The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1907-08-21
Timber Of the Yakima Project.

outlets IN the Yakima river progress
ed to the point that arrangements
are being made for the clearing off
and sale of the timber along the
shores of the lakes, this being desir-
able as the water outlets of these
lakes will be closed by dams that
will raise the water level far above
what it was before the dams were
constructed, says and exchange. The
lakes are Gle Elum, Kachess and
Keechelus, in Kittitas county, and
Dumping lake in Yakima county.
Careful estimates show that there
are 63,000,O00 feet, board measure,
of merchantable timber, 1000 tele-
phone poles and 10000 railroad ties
available in the forests that sur.
surround these lakes. Unless this
timber is cut before all the plans of
the government are carried out, the
raising of the, level of the water in
the lakes will make it more difficult
or impossible to remove 1t.
Raises the Lakes Sixty Feet.
AS affording some indication of
the effect of the damming of these
outlets will have on the shores of
these lakes, the conditions resulting
from the construction of the tempo
rary dam at the outlet Of Keechelus
lake are an illustration. This dam,
with abutments, is something over
100 feet long. 1t has raised the lev.
ell of the water IL feet. The bench
land on the southerly shore is con-
siderably overflowed, and when the
dam the government proposes to con-
struct to replace the temporary dam
is constructed the rise in the level OF
the water above the present increase
will be close to so feet, or total of
nearly 60 feet above the normal lev
ell Dams have not yet been con.
structed at the outlets of all the
lakes named, but this will be done
as rapidly as the funds available
will permit.
Keecheius lake, the most westerly
of the three in Kittitas county, is five
miles long and will average about
one mile wide. Kachess and Gle
Elum lakes are each more than IL
miles long. with width of someth-
ing less than two miles. If the dam.
ming of the outlets of these two
lakes result in holding the water in
proportion to that held by the dam
already constructed at Keechelus
lake, it will make available for dry
seasons to maintain serviceable
flow in the Yakima river an enorm-
GUS volume of water. The govern
ment's plans contemplate future
needs and the reclamation of vast
acreage of land that could not be
accurately supplied by the normal
flow of the river.
The dam that will replace the pres
ent temporary one at the outlet of
long. This will include broken sec
lions of ridge that partly crosses
the bench land near the outlet. No
special difficulties will attend the
construction of this dam. The best
information is that it will be built in
eight or ten years after the timber is
removed from the shores of the
lakes.
Immense Amount of Water.
These dams will be arranged so
that water can be turned out during
periods when the demands of irriga-
ton exceed the normal flow of the
river. If periods of low water. usu-
ally from July to September, occur,
the plan of the authorities is to sup
ply the canals with water under such
conditions that little or none of the
water will be wasted It is estimated
that the excess of water saved over
the normal flow will be sufficient to
irrigate many thousand acres in ad-
dition to those now under cultiva-
ton.
In order to conserve the natural
water supply the entire watershed at
the sources of the Yakima river has
been declared a forest reserve.
Congressman Jones recently stated
that the plans of the reclamation
service contemplate, as the result of
investigation of the three lakes, the
storage OF 100000 acre feet Of
water in these lakes, and he said
that these lakes will furnish album
dance of storage for all the water
necessary to reclaim all the lands OF
the valley which can be reclaimed at
reasonable cost. He estimates that
10000 acres can be reclaimed in
Kittitas county.
There is great deal of fine tim
Der around Keechelus lake, and the
fact that the Chicago, Milwaukee &
st. Paul railroad will run along the