Bisbee daily review., 1905-05-21

miles from Phoenix. the Salt River enters profound canyon, with lofty. precipitous walls and 9 narrow flood, in which is located the dam site. Above the dam the canyon opens. in 10 wide valleys, providing the most capaciOus reservoir in the west. Tt would probably be impossible to find anywhere in the arid region. :. said Government Engineer Arthur P
 Davis. the protector of this magni- ficent enterprise. a storage project in which all conditions are as favor able as this one The capacity of the reservoir in proportion to the dimensions of the dam is enormous and the lands to be watered are of re- markable fertility. with cliamte which may be classed as almost semi tropic."
 Mir Davis also made the important discovery that material for making good Portland cement and bricks lies immediately by the dam site. He states that the masonry dam now un- der construction will be absolutely permanent-safe, solid and secure for all ages to come. a part of the ev- erlasting hills of which it will become an intergral part"
 Finding the prices bid by the ce- ment manufacturers would add an in creased burden of half a million or more dollars to the payments of the irrigators. the government construct ed an immense cement mill and will itself manufacture the ECU poo or more barrels of cement needed for tIe dam. A splendid roadway. riv- aling the mountain roads of the h. eas. has been built from Phoenix to the dam, at a cost of over a hundred thousand dollars. The cost of the en- tire construction, three million and a half dollars, will be appOruoneu among the lands receiving the water, to be paid back to the government in ten annual installments. and no water user can hold more than 160 acres.
 The River to Build Its Own Darn.
 An interesting feature Of the con- struction work is the power canal which has already been built The regular flow of the river has been di- veTted above the dam site, and at that point is tumbled over the rocks, generating some 10000 electrical horse power to be utilized in building the dam. It will be required day and nigfin for drilling. moving great rocks. pumping. grinding. rock and clinkers, mixing and handling cement and handling machinery.
 The river is thus being forced to erect it's own dam After the con struction, this power. added to, large additional power to be extracted from the heavy fall of the river be low the dam site. will be electrically transmitted to lands not covered by the gravity canal for pumping pur. poses and by this means fully 60,000 acres additional will be watered from the undergroud supply found throughout tke Salt River Valley.
 An ample spillway will provide an escape ion excessive flood waters and a tunnel driven through solid rock will enter the reservoir directly on it's bottom to supplement the. spill way and also to allow for the dis charge of sediment from the reser- voir.
 The valley is already provided with transportation by the Santa Eel and the Southern Pacific railroads and the exceptional climatic condi- tions insure an early market and high prices for the various products of az riculture and horticulture.
 The drainage of the Salt and it's | tributaries aggregate some 12,0oe ] square miles and some of the, noun ] tain peaks near the source pierce the sky at an altitude of 10000.
 GUY ELLIOTT MITCHELL