The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-05-14

river by government engineers and the
water is taken out behind IL ana con
Quoted, in a tunnel three and one quar-
ter miles long blasted through gran
tie mountain, to the lands under the
ditch" 1t is estimated that there VIII
be enough water to irrigate LOU acres
without storing the flood waters in the
CANYON back of the Shoshone dam, as
contemplated.
The dam that is to impound the
waters for the immense tract that Will
later be put under irrigation, Will be
the highest in the world. 1t will wall
IN a narrow gorge in the mountains
sixty feet. wide at the bottom. 200 feet
at the top, and 32S feet above the hrst
levels of rock and granite that form
it's broad base.
This places the top of the dam II Il
feet higher than the tip of the feathers
on the head of Armed Liberty" the
statue that surmounts the dome of the
United States capitol at Washington
The dam intersects Box canyon at
it's narrowest point and, while 1T seems
to the eye of the traveller the most nat
ural place in the world to build a dam,
its construction was not without diff
culties. The site is SO inaccessible that
no private capital could afford to have
begun the construction work. In order
to get to the dam site, the reclamation
service had to build a road up the
steep sides of the mountains This
alone cost $4,000. The reservoir that
will be created will flood the old Cody
road into the Yellowstone park and
it was therefore necessary to construct
another higher up. The engineers en-
countered solid granite all the way.
They report that on either side of the
canyon is found granite of as fine quail
ity as that found anywhere in the
United States. A suspension bridge
was thrown across the top of the can
yon at the dam site and workmen were
let down to the river bed by means
of ropes and buckets precisely as they
would descend into a mine. Blocks of
granite heWn from the sides of the
canyon were used as a base for the
dam
Behind the dam is the bed ST an old
lake, formed before nature drilled out
the canyons with her immense gla-
ciers in prehistoric times. This will be
flooded again and it is estimated that,
besides controlling the flood waters of
the Snoshone river, there will be enough
water to irrigate every available foot of
ground in the Big Horn basin. The
lake will occupy 10 square miles and
will average in depth about 100 feet
The building of the Shoshone dam
was derided as chimerical project by
engineers all over the world and, be-
cause of the inaccessibilitv of the site
and the rough character of the coun-
try, the work now stands as the best
example of the American engineers
motto, nothing is impossible to the
man of courage and resource
1t is estimated that the dam will cost
about $6,000,000 when completed, which
will make the cost OF water about $45
an acre.
The government will abandon it's
lottery scheme of drawing for farms
in the unit opened for settlement this
month. Lots in the town of Powell
will be sold to the highest bidder on
Monday, May "a, and the farms in the
surrounding neighborhood will be auc-
toned off on Saturday, May %.
All the railroads through this coun-
try are making especially low rates
this year on account of the Seattle ex-
position, and the government officials
are looking for a large number of set
tiers.