Bisbee daily review., 1908-02-08
EXPECTED SALT RIVER FLOOD IS NOW ON
But Rains Have Done More
 Good Than Any Damage Can Amount To.

PHOENIX, Feb. 7.-The thing that has been expected all winter, feared at first and then finally hoped For, a big flood in Salt River, is now on and the old dry wash is doing herself proud. It is just little bit too much of a good thing in fact, but Gre ex- tolerance is accepted without protest for Salt river always was cratic and it could not be expected that it would be brought finally and fully under con trol in one turn oF the rope, even by so resourceful an institution as the reclamation service. This litIe spree will cost the government and in the last analysis the farmers a few hun dred dollars for repairing the Arizona temporary dam, replacing small amount of machinery that was caught at Granite Reef and the patching up of a canal bank here and there, but that is nothing compared to the hun dreds of thousands of dollars worth of good the rains have done, or the thousands of dollars worth of damage or cost that might have followed the coming of the flood a couple of months earlier.
 The first big volume ot water that came down the Salt either yesterday morning or during the preceding night tore a hole in the Arizona dam, the size of which cannot be determined until the water recedes. It is esti- mated at from 50 to 150 feet long, but if the whole dam goes the farmers will still be making money as the re suit of the rain for with the govern ment force organized and Ieauy t0 replace it, the epxense will not be en:- barrassing. It was at first reported that the Verde water broke the dan, but it was learned later that until late yesterday the Verde had not IIsen until after the Salt flood had begun to pass it's mouth.
 e Yesterday morning there was flow of 0,000 second feet at Roosevelt and the river kept rising until at 11:30 it measured 1000 second feet at which stage 1t remained for three or four hours. By 4:30 yesterday afternoon it had fallen four feet as shown by the river gauge and it was assumed the crest of the flood had passed. About that time, however, it was re- ported that it was rising again at tue intake twenty miles above and the water was then six feet over the in take dom. By p. m. however, there had been little change at Roosevelt, and it was believed that the little flood at the intake had flattened out and would scarcely make itseH felt.
 The suddenness of the rlse aG Roosevelt was due to the fact that the masonry of the dam had already obstructed the flow of the river until there was quite a lake on hand and all the water that comes down was extra" and piled up last. This also makes the normal water level above the dam higher than before so that when the flood arrived the suspension footbridge across the channel was submerged and swept away
 Comparing this flood with the big one two years ago, however. it was not much over half as large as the record then was in the neighborhood ] of 150,000 second feet And that it is believed was almost as large vol ume as the river carried in the mem orable flood of 1881. Its effect on the valley was not so destructive though as the former flood for the reason that the big levee east of town kept the water in the river bed which mad also been previously secured out, as it is now, so it would accommodate a larger flow than in 1881.
 At 4:30 yesterday afternoon the gauge at Richins' station showed 16 feet in the Salt, which was 13 Feet higher than the night before. At the same time the Verde showed 1-2 feet and had been stationary for some time.
 Up to last night there had been no serious damage reported in the valley, though there was some trepidation as to what might happen at the joint head and the ditch gang was trans ferred to that point to be on guard during the night in the event the levee or the canal bank needed strengthening. Harry Hancock who has charge of the zanjero force put all the regular men and an extra one to work and the most good possible is being derived from the flood in an irrigating way. The lower canals have all the water the farmeis .ah use and all ths laterals are full in divisions l and under the Arizona. l In divisions and where the laterals are larger and longer every other on,