Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1905-05-17
PROGRESS AT THE ROOSEVELT
 DAM Official Report Upon The Salt River
 Project
Government Saves Half Million Dollars
 On Cement

The official report of the United
 States geological survey upon the
 progress being made upon the Roose-
 welt dam will prove interesting read
 ing to nil AIizonans. It is appended
 herewith:
 The town of Roosevelt. Arizona.
 humming as it is with the activities of
 its 5000 inhabitants. is doomed. Its
 lease on life is only three years long.
 In 1908, when the engineers of the
 reclamation service shall have eomplet-
 ed the highest dam in the world.
 Roosevelt will lie 172 feet below the
 surface of the water in the reclamation
 reservoir. Work has been in pro
 gress there for about a year, but men
 are laboring now, night and day, in
 three shifts of eight hours each, in
 order that no more than three addi-
 tional years may be consumed in the
 task. Then Roosevelt will be no mOre
 Shut in by mountains as the valley
 of Salt River is at this point, there is
 no place else where the men who are constructing the dam for the Salt riv-
 CT reclamation project might build
 them a city except in the very valley that is destined to be submerged. The town or camp of Roosevelt is situated partly on the hillside aboev the high water mark of the reservoir. In the lower part of the camp are located the temporary power plant. the eOmmis- sary, the corral, the hospital, and the dwelling tents of employees of the re- elamation service of the United States geological survey, and of contractors working for the government. In that portion of the camp known as "RoOse- velt-on-the-Hill are the cement mill. an office building, dining hall and kitchen, numerous tent houses, and sev- eral frame structures erected for the use of the engineering force and their families.
 Three mail and passenger stage lines connect Roosevelt with the out side world. The Globe line, which is about 42 miles long, provides a daily stage service from Globe, which has Southern Pacific Railroad connections. By means of the Mesa line, passengers and mail can be brought to the dam in one day from Phoenix. which is the center of the territory. The route, which is about sixty miles long, runs throughout the most picturesque part of Arizona. Capitalists are even now the advisability of putting on an automobile line from Phoenix to the dam. of constructing a trolley line between the two points, and of erect ing a tourist hotel in the mountains |, not far from the dam site. A third stage line. also in daily operation, is the one between Payson and Roose- velt. It is about G miles long.
 The contract for the Roosevelt dam las been recently given to J. NJ. 'Rourke & Co.,. of Galveston. Texas. md the most serious work of the pro eet will soon be under way During he past year, however, vast deal of preliminary work has been accomplished by the inhabitants of Roosevelt. A temporary power plant, | cement plant, an ice plant, lighting ,lant, and a saw mill have all been The power canal, which will furnish water power for the gen ration of electricity to operate all he works, will be done in few months. A telephone line connecting he head works of the power canal, which is about 30 miles from Phoenix. las also been installed. In the face f great engineering difficulties a wag- m road has been built between Phoe- Iix and Roosevelt. A road to the iihber in the Sierrs Aneha mountains as also opened up new country.
 Much of this work has been done nder most unfavOrable circumstances. rom February until the end of March here was almost continuous rain and now. During the greater part of 1arch the road to Globe was impass- ble, and the Gila Valley, Globe and Northern Railway was out of eommis- ion. The SOutherV Pacific bridge cross Gila at Marieopa was rebuilt alf dozen times during that mon h. is apparent therefore that materials or construction work were not hauled