Arizona republican., 1906-10-30


ervOir a dozen miles below Florence.
1t is proposed to excavate the ditch
to a great deal more than its original
size, giving it a carrying capacity of
about 100000 inches. The old ditch
was formerly twenty feet wide on the
bottom and the new one will be thirty
feet wide. To prepare for the work Of
the dredger a corps of surveyors is
now busy, their camp being at the
head. and a gang of brush carriers has
been busy for several days, cutting
down the heavy growth so the sur
veyOrs can get through. The brush
gang is now down about six miles from
the head and progressing at the rate
of from a half to three-quarters of
mile per day. There are twenty men
in the brush gang and just the removal
of some of the brush has increased the
flow about % per cent. The reservoir
| spoken of needs little description for
those who have lived long in this
country Briefly il covers nearly
three sections of land and was formed
by throwing a dirt dam across nat
/ ural swale in the country somewhat
ike an arroyas though wider and less
precipitous than most arrOyas. The
reservoir is about midway in the
| length of the canal which is AZ miles
long and runs clear to Casa Grande on
| the Southern Pacific railroad. The
canal enters the upper side of the bas-
/ in and in the dam is a big stone head
| gate through which the water is re-
| leased into the lower section of the
J canal. This lower section Will require
but a small amount of cleaning as it
will now carry about 10000 inches and
! there is a good grade which makes il
/ in great measure self cleaning.
1t will take a year perhaps to finish
! the work of charging the upper sec
ton of the canal though every days
| work will increase its capacity by that
/ much and bring a somewhat larger
flow into it. The plan of the company
/ is to fill the reservoir during flood sea-
! sons, and at the same time furnish
| enough water for local consumption SO
( there Will be practically a reservoir
full when the dry seasons arrive. t
| is believed the reservoir will hold suf-
\ ficient water to supply all the lands
below it to the depth of three feet
which ought to tide them over a very
n severe season. especially with the as
sistance of the flow in the canal which
it is believed viii be constant even if
+ not in full capacity, the year rouRd.
The river has never been known to De
dry at the head. If this plan works
out the farmers below the reservoir
II Will take even less chances on a dry
year than those between it and the
iriver which must depend entirely on
the canal having no use of the stored
water. But all these things have been
figured on and the engineers are con-
fident there will be an ample supply Of
water. The water in the reservoir when
full will be p feet deep so one can i'm
agine thesize of the pond. Even during
the years the canal has had no attention
there has always been a lake in the
reservoir site and it is the most ia
nous resort in this section for duck
hunting
The section through which the canal
passes is a very fertile one and fifteen
years ago was largely reclaimed from
the desert and profitabIy farmed. The
troubles that complicated the canal
project resulted almost in its aban-
dOnment and most of the land Went
back to desert. In a recent description
of this newer project the Florence
II Blade very reasonably predicts a pros
porous future for that region and in
PRODUCES the subject in the following
For twelve years past the Casa
Grande valley, extending from Flor
ence to and beyond the town of Casa
Grande, situated on the Southern Pa
cific railroad. twenty-five miles south
west of Florence, has laid in a trance,
so to speak, industrially and CONNER
cially, as the result of a miSmanaged,
neglected and inadequate irrigation
system. But this trance has ended.
The spell has been broken and soon