 2,230.0 feet in elevation. This action was instrumental in the irrigation district's decision to develop a groundwater supply by drilling three deep wells in 1977. Two wells are 380 feet deep, 20 inches in diameter, and equipped with 350-horsepower pumps, each rated at 4.7 cubic feet per second. The third well is 405 feet deep, 16 inches in diameter, and has a 200-horsepower pump capable of producing 2.7 cubic feet per second. Total capacity of the three wells is about 12 cubic feet per second. A new 7,700-foot-long discharge line of 18- and 20-inch pipe delivers water from the three wells to the equalizing reservoir. These facilities replaced the pumping plant on Hayden Lake. However, the irrigation district has retained the Hayden Lake pumping plant as a standby facility. A fourth well was acquired in the early 1990's and is looped into the distribution system. This well is 260 feet deep and is equipped with a 75-horsepower deep well pump rated at 1 cubic feet per second. In addition, a 700,000 gallon storage/regulating tank was constructed in the spring of 1990. Sprinkler irrigation pressure is maintained at a minimum of 35 pounds per square inch at the farm turnouts. Meters have been installed at all turnouts, both irrigation and domestic. Operation and maintenance is performed by the Avondale Irrigation District.
Contact
Contact
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Fax: 509-454-5611
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Address: 1150 N Curtis Road, Suite 100
City: Boise, ID 83706-1234
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Phone: 208-378-5020
Contact
Title: Public Affairs OfficerOrganization: Commissioner`s Office
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City: Washington, DC 20240
Fax: 202-513-0575
Phone: 202-513-0305