Arizona republican., 1910-03-21
DEVELOPING
 ENTERPRISE NeM Irrigation and Power Project of Large Magnitude ON BILL WILLIAMS FORK
Will Involve Hydro Eleo- trio Plants For Furnish
 ing Power For Mining
 Companies, and Watering
 of 100000 Acres of Land

A number of Pittsburg capitalists l nave associated themselves for the pur- pose of developing and exploiting a hydro electric power and irrigation project on the Bill Williams Fork which forms the dividing line between Yuma and Mohave counties in western Arizona The enterprise it is estimat
 ed will require an investment of ap-
 proximately s3.0OO.000. for the raising Of which the promoters have prac- tically completed their plans. Prelim- inaries are under way and have been
 for a long time. but actual construction will not he undertaken until late in the fall The enterprise if il materi
 alizes on the lines planned. will in many ways be q replica of the Salt river project of the government. about half as large in point of area to be reclaimed. quarter as large in wa ter power to he developed. and will be an undertaking of private capital.
 covered region for exploitation nor in a general way are the plans entirely new. For a quarter of a century Ari- zsna pioneers have had the Bill Will Hams Fork marked for a region of az ricultural wealth. ultimately. and some attempts have been made to that end, always thus far. ending in failure. Phy sical conditions remain as ever, but the development of the country in a mineral way. giving market for pow CT and produce. the approach of the iron horse to within a few miles of the seat of operations. and the ac- quirement of necessary preliminary rights by men financially able to finance the undertaking. presents con ditions so different from those of oth- CT days. that the promoters feel con- fident of success. and there seems at this time to be no reason for con- trary opinion. The gentlemen con cerned have long been engaged in the preliminaries and from time to time their operations have been modestly referred to by others. It was only yes terday. however. that authoritative in formation was secured to the effect that the preliminaries are satisfying and the project will be undertaken.
 The authority is Charles F. Stalker of Pittsburg. one of the men concerned, who has been in the Bill Williams business. and is now in Phoe- nix en route to Washington on business in connection with the operating plans. The initial construc- ton will be the building of stor- age dam in the canyon on Bill Will Hams Fork at site some distance be- low what is known as Rogers ranch. about siXty-five miles up the FoYk, from its junction point with the Colo rado river. This dam will be 250 feet high. 70 feet long 1t datum and 250
 
 lake of watex twelve miles long aver aging about three miles wide. This reservoir. it is estimated, will store 1. 500. 900 acre feet of water
 At the dam site hydro electric power plants will be constructed capable of developing from 5000 to 5000 horse power. market for which will be found at the mining plants in the nearby country that can be easily reached with a transmission line. Such line ap proximating forty miles in length in the form of loop or circuit. it. is said, will reach the Clara Consolidated Planet, Cunningham Pass. Montana & Arizona and a number of other present enterprises. to say nothing of score of prospective mines of the future. The promoters in fact have a mine of their own in that same country. It goes without saying that such companies will welcome the chance to buy electric power cheaply generated by water, in preference to expensive steam power.
 The Clara Consolidated property. or Swansea town. is only about twelve miles distant from the dam site, and the railroad is now operating to Swan sea. That brings the seat of these op- erations a great deal nearer to the out side world than ever before though for the present the direct communication