The Florence tribune., 1899-08-05
WATER WANTED. WHILE BILLIONS OF GALLONS RUN
 TO WASTE. What Recent Government Investigations Disclose in Regard to Irrigation Possibilities in Arizona. Good Indians and industrious White Men Who Are Practically Destitute
 for Lack of Water. An Exceptionally Favorable Opportunity So Inaugurate the Mueh-taIked- ofsystem of Federal Iprl-
 gatlon.

j. B. Lippsncott, the representative in Los Angeles of the Photographic Office of the United States Geographical Survey, fur nishes The Times the following irrigation possibilities in Arizona:
 "The Gila River Indian reservation is situated about eighteen miles south of Phoe- nix, and extends along the Gila River for distance of nearly fifty miles. Here are located the Pima and Marieopa Indians to the number of nearly five thousand, These l Indians are known throughout the Terri i tory as good Indians They have always been peaceful in their habits, and agricul- tural or pastoral in their pursuits. They are now cultivating the lands where the prehistoric races built the now-ruined Casa Grande and it's neighboring canals. Irriga- tion has been practiced in this valley from i prehistoric times. Many ancient ditches can be traced across the plain. showing evidences of engineering skill. and testifying to the fact that large volumes of water were at one time carried.
 "The Pimas and Maricopas have been, until recently, self-sustaining nation. They raise their crops of grain and corn 1 with skill equal to that of the whites. The settlers, seeing he results which the In- dians have produced, through the operation of the desert land act. brought under culti- l vation much land in the valley of the Gila, 1 adjacent to this reservation. and have built extensive canals between Florence and the railI oad station of Casa Grande. Under the provision of the United States law, all land | bought under the desert-land act must be made productive by the application of water. In order to comply with the provis- ions of this law. the settler was compelled to make diversions from the Gila River at points above the Indian reservation. Other lands were taken up under similar condi- tions on the upper portion of the Cila River 1 These diversions by the whites quickly de- priyed the Indians of their water Bupnlg, and for the past five years tAeg have been left on thedesert without water for their crops and scarcely enough for their horses. i They are put In the position of either having 10 steal, starve or be fed as public wards aud the government has been forced to issue rations to them and feed them Us it docs the soldiers. Numerous court decisions have been rendered establishing beyond con troyersy the fact that the Indian has the prior and the better right to the water, but the whites have maintained their water supply despite the dictates of the court. The development of this newer civilization has become so extensive that to cut of its water supply would mean tho desoletion of many thousands of acres of fine farms and orchards. Evidently, the situation Is q diff cult one, and the Indian Bureau is hard pressed for proper answer.
 Tn 1885 an allotment of Ss509 was made from the appropriation for the Indian Offic9 for preliminary investigation of the avail able water supply for these Indians. Mir. Newell was instructed to make this inyesti- gation by the Secretary of the Interior, and he delegated Arthur P. Davis to take the matter up in the field. The surveys were necessarily of preliminary nature, but the storage possibility of the Gila River was fully demonstrated. It was shown that this stream drained about fifteen thousand square miles of the high plateau and moun- tain region of Eastern Arizona, and that the river is remarkable for its exceedingly light grade. Consequently. the storage possibili- ties of the stream are great. RecoHmenda- tions were made by Mr. Davis calling for further and more accurate surveys, and in the spring of 1898 Congress passed a second appropriation of S2O,OOO for the completion of this investigation. The Photographic de- partment of the Geological Survey was again delegated as the proper office to con duct these surveys.
 .'The Gila River derives its source from the White Mountains in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, which rise to elevations of Iron, ten to twelve thousand feet. At ths point where it issues from it's mountainous basin, there are over twelve thousand square miles draining through its canons The basin has been extensively explored and three large reservoir sites located ant surveyed. The capacity of these reservoir sites has been determined aud filings huve been made under She United States laws foi SAelE segregation sgoIn the public domain At point known as the Buttes dam l5 feet in height above the bed of fhe streau will store enough water to cover IT, ,0OO acre one feet deep, or, as it is technically ex pressed, 17z,000 acre feet. A dam at thi point would be approximately 800 feet lonl at the bed of the stream and 800 feet at it crest. At Riverside, Ariz., it was found tha a dam $50 feet long at it's base, and approxi mately 800 feet long on top will store mucl greater quantity of water, the surveys a : this site being still incomplete. At Sal Carlos, on the Apache Reservation, the rive passes through narrow gorge 100 fee wide and dam at this point I50 feet hig
 would be bus POO feet long at the crest. Sue
 u dam would store S61. 600 acres one foot deer ' Extensive explorations have been made t ! determine the depth of bed rock at each on of these dam sites. At the Buttes the be
 rock is disappointingly deep, the depth
 ranging in the center of the channel from
 to 1A feet beneath the surface of the stream
 At Riverside the maximum depth on tn
 axis of the dam is approximately seventy
 five feet, while at San Carlos the depth
 bed rock is believed to be substantially le;
 than at either of the other dam sites
 The records of the How of the Gila Rive l, have been kept at the Buttes for nuinbe