The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1915-10-01
ARROWROCK DAM PUT
N COMPARISON WITH
OTHER STRUCTURES

Boise, Idaho, Sept. 29.-Arrowrock
dam that arrests the flow of the Boise
river just above the city of Boise, that
Gigantic vault door of reserve bank
in which is to be stored each year a
mighty treasure in liquid millions, is
an accomplished fact. After deep
planning and years of hard labor it is
finished. There is stands today chal-
longing the world as the highest dam
vet built, a monument to the efficiency
of the government Reclamation Ser
vice. the key to an irrigation project
that adds 100000 fruitful acres to the
permanent wealth of the nation.
At a time when other communities
in other countries are celebrating the
accomplishments of war, it seems fit,
ting that this community, in the heart
of America, should celebrate this
great accomplishment of the arts of
peace. This will be done.
Boise, the capital city of Idaho, is
to be the scene on October 4 of
celebration unique and long to be re-
membered.> 1t is to partake Of the
nature of harvest home and barbe-
cue. Settlers from all parts of the
project, the direct benehciaries of the
water from Arrowrock, will place on
the altar on this occasion the best
their lands has produced. Fat cattle,
hogs, sheep and poultry are ready for
the sacrifice. Fruit, grain and vege-
tables challenging the best in the land
will be free for the asking. Thanks
giving offerings will be genuine and
sincere.
Gathered at this celebration will be
the settlers from the four counties in
cluded in part in the project-Ada,
Roise, Canyon and Elmore; citizens
from the large communities of Boise,
Nampa and Caldwell who profit d.
rectly from the reclamation of this
land; residents of Meridian. Kuna,
Bowmont, Melba, Greenleaf and
Wilder,-towns that have sprung to
life on the project since the water
was given to the thirsty soil; men,
women and children from all sides
by the thousands to take part in the
general rejoicing
Few outside the semi-aried sections
of the west realize what this means,
this conversion of a vast tract of
blistering waste into fruitful gardens,
orchards and farms;-this transfor
nation of a weary stretch of sage
brush desert into an abode of thrifty
and contented citizens with their
homes, their villages and their
schools. Few, even among those on
the land, appreciate the magnitude of
the undertaking.
In the reservoir back of Arrowrock
dam, a reservoir l8 miles long, cap
able of draining basin of 26l0 square
miles, more than twice the area of the
state of Rhode Island, there is to be
water for irrigation in the late sum-
mer months when the normal flow of
the river is exhausted. By throwing
the dam across narrow gorge in the
canyon the channel of the river is
converted into natural reservoir
running back into the hills for IL
miles and with maximum depth of
200 feet.
This body of water to be thus held
in reserve would cover 244 1000 acres
or 38l square miles to a depth of
one foot. 1t would cover the entire
city of Boston with her AZ square
miles with eight feet of water. It
would float the combined navies of
the world in lake of lo square miles
80 foot deep.
Every gallon of the regular flow of
the Boise river throughout the irri-
CATION season, from April l to Octo-
Der 81, had been appropriated by early
settlers, and neither the federal gov
eminent nor anyone else could in
fringe on these prior rights. But in
the late winter and early spring, be-
fore water is needed for irrigation,
the river is a torrent. and this Valu-
able surplus simply rushed away year
after year to swell the volume OF
the Snake and Columbia.
And in all these years there was
lying right at hand this magnificent
body of land parched and useless.
This, then, was the problem of the
Reclamation Service,-to capture this
flood, to hold it in reserve until need
ed for irrigation in the hot, dry, sum
mer months, and then to pay it out
as prudent banker throws his mon
ey into circulation. 1t was a problem
that called for clear vision, engineer
ing skill, patience, hard work and the
expenditure of $l2,000,000, the APP
proximate cost of a modern battle
ship.
This reference to the cost of bat
tleship in this connection, however
is hardly fair Little of the money
put into battleship ever returns, and
the battleship at the end of 4 few
years is but a pile of junk, Every
dollar put into a government irriga-
ton project is returned in the form
of payments for land and water, And
while the battleship is scraping the
bottom of the ocean or rusting into