Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1911-03-24
ROOSEVELT DAM
FORMALLY OPENED
GREATEST RECLAMATION PRO.
JEcT IN WORLD SUCCESS
FULLY COMPLETED.
COLONEL IS AN HONORED GUEST
Cheering Crowds Congratulate Former
President to Whom Is Due Honor
Of Starting Project-Roosevelt
Makes Principal Speech.

Roosevelt, Ariz., March IS. ~ Amid
the cheers of thousands assembled to
day to witness the formal opening Of
the largest dam in the world, the
Roosevelt structure across the canyon
of the Salt River, Miss Ethel Roose.
welt, under the direction of her father
touched the button that sent the i'm.
prisoned waters of the Arizona river
ripping through the vast system OF
canals that will transform his sun.
baked construction town and 100000
acres of shifting desert sand into a
veritable Garden of Eden.
The arrival of the Roosevelt party,
who motored seventy-five miles across
the desert to attend the ceremonies,
was signal for wild hilarity among
those assembled to witness the event.
The cheering crowds pressed about
the little group of prominent state
and government officials to offer
thanks and congratulations to the col
onel, to whom in great measure they
owed the successful completion of the
project and he repeatedly removed his
hat in acknowledgment of the
cordial welcome.
After the first enthusiastic greeting
had died away the party was escorted
to platform erected near the famous
dam. Here every convenience that
could add to the comfort of the hon.
ored guest had been installed and
here, surrounded by an eager throng
of sunburnt plainsmen, farmers. and
artisans employed upon the great
work, the three days ceremonies in
honor of the formal dedication of the
great work, began.
Greatest World Has Ever Seen.
These ceremonies mark the success
full termination of one of the greatest
reclamation projects the world has
ever seen. They mean the reclama-
ton of miles of burning desert, the
termination of years of toll under the
blazing Arizona sun, and the addition
to Arizona's farming lands of terri
tory whose productive wealth will
equal that of the most favored farm
ing districts of the world.
For countless ages the principal
stream of Arizona, the Salt River,
swollen to torrential proportions in
che spring by the melting SHOWS of the
distant mountains and diminishing to
a tiny creek under the blazing sun of
summer, has wound its tortuous
course through hundreds of miles of
sun-seared desert land that needed but
he application of water to blossom
INTO luxuriant vegetable life. The
waste of this rich territory was called
to the attention of Colonel Roosevelt
when he occupied the presidential
chair, and he, in turn, ordered the gov
ernment's reclamation department to
investigate.
Engineers were sent to explore the
valley of the Salt river. Maps were
made of it's winding course and sam
pies of it's soil were forwarded to
Washington, with lengthy reports.
Here the reports were passed upon by
the reclamation department, the soil
was analysed and the matter referred
to the president, whose warm interest
had given the scheme life.
Desert to Blossom az Rose.
This, however, was but the begin
ming; the physical construction yet re-
manned. The town of Phoenix, Ariz.,
was chosen as base of supplies and
from that place the heavy machinery,
tools, lumber and the thousand and
one odds and ends that go to make
up a construction camp were hauled
seventy-five miles through the burning
desert to a point where the canyon of
the Salt river was but LOO feet
across. Here the first rude huts of
the now flourishing town of Roosevelt
upon what was destined to be one of
the largest dams in the world, CON-
menced.
All this was some three years ago,
and since that time the work has
been steadily carried on till today
the structure as it stands complete is
a massive wall of stone whose feet
rest on the SOllu TOCh ldT UolOW Tie
shifting river bed and rise sheer 2S0
feet to the parapet that borders the
broad roadway along it's top, impris-
oning lake, 80 miles in length, whose
waters would cover a million and a
quarter acres a foot in depth.
But aside from the mere physical
construction of the dam are other in
teresting features. The ingenious
method the government employed to
finance the scheme, so that every cent
of the sum expended could be used
again to promote still more reclama-
ton projects; and the soil condition
that makes the arid desert land so fer
tile when water is applied. In this
warm climate and with the brilliant
sunshine almost every day in the year,
the growth OF plants is phenomenal.
Crops follow crops in constant sue
cession and when the soil is we'll sub
dued, high-grade fruit trees are set out,
so that with proper handling the land
which without water cannot grow any
hing of value is able to return an