Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1908-03-25
,,uoyA TOWN TO BE ENTIRELY
WIPED OUT.
-,,n Wednesdays Daily)

A., entire town IN Arizona will be
.,,, away 10y the government in its
-. o; retaining arid lands and
-.t,,g homes for farmers. The name
:, M. town is Roosevelt.
:, another three years, when the
,s,,n, system. now under way, is com.
NOD 10 store the water for the irri.
..iop Of the Salt River valley, the
,,,v place in America where the date
,,ln grows as well as it does in Egypt
III be At the bottom of a lake at
90, 60 feet deep. The place where
u. date grows is Roosevelt.
Roosevelt is town many years old
!, IA, been the postofiice and general
hanging place for the cowboys and
.,rlemcn in the mountains thcreabouts
ma long time, but at last IL has to
:, Tor the sake Of the farmer who tills.
!. nIhcr who will till, the wonderfully
,,A valley below, where lemons and
,nnscs, olives and dates, as well as
almonds. grow side by side with alfal.
a wstcrmelons, cantcloupes and
r,pes. II is one Of the richest val.
br in the great west, and the govern.
r,n, is spending a big sum Of money
h reclaim II.
The site selected for the dam TO i'm.
,und al the food waters in the Salt
ryer is between mountains of solid
tyk, where the river finds its way 10
No plains below, and the town Of
Roosevelt, being, unfortunately, in the
ullev above the dam site, will be GOV.
ned with water when the river is
i'reei above its present narrow, sandy
banks and out over the wide stretch Of
,,un,ry between the two ridges of
fountains that como down on either
rae and to a point at the dam site.
Ibis valley is in cultivation around the
IOWA. and is full of bearing orchards,
'emng gardens and productive little
hrms, but all these, too, will sink TO
De bottom of the lake for the sake of
he much bigger and greater valley be-
h~
The government has already spent
several hundred thousand dollars on
lie work of erecting the dam, but il
ts only Just commenced. First the
tvnsitc of Roosevelt had to be bought
sa', and then the farms that would
cone under the water. Tnen the gov
unment had to bring out immense
,lac,ion engines for Roosevelt and the
dan site, twenty-seven miles from the
nearest railroad station, Mesa, and
sules were not capable Of performing
al the work necessary in the transpor'
ls,ion line.
Then Louis G. Hill, the engineer,
Trough whose genius the great dam
being constructed, figured that it
would be- cheap for the government to
lg' up and operate its own sawmill and
rtmtnt plant, and the machinery was
bought and hauled to the site by i'm
nensc traction engines. The sawmills
were carried into the mountains in
ple'cs by the Indians and set up to get
t1' the timber, while the cement mill
vas put up at the dam, as the rock
m which the dam is TO be constructed
turns out Il fine quality of cement when
properly treated.
Then the problem Of operating the
awmills was faced, and to overcome
'hn small dam-they call 1t small in
comparison with the one that is ia
More water sufficient to irrigatc an
nlally 100000 acres Of rich valley land
was built, and fumc was construct
~ across the country, part Of the river
diverted and the sawmills were put in
" operation. All this done, the gov
eminent was ready for work on thu
lam, and that is just now. for the pre-
nminaries are only just completed ant
The work is starting on the dam.
One should not become inbucd witt
vac idea that the government Is doint
81 this for the love of the farmer Of
on of paternal feeling. Tao truti
Is tho government is only acting as
financial hacker. architect and con
Nmc,or, In the end the farmers are u
pay for all the work, hut il viii be II
me nature Of tax, and the heneht
d'Hvcd are expected to greatly exceed
To cost. Something like T,OOo,oo
VIII be spent before the present SyS
tom is completed. The valleys to b
blessed are considered the richest 4
The world II is estimated that 2,ooo
700 acres will be made richer than tn
isnd of the Nile.