El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-01-11

Colorado and the perennial flow Of the
stream was stopped. Because OF the set
Element Of this obligation, congress
pays $1,000, 900 towards the cost OF the
dam.
Extent Of Work.
1t is expected that the work can be
completed in between four and five
years The dam itself will fill a space
larger than the capitol building Of the
United States-that great structure il
inverted and set down into the river
between the rock walls where the dam
is TO be built would not half fill ths
space to be occupied by the dam. The
lake TO be formed by the dam will be 40
miles long and will completely obliter-
ate six Mexican settlements. one OF
them Paraje, at one time a town Of
much importance in the days of the old
Santa Fe trail, then inhabited by 1000
souls. At present it is a village Of but
two or three hundred people. AItogeth-
er, about 1900 people will be forced to
move out of the valley when the dam
is completed and the waters are i'm
pounded in the great lake.
Diverting the Waters.
The water is to be diverted by means
Of the river channel and bitches below
the great dam, and the government ex-
perts figure that there will be ample
100000 acres Of land The valley land
is very fertile and a few acres viii
make a good livelihood for large fam
lily. AS consequence, FL Paso at no
very distant future, expects to become
an agricultural and fruit center Of no
small proportions, and thus add to her
prestige already gained as mining
and railroad center Fruit and vegeta-
bles already grown in the valley
grown here for ages by the natives and
the Americans who came 1ater-haye
demonstrated that the climate and soil
will produce fruits and vegetables OF
as fine a quality and flavor as any
region in the world
The Construction Work.
The construction Of the great dam
is under the direction Of engineers Of
the United States reclamation service,
L. C. Hill, W. NJ. Reed and J. A
French being the principal men direct
ing the work and ranking in the order
named All the preliminary work Of
the mammoth undertaking has been
disposed of The soundings have all
been taken and the exact location de-
cided upon for the construction of the
dam A well has been put down to fur
nish the water supply and an immense
concrete. reservoir constructed on a
mountain top TO furnish the pressure.
and others are now being erected to
accommodate the employees
With the completion Of these and the
railroad building operations, machin-
cry will at once be Installed and the
dam construction can then commence
Some Of the machinery at the Roosevelt
dam near Phoenix. ARK, is to be
brought over for use at Elephant Butte
and much new machinery viii be pur-
chased The cement for the dam viii be
manufactured in FL Paso at the big
million and half plant OF the FL Paso
Portland Cement company.
Getting the Power.
The power for the machinery at the
dam will either be generated at the
damsite with modern machinery or
brought over the country from the
mines Of the Carthage Coal. company.
so miles north : A proposition ito. bring
the power overland Is now before the
officials Of the reclamation service at
Washington and win be decided in a
short time.
The United States government has re-
peatedly recognized the claims Of the
people Of the Rio Grande valley TO the
waters OF the river, because Of priority
of usage and. this. together with the
fact that in It's construction treaty
is to be fulfilled with friendly nation,
is causing every possible speed to be
exercised in getting the work under
way and completed.