The Idaho recorder., 1921-08-05
PLAN IRRIGATION
ON UPPER SALMON
From Page II

Not only is this supply fairly close to
the lands on which it can be used, but
by reason of the high mountain water
shed it is unusually constant in
from year TO year.
Several plans of development
appear possible whereby this wa
ter can be made available, one Of
which IL a dam similar to Arrow
rock and slightly higher, that
would form an enormous reser-
vOir backing water from . point
near Stanley, where an excellent
site Ii found on the Salmon, mp
into Reddish lake.
The area Of this reservoir coul
be 70 great that only few feet
nuctuatiOn in the surface eleva-
tion would be necessary to handle
the entire supply and the lake
none in the United States in
scenic attractions and for outing
purposes.
Catch Entire RunOff.
at would catch and store practi-
cally the entire run-oH Of upper Sal
!,
Cape Horn creek and even from
Bear valley, all being the headwaters
of the middle fork of Salmon river,
would then be diverted into the res
ervoir by suitable canals and tunnels.
Hence the water could be ear
ried into Snake river by a long
tunnel through the SawtO0th
hA h..h <lun
long tunnel constitute the only
engineering problems Of the de-
velOpment, - once the water is
delivered on the Snake river side
Of the mountains, the distribution
system necessary to conduct it
over the vast area, reaching from
Hammett on the east, clear
around to Sunnyside and even
Mora on the west, and extending
from the mountains to Snake riv-
er canyon, will be relatively sim
pie.
Conservation of the geological con-
ditions of the Sawtooths indicates
that the entire country is underlaid
with granite formation. Both the
same site near Stanley and the tunnel
through the mountains would appar-
emily be of solid granite. This is
ideal, both for dam construction and
for the construction and permanent
maintenance of tunnel such as con-
templated.
cannot help but call attention to
various features contributing to, the
feasibility Of such development. With
a storage reservoir on the tract &mi-
Ia 70 lot
be drawn from the reservoir in. Stan
ley basin throughout the entire YEAR
and for this reason considerable
amount of power could no doubt be
generated for use on the project.
Another very important possi-
bility In an almost unlimited sup
ply Of cold mountain water for
domestic and municipal use. This
in matter that will soon be of
great consequence and large sums
will undoubtedly be spent to Sc
cure adequate water supplies for
towns and cities.
"Still another feature that seems to
merit attention is the vast amount OF
merchantable timber in the Stanley
basin country, at the present time in.
accessible. A railroad might be very
expensive. but if water is handled BY
gravity through the proposed tunnel
there is no reason why provision ear
not be made for the transporting oi
logs through it and lumber be man.
uafctured at some point on the pro
jeet convenient to transportation fa'
cilities.
aside from this questions of this
project being warranted in itself
there are two outstanding and all
important factors still to be remem
bered. One is that IL Snake river wa
ter is used on the Mountain Home en-
tcrprise there will be vast area OF
! equally good land which will be for
ever left without possible watel
supply. The other is that unless Sal
mon river water is utilized on this
project il will for all time run I,
waste without any possible beneficial
use in the state of Idaho.
"The seriousness of the foregoing
facts, in my opinion, should compe
every far sighted and public spirited
citizen To give this possibility careful
consideration. While | do not wish
to be understood as saying that pro
jeet such as this will be more feasible
than using Snake river water. dc
believe that the possibilities of such
a development are sufficiently assured
to warrant at least careful and com
plete investigation, and further be-
lieve that sufficient funds should be