Arizona republican., 1900-10-03
THE WHOLE SUBJECT
Gone Over By the Water StOr-
 age Committee
MT. Elwood Mead of the Department of Agriculture Lends Aid in the Solution of the Problem of the Valley.

MT. Elwood Mead. president of the | national irrigation congress, and irri- | gation expert for the department of az riculture, was present at the meeting of the water storage committee at the board of trade rooms yesterday and aided in the settlement of many dis puted points over which the sub-com- mittees have been laboring. An an- nouncement that MT. Mead would be before the committee called out a large attendance.
 The regular business of the session was preceded by a reference by Pro lessor A. J. McClatchie to the annual meeting two weeks from next Friday of the Arizora Agricultural associa- tion. Many members of the committee, he said, were also members of the asso- citation. He desired that they be pres ent at the meeting and infuse into the association some of the enthusiasm which had marked the meetings of the committee. The business of the com mittee was then begun in order by call ing for reports.
 Chairman Dave Goldberg of the finance committee said shat fair pro gress had been made in town, but his associates in the country had not yet met with that generous response which had been expected.
 Dr. J. M. Ford of the dam site com mittee described the visit last week of that subcommittee and others to the Verde dam site, about a mile and a half above its confluence with the Salt. They had found what they believed to be natural dam site, with granite and syenite in the vicini,y to be employed in the construction of the dam, pro viGed the syenite was not decomrOsed. That would have to be determined later, along wi-h an investigation of materials in that vicinity which might be used for the manufacture Of Port land cement. The dam would have to be approximately 1,60O feet long at the top and 600 at the bottom. The bed rock had been exposed for about 200 feet, but it's derth the rest of the way was indeterminate. A rough estimate of the cost of construction subject to change on investigation, was $750,OOO. The capacity of the dam would be about 2S0,OOO acre feet.
 w. H. Code, a:so of the committee, said that Dp. Ford's report covered the case very thoroughly. He desired. though, to speak of an excellent nat ural spillway and of the uncertainty of the depth of bedrock, which could never be even approximately deter mined except by boring. In making the estimate of $75O,000 it had been assumed that it would be found at d depth of thirty or forty feet. It might. however, be necessary to go to a depth of 120 or more feet, in which event $250,000 or $300, 600 might safely be added to the estimate. The report was supplement- ed by MT. Code Ly incomplete plans of the site prepared by F. P. TrOtt some years ago.
 Messrs. Hoover and Parker, also of the ccmmiutse, gave their views of the site.
 V. E. MasSinger of the silt commit tee suggested that Nr. Mead address the committee on this subject. Chair man Fowler said he had appointed MT. Mead an honorary member of the gen eral committee. MT. Mead thereupon proceeded to remove q bugaboo.
 He said that the investigations of the past year had been very encOurs ging to reservoir construction in showing that the accumulation of silt was not as rapid as had been supposed. Yellow stone lake, for instance. lies in the bed of the Yellowstone river, yet the de- posits of ages had been unappreciable. This was also true of the Twin Lakes of Colorado. lying in the bed of the ArkanSaW. Concerning the ill-fated Austin dam which had become nearly incapacitated before it went out. Mir. Mead said he had assisted in an invcs- tigation of it by Professor Davis. No provision had been made for drawing out its conten.s and Ihe sediment nat urally settled in it. Yet it was found on investigation that the sediment was merely an Ooze furnishing little more resistance than wate" and could easily have been drawn off if any provision had been made to do 1t.
 Heavier sediment. such as sand and gravel, and whi"h would accumulate under the conditions which prevail in the streams of this territory could be removed by sluicing at times when the reservoirs were nearly or quite empty. Reservoirs should be built, MT. Mead said. as near as possible to the noun tains to avoid the sweep of sandy plains.
 Professor Forbes of the university also addressed the committee on this subject describing reports furnished
 
 Captain Hancock of the committee on the Colorado proposition, said that the investigations of that committee had not been completed, though the com mittee had satisfied itself that the project was impra cticable. A letter on the subject had been received from a member of the geological survey say ing that it had been shown by topo- graphical maps that the diversion of the waters of the Colorado into the Salt was impossible.
 Professor McClatchle. reverting to the deposit of silt inquired how much, if any, the irrigated portion of this val ley had been filled up with in the last fifteen years and what area had been under ir- rigatiOn. It was estimated that there had been about 10000 acres un- der irrigation and that the surface had been raised one inch. The estimated area of the Tonto Basin reservoir it was shown was about twenty fifth