Arizona republican., 1908-09-04

Supervising Engineer l.. c. Hill of
the reclamation service, returned home
yesterday morning after an absence of
two months, in the course of which he
managed to squeeze out two weeks for
summer vacation on the coast. Ma
turally the first questions put to Mr..
Hill were concerning the progress of
events at Roosevelt. for though he has
been away he has kept constantly in
touch with events here and is I'm 4 po-
sition to say things that others might
know, or surmise, and yet be without
authority to announce. Everybody
knows that the work at Roosevelt has
been progressing without interruption
tut this Is lie first time there nas- oeen
an authoritative announcement con-
cerning the availability of stored water.
Mr. Hill in reply to questions said
that the dam is now 45 feet high at
its lowest point and 75 feet high at the
highest point and that he can foresee
no interruption of the work. If there
is none it should be completed to the
height of 100 feet by January 1st,
which would give a storage height of
75 feet, for it is designed to keep the
water % feet below the crest all the
time. At IS feet the storage capacity
of the reservoir will be $4,000 acre
feet Another months work after the
holidays should carry the dam to the
height of 125 feet giving 100 feet of
storage and increasing the capacity of
the reservoir to 10000 acre feet. That
this amount of water will be available
against the emergencies of next years
he
rainfall on the watershed which has
seldom failed during the winter and
spring, and never except in the midst
of the cycle of dry years early in this
century.
With this amount of stored water, in
addition to the general and regular ir-
rigations, there will be water for at
least two emergency irrigations when
the dry time comes next season. 1t
should not be understood that this
means that the reservoir will be fin
ished for that happy event is still per-
haps a couple of years distant, but it
means that there will be ample water
for the lands now being irrigated,
which this season totaled 100000 acres
inclusive of the Tempe unsigned lands.
The reserVCiI district iuCiJdes aoir"V:-
mately 200, 900 acres, but as the reader
will understand, a large area has not
been cultivated for years and much of
it will not be cultivated until the res
ervoir is finished. Much of it has not
been ditched, cleared or prepared for
irrigation. but that which is now un-
der the plow has reached the day of
rejoicing, for it is now amply supplied
for the present season and there is
even more water in some parts than
the farmers have any use for.
Another statement of Mr.. Hill of
pleasing nature is that there has been
sufficient money allotted to this pro-
ject to keep the work moving not only
at Roosevelt, but in the remodeling of
the ditch system that has been under
way in the valley for the last year.
Sometime ago there was threatening
lack of money, but the construction
fund has been sufficiently replenished
to satisfy the demands.
Concerning his trip Mr.. Hill said he
had had a pleasant time though part of
it was of a strenuous nature, and
though he is not to be regarded as
.enderfoD- anN where in the west. dut-
ing the last two months he has seen
great deal of country new to him and
travelled many new trails. He went
from here to New Mexico, then to
California, for his outing. From there
he went to Mitchell, Nebraska, where
week was spent in conference with
the secretary of the interior and the
supervising engineers. Next he visit
ed the North Platte project in com
many with Chief Engineer Arthur p.
Davis and Supervising Engineer Nc
Connell of that district. The Pain
finder dam was next visited. This he