Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1920-03-05
IRRIcAIoN IN SNAKE RIVER
VALLEY
Sneech delivered by Barry Dibble, U.
s. Reclamation Project Manager,
Minidoka, Idaho Reclamation Asso-
citation Convention at Burley, Idaho.

upon storage water in order to secure
an adequate supply. The natural flow
Of the streams of Idaho during the irri-
CATION season has been pretty well
: developed. The requirements Of the
land now considerably exceed what is
being supplied by the normal flow of
the streams,
Idaho is extremely fortunate in hay
ing the Snake River upon which TO de-
pend for the future. Snake River is
an extremely reliable stream; far less
erratic than most of the irrigation
streams of the world and we also have
storage sites, reservoir sites which
make it possible to conserve almost
all of the flood flow ] have prepared
a man of Southern Idaho storage,
particularly the drainage basin OF
the Snake River The Snake flows
for a considerable distance through
Wyoming and it is in Wyoming we
find jackson Lake reservoir. This is
one of the largest reservoirs in the
world It is my impression there are
only four or five which exceed it in
capacity at the present time The
jackson Lake reservoir is just south
Of the Park.
Flowing from the reservoir, the
Snake River passes q considerable dis
tance to the south, then turns to the
northwest and on its way passes
through what is known as the Swan
Valley reservoir site, at it's northern
most point in this section, the prin-
cipal fork of the Snake River meets
what is known as the north fork,
which comes down from the Ashton
country and flows through Island
Park reservoir site. Jackson Lake,
swan Valley and Island Park are the
principal reservoir sites in the Upper
Snake river basin As you can see
from the map. all of them are near the
head waters and have comparatively
small drainage basins. At jackson
Lake the drainage area is about $50
square miles.
The principal storage site on Snake
River is American Falls. 1t is not
necessary to tell you where that is,
and the American Falls site contains
a possibility of being the largest
reservoir that has ever been built.
IT is capable of storilng three million
acre feet of water.
The flow of the Snake River that
60, ,in
three million acre feet to five or six
million in years of extreme run off. /
The Snake River flows, ordinary, ut
a comparatively uniform rate in the
winter time and the variation is lar
gefy in May OF June. May and June
are irrigation months so it is not nee
essary to store all the flow of the
Snake River as part of that could be
used directly, passing down the stream
to irrigated areas.
Another reservoir site, Lake Wal
colt. just east OF here.- holds storage.F'
water for the Minidola project and
also assists to some extent in re-
clasnfng Twin Falls. The h1ilner
xj<Atn rs fOCdtCa at PAdOlANdhJ tAC I
southernmost point Of the Snake River.
Below that the Snake River drops :
rapidly into a deep canyon and It Is !
below there to get the
water out for irrigation purposes. Sp,
fpr the purpose OF discussion which S
want to present to you. we will con- t
alder that portion Of the Snake River {
from Miner Dam to the head waters I
As the development Of the river pro- t
ceeds, 1t will undoubtedly be desirable u
to make available for Irrigation per- b
haps all of the water that can be col a
lected in these several reservoirs along g
the Snake River. In order to do that,
the river will be drained practically G
ary in the winter time. That has quite e
! material effect on the cost of storage r
because it very seriously affects power II
development, particularly at American n
Falls, and it is going to be necessary, ,g
believe, before very many years roll n
~, If we proceed with the development N
4 the Snake River, that the Power 81
ompany be required to find some lii
ther location at which to generate the IL
'ower for the eastern part of Idaho. 81
Now 100000 acre feet OF stored vs
gater are going to irrigate tremen- Al
Gus amount of land. and, as II has III
cen very well said here today, the til
me is hardly ripe to go into contro- Ia
ersy as to where these waters are la
, be put. I am confident that If the az
evelopment OF the river can be car an
ed out to its fullest extent that that ha
Is going to very largely de
,lve Itself. go
The cost OF developing these reser- T
oirs Is q comparative small Item sci