Arizona republican., 1898-11-19
UNCLE SAM INTERESTED.
Surveys Will Be Made for Wafer
 Storage Reservoirs.

Cyrus c. Babb, Of the U. $. g50loglca
 survey. is at the Hotel Adams, having come to this city to purShas7 supplics
 for a number of camps which he VIII es ablish in southern Arizona, to be used by the men employed by the got-
 ernmept in Investigating the water
 supply of the Gila river and Queen
 cresk, a tributary Of the Gila. Two camps will be established by MT. Babb, one on Queen creek and the
 other cn the Gila.
 Congress appropriated S20,00O for the purpose of ascsrtaining the dep.h of bedrock at the Buttes in Maricopa county, which information will ,ake an important part in deciding the feasi- bility of constructing dam across the Gila river at the But5es fer the storage cf flood wa CTS. There is an ext2n- sive area of irrigable land upon the Sac2tOn reseI vatiCn which the govern ment has shown Q disposition to take hold of, providing sufficient water can be obtained. MT. Babb and his assts- tants are now taking the preliminary steps in. asecrtaing the daily flowage of water in the Gila and Queen creek, and w A. Parish has been engaged to
 
 fifteen miles from the Arizona canal dam where the verdescomes into Salt river. Two cables have been placed in these rivers and MT. Parish is in structed to take observations a. fTe- quent intervals during the day, that the average daily discharge of water may be derived
 Ths money apprc pr.atad by congress ic haiOo 1xnEO6pd NY the IT . OhClOO- ical survey under the direction of the secretary of the interior. Bids for the work which M.. Babb hss undertaken ware received at Washington on the 5th of this month, but the government thought they were too high and d. cided to do the work itself.
 MT. Babb was interviewed by a R. publican reporter 2t the Adams yes -er- day. and in regard to his mission, he said: Tt is the desire of the govern msnt tc have two surveys mad fCc storage reservoirs, andif the condi tiOns are found tc. be favorable fer the construction of a reservoir the most of the two pc6nts suc- veyed will be selected. Our first wo k is l3 ascertain the relative flowage Of water i'll the Gila river and Queen creek, and when this is done, we will begin surv5ys to find out the area which contributes t-ward the life of the Gila and Queen creek above the points selec' ed for the reservoirs. We havs already found two ideal points for reservoirs The cost of cCnstTu t. 1 ing a reservoir will be in the neishboT- hccd of $1,000,000, and this VIII held sufficient water tc irriga.e e 150, 900 acr s. !
 'I believe it is the intention of the ! government to take hold of this enter prise in earnest, if the conditions az favorable. It will be sen that it IS no small project and the government | ought ta realize handsomely from it by | selling, not only the watsr righ' S, bat | the lands as well to settlers. There | is a vast area Of excellent soil there | which will no doubt prove exceedingly i productive with a good supply Of water. expect to have the work under way | for determining the extent and quality of the bedrock, the f1cwage of water . and ether details which the govsrn- ncnt asks, in abcu. two weeks. Shafts will be sunk and the grave! removed 0y a derrick Iron cylinders will be placed in these shafts so that the 1uicksands will not int-rf9re with the progress Of the work The investiga ions and surveys will require several months to complete them''
 MT. Babb will make Phoenix his cut fitting pcint, freightirg his prov,s ions and camp outfits from this city to the scene of his operations.