Arizona republican., 1903-03-26
ARRIVAL OF MIR. WALCOTT
Director of the U.S Geological Survey
 Visiting Phoenix.

Walcott and their two sons Charles | and Sidney. They are stopping at the Hotel Adams and for the next week at least and perhaps longer, Phoenix will be their home. No visitor to Phoenix could be more welcome than MT. Walcott. the head of the division of the Interior depart ment under whose direction is being carried forward the various enter prises for the storage of irrigation water by the national government. It is with his recommendation that the application for the building of the Tonto dam must be made to the sec retary O; the interior and it is under his direction through F. H. Newell and Arthur P. Davis that the work of the government has thus far been done in the numerous surveys and the perfection of plans for that dam. MT. Walcott of course has not brought water storage with him but he does verify the encouraging statements of the officials who have preceded him, that the Tonto enterprise from an en- gineering standpoint or from the view point of the survey in that respect is further advanced than any other.
 Though he has visited Arizona sev
 
 in Globe, Florence and across country to Casa Grande, this is his first visit to Phoenix and the Salt river valley. Asked regarding his impressions of the city he said he had not yet seen a great deal of it but it fully met his eX- pectations in respect of size, appear ance, and business activity. His visit | to Arizona at this time is to secure q | personal knowledge of the progress made in the various irrigation enter prises the survey has had under con | siderat tion, and to acquaint himself with the general physical conditions existing in each locality. He will there fore, while making Phoenix his head quarters, visit the Arizona canal dam an dthe upper part of this valley and the Lower Verde. Subsequently he will drive over the irrigable lands on both sides of the river. and gain a per sonal knowledge of the sections to be benefited by water storage and by the ] possible development of artesian or other underground water resources. Having concluded his stay here he will visit the Tonto reservoir site in com pany with Mir Davis who will meet him proba ply al Bowie, the junction of the Globe railroad with the Southern
  Carlos reservoir site and perhaps Florence, the Gila valley and other sections of special interest at this time. It is possible he may visit the propos- ed reservoir site on the Colorado river and some of the lands lying below it but that is not yet decided upon. He has been at Needles on a former visit and has a personal knowledge of that locality.
 The work of the geological survey is one of vast importance. an importance in fact that is not fully appreciated by the people for the reason that it has grown so rapidly it is almost impos- sible for the public mind to keep up with it's activities. In fact the survey might properly be termed an immense organization for the gathering of scien- tific information along many lines, as a groundwork for many practical utili ties, and in this work new features are being constantly added or the gath ering oi information being prosecuted in ever increasing details.
 The survey was first established in , 1879 under the direction of Major J. w. Powell, MT. Walcott at that time being a subordinate i'll the same service. He has therefore made it a life work He
 
 which time the work of the survey has increased three fold, the best pos sible proof of MT. Walcott's capability and good management. On taking charge of the survey he established the division of hydrography which is under the charge of MT. Newell and under which comes the irrigation and water storage investigations. Mir , Walcott of course has equally as much interest in various other divisions oi . the survey. they being so numerous in , fact that experts in one line are per- haps scarcely aware of what otheS branches of the service are engaged in other than in general way. The var ious divisions include the detailed map ping of the United States topograph- ically, geologically, etc. These maps are made and sold by the hundreds of thousands at a minimum of expense and are utilized largely in the schools as an aid to the teaching of geography. This however is only an interesting incidental to the feature.
 The division of hydrography in which this valley is particularly inter- ested is alone doing a gigantic work In short it's purpose is the gauging of all the water courses, streams and other sources of water supply in the United States, or a determination of the water supply of the country. Talk ing that as a basis oi operations cal culations can be made for storage and other enterprises depending on water l supply. In the short life of this divis- l ion there have been wonderful results and great impetus has been given , to many industrial enterprises. MT. Walcott said last evening that not F alone was the arid west looking to water storage for it's salvation but all through the east and south there are numberless reservoir enterprises un- der conrtruction or in process of de- velopment. There are more dams being built in Maine than there are in the west though they are smaller of course. Some of them are for the aug mcating of water supply during the dry season, in towns where manufac- turing is by water power or through it electric power and in the south there are similar schemes for either creating or increasing rower for many industrial purposes. Altogether the