The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1908-06-24

the Naches river. the largest tributary
of the Yakima, and could he used 10
replace the water in the Naches
which the Tieton project would take
from the Tieton. Il tributary Of the
Naches. The other sites, Lakes
Keechelus. Kachess and Gle Elum,
were available for storage on the
upper Yakima river. The cost of any
project undertaken depending large
~ on the cost of the storage neces-
sary, preliminary surveys and esti-
mates of permanent dams at these
! four proposed reservoirs were com.
| pleted in 1905. These plans contem-
plate temporary low crib dams ut the
upper Yakima lakes to take care Of
! immediate needs. and the construc-
ton of the higher permanent dams
later. as the demands on the storage
increase. 1t is estimated that the
ultimate amount of storage available
at these four lakes is about $50 600
acre feet. while the temporary dams
will store about 900 acre feet The
construction of these temporary dams
was authorized in 1906 and the last
one-the Gle Elum dam-was COM
pleted in the fall of 1907. These four
reservoirs, when fully developed. will
make it possible for the reclamation
NJ
OF land in this valley which is now
arid. There are other reservoir sites
in different parts of the watershed
which will undoubtedly be used for
storage purposes as soon as the land
in the valley becomes valuable
enough to make their development
economical.
The Teton Project.
AS soon as possible after the au
thorization of the work. construction
was begun on the Tieton and Sunny
side projects and the temporary crib
dams at the Upper Yakima lakes.
"The Tieton project lies west of
and within about 90 miles of North
Yakima. and when completed will
| furnish water for about 80 900 acres
of land. nearly all of which is now
dry. The average rainfall through
out this region is only about inches
| The elevation ranges from 1900 to
200 feet and the principal crops
will be fruit hay and hops. The wa
ter for the irrigation of the project
will be taken from the Tieton river,
a tributary of the Naches. about 10
miles upstream from the point
where the first irrigable land is
reached. and will be carried along the
PERCEPTIONS sides of the Teton can
yon in a concrete lined canal. and in
order TO reach the irrigable land will
be brought into the Cowiche valley
from the Tieton through a tunnel
about $500 feet long. This is the end
of the main canal. From this point
the water is taken through two main
and several smaller branch canals.
/ I'm November, 1906. proposals for
/ the construction of the main canal
We're opened but the only bids re-
ceived were for the tunnels and con-
crete lining. The contract was let
for the concrete lining but the bids
/ for the tunnels were rejected. Au-
/ h nj 0ir RI Ia ha
ton for the canal and tunnels by
! government forces and work was at
once started assembling the neces-
sary outfit. A water power plant of
| about 500 horsepower was installed
on the Tieton river 20 furnish power
to drive the tunnels and this plant
was put in operation in July, 1907.
! The open canal excavation was ad-
vertised three times but only three
satisfactory bids were received for
two short sections and the balance of
the work is being done by the gov
eminent forces. There have been
moved to date by these forces $780,
! 600 cubic yards out of a total of
252 900 of open canal and tunnel ex-
cavation. The excavation will be
completed during the winter of
1859
To Irrigate In 1910.
1T Is now expected that the water
will be ready for the land under the
Tieton project by the beginning of
the irrigation season of 1910 and
preparations are being made to con-
struct enough of the distribution sys-
tenn to deliver water to at least half
Of the project at that time and to
the rest of the project as soon there
after as seems Advisable.
The Sunnyside canal was pur-
chased from the Washington Irriga-