Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1907-03-19

ground passageway which crosses be,
meath a dry arroyo which is known as
Dark Canon Under the old irrigation
system the water was carried in a
ditch built on the surface across this
arroyo which was washed away by
freshets following the spring rains
Now that the water for irrigation pur.
loses will be carried underground
through this siphon there will be no
further danger from this source.
Lake Avalon Dam Indestructible
"The big dam at Lake Avalon, which
was partially destroyed BY the food
two years ago has been rebuilt almost
entirely of reinforced concrete with a
steel core all the way through. The
old part Of the dam which remained
intact has been strengthened by inter.
locked sheet steel piling which goes
down to bed rock. Lake Avalon Is in
reality only the distributing reservoir
The storage reservoir is at Lake McMil.
Ian, eleven miles above and seventeen
miles from Carlsbad. This was not
injured by the disastrous flood which
played havoc with the other and
smaller reservoir. Lake Mcmillan is
the largest artificial body of water in
New Mexico. 1t is twelve miles in
length and from one to three miles
wide. The two reservoirs have ca,
pacity of about 40,000-acre feet of
water.
Will lrrieate 10000 Acres.
"The Reclamation Service under the
present system only agrees to furnish
water enough to irrigate 10000 acres
lying just south of Carlsbad, but the
engineers in charge are of the opinion
that more could be irrigated. There
is another reservoir site between the
two which was set aside in 1891 by
the Secretary Of the Interior The ca
pacity of this reservoir would be about
equal to the capacity of the other two
combined. 1t is so situated that the
same acqueduct, siphon and main
canal could be utilized so that the only
additional expenditure would be just
for the construction of the reservoir
itself.
I'm rebuilding the irrigation project
the government engineers went over
the whole line Of ditch and double
banked it where necessary to prevent
the formation of duck ponds and thus
guard against loss from seepage OF
evaporation.
"The acqueduct which carries the
water from the distributing reservoir
across the Pecos River is a great feat
of engineering nonetheless remarkable
than the diversion dam and the in
verted siphon. 1t was in use under
the old irrigation project and the
llume is wide enough to permit the
passage of two loaded wagons side by
side. 1t was In fact pressed into ser
vice as a wagon bridge for awhile af
ter the destruction of the big dam al
Lake Avalon.
Two Power Dams In Operation.
In addition to the dams for pur
poses of irrigation there are two
dams near Carlsbad which furnish
power for operating the electric light
plant and water works system which
are owned by the Public Utilities
Company. This company has Just ex
pended $4,000 In extending the water
works system. 1t owns the city tele
phone system in addition to these two
other public utilities and is giyine
good service in all three.
Celebrate Completion Of Irritation
Project.
Carlsbad people are gratified tc
know that under the provisions OF 4
joint resolution introduced in the
Legislature, celebration will be held
at that place on July 3, 4 and 5, com
memorating the first completed irri
cation project built under the Recla
nation act. We expect all OF the
friends of irri pa finn ,n Ma, NIL.