The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1904-02-19
LETTER FROM ARIZONA.
W. B. Campbell Writes Of the
Great Tonte Irrigation Dam.


/
If you ever come to Phoenix, the
first thing they will tell you alb iut
will be the "Tonte Dam" and | viii
lay a wager that you can't talk ter
minutes to any business man while
you are here without his mentioning
it.
In the work of reclaiming the arid
regions of the great west, the Ma
tional Government has designed d
reservoir out here which will be the
second largest in the world, and in
crease the tillable acreage of Ari'
zona Ia territory more than twice
the size of ohi",l by two-thirds.
Three million dollars have been ap.
propriated for the work, and when
compl. ted it will turn a valley some.
thing similar to Mad River v ,lley
into a lake 25 miles long and p miles
wide on the average, with a depth OF
800 feet.
Imagine on driving over to Zlnes-
fi, Id some morning, on reaching the
top of the hill, overlooking the town,
instead OF gazing out over the beau
tiful valley, you are confronted with
a sheet of water reaching from bill
top to hill top and extending from
Rushsylvania as far south as Ucbana.
Every community and locality has
its problems and difficulties to solve,
but out here there is one great ques-
ton Sater. Water is the great
"without which not" of Arizpna-the
difference between nothing and every
thing.
Stretching away before you in
every direction is the desert. barren,
brown, desolate, without leaf or tree
or even blade of grass to relieve the
dreary waste that day after day,
year in and year out, lies scorching
in the uuintt rmittent sunshine.
But just one touch with the magic
wand of water ard the pent up forces
of ages seem 10 break forth in a wild
luxuriance of getation. Plant a
castor bean in the spring and by
christmas you viii have a tree 20
feet high overshadowing your roof,
with a trunk eight or ten inches in
diameter, which you can chop up In
to stove wood for your winters fire.
Apricot trees, mere twig when plant
ed, al seven months old are taller
than a six foot man, and over
FIVE feet across the branches. A
mond trees will attain height of p
feet by the fourth season.
] Water all powerful, however, Is
also water all elusive. The most
plentiful thing in Arizona is sunshine
with the probable exception of jack
ia bbits and cactus, and the scarces;
is water. The average annual pre-
lcipitation Is three inches-about one
fourth of an inch per month,-and
! were it not for the mountains any
thing in the agricultural line would
be an absolute impossibility.
Up in the mountains, however, II
SHOWS and rains, and by irrigation
from the mountain streams, parts Oi
of the desert have been reclaimed
and turned into some of the most
fruitful fields of America.
Arizona is a territory more thar
twice as large as Ohio, yet two, birds
of her cultivated lands lie within
this county, and three-quarters o.
her agricultural products are raised
on these lands, which do not com
prise more than $50 600 acres, ol
about 25O square mills. Take thes'
facts into consideration, and you vii
see what an extremely vital question
the water problem is to the people o
this vicinity.
Salt River valley, about so mile
long ard with an average width of i
miles. is peculiarly situated on th'
water question. As streams from
the mountains strike the plain the
disappear, percolating the extremel.
l loose soil until bedrock is reachet
when they gradually seep along uu
til some obstruction forces them t
the surface again. Thus the Who'll
!. valley is practically an undergroun
lake and a short distance from tn
!. surface an abundance of water ca
be had in any locality.
: This would readily solve the irr
Z CATION problem If 1t we're not for tw
:. lthings-lack OF fuel and wind. Wit
+ a good stiff Kansas breeze, a batter
= of wind mills could easily pump tn
!. required water for any ranch, bu
sheltered ty mount aims as the vallv
Is, even tn gentl, st phyr is almo-
as scarce as water. There are som
ranches, I understand. operated B
e steam pumping plants. but with COZ
= at s25 per ton it is hard TO make III
p paying proposition.
e So, with an inc xhaustible reserve
T. within 25 or 30 feet of them, ranc'
:, ers have to 20 40 or so miles to 1
mountains and bring their water
s. long expensive canals, and then Il
supply frequently fails them.
In Colorado, where the mountain
!, are much higher and the clima
.e cooler, the SHOWS will linger on Il
t, peaks all summer long, gradual
l. melting away and supplying
q abundance of water the seas'
10 through. In this latitude the sno'
go of in the early spring with a ru
and ficod, and in the heat of Il
- summer when water is most neeGu