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Post by dave on Aug 3, 2019 10:01:04 GMT -6
So this is a strange deal. Up on the BLM allotment there is a spring which fed 4 water troughs. There was a pipeline which fed them. It is the better part of a mile from one end of the line to the other. Anyhow it got old things weren't working. So since 2015 there has been a project in the works to replace it. Doing this will put a water source on nearly 1,000 acres of grass. There is a huge deep steep canyon that separates this area from the rest of the allotment. Last September the BLM put in a new pipeline. I have been told that originally they were going to install the troughs too. For some reason they didn't and turned over the the soil and water conservation district. The district put the through installation out to bid. They called me and told that the only bid they got was 4 times their budget. So that idea is dead. So it is up to me and Charlie (I share this allotment with him) to install the troughs. We still get reimbursed for the cost of the troughs. But they said we can't get paid for the installation as that would be a conflict of interest. They sent me the budget. Plenty of money for materials. But it also showed what they were allowing for installation. $10,000!!!!!!! To install 4 water troughs. It is pretty remote. The road, if you would call it that, is terrible. It will probably take a full day just to haul everything to the site. But $10,000!!!! And whoever it was that bid the job wanted 4 times that much! Charlie and I will get it done. Not easy, he is a one man army on his ranch and I am not as young as I use to be. I asked if we could utilize some of that $10,000 to hire some young muscle to assist. They said they didn't know and would ask the powers to be.
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Post by jehosofat on Aug 3, 2019 13:14:46 GMT -6
That's crazy, it amazes me how much stuff cost nowdays. At least your gonna get some water out of the deal, and you don't have to come out of pocket for the materials. I'm assuming they are gonna supply the stuff, or do you have to buy it and wait for reimbursement?
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Post by the illustrious potentate on Aug 3, 2019 14:52:18 GMT -6
Shoot Dave, if I had two good arms I'd put a bid in for cheap, only 9,999.00 and drive from here to do it for you.
If they wont let you hire some muscle, wonder if the muscle could put in their own bid?
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Post by M-5 on Aug 3, 2019 15:39:30 GMT -6
Terminology has to be different from what I consider a water trough.
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Post by Allenw on Aug 3, 2019 16:59:45 GMT -6
Do you get to drive in or do you have to pack them in?
Sounds like a typical government deal to me.
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Post by dave on Aug 3, 2019 18:21:57 GMT -6
Well you can drive there with a quad or a small 4x4 pickup. I have driven a full size pickup (standard cab 4x4) within about half a mile. The closest you can get a trailer with all the supplies in to the site is about 4 miles or so. It is a good 30-40 minutes to travel that distance no mater what you drive. Two of the troughs go down a hill that my boys told me not to drive down. One goes about 300-400 feet down a hill that I don;t know there is a road down. They are 4x10 aluminum troughs. Three RR ties under each one to level them. Six Tee posts around each one with wire strung between them to keep the cows from moving them. Two areas of 100 by 100 fenced off for the over flow. And some plumbing to hook them to the water line that was installed last year.
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Post by okie on Aug 3, 2019 19:36:52 GMT -6
The right mule will carry two of them. 10 Foot is really hard but a good mule will still do it. You might have better luck with a trough that size as a top load but I've never done that. Ties are pretty easy to pack in slings. I've packed a lot of ties that way.
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Post by okie on Aug 3, 2019 20:22:32 GMT -6
On second thought, if they're allowing that much for installation, hire a dozer and build a decent path to them. You're going to have to check them every so often, might as well drive to them.
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Post by birddog on Aug 3, 2019 20:53:28 GMT -6
Just curious but tell me about the water line. Is it buried? What kind of equipment did they use to put it in? That seems like the hardest part by a long shot.
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Post by greybeard on Aug 3, 2019 20:55:54 GMT -6
Sounds interesting for sure. We want pictures when you do this Dave!
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Post by dave on Aug 3, 2019 22:40:53 GMT -6
Just curious but tell me about the water line. Is it buried? What kind of equipment did they use to put it in? That seems like the hardest part by a long shot. The BLM put in the water line. It is 2 inch. Had some other description of the pipe thickness but I can't remember those off hand. They walked in a D-6 and medium size excavator. Would have been nice if that cat skinner would have dropped the blade in some of the places but he didn't. Walked them in, put in the water line and walked them out. We don't get any of the money for installation. So hiring someone with a cat is not in the works. There is a road (if you can call it that) to the spring and 3 of the 4 trough sites. The one that the boys told me not to ride down is so steep you will be standing on the handle bars of the quad going down it. And the BLM tore it up putting in the pipeline. They want floats on the troughs. Which means that you have to go up there in the fall to shut it down and drain the troughs. This ridge is got to be over 4,000 feet so anytime after November 1 it could be covered with snow. The grazing rights go until November 30. Snow just chases the cows down. Locally referred to as the great white cowboy. There is no way in God's green earth you will find me up on that ridge with snow on the ground. I will look in the camera to see if I have a picture looking over at that ridge. If not next time I am up on top of my property I will take a picture that direction.
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Post by dave on Aug 3, 2019 23:02:42 GMT -6
This is the only picture I have of the area. Just to the left of center you can see a line across the face of that first ridge. That is the road from the spring out to the second trough. Where that line stops is where the road drops off the hill. That knob on the right side of the picture is on my property. I know it is a little over 4,700 feet elevation. There is snow up there from some time in November until April.
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Post by birddog on Aug 4, 2019 11:09:52 GMT -6
is there a pump at the spring? What holds pressure on the line?
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Post by dave on Aug 4, 2019 14:19:37 GMT -6
is there a pump at the spring? What holds pressure on the line? Gravity. Water will run down hill given a chance. 3 out of the 4 troughs have some serious downhill leading to them. The other is down slope some but not steep. |
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Post by greybeard on Aug 4, 2019 14:21:14 GMT -6
Ah..Gravity. It's is a wonderful thing here, and it's everywhere...and the most wonderful thing about it........it's free.
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