A Unique Pumping Plant.

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 4, 1 February 1911, Page 534

A Unique Pumping Plant.

Kitto and Co. .. This plant, which wo illustrate, is the inVvention of Mr. Kitto, long associated with miningsluicing and dredgingin Central Otago. It is the only one of its kind in the Dominion which lifts water 400 feet above its own level for sluicing purposes. The pontoon was built and launched by D. F. and J. F. Kitto, who took some six weeks over the work, and navigated it to the claim seven miles by the river Clutha. Immediately after arrival they laid the pipes up the cliff, a work of great difficulty, and were delayed after its completion by a variety ,of accidents. The total length of pipes from pump to reservoir is 1000 feet. The Avail of reservoir is built of stones and earth, the inside face being lined with .cement, which renders it perfectly watertight, The original estimate was for a

pump, of a capacity of fifty gallons a ufiuUie,..nut 4-I*,, capacity of 4-1, pump inUMiiun.;,. out tm; ’c4-pnuxc t \ \jl tin: pump mstalled has been proved up to seventy-five. The plant is giving great satisfaction, working day and night without further attention than the night and morning oilings. ; The new departure has opened up a now method of mining by which hundreds pf acres of highly payable ground along the

banks of the river Molyneux (Clutlia) can uC mined lar more cheaply than by the construction of tor-races, which cost nowhere less than fifty shillings a chain to construct. 1 here are . millions of. horsepower in the river to be had on the same terms. As there are besides the auriferous country many thousands of acres of fertile land waiting only for water to make it

produce in profusion, it would appear that cl vOl piuspi;i Oii<3 ititiuc lilfiy be SGCuiCu for the district. ■ Struck by this consideration, Mr. Kitto took out a patent for his pump in 1888. The water of this big river i- practically inexhaustible. The machine in question will meet the irrigation demand with completeness, promptitude, and cheapness.