El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-08-27
MIRACLES ACCOMPLISHED BY GOVERNMENT
ENGINEERS IN THE WEST
Some of the Most Wonderful Things Done for the Purpose
Of Watering Arid Regions Making Vast Artificial
Lakes, and Turning Rivers Out of Their Beds
Achievements Well Nigh Fabulous.

COME of the most recdnt achieve
ments of government engineers,
- for the watering of dry regions III
the west, seem well nigh miraculous.
They appeal strongly to the magma
ton, far overpassing. as they do, what
would have been deemed the impossible
a few years ago
Take for example the famous Forty
Nile Desert, in western Nevada Inc
region has long been an abode OF dread,
hundreds of people having died of thirst
while trying to cross it in the days OF
the rush of gold seekers to California Ii
the shallow graves made Tor them had
been dug only a few feet deeper, unlm-
tied quantities of water would have
flowed forth.
All of this great sink IS being rap
idIy TRANSFORMED into a literal garden,
1000 acres having already plentiful
supply of water and producing crops sug-
gestive of the fabulous. The first thing
done by the engineers in this case was
to turn the TrIckee river out OF its bed,
and carry its floods through canal 81
miles long over into the valley OF the
Carson rivera feat deemed BY experts
the most remarkable of its kind eter
known.
many LdhSS OII1AACA.
But this was onl- the beginning. The
engineers. thereupon, went UP into the
mountains and tapped a magnificent
sheet OF water called Lake Tahoe
natural reservoir 21 miles long and IL
miles wide This, however, IS only one
of half a score of lakes In the foothills
of the Sierra Nevada, which are to be
utilized in the same way. a total area
of 100000 acres being eventually wa
tered on this project" alone, which is
known as the Truckee-C Carson
The old Forty Mile Desert trail ran
directly through the middle of this irri
gated area. which is today developing
into one of the garden spots OF the
world. 1t occupies the ancient bed OF
very large lake. which seems to have
disappeared within historic times. At
all events. the indians in that mart OF
the country have traditions in regard
to it. The four principal rivers Of Ne
vada flowed into it for ages, bringing
silt which, deposited on its bottom, now
forms soil of amazing richness, hun
dreds of feet in depth.
Where there is not a lake at hand TO
serve as a reservoir, the engineers make
one. They pick out a suitable place
among the hills. where there is a hollow
that viii serve as a gigantic tank, and
then they turn a river into it-dam-
ming the gaps between the mountains
to prevent the water from getting away.
In this way. in the PecOs valley o1
southeastern New Mexico. they have
erected a vast artificial body of water
in a natural basin, making the enclosure
complete by stopping five gaps iii the
hills with dams This is on the so
called HOndO project
Rivers Diverted
Again. in Wyoming, they have taken
part of the ShOne river. diveTting II
from its course. and have stored its wa
ter by building an enormous dam across
a canyon. In this wav they have Gre
ated an immense artificial lake, which
in the dry season Will supply an area
of 175.000 acres-the tract in question
living Is miles east OF the Yellowstone
National park The dam is the highest
in the world 1928 feet that Is to say,
AZ feet higher than the Flatiron build
ing in New York.
The Roosevelt dam in the Salt river
valley CT Arizona fabout which so much
has been written and printed itself
spans a deep mountain gorge, imnOund
ing for storage purposes bod Gf wa
ter so large that when the reservoir
thus formed is full, it holds enough
fluid to supply n canal 500 feet wide