Omaha daily bee., 1897-06-26
SURVEYS FOR RESERVOIRS
Government Engineers Looking Up Looa-
tiOns for Irrgating Dams
ADMIRABLE SITE IN CENTRAL WYOMING
Proposal to Dam swcctwntcr River
Where IL Flows Through Dcyils
Gntc-WouId Form an
Immense Lake.

CHEYENNE Wyo, June 25.-tSpecial)--
The United States government engineers,
who have been examining various locations
in Colorado and Wyoming for the purpose
of selecting suitable ctes for water storage
reservoirs, have completed the preliminary
survey of very unique and picturesque To-
cation at Devils Gate, Natrona county in
central Wyoloiug.
The surveys are being made pursuant 10
an act o. congress authorizing surveys fGr
suitable sites for government reservoirs ia
Colorado, Utah and Wyoming The work Is
being done by the chief engineers Office OF
the War department and is directly in charge
of Captain II. NJ. Chttenden and his as
sistant, f. b. Maltby. In Colorado an eN-
animation and survey has been made OF a
proposed site on the South Platte river near
Denver In Wyoming a survey has been
made of proposed site near Laramie on
the Big and Little Laramie rivers, where a
natural depression furnishes a site for a
reservoir mile and a half wide and twenty
milee long.
The site examined a; DEVILS Gate, on the
Sweetwater river, is III range 81, township
90, a short distance from the geographical
center of Wyoming. AZ this point the
Sweetwater river, a tributary of the North
Platte. breaks through a granite ridge which
extends from northwest to southeast for a
distance of sixty miles across central
Wyoming. This ridge is Of solid granite,
apparently forced upward by some great
upheaval of nature, and projects like an
immense stone wall 700 to 1000 feet aboye
the general surface Of the country. The
Sweetwater river flows along the southern
base of this ridge for over thirty miles,
breaking through at Devils Gate land
mark known to every person who crossed
the continent on the great overland trail In
the anteralroad days.
1t is proposed to build 4 great dam Of
masonry across the gorge OF this gateway
and impound the waters of the Sweetwater
in the valley above. The gorge is but
seventy-ive feet wide where 1t is proposed to
build the dam. which will be about 100 feet
high. This dam will form lake thirteen TO
| fifteen miles long, mile and half wide,
with an average depth of seventy-five feet
1t is estimated it will hold 10000 900. 900
cubic feet of water, sufficient to irrigate the
valleys of the Sweetwater and North Platte
rivers for over 100 miles. Nearly all of this
territory is now used as open range for cat
tie and sheep grazing and thousands of acres
would be. If The reservoir should be built,
susceptible OF cultivation. 1t lies at a gen.
eral altitude of 1000 feet and is well shell
tered and in every way adapted to agricui-
tural development
The bottom and sides of the river bed being
solid granite it is possible to construct a
dam which will be practically indestructible,
and this, too, at comparatively low cost. the
estimate being $500 900. The It servoir If con-
structed will impound four times as
much water as the Colorado site examined,
and has an advantage over the Laramie site
of better water supply for filling it. The
flow of the Sweetwater river in low water
periods is 800 cubic feet per second. and the
reservoir could be filled very rapidly.
Engineer Maltby said to your correspond
ent: From an engineering standpoint the
DEVILS Gate location presents one OF the
most favorable sites for a large reservoir l
have ever seen. 1t will hold large amount
of water can be built at comparatively small
cost, and the natural conditions afford an
opportunity for the construction of an ideal
reservoir"
Mr.. Maltby win proceed from here with his
corps of engineers to Los Animas county.
Colorado, where he will survey site for a
| reservoir on the Los Animas river. The
reports of these surveys will be presented to
the next session of congress and it will then
depend upon the action of that body whether
or not reservoirs win be built upon any or all
of these sites az government EXPENSE.