Arizona republican., 1920-05-30
REPORT OIV STATUS IF. RESERVOIRS ON UPPER
 BRANCHES OF TIE GILA

investigation work on the upper branches of the Gfla river that is be- Ing carried on under a contract be- tween the state and the United States is reviewed in a letter received bv Gov Thomas E. Campbell yesterday from w W. Schlecht, project manager sta tioned at Yuma. The letter follows, Tn part:
 The Alma and Red Rock sites are Tn the state of New Mexico and thar their investigation is being made with view to the use Of the water in the state or Arizona, is acknowledged in the above mentioned contract, in the following words:
 The storage and diversion of wa ters of the Gila and San Franciscs, rivers In the vicinity of Red Rock anu Alma, New Mexico, and irrigation or lands therefrom in the state of Ari- zona-"
 Regarding the matter of the feasi- bility of irrigating lands in New Mex leo from these reservoir sites, we have not made a special investigation cov- ertng this point, though from general observation incident to the investiga- ton of these sites, this possibility ap- pears prohibitive. except as to a very limited area in the Red Rock Valley and the upper end of the Duncan Val ley, which extends a few miles Into New Mexico
 The Cliff reservoir site Is approxi- mately forty miles up the San Fran cisco river from the state line. but practically all of this is in deep can yon with no arabIe lands practicable of being reached except for a very small area at Pleasanton, which is al- ready under irrigation.
 The Red Rock reservoir site is about 15 miles above the state lintv and the only area that can be reached from this in New Mexico is a small area in the upper end of the Duncan Valley and this Is already under irrigation
 The proposed Cliff site is about 40 miles up the river from the Arizona line and the only valley lands below it, as stated above. is the small area in the Red Rock Valley and the upper end of the Duncan Valley. the arable lands in which are already under irr1- gation and the only demand that could be made, therefore. for these lanus, would be for a little supplemental storage. which, in case such right was granted, would not materially affect the use Of the reservoir for the irriga- ton of lands in Arizona.
 Lordsburg itself is nearly 200 feet lower than the river bed at Cliff dam site, but in going north from, Lords burg towards the river the elevation rises until 1t is high or higher than that at the damsite, so a large portion of this plateau is too high to be reached from the Cliff site. Assum- AnSs 4OWGAGIs lndI LH0IG may De a sufficient area in the Lordsburg pIa- teau sufficiently low in elevation to be reached from the Cliff site, there still remains the physical difficulty of constructing a canal through a. lcng stretch of practically impassable can yon in order to get onto the plateau. A short distance above the Rock res ervoir site and below the Cliff site there is a box canyon which is de- scribed in a reconnaissance report by government engineer, W. A. Parish, under date of Sept. 8, 1904. as a .box canyon about six miles in length. which is practically impossible owing to the falls and it's extreme narrowness." r. seems probable, from this description. that this canyon would have to be tunneled and in addition to this, the canyon above this box up to the Cliff damsite, a distance of about ten miles, would also be very difficult construc- ton.
 Regarding the Red Rock reservoir site, I may say that thus far our in vestigation does not show it to be very feasible, both on account of insuffi- ciency of capacity and on account of unfavorable conditions at the damsfte.
 W. W. SCHLECHT,
 Project Manager.