El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-08-27
and 19 feet deep, extending from De

and ~ 1eet deep, eXtenulng from De
trcit to San Francisco.
Elephant Butte an Old Project.
Yet this can be. and soon will be,
beaten. BY far the largest artificial
lake in the world will be formed in
south central New Mexico by the build
ing of a great dam, only Just begun. at
Elephant Butte. This is on the So
called Rio Grande project. The dam will
be bigger than the Roosevelt, and will
cost about $4,000, 0G0 As for the lake,
it viii be 40 miles long and over 200
feet Deep and some of its water will
be turned overtime land through bitches
which were in use for irrigating pur-
poses (by the indians of that region)
when Coronado marched UP the valley
at the head of his force of Spanish ad
VenturerS.
BY means of a dam 210 feet in height.
built across a narrow canyon, provision
has been made for storing the surplus
waters of the North Platte river at the
flood season. In the dry months they
are turned into canals and distributed
over some hundreds of thousands of
thirsty acres in Nebraska, and Wyoming
On the Colorado river, above Yuma,
a great artificial Jake has been created
for storage purposes by the Laguna dam.
The bulk of the water supplied from
this source in the dry months is brought
down by a canal on the California side
of the stream, because on the Arizona
side of the ella river is in the way. But
a lot Of it has to be got over into Ari-
IONA territory somehow. to irrigate the
fields, and the method adopted BY the
government engineers involves the con-
struction of a ''siphOn" under and across
the Colorado.
The siphon is a cylindrical tube, &C.
ment lined. 100 feet long and IA feet
in diameter. 1t passes under the Colo
RADIO near Yuma. Inasmuch as the level
Of the canal on the California side IS
much higher than the mouth OF the tunnel
on the Arizona side of the river, the
water (frcm this canal will pour out
Of~the Arizona END without any neces-
sitv for pumping. In fact it viii fur
nish considerable power. which the re-
clamation service is preparing to utilize
for pumping some Of the water onto the
high mesa outside Of Yuma
Government Digs Coal
In North Dakota, on the WillistOn
project. the government Is digging coal
from its own mines and burning it to
make power which, in the form OF cleo !
tricity. IS sent a distance of eight miles |
% the Missouri river There the cleo |
tricity is used to run pumping plant, |
on barge moored to the bank The |
electric pumps draw water from the |
river and force il into settling BASIN |
from which. when its sediment has had !
time to fall to the bottom, it passes by /
gravity into canals, irrigating 10000 |
acres of land
On the OkanOgan project, in the state j
OF Washington, huge dam of earth, |
1000 feet long and so feet high, is being
built by a very curious hydraulic pro-
cess. 4 small brook. not far away, runs |
down a mountain side so steeply Is to |
furnish a tremendous amount of energy. |
It Is used TO operate a giant is |!
TO say mighty hose which, turned upon /
the hillsides on either side of gorge. !
literally washes them away. As thew |
are torn down by this means. the earth !
and stones are fetched by fumes ana
deposited in such a manner as to fill in |
the gap between the hills and form
dam.
Big Valley Watered.
Most wonderful of all perhaps is the
engineering feat by which the Uncom-
pahgre valley in Colorado has recently
been watered. 1t is one of the loveliest
regions on earth. and only a few years
ago. settlers, rushing into it in numbers.
took up all the available land. UnfOr
tJnatelv three was not enough water
TO 90 around and trouble followed J