The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-04-15
HIGHEST DAM IN WORLD|
WILL JOIN THE STATES OF
NEVADA AND ARIZONA
Waters of Colorado River To Be
Harnessed For Extended
Irrigation
ASSOCIATED Press Dispatch.1

Washington, April 9.-The highest
dam in the world, to join the states
OF Nevada and Arizona, and harness
turbulent waters of the Colorado
river for extended irrigation in the
Southwest, is to be constructed in
he near future by the United States
Reclamation Service, The dam. ac-
cording to tentative plans would rise
to the unprecedented height of 500
or 600 feet in Boulder Canyon,
where granite abutments rise more
than 1000 feet above the water sur
face. Engineers of the Reclamation
Service, afloat on barges. are now
boring for bed rock beneath. .
A a varying from thirty to fifty
miles in length would be backed up
in the Colorado and Virgin rivers;
and in this basis would be held i'll
from almost the entire Colorado
river basin, including parts of six
states.
Higher Than Arrowrock Dam
The proposed structure would be
higher by far than the worlds high
est dam at present-Arrowrock Dam,
measures 34S feet-and would top
other famous dams in the United
States, among the highest of which
are:
Shoshone, on the Shoshone river,
Wyoming, 1928 feet; Elephant Butte
on the Rio Grande. New Mexico, 800
feet; and Roosevelt. On the Salt
River, Arizona 290 feet.
Preliminary work on the Boulder
Canyon project is being done under
authority of Congress. which appro-
priated $780, 900 for Investigation. An
additional $4,000 was contributed
by local irrigators. Engineers have
located a site, and are making Dor
ings for foundations. While these
are incomplete, bedrock has been
located at a number. of points and
the outlook is favorable, according
to Arthur P. Davis, Director of the
Reclamation Service.
Interests from the irrigable region
are expecting to bring their problem
before Congress at the approaching
session, and through the committee
on irrigation seek government aid, it
is understood; but the exact nature
of their proposal, whether an out and
out appropriation, government loan
or extension of crtiit has not been
announced.
River Changes Channel
So unmanageable has the river
been in the past, that it has often
changed it's lower channel. Like a
huge elephant with body owe seven
states it has swung its trunk about
through the soft silt delta, neon
trollable at flood and destructive to
trunk become in 1905 that it entered
the California Development Com
pany's Imperial Canal, running
through part Of Mexico to the Inn
perial Valley, and poured the entire
river into the Salton Sink 200 feet
below the sea level. It ate out the
formed a cataract which threatened
to work its way back through the
soft land, with great damage. Only
the activity of the Southern Pacific
Railroad, in building a dan across
the widening mouth of the canal
channel, after a hard fight with the
river, were able to swing the channel
The Laguna, Dam, built in 1909,
joining Arizona and California has
resisted flood waters, but complaints
of broken -~levees, and later scant
water for the rapidly increasing area
of irrigated land continue, Complica-
Canal add to the problem, and the
entire situation is pressing Southwest
interests to action.
Boulder Dam Project
In addition to the Boulder Dam
4, proect, the Imperial Irrigation Dis
trict is pushing a plan to tap the
Laguna Dam, and build an all Am
ercan High Line canal on a higher
level to irrigate more extensive
acreage and avoid Mexican relations.
The Boulder Canyon Dam project,
located below the Grand Canyon
near Las Vegas Nevada, where eng
ineers are now boring, is the most
advantageous position of any pro-
tected sites. according to the dam
there would intercept most of the
drainage of the Colorado river and
therefore. be a more complete solu-
ton of the flood control problem
the report says. Such reservoir
would also be more valuable in the
irrigation of lands on the lower river
on account of the greater proximity
to them, and the consequent possibil-
fly of regulating its flow more near
ly in acordSnce with the ~fuctuating
needs. Incidentally it would furnish
a large amount of power" A further
report on more recent findings is
under preparations.
The irrigable lands of the lower
Colorado River as listed by the Re-
clamation Service comprise many
valleys and projects, with a total of
1.242,OO0 acres. Thew include: Cot
tonwood Island. Mohave Valley,
Chemehuevis Valley. Parker Project,
Palo Verde Valley, Palo Verde Mesa,
Chucawalla Valley, Cibola Valley,
Yuma Project, Imperial Irrigation
District. and these extensions of the
Imperial Valley; East Side Mesa. Dos
Palmas, Coachella Valley, and West
Side.