The Florence tribune., 1899-12-16
From the los Angeles Times. July 1O.l

nishes The Times the following irrigation possibilities in Arizona:
 T he Gila River Indian reservation is about eighteen miles south of phoe- nix, and extends along the Gila River for a distance of nearly fifty miles. Here are located the Pima and Maricopa Indians to the number of nearly hye thousand. These Indians are known throughout the Terri tory as good Indians They have always been peaceful in their habits, and azriciil- turai or pastoral in their pursuits. They are now cultlyating the lands where tl,e prehistoric races built the now-ruined Casa Grande and it's neighboring canals. Irriva- tion has been praeticed in this valley from prehistoric times. Many ancient oitokes can be traced across the plain, showing evidences of engineering skill, and testifying to the fact that large volumes of water were nt one time carried.
 The Pimas and Maricopas have been. Mntii recently, a sef-sustaining nation They raise their crops of grain and corn with skill equal to that of the whitrs. The settlers, seeing he results which fine In diars have produced, through the operatiou vation much land in the valley of the C,ila. adjacent to this reservation. and have buiIt exteusIve canals between Florence and the raili cad station of Casa Granae. Under the provision cf the United States law all land bought under the desert-land act Int.sf he made productive by the application of water. In order to comply with the urovis- ions of this law. the settler was compelled to AAnAO NtfCAoiCuS rom the Glia River n points above the Indian reservation. Other lands were taken up under similar ccndi- lions on the upper portion of the Gila River These diversions by the whites oufeklyae prlyeu the Indians of their water supply. and for the past five years they have been left on the desert without water for their crops and scarcely enough for their horseS They are put in the position of either hnyiI,sy to steal. starye or be fed as public vnrfls and the government has been forced ta iSe,1s, retions to them and feed them as it does tbe soldiers. Numerous court decisions bavo been rendered establishing beyond com troversy the iact that the Indian has the prior and the better right to the water h,,+ the whites have maintained their water. supply despite the dictates of tha eo,,rt The development of this newer civilization water supply would mean the aesolation of many thousands of acres of fine forr,s and orchards. Evidently, the situation is a dif6 cult one, and the Indian Bureau is hard pressed fora proper answer
 In les6 an allotment of S35oo was made rom the appropriation for the Indian Office for preliminary investigation of the avail able water supply for these Indians. Nr. gation by the Secretary of the Interior and he delegated Arthur P. Davis fo take Inc matter up in the field The surveys were necessarily of preliminary nature, but the fully demonstrated. It was shown that tbis stream drained about fifteen thoI-sand square miles of the high plateall and Y1oI,n tam tam region or Eastern Arizona, and that the river Is remarkable for its exceedingly light grade. Consequently. the storage nosSihiT- ties or the stream are great Recoinmenda tlons were made by Mr. Davis eaIlire for further and more accurate surveys, and in stne spring or I6s5 Congress passed n serond appropriation of S20,000 for the cornpletioY, of this investigation. The ehydrogranhicd de partment of the Geological Survey was II, an Selegatea as the proper office to con- The Gila River derives its sonrce from the " h1te Mountains in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, which rise to elevatifns or rom ten to twelve thousand feet At the point where 1t issues from it's mountainous basin, there are over twelve thonsand square miles draining through it's canons The basin has been extensiyelv exnlcred and three large reservoir sites located and snryeseo; The capacity of these reservoir sites has been determined and fiinos have been made under the United States laws for. their segregation from the public domain. At point known as the Butfes a dam 159 rec. rec, m heaght above the bed of rhe stream VIII store enoug il water to cover IT. 0o0 acres one feef deep, or, as 1t is technically ex- pressed. lli.O00 acre feet. darn at this point would be approximately g00 feet long at the ped of the stream and 500 feet at it's crest. At Riverside. Ariz. it was foI,nd that a dam Ss0 feet long at its base, and approxi- mately ouJ feet long on top will store much greater quantity of water, the surveys at tnls site being still incomplete. At San Carlos, on the Apache Reservation fhe river passes through a narrow gorge IOO feet wide. and dam at this point I50 feet hipb would be but 200 feet long at the crest SIIeh a dam would store S6l, eco acres one foot deep.
 Extensive explorations have been made to determine the depth of bed rock at each one of these dam sites. At the Buttes the bed rock is disapDointingiy deep. the depths ranging Tn the center of the channel from 75 to 1z4 feet beneath the surface of the stream, At Riverside the maximum depth on the axis of the dam is approximately seyerty- live feet, while at San Carlos the depth to bed rock IS believed to be substantially less than at either of the other dam sites.
 The records of the flow of the (fiIa River have been kept at the Buttes for number of years, and the estimates of available water supply are, therefore. based on actual measgrements. not on surmise. The ordi- nary HOW or thIs stream IS ample to i'll the largest of these reservoirs, and on the driest years of which we have record it has been as great as z00,O00 acre feet
 1t will be seen by the above figures that the possibility of storing water on this stream is very great. It is doubtful if it has any equal in this line among all the streams of arid America. The San Carlos dam site, particularly. is one of unusual merit. The size of the necessary dan. the available, water supply, the great storage basin- and the proximity of railroad facili- ties are perfect; while the other two sites also have features of merit Sas :
 The duty of water in Southern ArfznJsa IS greater than in California. For the fEsfs- ing of the staple crop of alfalfa, depth of tWenty-four inches of water is ordinarily applied to the land, which is equivalent to a now Tor SIX months of one miners inch to eacn three and one-half acres. On this Dasis, the San Carlos site will furnish enough water to irrigate over 159,090 acres of land. II 1t IS assumed that each two acres will sup port one lnhabitant. this would permit of population of 75.000 souls to be sustained from this reservoir.
 These figures are more startling when the fact is realized that at the present time all of the canals below the San Carlos dam site are absolutely dry. and that the country from the Apache Reservation to the mouth of the Salt River is in a condition of " ithered drought with it's inhabitants both white aud Indian reduced almost to the condition Of abject want. It is estimated that 10,e0O acres of land should be. irrigated on the Giia Indian Reservation in order to relieve the condition of the Indians. This would leave over 100000 acres that could be irri- gated on the public domain. If 100000 acres of these public lands could be so irrigated and being subdivided into forty acre tracts. sold to actual settlers, at the rate of S10 to Sl5 per acre, the condition of the Indian would be wholly relieved, and 1t is probable the government would be reimbursed for it's entire outlay. In addition to this. q district offering i;:ea conditions for irrigation, climate that will produce crops in contiau- ons rotation, will be made to support a reputation of 5a,000, and will add to the public wealth Of the Territory. on conser- vatiye estimate. over S5.000,000."