Arizona republican., 1905-04-14
ARIZONA DAM
Badly Damaged and Per hdpS Totally Destroyed
VENGEFUL SALT RIVER
Continued Floods Have Wrought a Disaster That Is DeplOred by all. for It Is Embarrassing 10 the Whole Valley.

The most disastrous incident for rhls valley that has yet occurred as a re- suit of the river floods was in proerers yesterday. when the Arizona canal dam. across the Salt river. began sloughing away several timbers ar a time. There was over seven feet of water going over the dam la ub- morning. and early Tn the forenoon tt was noticed that the water had made a hole in the structure near it's Center The breach kept widening toward tA- south end. near which Is the headstte to the canal, and at the last authentic report the hole in the dam was over 200 feet wide. That was about o'clock in the afternoon What may have happened to it since then is au conjecture. though it is natural to sap pose that the break is constantly growing, and it will not be surprlslu- if the whole dam is destroyed The figures above are only a guess. of course. for there was torrent ar water flowing. and all that couII l,.- known was what could be seen froul the bank of the stream. some hundreds of feet away During the day thr water fell but little. but there was still a big stream running last night and at Tempe il semed as hieh as ever
 The importance Of this misfortune is not alone in the property Ioss to rhe canal company which Is tremendous. but it very seriously affects nearly an the north side ranchers. for the rrasnn that il may mean an entire lack oE irrigation water for their crops later on, when the dry season comes and the rain stops And it could not o-- cur at a more critical time. for the crops now are all growing. and lr there is shortage it will be during the se-l- son when they are maturing
 The irrigatOrs themselves fully mr. derstand the situation. as do many others. but there are many rsade-s who do not. hence a brief descrintIol of the dam is pertinent Ir is ssa fr-r long and eight or ten feet high. wlfh an apron below and a similar apron above sIanting back into the river tesi above The structure is of wood bs-- ing blanks on framework of piles and bolted timbers. The purpose of the dam is entirely for the diversion of th- water into the Arizona canal which feeds all tse other north side cauaIs There is no storage basin of any aT- preciable size. the little basin formed when the dam was first built fifteen years or more ago. having filled with silt immediately afterWard There is therefore absolutely no foundation Cor the fear entertained by many yester- day that the breaking of the darn meant an excessive flood below. There is no additional water In the river and the fact of the hole in the dam iu mo degree increases the flow below The only fear is that when the water does go down the headgate will be Ieft hieh and dry And in that event there V-oull be no irrigating water unless some temporary dam could be made to serve the purpose during the period of repair,
 What repairs will be necessary can not now be fOretold. even iT uo more of the dam should be swept away for the reason that no one can tell what sort of a channel has been washed n the place where the break occurred It may be forty feet deep for an any body can tell now. And the expense or re- pairing the dam if 1t Is rebuilt as be- fore can be guessed at by one uers1rs almost as well as another until th- ex- tent of the damage is known Iu con sidering the matter though it should be borne in mind that all the lumber has to be hauled twenty eight miles ina wagons and the dam was made mostly of lumber and timberS- Not alone the expense but the time necessary for Lhe repairs will be embarrassing both O. the canal company and the water users
 Just how and why the dam gave way is also guess work but some who should be in a position to know have veutur- ed the opinion that the water first worked its way under the structure at the point where the old timbers were joined with the new work a number of years ago and at which time forty thousand dollars was spent In repairs But though the misfortune is a great one it cannot be said but that the old dam has done good service for a wool en construction and has withstol-l many years of alternating drouth and high water pressure This year it has been under a constant pressure of frssal six inches to seven feet of water ever since the 10th day Of January