The daily sentinel., 1914-04-18
LANE PLANS RESERVOIRS
.On GRAND To AID IN
CONTROL Of COL, RIVER
(Contlnued trom Page IL

NNontlnueo. from Page 81
OF the interior have concluded in a
series of surveys that the Colorado
river may be brought under absolute
control, made navigable in places and
so regulated as to furnish the ia
nous Imperial valley with a de-
pendable supply of water for irriga-
tion. in addition to furnishing water
Tor millions of acres of other val
liable arid lands.
Elmer a. Porter of Salt Lake. dis
trict engineer of the United States
geological survey, received author
lty fro, the director of the United
States reclamation service yesterday
to install large automatic water
gauges u the points referred to
above. These gauges will deter
mine the flow of the two big tribu-
taries of the Colorado, and the or
der for their installation is given out
us the initial step in what may be-
come mammoth conservation pro-
iect.
VIII Gather Exact Data.
Readings from these gauges. says
Mr. Porter, will compute the exact
flow of two sections of the Green
river. and the Grand river below the
Dolores, forming the working basis
for the big project. Upon their in
stallation the automatic gauges con-
stantly will be kept under the prac-
ticed eye of experts. Engineers in
the employ of the interior depart
ment are already surveying the
Green river and it's headquarters,
says Mr.. Porter
According to information received
at the Utah district office of the
United States geological survey the
secretary of the interior has set
aside $50, 600 to the account of the
reclamation service for immediate ac-
tion in furtherlng the mammoth con-
Iservation project.
While the project will represent,
in the event of its completion the ex-
penditure of many millions of dollars,
II is stated that it will give millions
in return, not only from benefit de-
rived in making part of the Colorado
naVigable and furnishing water to
huge tracts of arid lands, but from
water power it may develop in pro-
portions second only to the Niagara.
A recitation of other development
which the Harvesting OF the Green
and Grand would accomplish is like
a chapter from a novel. but though
the possibilities of the project seem
like air castles to the unframed
mind. engineers appear to see
clear road ahead of them.
One at Bridgeport.
"The main reservoir site now un-
der consideration is along the Green
river at Bridgeport, northeast OF
Vernal and almost in the extreme
northeast corner OF Utah" says Mr..
Porter. preliminary surveys have
been taken of the site and it is esti
mated that 1t will hold 100000
acre-feet OF water
A second reservoir is suggested
along the Green river, possibly in
the vicinity of the city that bears its
name, but a site has not been selected
or surveyed. work which may call for
1.-THE early attention of engineers who
are to be sent to Utah by the depart-
ment of the interior. Measurements
of the flow of the Green river, it IS
explained, may determine that sec
ond reservoir will not be necessary
on grounds that great hopes are en-
tertained of the influence of the pro-
posed Bridgeport reservoir.
Grand Less of Problem.
The Grand. which comes into
Utah in Grand county, near the Dem
yer G. Rio Grande railroad. and which
forms in conjunction with the Green
the Colorado river at the southeast
corner of Wayne county or at the
toe of the east Orange cliffs, pre-
sents a much smaller problem to the
project than the Green. 1t has al
ready been damned, in 1909 and
1910, at Shoshone, Colo. by the Cen
tral Colorado Power Company. Pri-
or to this accomplishment it was
thought that the Grand could not be
damned, geologists contending that