Arizona weekly citizen., 1889-09-07
DAMINGsTHE RIO GRANDE.

4 Ex.
 One of the most remarkable schemes
 for water storage in the arid region is
 the projected international dam across
 the Rio Grande at Fl Paso, Texas, men tion of which has from time to time appeared in our columns. A gentleman,
 resident of Denver, who owns land in
 that vicinity and who has recently re-
 turned from visit there, has furnished
 the News with some information on the
 subject.
 It is often claimed that the Rio
 Grande river is the greatest torrential
 stream in the United States, and when
 therefore a project was announced to
 impound the entire flow of the river
 during six months there was at first a
 howl of ridicule. Nevertheless, the en-
 gineering possibilities are such as to
 make it entirely feasible. The construc-
 tion of this reservoir has two objects in
 view. each of sufficient importance in
 itself The Rio Grande river, as is well
 known, forms for several hundred miles
 the boundary line between Mexico and Texas. For much of this distance the channel is subject to change during the floods of spring, and trouble arises about the ownership of lands. Congress has at various times considered the advisa- bility of undertaking engineering works to restrain the river, but the difficulty of reaching an estimate and doubt as to permanency of works, even after an im mense outlay, has resulted in nothing being done. The reservoir projectors now come forward and say, let the fed eral government instead of building up hundreds of miles of river bank, per haps to be only swept away again, con- struct this dam, and the flood destruc- tion is at an end, while the outlay is vastly less, and results permanent. Moreover the immense body of water saved becomes available for irrigation
 The photographic features of this local ity are such as tc entirely favor the con- structIon of great storage system A | natural dam site exists and wide basin | above it affords ample space for holding | a body of water. At point three miles north of Ell Paso the river cuts through | the mountains in a channel only sixty | yards wide, bluffs rising up several hun dred feet on both sides. About there it | is proposed to put the dam, but the exact | spot is not yet decided. At two miles above this the valley opens out to be- tween three and four miles wide and con- tinues so for fifty miles, this section be- Ing known as the famous Mesilla valley. | The grade of the river along here is four feet to the mile. The height of the dam IS to be sixty feet above the bed of the river and the water will therefore back up distance of fifteen miles. It is said the body of water to be impounded will be thirteen times larger than any other lake in this country. The lake will be fifteen miles long, averaging about three miles wide and twenty-five feet deep. Thirty eight thousand acres will be submerged. It will contain of cubic feet of water, which, allowing cubic foot per year for each surface foot, will irrigate near ly 100000 acres. These are pretty large figures, but have been arrived at after close and accurate snrvevs, plans of which are now being most elaborately 
 The cost of the dam itself will be light as the mountains furnish material right to hand, lbut the removal to higher ground of about fifteen miles of the San ta Fe Railroad, and several miles of the Southern Pacific will involve a heavy outlay apart from the cost of condemn ing the lands submerged. No accurate on these points have yet been adopted. The visit of the congressional on irrigation is being looked forward to, as they will be expected to form some views on this matter. The Mexican government are also interested and are sending committee ikewise- Denver News.