Arizona republican., 1899-05-01

of the sediment has some weight in 1 the location of a reservoir.
 Whether it would be advisable to 1 conserve the water of the Gila at the Buttes or near Mineral creek is largely
 2 matter of the comparative expense | The reservoir at Riverside might be 1 built large enough to conserve a good | supply of water, but it is doubtful | if 1t would not be better to construct
 dam at both the Buttes and at River l side. The alluvial deposit in both
 reservoirs would make them gradually
 more shallow If the two reservoirs i are constructed a system Of sluicing
 would be establis he'd. A heavy dis charge Of water from the upper res
 ervoir would not only remove the deposits from the lower one, but the swift OutPoUr in itself would carry away great amount of sediment If dam should be built across the river at Riverside, the water backed
 up would destroy agricultural prop
 eTty, but what would cost the govern
 meIIt most would be the destruction
 Of mining property. So it is not likely that the government will undertake
 to establish a reservoir at Riverside
 without first determining exactly
 what would be the extent of damage
 done. The report made by MT. Davis
 three years ago included an estimate
 that the cost of constructing a dam
 at the Buttes would ba about $2,OO0 900
 and he thinks it would cost a little
 more to build masonry dam at River
 side without including the L.lmage liabilities
 The party Is now operating at a new site on Queen creek. Bedrock was
 found at thirty-seven feet, but the supply of water is scant The drain age area of the creek is only about 142 square miles, and in that dry section the area is inadequate At present there is no water in the creek. Other things are favorable for the dam, but on account of the dryness the under taking thera will not likely be begun MT. Davis said yesterday that while he had met with some Encouragement in his investigations, he did not think the plan fer a reservoir impractical
 "It is practical to build one at the Buttes at Riverside CT at both places he said, tand there are the strongest l reasons why the Gila water should be conserved. There are thres good ar gltments favoring it and the same ar gurnents can be applied to few other places. First, on account of the In dians. Those Indians have always shown natural inclinations for agri- | culture. Thay carried on a process of i irrigation before the white man came i to this region. A second reason is that | this is territory and the federal gov has direct control; and third. | f1C side the Indian reservation which | should be placed under. water
 The irrigation about Florence has never been conducted carefully. In 1 1886 I found there was enough water | employed to cover all the land irri- gated to a depth of ten feet. The water ran into a number of laterals and some of it into a large shallow reservoir so that the evaporation and waste was about three-fourts of the | amount conveyed in the canal. When | we see tho amount of water wasted we can understand what vast amount Of land might be watered if the system was manipulated economically. Tn the last four years the minimum amount of water which las flowed through the Giia in one year was 365, ,000 and the maximum 700, ,0G0 feet
 i'll his talk yesterday Mir Davis men toned a subject of direct interst to the people of this valley "I made a trip to the Hudson reservoir site three weeks ago. he said, and found there q splendid location for a dam. The natural advantages are many and far eclipse anything in the Gila district. There will be some boring ione there shortly and the result can not be but satisfactory. The scheme is practical in every respect and I be- ieve the dam will be built soon. When it is, you will have in the neighbor- hood of five times as much water as we could muster at the Gila.
 'fOf course the climate is somewhat here than in California, but here are many advantages. I don't think that the introduction of more water in the valley would accept the climate noticeab,y. A small local change would affect the humidity but slightly"