Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-03-03
HE KNEW THAT DAM.
Many Other People Were Not Surprised
That 1t Gave Way.

Lieut. W. A. Glassford, signal corps. who has
recently returned to this city for duty in the
Office here after an absence in the west OF sew
eral years, has an intimate acquaintance with
the country in the vicinity around the Walnut
Grove dam, which burst a few days ago with
such disastrous effect, having studied the
ground before the dam was built. During a
conversation with STAR reporter the other
day he said: ''This dam is in the central part
OF Arizona, not far from Prescott, being about
4.OO0 feet above the sea level and with drain
age of $50 square miles. The average rainfall
IN the mountainous region of the territory is
about Is inches year and the least amount.
III inches Is sufficient to always keep full
reservoir OF this kind. and while the dam was
built for mining purposes only the great ques-
tlon OF water storage has since been made of
sucn Importance that as a secondary means of
utlilzlng the water it has been proposed and
Steps were being taken to build fumes and
uitches 10 the level land suitable for agricul-
ture lower down in the valley of the stream.
TWO WET SEASONS.
"This stream-the Hassayampa--is almost dry
during the summer, but, as in Arizona. there
are two wet seasons, one in winter and the
other in midsummer The storage of water in
that country Is renewed twice year, instead of
once. as IN other parts of the country. notably
IN California, These circumstances go to estab-
llsh the fact that there is an abundance OF rain
ran In that region for the profitable storage of
water, and the rendering of it certain and re-
llaDle 1t also calls attention to the necessity of
the thorough building by competent engineers
OF whatever storage dams that may be needed.
But 1t Is perhaps misfortune that the intro
ductlon of this great work Of water storage in
Arizona, lnaugurated by the United States Sen
ate and recently thoroughly gone into by
committee of that body who went out into the
western country should have been DESTROYED
now, as 1t was the first experiment of this kind.
THEY WERE NOT SURPRISED.
For the last two years the possibility Of the
breaking of this dam has always been in the
minds of the people living below it, and fire.
quently in travelling in this region from Phoenix
10 prescott have heard it remarked by stage
drivers and other people that some day there
would be one stage load of folks less in the
world unless something was done with the
dam. The dam built at an expense of
about half a million dollars. 1t Is notorious
fact and has been for some time. that the con-
tractors had not lived up to their contract in
constructing the dam. and for a number of
months the owners have been engaged in an
EFFORT to patch up the weak spots in the struc-
ture, which were palpabe to any engineer. 1t
was Just such another case you had here in
the building OF the aqueduct tunnel.
ONE ON THE FISH COMMISSION.
"Apropos OF the rivers of Arizona they tell
rather funny story out there at the expense of
the fish commission. 1t is one Of the peculiar
tiles OF the country that in the summer time
the rivers, at least the smaller ones, dwndle to
nothlng, sinking In the sand that forms their
beds until one who is a stranger to the neigh
borhood would think that there was no sign of
a river for miles around. But the denIzens
know that if they dig down few feet they will
strike good water IN plenty. Not long ago a
letter was received by of the officials of the
territory from the commission stating that it
was the wish OF the fish commissioner to trans
plant some fine varieties of carp to the rivers
OF Arizona, having heard OF the sngularly
pure, crystalline water of these streams The
oihcial wrote back that he would be only too
happy to receive the consignment of carp,
but he would like to state for the benefit OF the
commissioner that he had been out walking not
long before-this was during the Summer-and
he had seen native fish, but he was clad in a