Arizona republican., 1913-12-19
COL. RANDOLPH
 SEES PROGRESS
President of Arizona East eln Visits Phoenix and Talks About Local Con ditions and Proposed Box Canyon Line

No matter how Frequently 1 visit Phoenix l note changes and every evil dence of progress. This has been true for the past twenty years. That prog ress and advancement will be going on ! twenty years hence. While conditions generally about the country cannot be said to be any too good they are eX- { cellent in Phoenix. This must be ap- parent even to the least of the obserV- ing"
 ! Thus spoke Col. Epes Randolph, president of the Arizona Eastern, upon i the occasion of his visit to Phoenix i yesterday. The head of the railroad centering iE Phoenix, came up from l Tucson yesterday in his private car ! 'Pocohontas,' and was accompanied by
 Mrs. Randolph. Part of the day he spent in company with Superintendent 1 C. NJ. Scott. making a trip to the new { wells the company is drilling seven miles northeast of town and insyecting ! the work on the pipe line from the 1 wells 10 the new shops south of the ! city. His trip, said the colonel. had no l particular significance and was entire 1 Iy in the nature of an insuection tour. Speaking of the possibility that i Phoenix will some day be upon the main line of the Southern Pacific with
 the construction of the Gila Box Can Non line, Colonel Randolph said there 1 were no recent developments in the sit nation and that the matter was right up tp the secretary of the interior for. a decision. He intimated that all chat was possible had been done to convince the secretary of the entire impractica- bility of the san Carlos dam project ' r.ft | H.. that would accrue if the railroad is permitted to construct railroad line through the canyon. That the much
 talked of high line would never be con
 structed. he announced positively. The cost of such line he stated would be entirely prohibitive and the advantage if any would not be commensurate with the expense involved in construction | and operation.
 The Casa Grande section is develop
 ing with wonderful rapidity." said
 Colonel Randolph" and that without water from any such project ae that : upon which the secretary of the inter
 iGr is asked to pass judgment | know
 that the average Casa Grandc settler
 is either indifferent or opposed 10 the
 construction of the proposed reservoir.
 on th" ground that il would place an
 unnecessary burden upon them
 A man with the amount of money
 that would be required to construct
 such a project would probably have
 brains enough to know that the returns
 from such a reservoir would not be in keeping with the expense involved. and
 vet the government is asked to declare the project feasible. The reclamation engineers have already announced that the project was not feasible.
 T will say that if the reservoir were
 to be completed it would fill in seven
 ten years, probably less and that
 there is no known practical method by
 which this filling could be prevented
 The silt that comes down there would gather behind the dam and it would . not be long before the reservoir would
 be out of commission.
 "On the other hand by proper drain : age. the railroad could ensure perma-
 nent operation of the line after it was . constructed. While we are encounter : ing difficulty through the methods em- i pIoyed by the state corporation com mission to float improvement bonds, | ! know that if the Arizona Eastern is