The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1915-03-17

IN kCDND hil m 8npuftoH'N
10 Uhe Elephant Butte pro-
jectv s the way the state.
engineer talks about surveying the.
Rio Granae. setting u channelled and
strengthened. draining the land In the.
valley from Pene Blanca 10 San Mar
cial and thus doing away With the
flood menace and restoring OF bring
ing into fertile productivity some
lso.Qce arFcn oA land now water
loseed OF rapidly becoming useless
thsoueh deposits Of aikaii.
These are large words hut the pro-
ject Il large enough to merit them. "a
appoarh. The survey. failure 10 pro-
vide an appropriation for which was
directly charreable TO tine congcsted
condition OF the a calendar In
tho last Few days % the session. Is
hut the first step. 81 e. however. a
necessary step. state Engineer
French pointed cut, in an interview
given the Herald yesterday. that q
was the primary necessity. the pre-
requisite. az II were. 81 h project
IN ~ vasier sense.
The drainage OF this ITO Grande
valley viii mean restoring 20 use acre
upon acre Of lands now unavailable
because Of their sodden condition,
due 70 a high water table. which
drainage can remove. or else Inn
practicable as farming lands because
Of she amount OF askaii deposited In
them, a condition which also can he
removed by drainage and repeated
irfisa,ions. as has been shown by
government experiments.
The straightening and deepening of
the chnnnel Of the Rio orando means
a cessation Of the flood tina
has kept Albuquerque on tenier
hooks every spring since the memo
rablo occasion In The early part OF
this century when only the most des-
perate efforts prevented the Rio
Grande from returning 10 It's old
channel where the city now stands.
Il also means an end TO all seepage
ponds in the lands near the river bed
and their consequent deposits Of al
kali and other damage.
Further. Il means the actual in
~creasing Of The amount OF water car
rled down the valley available for ir-
rigatlon uSe. for the underfiow will
be concentrated into a region nearer
The actual bed Of the river and thus
VIII have 10 come higher. or above
the surface 70 o certain extent. This
feature Of the project makes Il OF
particular interest 10 the sections ~
ing below the Elephant Butte pro-
ject. Nor win increased Irrigation IN
The upstream sections affect THIS
greatly. Il Il believed. because the I'M
proved Drainage Of the upper valley
lands will carry back much Of the
water used FOR Irrigation.
Taking II altoseiher. It Is said that
the project involves the spending OF
seven or eight millions 81 dollars
state Engineer James a. French has
stated that he believes the project a
proper one for congressional aid and
that. given the survey as a basis for
showing conditions and the opportu-
mites for and probnble benefits OF
Improvement. u should not be CON
sidercd unlikely that that aid would
be extended.
But the survey comes first While
the money Is actually Ia "a iun
hence Il could De taken properly
for use on the survey, h needed
legislative act 20 make it available is
lacking. SIR. french has a plan. q
is understood. for interesting private
individuals IN securing the money Tor
on immediate start upon the survey
work and ia prosecution until a ses-
sion OF The legislature shall make
available the funds IN hand.
Knowing Nr. Wrench. Il is h.rly
safe 20 assert hat the plan is a good
one and the Herald certainly Tor the
sake Of Albuquerque and the rest Of
the interested communities. wishes
him every success in putting Il INTO
effect
---- -------