Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1903-10-28
Will Hold 5,227,000,O00 Gallons of
Water---To Cost $l00,0O0---WiIl
Take Two Years to Construct.
TO REPAIR COCH1TI AND
SAN ILDEFONSO SYSTEMS

the flood waters of the western slopes
of the big Zuni mountain range.
Mr. Harper commenced the sur
veys and examinations of the reser-
voir site in 1901 and finished the same
and he plats and charts thereof during
the ummer OF 1902. He submitted
then to the Indian office which had
theL carefully examined by engineers
and irrigation experts of the depart
mem of the interior. These officials
approved Mr.. Harper's plans and coin
cided with him as to the availability
and favorable natural conditions of the
site selected by him for the reservoir.
There after the department made
an appropriation of $4,000 for the
work, the sum OF $4,000 to be expend-
ed during the present aiscal year and
the other $40, 600 during the fiscal
year commencing July l, 1904. Dur
ing his surveys and examinations, Mr..
Harper made many excavations, bor-
ings and soundngs and satisfied him
self as to the best manner of con-
structioi. of the DAM His work was
exhaustive and met with the approval
OF the department
He has been engaged for some
moth past in the, examination of ma
chin9ry for excavation, pumping, en-
gines and other machinery and is now
in telegraphic correspondence with
different manufacturers in various
parts of the country for the purchase
and shipment of the necessary ma
chinery and appliances.
Work to Be Commenced January I.
All this, he thinks, will be on the
ground by the first of January next,
when active work ON this gigantic irri-
cation project will commence. The
work is to be done by the Zuni In
dians, under the direction of compe-
tent and skilled engineers and white
employees. When the reservoir shall
have been completed, the ditch sys-
tens will be taken in hand and this
will necessitate another expenditure
of $4,000, making a total of 100000
for the dam, reservoir and irrigation
bitches.
The dam will be one of the largest
and most substantial in the southwest
and probably in the whole country. 1t
will be 400 feet long, 800 feet wide at
the base and twenty feet at the top.
It's height will be 40 feet. 1t will be
what engineers call "a rock filled
dam" Excavations from the surface
of the bed of the river will be made
to the depth of forty feet, at which
depth a very tenacious and hard blue
clay ground is found, which will serve
as a first class foundation and which
is below the seepage earth of the riv-
er bed.
Large quantities of basalt rock will
be hauled from the surrounding coun-
try and built up to the height of sew
enty feet above the surface of the riv-
er bed, making with the excavations
a total height of one hundred and ten
feet. This basalt rock will constitute
the rear of the dam. Upon this rock
foundation and the back bone of the
wall will be placed great piles of
earth, which will be brought there by
the agency of giant hydraulic nozzlcs
which will wash and sluice the sur
rounding dirt and drive it onto the
rock wall where it will be afterwards
smoothed by the action of the sluicing.
While the appliance of giant hy-
draulic nozzles is not exactly new in
other states, it is the first time that
this agency will be used in New Mexi-
co, Colorado, Utah, or in fact in any
of the arid sections, except the Paci-
fic coast, for this purpose. The slope
is one to three in the front of the
dam and in the rear of the dam is one
to one and half
Dam Will Be Strong One.
The dam will be as strong as it is
possible for human ingenuity and en-
gineering skill, with first class and
thorough work to make it A spill
way.to carry off 10000 second feet =
water when necessary will also be
constructed, this to obviate and keep
off any danger from the immense
amount of flood waters which, at times,
will come down the Zuni river and
strike against the dam.
On the left of the dam will also be
through the solid ground,
Continued on Page Seven)