The Red Cloud chief., 1921-03-31

biggest dam in the world is saying eoo"
deal There is, for example, the Assuah u,''' =,
Upper Egypt at the first cataract OF the N"e'
is an irrigation dam Of solid masonry anu 10 wy
largest of its kind in the world. IL is 0ool ie".
long and cost S24OOO,OOO 1t Is lis feet hBh anu
is to be raised to 14l feet
Then there is the Gatun dam, an essentihi pait
Of the Panama canal. 1t Is an earth daui' o'otN
feet long. 1900 feet wide and GO feet high
creates Gatun lake, which is 16i square niles.
The ShOshOne dam In wyoming JUST east VI
the Yellowstone rises $50 feet and is the highest
masonry dam in the world.
The Roosevelt dam the Salt river In Ari'
zona is 2S6 feet high its base is 235 feet ana us
top 1850 feet long. 1t cost $6,JOOOOO. Ii makes
a reservoir lake about % miles long and l to
miles wide.
The Grand valley reclamation project In Col
orndo has roer-crest dam across the Grand
river which is the largest in the world.
Now of course, the proposed Colorado river dam
Will not be bigger In every way than these mighty
dams. Nevertheless, 1t will be the biggest of
all I'm the sense that 1t will be the most spectacu
lar of all DAMS from engineering view point.
Perhaps an engineer might call ii the most spec.
| tacular engineering feat in all history.
For the proposed dam will have to be from
800 to COO feet high--nearly twice as high any
such structure in existence To attain this inn
mense height 1t will have TO be many times
great in bulk 1t will have to he built between
Hoods I'm Il desperate race against time. 1t will
| create ii tremendous reservoir nobody knows just
! how big; 1t will back up the waters of the Col
! orado for hundred miles and find its level in the
! innumerabe canons leading of on both sides.
| It's promoters claim that ii will make fertile by
irrigation a great desert; that 1t will furnish vast
| hydro-electric power; that 1t will help solve the
problem Of the Colorado at the Mexican boundary
| line, which continually endangers the Imperial
valley of California.
The site of this proposed monster dam Is Boul-
darp no Colorado. infer he
canon runs straight west for hundred miles.
Then 1t turns almost at right angles to the SOUTH
| forming the boundary line between Nevada and
! California on the west and Arizona the east.
Near this right-angled turn is Boulder canon
| 1000 feet deep and 800 feet wide at the base
and $50 feet wide where the top of the dam will
| come One end of the dam will be in Arizona and
the other in Nevada.
This, you see, is n dam site worthy OF the
great Colorado. which has It's headwaters in
| Wyoming and drains parts of seven big states.
In Wyoming and Utah this river is called The
| Green. The Colorado branch Is called the Grand
| The Grand and the Green unite In southeast Utah
to form the Colorado. Curiously enough the leg
islatures of Wyoming, Utah and Colorado are now
I'm a race to change the "Green" and "Grand" ia
colorado" and bill to this effect is also pending
In congress.
Many rivers unite to form the ma estic Col
orado The principal branches of the Green are
the Unta. Price, Yampa and White; of the Grand
the Eagle. Roaring Fork, Gunnison and Dolores
of the Colorado, the Fremont, Escaante, Paria
Kanab and Virgin on the right and the San Juan
Little Colorado, Bill Williams and ella on the
left.
The Grand canon is on the main river in Ari
IONA and extends from the mouth of the Little
Colorado to the Grand Wash. The Grand Canon
National park contains 994 square miles and en-
closes PIT miles of the river, which In place.
is 5000 feet below the rim of the canon
The lower Colorado runs through low deser
country At Yuma on the Mexican line Is an i'm
mense irrigation project which consists of a di
version dam nearly mile long, 400 miles o
,anals and 70 miles OF bikes and cost about S.
100000. The water Is carried to Arizona land