The border vidette., 1908-02-01
DAM WATER
Building of Reservoir of Great Value
 to Santa Cruz County.

Arizona, realizing that the valley | of the Santa Cruz was rich in | farming land, but considerable part | of it undeveloped by reason of lack | of water, decided to investigate the possibilities of building a reservoir at some feasible point for the pur- pose of storing the flood waters that constantly were going to waste, and ordered Charles k. Perkins, a local engineer, to make a plant and survey of damsite on the Santa Cruz River. Con- siderable time was spent in the investigations, and after carefully weighing and studying conditions from every standpoint, the engi- neer reported the result of his work to the supervisors, but nothing was ever done. Soon after the organ ization of the Nogales ana Santa Cruz County Board of Trade, committee on irrigation was ap- pointed having for it's object the securing of the building of re- servoir by the government on the Santa Cruz river, and after deter mined efforts on their part the movement was started by the gov ernmentestablishing gauging stat ion, which has already resulted in much good in determining the depth of water at all times, the quantity of water, and the flow at mean and flood times.
 Mir. Howard s. Reed, the assis- tant engineer of the reclamation service in charge of Arizona pro- jects under MT. l.. c. Hill, made several visits to the gauging sta ton and finally reported that he would be able to recommend to his de partment that preliminary work be started toward the building of the reservoir as soon as opport- unity presented itself after the larger projects were completed.
 The report of the engineer states that "about four miles above the International boundary line in a canyon an excellent spot was se- cured for the building of dam, but was too expensive project for private enterprise. Uponsexamin- ation it was developed that bed rock could be secured at only AZ feet from the surface. The soil is a stiff, red clay, and the river bed is sand and gravel, and right at this point where bedrock was se- cured the volume of water was far in excess Of that for miles up or down the river"
 "The proposition is to build dam eighty feet high. AS earth and stone of ex cellent quality can be secured in abundance on both sides of the site; the cost is thus materially reduced, and conse- quently fifty thousand cubic yards of earthwork would cost twenty five thousand dollars, and thirty five thousand cubic feet of rock work would cost one hundred and five thousand dollars, or a total of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars The same base of costs can be made for outlet gates and spilway canals. A natural spilway in solid rock for a seventy-foot level is formed by the contour of the hills on the northern side of the proposed reservoir, showing that at each ten foot level there are two square miles covered by the seventy foot level, or nearly ninety thousand acre feet of water filled to that level.
 "The drainage basin above the proposed dam covers an are of somewhat over twelve hundred square miles, subject to more rain fall than any other section of Ari- zona, and all of this water passes down the river and finally into the Pacific Ocean, useless for irrig ation, but damaging to the farms on the river bottom.
 The irrigable land which would be brought under such a reservoir is of an acreage beyond calculation without extensive survey. Thus 1 the facts developed show the feasi bility of the project from natural formation, the abundant water supply, and the land involved which is nearly all government, thus reducing cost of storage to a comparatively low figure per acre foot:"
 Examinations made on other re- servoir sites in Arizona, including the famous Tonto Dam proposition, now known as the Roosevelt Dam, in the Salt River Valley, cannot compare favorably from Il practical commercial standpoint with this Santa Cruz river reservoir site.
 The board of trade is making |