Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1909-11-18
COMMITTEE
IN NEW MEXICO
Spend Greater Part of Day at
Site of Elephant Dam
Project
BIGGEST IN THE WORLD
Will Cost $8,OOO,OOO and WiIl
Take Eight Years to
Finish.

HI PaSO, Texas, Nov. lS.-The Uni
ted States Senate irrigation commit
tee headed by Senator Carter of Nom
tana, spent today at the site of he
Elephant Butte dam in New Mexico.
This will be the greatest irrigation
project in the world, larger even than
the famous Assouan dam in Egypt. 1t
will cost eight millions of dollars and
will require eight years to construct.
The lake to be formed by the dam will
be forty miles land and will hold the
entire flow for three years of the Rio
Grande river. The lake will irrigate
225 600 acres of land in New Mexico,
Texas and Mexico. The building of
the dam fulfills the treaty obligation
with Mexico. That country complain
ed for twenty years against the stop
page of the flow of the Rio Grande ana
the matter was finally settled by the
United States agreeing to impound
the waters of the International stream
and divide them with Mexico.
Inasmuch as water will be constant
ly used from it for the farms, engin-
GERS estimate that the lake will be Is
years in filling after completion.
The dam is being constructed be-
tween two solid rock banks and the
United States capitol building at
Washington, if inverted would not
fill the space it will occupy
Composed of Senator Thomas Henry
Carter, of Montana, Francis Emory
Warren, of Wyoming, and Wesley l..
Jones, of Washington, the committee
is making a tour of the irrigation pro
iects of the west in order to learn. by
observation and from the men in
charge, the actual conditions as they
exist in the irrigated countries of the
west.
Accompanied by Frederick H. New
ell, director of the reclamation SER
vice, Louis C. Hill, supervising engi-
neer of the same service, the senators
have visited every big government ir-
rigation project in he west coming
to FL Paso from Phoenix, where an
tuto trip was made to the site of the
Roosevelt dam.
Curry Joins Party.
In addition to the senators the SEN
atorial party is made up Of Steven A.
Murphy, of Washington, who is in
charge of the trip; C. B. Eaton, of Sc
attle, the official stenographer of the
party, and George ]. Scharchung, the
representative of the Chicago Record
Herald on the trip. w..
Governor George Curry joined the
party at Deming and accompanied it to
Ell Paso. w. E. Baker. of Las Cruces,
also came to El Paso on the train.
Prominent Santa Fe officials met
in Ell Paso to form railroad escort
for the senators over their tracks.
Among the railroad officials in the
party are R. ]. Parker, general suDer-
intendent, and F, l.. Meyers. division
superintendent at San Marcial, who ar
rived last night from La Junta by
special train. C. w. Kouns, Avery Tar
ner and F. NJ. Bisbee, prominent of.
ficials from Amarillo, Tex. and ]. R.
koontz, geenral freight agent, and ].
M. Connell, general passenger agent.
from Topeka, Kan
Immediately after breakfast, at Las
Cruces this morning, the party went
to the armory where a general mass
meeting lasted about an hour From
there the party was taken in automo-
biles for trip around the valley to
the Agricultural College and farm and
other places Of interest. Arrangements
have been made yith the railroad to
have the special train backed down
from Las Cruces to Mesilla Park, from
which place the party will take the
train for the upper valley, accompan-
led by the El Paso and Las Cruces
delegations in their special Pullman at.
tached to the committees train