The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1911-03-24
coeAT FLOOD OF WATER Is
SENT OVER THIRSTY
LAND.
President Pressed Button
Sending Three Raging Torrents
o,.r sixty-MiIe Course to Farms
o.s Full Crop Expected to Repay
-..;,. Cost of Great irrigation Work.

on
' -.hicb bears his name, former Presi-
S "Int Theodore Roosevelt pressed an
u,A a.ric hutton, which set In motion
mass of grinding machinery, which
urn raised three of the six mas
~ .no iron gates weighing 5000 pounds
0 0 By this act he officially open
ID the Roosevelt storage dam, part
~ the Salt river irrigation project.
Three Raging Torrents.
The motors which raise the gates
had hardly begun to turn before three
-oonq torrents of water came rush
inc through the three openings at diff
soront levels and ran madly down the
,olley, where, after racing fully sixty
,nilns it will be used in the irrigation
If about 100000 acres of land.
The dam has been about five years
in building. The foundation was sur
viewed May Is, 1904. The first stone
was laid September 20, 1906, and the
LAST stone was placed in position in
the parapet walls February 6, 1911.
Largest in United States.
The structure is declared to be the
largest storage dam of it's kind in the
limited States, and with one exception,
the largest in the world. 1t is exceed
ed in size only by the Assouan dam,
on the river Nile.
There are $4,000 cubic yards of ma
sonry in the dam, according to the
records of the reclamation service,
and 100000 barrels of cement, manu-
featured from material found in the
vicinity, were used in it's building.
The structure is of sandstone and
cement, and rises 2S4 feet above the
river. 1t is 1880 feet long on top and
40 feet thick at it's base.
Foundation Covers Acre.
An acre of ground is covered by the
foundation alone Running along the
top which is the length of about two
city blocks, is a roadway 20 feet wide.
The dam forms reservoir twenty
five miles long and more than 200 feet
deep. It's capacity is approximately
56,62S, 100000 cubic feet, or, according
to the officers of the reclamation serv-
ice, enough water to submerge the
state of Delaware in water one foot
deep.
To Irrigate 100000 Acres.
The waters from the dam will be
used to irrigate about 100000 acres of
land in the Salt river valley. After
the water leaves the dam, and before
it reaches the point where it is to be
used, it flows distance of about sixty
miles. 1t is then distributed through
out the land to be irrigated by means
of diversion dam
The valley, it is said, will become
one of the richest agricultural valleys
IN the world. Crops can be raised
twelve months in the year.
One Crop Will Pay Cost.
1t is estimated by C. ]. Blanchard,
statistician for the reclamation serv-
Ice, that one full crop from this val
ley Will equal more than the entire
cost of the irrigation works. He de-
clared that land that was not worth
cent per acre before the project was
quilt, since its completion has rised in
value from $500 to $1,000 an acre.
The six massive gates of iron, which
VIII control the outlet of the waters of
lne Dam, each weigh 10000 pounds.
lhey measure feet inches wide and
III feet high. They are divided into
'nree regular" and three "emergency'
gates; the latter to be used only in
cases OF extreme floods.
Town Under Water.
Inc original town of Roosevelt,
which was built by the people who
went TO the dam to work, now lies I'M
uer about 200 feet of water. It's sue
eeSsor has been built higher upon the
mountain slope.
Inc government road, which it was
necessary to build before work on the
uam could be begun, was guarded to-
uas 1or every mile of it's length to pro-
'iae against any possible mishap. It
was cut for a greater part of it's length
ou' ol solid rock, and skirts the edge
VI preclpices at dizzy heights.
blAMES cAProM AAt0