Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1906-09-25
s is to be turned into the narrow


OF ROOSEVELT.
years is to be turned into the narrow
valley.
Roosevelt came into being when the
great irrigation project was first start
ed and it will cease to exist when the
engineers and army of wOrkmen bring
their labors to a close. To-day the
town is a thriving, bustling communi-
ty of 1000 inhabitants, with electric
lights, waterwOrks, sewerage, schools
and churches; ultimately it will be
but a memory, Roosevelt must perish
that a desert may be made to bloom.
Already the marvellous engineering
work is we'll under way. The walls
of the narrow canyon through which
Salt river rushes 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 280 feet in
height from foundation to parapet, 210
, feet long and 170 feet wide at base
and roo feet long ON top. It's cubical
| contents will be 100000 cubic yards,
and In its construction 100000 har-
pels of cement will be required.
/ PIaced alongside of an 1S-story Sky
/ scraper this dam would rise ten feet
above it, while ITS length on top
would be more than two city blocks.
Roosevelt is a government town,
I ~ Ill LIT rfv IL
and effective. Uncle Sam owns the
ground upon which the town is erect
ed, and the people are there merely
by suiferance. No man may occupy
"a town lot which faces the main street
( unless he is engaged in a legitimate
business, and hiss continuous POsse es-
sion of the property depends upon his
own conduct. The results are in
marked contrast with those which fol-
lowed the location of new towns on
other projects where the government
could not exercise any supervisory
| control. The labOrers are contented.
They are depositIng a large part of
their earnings with the disbursiHg Of
fioer of the reclamation service, who
l 4
Amusements are not wholly tack
ing; baseball and quoits are popular,
{ and in the evenings the town hall
ablaze with lights, is given up to
dancing. Males predominant, so there
are no lady wall flowers. Notwith-
standing this disparity, no personal
encounters have resulted, the slogan
of the camp being fair play" and
the rules of department are rigidly
observed Each male is given a tag,
and numbers 1 to 20 are accorded the
first dance, those from q to 40 the
next, and so on.
Just across the river the tepees OF
the swarthy Apaches dot the plain.
The warriors Of old Geronimo, now
Uncle Sans faithful laborers, dwell
in peace and harmony with HIS once
deadly enemy. the white man, each
doing his full share of labor in con-
structing the engineering marvel of
the age.
But while the city of Roosevelt, with
the homes of its 1000 inhabitants, is
doomed, a fair valley is to be re-
deemed, in which the agricultural pos
sibilities are not exceeded anywhere
in the world. Under almost tropical
skies, with a soil of wonderful fertili-
ty the farmer in Salt River valley
will cultivate his orange groves, his
fig trees, his vines while his broad
meadows will yield him heavy har-
vests Of alfalfa six and seven timee
year.
The great lake which will be ere
ated by the Roosevelt dam is to be
tapped by canals hundreds of miles
long and extending all over the broad
valley around Phoenix. Vast areas
now absolutely worthless will be
transformed quickly into blossomins
orchards and purpling vineyards, and
hundreds Of happy homes will dot a
plain where nov the giant sahuarro
Uaa,s.. -. sripY head and flle....gIla.