Daily Arizona silver belt. (Globe, Gila County, Ariz.) 1906-1929, 1908-06-20

uScu rlse IN part IN IOIorauo, tncy art
stored in Wyoming, to be finally dis
tributcd upon lands in Nebraska, 1906
to 1000 feet lower in altitude and dis
tant as far as 200 miles from the point
of storage.
Roosevelt. the Largest Dam
"The Roosevelt dam will eclipse in
magnitude Of cubic contents all Of the
dams at present under construction by
the reclamation service. 1t will contain
100000 cubic yards of masonry, or over
six times more than the Pathfinder, and
nearly FIVE times as much as the Sho-
shone dam. It's height will be $50 feet
from foundation, length on top $50 feet
Tor, including spillway bridges, 1850
feet), and it's thickness at the base
1865 feet. In plan, although built in the
form of an arch, this structure differs
from the Shoshone and Pathfinder dams
in being of the gravity type, wherein
the mass alone is sufficient to secure
stability. tl
"The resulting reservoir will be the
largest artiicially formed lake in the
world, body of water twenty five miles
long, in places over two miles wide,
with a storage capacity of 100000
acre-feet and maximum depth of 220
feet. The dam and reservoir are the
main features of the Salt river project
for the irrigation of lands in the Salt
river valley, in the vicinity of Phoenix,
Ariz.
"Thc method of handling the river
during construction is in essential
points similar to that already described
in the cases of the Pathfinder and Sho-
shone dams, r tunnel having been first
built around the damsite through which
the river is diverted, and which after
the completion of the dam is to serve
as the regulator for the flow Of water
from the reservoir.
Road Cost $4,000 a Mile.
"The site of the dam at the upper
end of the Salt river canyon, just be-
low the mouth of Tonic creek, in the
eastern central portion of the territory,
was at the inception of the project al
most inaccessible and wholly remote
from all forms of communication. The
stretch of about fifty miles between the
damsite and the nearest railroad point
in the lower Salt river valley is general
ly conceded TO be one of the toughest
pieces of country on earth; 80 that the
first problem to be solved was that OF
opening up communication. According
~, in 1904, wagon road was built
following along the general course Of
the river, skirting the edge Of the deep
canyon within which it flows for several
miles of this distance, and incidentally
picking its way through some of the
grandest scenery on the continent. II
is eloquent of the character of this line
of road that some stretches were cut
through solid rock at a cost of 5000
a mile. ("
The construction of this road was
unnecessary and not creditable to the
engineer in charge Of the project. TIE
road over the mountains from Roosevelt
to Mesa is reputed to have cost 8 ,000,.
600. Globe is ten miles nearer to the
dam than is eMsa, and road was al
ready constructed from Globe to Roose-
welt that could have been improved and
made better for heavy hauling than tho
road to Mesa built by the government
ngineers.-Editor Silver Belt
s'From such preliminary work as
road construct ton, operations on this
project have extended to the building
and equipment of sawmills, machine
shops, general stores, and telephone
lines and even TO tine building of NUM-
cipal waterworks and the manufacture
Of brick and ice. Other subsidiary
works have included the construction OF
power canal for the development of
electrical power at the damsite, and the
building of a completely equipped ce-
ment mill for the manufacture of the
cement to be used in~the dam.
THE power canal is in itself a very
interesting piece of engineering work,
and performs a most important function
in the construction of the great dam.
Water is diverted at point farther up
the stream by means of n concrete weir
built across the Salt river, and after
being conducted in the canal and
through numerous tunnels and enormous
pipes over the intervening nineteen
miles is finally delivered under q head
of over 200 feet at the hydro-electric
power-house located in the bed Of the
river at the foot of the dam.
Electric Power For All Purposes.
"From this plant electric power is
furnished for all the operations con
nected with the project, and thus is the
river made to furnish the motive force
for building its own controlling works
The Arizona desert being a country OF
unquenehable thirst, the use of this
power will be still further extended foi
permanent use in the pumping of water
from the wells in the Salt river valley
to supplement the supply secured from
the reservoir.
sGTba oamar1 mill Is apafhar ;ntar