Priestly's Hydraulic Ram

The ram was started by William W. Priestly to capture water, which emerged from the Snake River Aquifer on the north slope of the Snake River Canyon as spring-fed waterfalls{{r|dgi}} and pump it to the top of the cliff.{{r|hh}} The ram utilized the force of the falling water to pump the water up the cliff.

Priestly started work on the project in 1888, intending to develop an irrigation system for the farmland south of Hagerman. The ram, although credited to Priestly, may have actually been built in 1901–02 by David Hyde. During its construction, a competitor, North Side Irrigation, developed an alternative system and the ram was apparently never used commercially.{{r|ts}} It was reported to have been functional in 1901.{{r|iy}}

According to an alternative account, Priestly built the ram in 1894 and was successful raising water {{convert|75|ft}} and using it for irrigation at that time. He then turned his attention to gold mining, and used the same air-ram principle in the construction of a gold dredge in 1896.{{r|hgd}}

The ram used {{cvt|24|inch}} diameter pipes to collect spring water, mixed with air, and send it falling downhill {{cvt|190|feet}} into a metal reservoir tank. The design of the tank caused the water to drain out into the river while harnessing the kinetic energy of the falling water to force air uphill through a second pipe to the reservoir tank of a second smaller ram that was fed with water dropped {{cvt|60|ft}} from a higher spring via a third pipe. The air pressure from the two rams was combined to push water {{cvt|110|ft}} to the top of the cliff through a fourth smaller pipe.{{r|nd}}

According to the NRHP nomination form, "Priestly's hydraulic ram, a pump with not one moving part, was considered truly marvelous."{{r|nd}}

Although a similar but less sophisticated ram was built in Arizona several years before, Priestly is believed to have designed his ram independently. Similar devices were built around that time (near Montreal, Quebec in 1896, Ainsworth, British Columbia in 1898 and Norwich, Connecticut in 1902). The technology did not find widespread use because the devices, which were about 70% efficient, were soon eclipsed by more efficient pumps powered by steam, gasoline, and electricity.{{r|nd}}

The ram is notable because "few such original developments in the field of power transmission have been made anywhere in the United States."

==Present==

According to the NRHP nomination form from 1974, parts of the pipeline and the storage tank still existed. The nomination included two photos, one of a pipeline and one of the reservoir, both credited to the Twin Falls Times News and purported to have been taken in 1973.{{r|nd}} It is not clear what happened to these pieces after that. Idaho Power Company senior archaeologist Shane Baker said: "It may have been taken apart and salvaged for parts. Or moved somewhere else, or perhaps abandoned in place. To my knowledge, no one has ever found any remnants of the facility. The exact location for the ram is unknown, and it may be possible that the first hydroelectric plant built at Thousand Springs in 1912 may have been built over top of the location of the old ram."{{r|eg}}

• Waterwheel (McCoy, Colorado), device also used to lift water 32 feet for use in irrigation.
• Pulser Pump, a gas lift device that uses gravity to pump water to a higher elevation. It has no moving parts.

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{{NRISref|version=2013a}}

{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=75000631}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Priestly's Hydraulic Ram |publisher=National Park Service|author=Thomas B. Renk |date=February 22, 1974 |accessdate=November 15, 2019}} With {{NRHP url|id=75000631|photos=y|title=accompanying two pictures from 1973}}

{{cite web |title=Digital Geology of Idaho, Snake River Plain Aquifer |url=http://geology.isu.edu/Digital_Geology_Idaho/Module15/mod15.htm |website=geology.isu.edu |accessdate=November 22, 2019}}

{{cite news |title=A Glance at Bliss and Hagerman History |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39409216/the_timesnews/ |accessdate=November 22, 2019 |work=The Times-News |date=June 28, 2013 |location=Twins Falls, Idaho |page=30 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{free_access}}

{{cite news |title=Thousand Springs Work Begun in 1888 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39410877/the_timesnews/ |accessdate=November 22, 2019 |date=Sep 3, 1963|work=The Times-News|location=Twins Falls, Idaho |page=82 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{free_access}}

{{cite journal|journal=Idaho Yesterdays|volume=25|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQYXAQAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=Idaho Historical Society}}

{{cite book|last=Spence|first=Clark C.|title=A History of Gold Dredging in Idaho|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqh_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA39|date=June 15, 2016|publisher=University Press of Colorado|isbn=978-1-60732-475-1|pages=23–24}}

{{cite news|title=Expert's guide to the Hagerman reach: part 1 |author=Virginia Hutchins |author2=Tetona Dunlap |date =June 26, 2016 |publisher=MagicValley.Com |url=https://magicvalley.com/news/local/expert-s-guide-to-the-hagerman-reach-part/article_8e9d0dee-ccdf-5682-b6f8-0030e85ac506.html }}

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• {{cite book|title=Valley of the Mighty Snake: An Overview of the Cultural and Natural History of Hagerman Valley, Southwestern Idaho|publisher =Hagerman Valley Historical Society|date=1993}}
• {{cite journal|journal=Idaho Yesterdays|publisher=Idaho Historical Society|date=Summer 1976|title=W. W. Priestly's Remarkable Invention|author1=Larry R. Jones|author2=Merle W. Wells|volume=20|issue=2|quote=An extraordinary pumping system supplied irrigation water and ran a gold dredge at Thousand Springs in southern Idaho}}
• The 1947 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica describes Priestly's invention in detail

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

Category:Hydraulic rams

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Gooding County, Idaho

Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1890