The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-09-08
Continued from page one

built against house. The concrete
is defective and crumbing In places,
but may not have been crumbling In
vital parts Of the work. The capacity
of the spillway is small, but there
was nobody present who could give
definite Information as to whether
| it is capable Of handling as much
water as is needed now by the farms
depending on it.
The canal system. down on the
farming lands is too small to carry
the amount of water already needed,
and the channel of the Blackfoot
river from where it leaves the
mountains down thru the settlement
is too small to carry the stored
water in addition to the natural flow
and spreads out over the low lands
and meadows.
If the dam should start a leak
when the reservoir is full it might
easily tear out the whole work in a
few hours and liberate all the waters
of the reservoir which is twenty
miles long, fifty-two miles around
and contains enough water to fill the
whole valley from the bluffs along
the east bank of Snake river to the
foothills on the east side of the
| Blackfoot river. If 1t did that it
would be a disaster far surprising
the Johnstown food.
| The purpose of the organization
now working for the enlargement of
fthe project. is to secure the co-opera-
tion of all interested parties, in
Guiding the federal government, to
build a new and larger dam just be-
low and right against the present
one, make it larger and thus in
crease the capacity for storage, sup
plement the present drainage basin
by draining or partly draining Grays
Lake into the Blackfoot reservoir,
supplementing the drainage into
Grays Lake by turning part OF Tin
Cup creek into it, building dam at
the mouth of Grave. creek to turn
part of the stored water from the
Blackfoot river into the Port Neuf
valley and cutting a tunnel under
the Lincoln creek summit to put
water high up on the lands at the
foot of the mountains of the reser-
walton on the western slope, both in
the Lincoln creek and the Ross Fork
drainage basin. Building the new
dam will bring security from calam-
ity and the increased capacity Of the
whole irrigating system will save the
governments present resources from
loss and greatly increase the extent
of it's resources.
| Tho marty roo ohoI Tho Jcvo, 80 -
little after noon and were preparing
to spread lunch of bread and cof-
fee when Mrs. Reynolds, wife Of the
man in charge Of the dam and other
government property at the reser-.
voir, offered to cook dinner while
they were inspecting the property.
This offer of real meal was &C
cepted and by the time they were
done inspecting, the dinner was
ready and it was such a banquet as
to quantity and excellent quality, the
party gathered in little groups after
dinner to see what good thing they
could do in addition to paying for
the, dinner to express their apprecia-
ton of her kindness and superior
culinary ability, and somebody who
had discovered that there was no
bath tub in this government cottage,
suggested that Congressman Smith
and Indian Agent Bonner should
undertake to have a bath tub in
stalled in the house. The Reynolds
have lived there for several years in
isolation, forty-three miles from
Blackfoot, thirty-one from the
agency and twenty miles from post
Office, and have not even jitney
to go and come in nor for use in Mr..
Reynolds duties. 1t was proposed
that a Ford car should be requisi-
tioned with the bath tub, it being
needed for emergencies when the
telephone lines goes out of commits
sfonsas well as for a somewhat regu-.
lar use at the reservoir. Some joker
in the party proposed taking
picture Of the party and lined up U.
S. Commissioner Theodore Turner in
the picture administering the oath
to Congressman Smith, promising to
give his careful attention to getting
the bath tub for Mrs. Reynolds and
the iitney for Mr.. Reynolds. The
photographer promised to deliver
copy Of the picture to Mr.. Smith in
Washington to remind him of his
duty to these two servants Of the
Washington government.
The Z party continued its trip
around the reservoir to examine
what is known as the leak, fault
in the mountain where consider
able stream goes into the cliff and is
supposed to come out in springs on
the Port Neuf side of the range.
They also went to Grays Lake and
from different lookout points viewed
the panorama of the lake and it's tri-
butaries and the two outlets, one
leading into Willow creek and the
other, slightly higher, leading into
the Blackfoot reservoir via Sheep
creek. Pelican lake and Meadow
creek.