The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1906-08-01


ers, into which the Teton flows, for
necessary to build storage reservoirs
in the headwater of these rivers to
compensate the present water users
for the amount of water that will be
required for the new project. These
storage reservoirs will hold back the
flood waters, which at present run to
waste, and release during the summer
such amounts as will be wanted
for the irrigated lands. 1t has been
decided to convert these natural lakes
into storage reservoirs by building
dams at their outlets and raising the
water to the necessary elevations. The
first of these is Dumping lake, in the
Mount Rainier forest reserve, and is
from two to three miles long. A dam
about 40 feet high will add some 30
900 acre feet of water to it's capac-
ity. This work will be started next
spring, or as soon as the winter SHOWS
permit of construction. The remote
ness of this lake from all sources of
general-supplies will add appreciably
to the cost of work and the Difficult
ties of construction, but steps have al
ready been taken by the state to build
highway, and before the end of the
year it is hoped that it will be pos
sible to haul wagons as far as the dam
site.
Another dam will be built at Lake
Gle Elum, in Kittitas county. This
will, for the present, consist of a tenn
porary structure of cribwork some
twelve or fifteen feet high, which, how
ever, will permit of adding some $4,000
acre feet of water to the storage. 1t
is expected to build very high dam
at Gle Elum in the near future, when
more of the Yakima land is brought
under cultivation, and the dam which
it is now proposed to build will be
utilized as Golfer dam in the con-
struction of the larger dam, for the
purpose of keeping the water out OF
the foundation of the later during
construction. The dam that will be
finally built at Gle Elum is expected to
be about $50 feet high, to be built OF
earth. This will be the highest earth
dam in the world, and the reservoirs
that will be formed will be about ten
miles long and will hold about 5OO,'
900 acre feet of water.
Lake Keechelus, in Kittitas county,
will also be damned in a similar man
ner, with temporary dam pending the
construction of permanent one
These temporary dams at Lakes Gle
Elum and Keechelus will furnish stor-
age together for some 10000 acre feet
which will, with the 10000 acre feet
at Dumping lake, be enough for the
present emergency.
To conduct the supply of the Teton
river to the newly irrigated district
long and costly canal will be built for
a distance of about ten miles along the
Tieton canyon. At the upper end or
the canal a low dam across the river
and masonry headgate structures Will
he built. The canal itself will extend
from the headworks along the steep
hillside. which is frequently high ba-
saltic bluffs and very often loose rock
slides, but is always steep and dlHl-
cult construction.
In work of this class it is the usual
practice of private irrigation concerns
to build fumes of wood resting on
wooden posts. This method OF con-
struction is quick, and when lumber is
at a low price, is also cheap. present
prices of lumber, however, render the
attractive feature of cheapness less ap-
parent now than in the past, and IN
view of the temporary nature OF WOOD
work and the necessity of costly re-
newals and rebuilding, it has been de-
cided to use masonry construction,
which even if little more costly at
first vet in the long run will prove the
cheaper
The natural difficulties in the way
of building masonry canal are such
that it has been decided to use very
interesting and novel method OF con-