Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-30
ROOSEVELT, T,AT0WN
THAT IS DOOMED
NOW BUSTLING AND LIVELY,
BUT IN TWO YEARS, DEAD
Must Perish That a Desert May Be
Made to Bloom-Great Reelama-
ton Project Of United states
Government Doing II

TN that land Of mystery. Of lost races
and hoary ruins, in a warm and
sunny valley of Southern Arizona.
stands the town of Roosevelt. Today
it is a thriving, bustling community of
1000 inhabitants, with electric lights,
water works, sewerage schools and
churches. Two years from now It will
lie at the bottom of a lake, 200 feet be-
meath the surface of the water
The town of Roosevelt came into be-
ing because of the Roosevelt dam pro-
jeCt. It is fitting, perhaps, that COM
pletion of The dam will be the signal for
the towns destruction, and that the
very ground upon which IL stands will
be forever buried from the sight of man.
Pompeii and Herculaneum were covered
by the ashes of Vesuvius; Nineveh and
Babylon were abandoned to the desert S
drifting sands; there are legends of
beautiful cities in The fabled continent
of Atlantis, many Leagues under the
oceans waves but Roosevelt stands
alone, probably, as the only town which
man has contrived deliberately to bury
beneath the flood.
Roosevelt must perish that a desert
may be made to bloom. Already the
marvellous engineering work is well un-
der way. The walls of the narrow
canyon through which Salt river rusnes
on edge are being locked by a massive
monolith of solid masonry, the highest
arch dam in the world.
This wonderful structure of sand
stone and cement will be $50 feet in
height from foundatio to parapet, 210
feet long and 170 feet wide at base, and
700 feet long on top. Its cubical con-
tents will be 100000 cubic yards, and in
its construction 100000 barrels of cement
will be required. Placed alongside of
an eighteenstory skyscraper, this dam
would rise ten feet above it, while it's
length on top would be more than two
city blocks. A turbulent stream, with
its enormous floods, will beat itself into
stiffness against the masonry monster,
its foam and spume lost in a deep lake,
twenty-five miles long and two miles
wide.
BY day and by night the dull roar of
dynamite breaks the desert stiffness,
and the canyon walls go crashing down
to furnish material for this structure.
On the hill far above the rock crushers
never stop grinding the limestone, and
great kilns, white hot. are burning daily
hundreds of barrels of cement.
is Great Sight
When night comes myriads of electric
lights burst forth. weirdly Illuminating
a busy army of toilers gnomelike work.
ing in shadowy canyon. A star
gemmed heaven looks down upon a
wondrous scene, unreal, awesome and
inspiring.
This great work of the government
possesses unusual attractions for the
engineer and the layman. 1t is located
in a valley which has been the abode of
three races, one of which lived here
when Caesar sat upon his throne. In
an age forgotten the cliff dwellers built
their eyrielike homes along the canyons
of this stream, and in the narrow val
leys the lines of their irrigation canals
may yet be traced. Centuries later the
Apaches came. and for many years
their tepees dotted the BASIN Then
came the white man, who sought to re-
conquer the desert, which had resumed
its sway after the cliff dwellers
vanished.
The battle with unfriendly nature
proved too much for the pioneer. and
Uncle Sam took a hand in the fight. No
problems could daunt his engineers.
They laughed at floods and mocked at
desolation. A dam site was discovered
siXty-two miles from a railroad and
they proceeded to connect it with civil
ization by a marvellous road which
winds its way for forty miles through
deep canyons, along the face of frown-
ing precipices over foaming cataracts
and across broad areas of treeless
desert. 1t opens up to the transcon-
tinental traveller a new region of COM
pelling interest and of splendid scenery
Better than that, it provides an easy
thoroughfare for the transporta ton OF
heavy machinery of all kinds and the
supplies for the new community which
sprang into life almost at word.
About the Place
And this community affords almost a
story in itself, for it is different from,
others, which, ephemeral-like, spring
up in the far west. 1t is located in a
great basin trimmed by high mountains
Through the bottom of it flow the
waters of Salt river and Tonic creek
the streams meeting at the southern
end of the basin and emerging from II
through canyon 700 feet deep in the
Salt River mountains. This canyon is
the only outlet of the basin. If one
would emerge by another route it must
be by that of mountain roads and trails
Although this was once the favored
rendezvous of the old-time outlaw ano
cattle thief. offering safe refuge from
pursit, the hustling little city OF
Roosevelt is strangely unlike the ave
rage new town of the west. There are
no saloons, no gambling, and he bac
man with ready six-shooter and bowie
knife is conspicuously absent.
1t Is a government town, and the
rules laid down are simple and ef-
fective. Uncle Sam owns the ground
upon which the town is erected, anc
the people are there merely by suffer
ance. No man may occupy a town loi
which faces the main street unless he