Arizona republican., 1899-03-31

rentals that dozens of farmers have
 told me that they would willingly Uav
 s per acre per anDum for a certain and
 sufficient water supply And this is
 not strange, for adequate water will
 easily dOuble the product of each acre.
 The problem of an adequate supply
 of water for the valley is the only one
 remaining to be solved. Marvellous
 as the results of irrigation have been
 1t is true that they have been achieved
 in the face of great difficulties in the
 way of water shortage during each
 summer. All the canals drawing their
 water from the Salt river find their
 supply running short each year in the
 month of May, and the scarcity soon
 becomes acute, and that, unfortunately
 at the time of year when it can be af- f0rded least. With Q careful regard to setting forth none Of the features of the situation in extravagant language, it must De said in fairness that the successful achievements of the valley farmers in the face of this inadequacy of water have been truly astonishing. One is tempted to dwell upon the change which viii come over their for tunes and lne fortunes of every man doing business in the valley when the supply of irrigation water shall have been made abundant
 How to increase the supply of water in tho dry season has been the absorb ing Eroblein of every public spirited man in tho valley for the past four or five years. Its solution now seems to be matter of the early future.
 The low water in the river in sum meT and the great waste carried by it's floods to the sea in winter have natur-  which would flow from a conservation of these flood waters in storage reser- voirs, to be drawn upon in summer IS needed. Fortunately. the necessary reservoir sites appear to have been provided by Providence with a view to making this the ideal farming com munity of the world It remains only for man to do the work of constructing the dams, and the question is settled.
 Again, fortunately, dil the prelimi- nary work in this direction is already accomplished. There are two reseI- v0ir sites in the mountains, one trav- ersed by the Verde river (which sup plies nearly One-half the volume of the Sdi0, the other by Salt river. Each of them is capable of impounding vast | amount of water. and each of them has | been granted by the United States gov . storage purposes.
 Tho site of tho Verde is owned by the | Eio Verde Canal company, which com pany has done Inc first actual coz a:ruction for storage. Their Horse i shoe reservoir is located on the north eastern boundary of Maricopa county At the water level it's length as planned is eight miles, it's greatest width three miles and 9 half, and it's capacity enough to cover 205, ,000 acres of land 2 foot deep at one filling Of the reservoir. The maximum flow of the Verde river is about G0.CO0 cubic feet of water per second, and it's mini mum flow $50 second-feet. When the river discharges more w2tc~ than can be stored in the reservoir. the surplus will be conducted over the spill-way, which is half mile from the dam, and from it by a small mountain. The spiil-way can bC made 1,700 feet long, if desired. 4 good deal of work has been done on this reservoir A tunnel twelve to fourteen feet in di- 7meter has been cXc5vated through he mountain and is 9l5 feet long, with considerable open cut approaches. This glN be used to keep the dam site dry