The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1905-09-19
BIG CANALS
AND RESERVOIRS
From Jackson's Lake To Amer.
lean Falls

ment there is glory. And as we loo
back over the work of the America
Falls Canal and Power company TO
the past ten years, we concede t
them both joy and glory.
Nineteen years ago some men VIII
thought they saw the possibilities %
the great expanse of fine lands Dor
deriIs Snake river ON the right banl
between Blackfoot and American
Falls, undertook the construction o
a canal to reclaim large belt Of II
and though they were counted vision
airy for trying to handle such a bis
enterprise, the light which has beer
thrown on such work since that by
the reclamation service, shows thai
those men failed in their purpose be
cause the plan of the enterprise was
not broad enough for empire build
ing, and it remained for the Ameri
can Falls Canal and Power company
to take hold in the year 1895 on a
comprehensive plan that knew no oh.
stacles.e and develop a canal system
that shall be. monument to their
memories Ps Ny ~ Se.%
Reclaiming belt of arid land forty
miles long, containing $4,000 acres,
was work of such proportions that
the local population grew weary of
watching a work that could 60 on for
years without any returns from it's
labors, and the longer the work con-
tinues the greater are its proportions.
Their canal receives it's water from
Snake river about twelve miles above
the town of Blackfoot' and carries 1t
in stream six feet deep and seventy
feet wide to the lands lying from
twenty to sixty miles below.
To the ordinary observer this is an
extraordinary enterprise con.
struction of such a canal-but in addi-
ton to this, great basins in the desert
have been utilized as reservoirs in
which to store water in winter and
during the spring when vast vol
ume of water rolls onward to the sea.
With these great basins converted
into lakes the water can be drawn off
and utilized during the hot months
when the natural flow in the river
is less and liable to be exhausted.
In addition to these precautions the
projectors of the enterprise have tax
en- steps to participate with the gov
eminent in the construction of dam
to raise the water line fifteen feet in
Jackson's lake, a fine body of fresh
water filling a great basin in the
south of the Yellowstone
park in Wyoming. This will hold
back the water arising from the melt
ing SHOWS in spring, and it can be
drawn as it is needed during the sum-
mer. Work on this part of the pro
ject will begin in the spring. Of 1906 |
and will be pushed vigorously to COM
)letion.
A large amount of land under this
system has already been sold, and
within the next thirty or sixty days
he rest of the tract known as the
Third Opening" will be made and
he balance of the land will be on the
market Two surveying corps with
our civil engineers have been busy
Ill summer surveying the land and To-
,ating the canals on the lower part
If the system while an average OF
seventy teams have been extending
he canal, already completed dis
ance of forty miles by the work OF
his and previous seasons.
The plans of the work include the
'uilding of a power plant at Spring
reek to furnish power and light and
mother one near American Falls. AL
o the construction and operation OF
n electric railroad to be operated by
he power of their own canal The
ight-of-way for, this road will be fixed
uring September and October OF this
ear and work will begin on it next
ear.
The company have recently or
cred gasoline launch to operate on
make river between American Falls
nd points up the river from which |
hey will carry people in vehicles tc
ne lands. The launch will be shipped
/ a few days from Racine, Wiscon-
in. and will be in operation this
ILL.,
The engineers are just getting to
point In their work where they can
,cate two branches of the canal for
ome twenty miles on the lower extern
ons and so soon as this is done they
ill be in a position to employ num-
er of teams ranging from $50 to 400.
Some of the work of canal build 'ng
IN be done by means of grading ma
linery, and an Era grader which cost
Zoo at the factory has been ordered
nd is now on the road to Idaho {
here are some streaks Of the
arvelous lava beds to be cut through
the construction of the canal and {
70 Burleigh drills will be nut into
soon to handle this part !;
the work.
At one point of the canal 1t will be
ecesary to carry the water across a {
ut of lowlands to the table land on
e other side, and great steel fiume !
III be constructed for this purpose {
Glow that point the water will be
in two canals, rs and 30
ct respectively in width. Z
Nearly all Of this land lies In Bing-
I'm county, and until recent develop =
ents proved the contrary it was re- Z
rded as impossible of cultivation on
count of the difficulty of gettino =
ater to 1t for irrigation, but the pres 1
It prospects are that it will soon
rm one of the most noDulous am n