Arizona republican., 1911-10-22
The ella Canyon Controversy.

The end of the long controversy
over the ella canyon appears to be
in sight The Hon. Samuel Adams,
assistant secretary of the interior, is
about to begin a personal investiga-
ton of the whole question. He will
inspect the canyon itself, including
the reservoir site of which the can
yon is the key. He will confer with
the representatives of the Pinal
county ranchers and with their en-
gineer. and try to acquaint himself
with all relevant facts, so as to
enable the department to reach fair
decision. Presumably the decision
will be forthcoming before many
weeks
No similar question has ever in
terested so many people in Arizona
On one side of the controversy are
the ranch owners of Pinal county,
who want the reservoir site conserved
for their benefit. There are con-
flicting claims to the site, the claims
being based on filings" Cnotices OF
intention to use the site as reser-
voir). but this is only incidental to
the main question. On the other
side is the Arizona Eastern Railway
company, which asks for a right of
way through the canyon on grade
which. if used, would preclude the
construction of a reservoir
The people of Phoenix and of the
Salt River valley are deeply interest
ed. because of their intense desire
to have a transcOntinental railroad:
If the Arizona Eastern builds its pro-
iected line through the canyon ian
extension of the road now in opera
ton for one hundred miles from
Phoenix it will form part of a
Southern Pacific line from Yuma to
L.ordsburg, and the new line will in
fact become the main line Of the
Southern Pacific through Arizona, be
cause of the elimination Of grades.
The people of this section are eX-
ceedingly friendly to the agricultural
interests Of Pinal county; the de-
veIopment of that county agricul-
turally would create a rich country
tributary to Phoenix. 1t has been
hoped. therefore, that the conflicting
interests Of the railway company and
Of the ranchers could be reconciled
in some way. so as to assure prac-
teal method of providing water for
irrigation in the Florence Casa Grande
and at the same time as
,ure the construction of the much !
needed railroad.
The ranchers of Pinal also wish to /
see the railway constructed. But
they insist that it would be prac-
ticable for the projected road to fol- l
ow a higher contour line from Win |
kelman to San Carlos and still pre-
serve a grade of less than one-half
Of one per cent. This the railway |
,oronapv denies. 1t asserts that the |
suggested high line" is not accept
able. The railway company claims
moreover that there are insupcrable
objections to the site as reservoir
hat it has been condemned by the
engineers as impractical
he cost of building a stable dam at
hat point being prohibitive as
against the relatively small quantity
= water which would be impounded,
md it urges in detail the various
Injections found by the government
,ngineers in their Investigations. The
.ailwav company insists that not only
yould the reservoir dam Of ltseh
,ost too much to make the project
practicable. but that the incidental
,ost. connected with damages to rail-
yav and other property in the Nicih-
~ Of San Carlos would be an enor-
nous sum.
All this in turn, the Pinal folks
.efuse to accept as true, and thus
he matter stands for Departmental
lecision.
one of the pertinent questions
which of course will have the I'M
partial attention of Secretary Adams
5 that of the feasibility of a high
inc" for the railroad. If it should
levelop that it is practicable for the