Arizona republican., 1906-07-02
MAGNIFICENT
 STRUCTURE Plans Made for Salt River
 Diversion Dam
Somewhat Detailed De- scriptiOn of the Proposed
 Work at Granite Reef.

1 llOuSA llOAitlllB ueHIIl6 mas been officially announced concerning the i building of diversion dam at Granite
 reef, the people of this valley have
 every reason except a definite an- | nouncement, for accepting that conclu-
 sion as fact. It is the policy of the | reclamation service never to announce
 anything definitely until all the prelim- | inaries have been carefully considered J and sufficient work done to insure suc- cess. so there may never be the neces- i sity of breaking contracts, taking 1 backward steps or embarrassing ex- | pectant benefciaries by a change of 1 plans. In this way about two years ! of hard work was accomplished at
 Roosevelt before there was a positive announcement that the Roosevelt dam | would be built.
 The government has announced, however, contingent only upon the Ari- ! ozna Water company transferring good title to it of its canal holdings, that it would build a diversion dam somewhere. There can be no question of the water company making good, hence there can be no question that a dam will be built. Thousands of dol lars have been spent in selecting a site for this structure and it is frankly ad- mitted by the reclamation engineers l that no site presents the advantages of
 the Granite reef location, wherefore
 every man is justified in drawing the conclusion that in due season official announcement will be made to that ef- feet.
 Matters could not have proceeded so
 far without a vast amount of preIfmi- nary work had been done and that work has been in such detail that plans for the proposed dam have been drawn by Assistant Engineer A. L. Harris in the Roosevelt offices of the reclamation service. These plans have been worked out to the minutest detail of construction and provide for every pos sible contingency that engineering skill can foresee, outlining structure that ought to stand for all time If taken care of. But the plans, like the dam itself, are not officially adopted or ap- proved. They may require some chang ing or adding to and before adoption will of course be carefully scrutinized by the proper officials. 4 set Of these plans has been received at the local offices of the reclamation service and a representative of The Republican has been privileged to see them and de- scribe them so far as he is competent to do so. Even though they are changed in some features it is quite
 
 plans will be followed.
 The dam as most people understand is to serve for diverting irrigation water to the lands on both sides of the river. On the north side of the river. or at the north end of the dam will be the Ariozna canal, which will head right in the end of the dam and which will be something over a hundred feet wide, or wide enough to accommodate | eight headgates. The outer bank of the canal intake basin from the headgate up the river will be marked by a high walled embankment, protecting it from the debris from the mountain side This wall will extend straight up the river for perhaps 150 feet or therea bout | then curve in toward the river chan nel, the full width of the canal mak- ] ing sort of an alcove basin for the 1 canal head, the point where the end of | the curved wall touches the river bank | proper, being 22O feet above the dam. 1 in a direct line above the river side | bank of the canal. Exactly parallel | with this canal channel above the dam | will be another channel called a sIuice- 1 way. 77E feet wide. having an open | heading in the river. Between the | canal and the sIuiceway will be a sub merged wall, perhaps three or four feet above the natural bed of the river Marking the river side of the sluice- way will be another submerged wall of the same height. The term submerged is used for the reason that these walls will be submerged when there is water h enough in the river to divert any quan- tity into the canal, though the spot where they will be built is dry ground. At the lower end of the sluiceway. con- structed in the dam proper and be- tween the solid masonry portion of the dam and the eight canal headgates at its end, will be four sluicing gates, operated by hydraulic power The total width of these gates will be the same as the width of the sluicing channel. 771z feet. The wall between the canal basin and the sluicing chan nel. which extends up stream 22O feet, Is called a weir. its purpose being ; to stop the sand and sediment from the canal. Attached to the , upper end of this weir. and to the I ower end of the submerged wall be- I -ween the sluicing channel and the liver proper, will be a floating boom, he purpose of which will be to catch he driftwood and divert 1t back over 2 he riverside wall of the sluiceway nto the current of the river. and over he dam if there shall be enough water to do so. And when there is lOt, vel hdluEdlly JHeI0 Will De IllIIe \. IT no driftwood.
 To illustrate the operation of getting water out of the river: When there is my water for diversion it will run di- ectly into this open sluiceway. The riftwood will strike the boom which will float diagonally across the sluice- way, and be cast back into the river The water will flow under the loom and over the weir in the ther direction into the canal cur ent forming in the alcove basin of the | anal and on down through the head
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