Arizona republican., 1914-12-20

Undoubtedly the rain of the past four days is of great benefit to tho Salt river project, but there is no use overestimating it, declared a reclamation enginees yesterday, when his attention was called to reports that the continued downfall was rap idly filling the reservoir Additions to the stored water supply will, un- der present conditions, amount to about 5000 acre feet a day. Unless something unforeseen happens, we can count on not much more than that amount every twenty four hours. The resevior now contains not quite two hundred thousand acre feet. Its ca pacity is something like a million, two hundred thousand acre feet.
 We should be very glad, but we should not get hysterical about it"
 At the rate of gain of 5000 acre feet a day, it would take two hund- red days, or until late next summer to fill the reservoir
 According to Section Director Robert R. Briggs, the cause of this almost unprecedented continuation of cloudy days, is peculiar formation of high and low pressure areas chasing each other across the conti- nent Strangely enough, the high pressure spot over Colorado and Kan sas has seemed to hold the Arizona low" in place for over thirty hours, so that the rain has been prolonged. l.. a lot of other little highs and lows will come bursting down from Wash ington and Oregon, and then nobody can tell what will happen. The situ- atiOn is almost without parallel-the only comparison being the one that gave the United States a cold snap two years ago.
 The center of the storm stayed in northern Arizona all yesterday. The extent of the atmospheric disturbance is immense. stretching from the coast to Texas, where it joins with another storm and makes all that broad band of territory from Arizona to New York state. the scene of more or less continuous rains and snOws.
 Nearly four inches of rain fell or some parts of the watershed up tc from Roosevelt, it was learned that there was no sign of a break in the clouds. Less than 2,50O inches ot water is being used at the dam fol power purposes. and all the rest of the inflow is being saved.
 As result of the rain, the water shed for that part of the Salt river between Roosevelt and Granite Reel contributed about 150,0OO miners in ches of water yesterday All of il was wasted. as there is no demand for irrigation water now, and nc storage facilities below the big dam The Verde contributed comparativel5 little to the increase in the flow al Granite reef.
 An accident at the Crosscut power plant yesterday, compelled the engi neers to order a certain part of tht lead distributed from Roosevelt. On' commission when water got in conduit pipe and caused short cir cult. burning out the connections Two other generators at the Crosscu plant and the Arizona falls whicl Is running at full capacity, are carry ing the entire load for the Salt rive valley. The rest of the Crosscu plant will be back on the job afte repairs today. All the water tha can be forced down the Crosscut i being turned into turbines, in orde that the valley plants may meet tn power demand, and save the wate in the reservoir.
 The time for moss coating tn north sides of the sajuaras and GOV ering the burning desert many inche deep in yellow water. and running tn river banks full, and having hypo thetical floods in the channels past" continued the man of the frs paragraph of this narrative. Tt
 true that it is a grand and glorior rain, but it hasn't changed the horr ed toads to amphibians, or the chal acteristic flora of the desert to por lilies. The main expression of cour tenance. noticed upon the streets
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