Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-22
WORLD HIGHEST DAM
1t Is Being Built by the Gov
eminent in Idaho.
TO BE 351 FEET HIGH
Will Back Up Reservoir Capable Of
1rrigating 100000 Acres.
RAILROAD TO AID IN WORK
First AFOREMENTIONED Railway
With the Exception of the
One in Panama.
RAILROAD TO AID IN WORK

owning and operating railroad and Gre
ating the biggest reservoir in existence
are three of the present activities of the
| United States government. The railroad
| is the first aforementioned road in the
United States. and will be opened for
traffic in few days 1t is the work of
| the reclamation service. 1t is of standard
gauge, twenty-five miles long and runs
| between Arrowrock and Boise City. Ida
| no. 1t is the first railroad the govern
| ment ever owned and ran outside that
| through the Canal Zone, at Panama.
The necessity for 1t was the same neces-
sity that has caused the government to
do many unprecedented things In connec-
| ton with the big irrigation projects Of the
| west. Many of them are located in the
heart Of the desert, and it Is necessary
for the government to build roads. tele-
graph and telephone lines, run hotels and
department stores and. in this last VEN
ture, to build railroad.
Only Way to Do It.
There was no other way to get men
| and material to the scene of the work,
and the road was built. In the same way
when the big Roosevelt dam was building
on the Salt river. ia Arizona. it was
necessary to build a road through the
desert and the mountains a total of sew
enty miles. and this road is now con-
| sidered one of the greatest pieces of road
engineering in the United States. 1t may
| be remembered that on this same ROoSe-
Welt dam work the government could not
get cement at anything like reasonable
| inquire and it built a big cement mill
| that turned out 3OU,O0O bags of cement at
an immense saving in money.
The big dam that As being put In on the
ArrOwrock project will be sol feet high.
| the tal.est dam in the world. 1t Is in
narrow section of the BOISE Canyon about
| twenty miles above the city. The site
| was selected only after long search
| There were drill.ngs and pit diggings be-
| fore bedrock was struck and the drills
pierced this strata only after they had
| gone ninety feet below the surface of
! the river. The dam will take between
| four and five years to build. 1t will
| cover an acre Of ground. The top will
be twenty-five feet wide and 1000 feet
| long with a roadway on top protected by
| ee-and-one-half-foot parapet on
| each side. The dam itself will back up
| lake of water that will irrigate 100000
acres. When the reservoir is full the
water will be drawn on through gates
Il near the top of the dam. AS the level
Of the water is lowered gates lower in
the dam will be opened, so that the gates
bead Of water.
G1eCCr1C1ty 1OT sale.
The one place where there will be a
maximum head will be the penstock that
will be put in to run the turbines at the
foot Of the dam. There will always be
need for a great deal Of electric light
and power in connection with the dam
itself, and this electric generating plant
will be enlarged as is desired for the
manufacture Of electric power for sale
TSy,ir ic foot T1rn rndn otn ~
income for several of the big irrigation
works.
Even when the dam is full there are
floods in the Boise river that may tax the
capacity of the work. Observations have
been made for many years, and as a result
there is a safety valve provided for the
| reservoir In the shape OF a spillway al
one end capable Of carrying 10000 cubic
will more than take care of any norma
food in the river. but the dam is SO built
that If necessary water can waste over
the top to depth of from two to foui
feet without injuring the structure itself.
Damming the Rio Grande.
The other big project that IL being
started by the reclamation service now IL
the damning of the Rio Grande at Ele-
plant Butte in New Mexico. This will
not require such tall dam. but 1t is a
dam that will back up the biggest body OF
artificial water in the world 1t will make
a lake bigger than that behind the famous
Assuan dam built by the British in Egypt
and some idea Of its size may be had by
Americans from the fact it Is forty times
as big as the Croton reservoir.
This reservoir is sixteen miles from a
railroad, and one had to be built to the
dam site with the cooperation Of the gov.
eminent from the nearest point on the
main line of the Santa Fe.
Valley to Be Flooded.
III The valley where the present engineer
ing camp is located will be flooded wher
the gates Of the dam are closed. The Lake
| formed will be forty miles long and from
one to five miles wide. The lower part o.
L the town of San Marcial will be foodet
and II will be necessary to move tn,
Il tracks of the Santa Fee to ground twenty
1 five feet higher and farther back In TIL
/ hills.
n site of the big Elephant Butte dam ar,
II more varied even than on the most o.
II the big reclamation projects. Besides tn
III department store and the government no