Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-06-21

/ dotted with thriving towns and vii
4 lagos, and barred with long rows of
fruit trees, the government engineers
have overcome almost unheard OF OBJ
stacles.
Beyond the Wasatch range which
rims the valleys eastern border,
Strawberry river, for centuries bank
full, perhaps, has run uselessly by,
its waters finally reaching the Gulf of
California through the Colorado river.
/ To divert this water from the Colo
RADIO drainage basin and turn it into
/ the Utah valley, the enormous Straw.
berry tunnel, nearly four miles long,
has been bored through the Wasatch
/ Mountains. Its cross section meas
ures more than so square feet. II is
walled and buttressed with timber and
lined with cement
/ Before construction could begin,
thousands of miles of valley and rough
mountain country were surveyed AMI
mapped, and tunnel and canal lines
marked out. a telephone line 2S
| miles long, extending from Spanish
( Fork TO both portals of the tunnel was
.
diamond Switch, the shipping point
o nthe Denver & Rio Grande railroad.
! to both portals, 80 miles long. was
made. Down in the foothills a diver
sion dam was thrown across Spanish
Fork river and the waters turned into
a power canal S12 miles long, which
cropped them through huge pipes on
the big turbines 100 feet below. Power
thus generated was transmitted electric
ally to the tunnel site, where it was
used 10 turn the diamond drills in the
rock, light the camps and run the
heavy machinery. The surplus has
been sold to towns in the valley for
municipal and commercial purposes.
The camps are located mile and a
half above sea level, and during sew
eral months each winter have prac-
ucafy been isolated from the world,
the roads blocked by masses of snow
and ice. For more than two years the
work has gone on without ceasing,
three shifts of men alternating during
The "a hours of the day and night.
thousands of gallons Of water, poison
GUS gases, and swelling ground have
made the work difficult and danger.
Gus. The men fed for their lives on
several occasions.
( In 1910 the work of placing the con-
c1ete lining was begun and since
has been carried on simultaneously
with the excavation of the heading.
This required skillful handing Of men
and material to avoid delay in either
feature OF the work Notwithstanding
the difficulties Of the undertaking it
has been carried to completion without
the loss of a single life.
Beyond the tunnel, in the shadow of
The granite peaks, a great reservoir is
being built. A retaining dam of rock,
cement and steel is being built so
deep that six story building might
De hidden behind it. Fed by melt
ing SHOWS the waters will rise be-
hind this structure. covering $500
acres with 27S,OOO acre-feet of water.
The valley to be irrigated is es-
pecially interesting because it is the
scene Of the earliest irrigation by
AnSlo-Saxons in the west. Settled by
Brigham Young and his followers in
lS41, after their march through more
than a thousand miles of unknown
territory peopled by savages, it is the
Oldest example of community farm
ing by an English speaking people in
the west. For protection against the
Indians the farmers lived in little
towns throughout the valley, their
houses built close together and facing
a common street or square, thus prac-
tically forming forts. Some of these
old community houses are still stand
ing. The original farms were for the
most part not more than 40 or so acres
In size, which may account to some
extent for the early success of agricuI-
ture under extremely difficult condi-
tons.
/ When the storage and distribution
system is finished and an ample water
supply assured for all time, the valley
VIII support more than a thousand
farm homes. Salt Lake City and the
nearby mining camps will furnish a
home market for many of the products.
and three railroad lines which trav-
erse the irrigable area, will furnish
, unusual transportation facilities TO the
outside world.