The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1921-04-01


Biggest dam in the world" is saying goou
deal. There is, for example, the Assuan Gam u,
Upper Egypt at the first cataract of the ME-. ~
is an irrigation dam of solid masonry anu 10 u
largest of Its kind in the world 1t is o,ool Zee.
long and cost $24OOOO0O 1t is 11S feet high ana
is to be raised to al feet
Then there is the Gatun dam, an essential part
of the Panama canal. 1t is earth dam, 9'ofo
tailt' oAg, 1900 feet wide and go feet high IL
creates Gatun lake, which is 1874 square miles.
The Shoshone dam in Wyoming. just east OF
the Yellowstone, rises 500 feet and Is the highest
masonry dam in the world
The Roosevelt dam on the Salt river in Ar
IONA, is 2S6 feet high its base is 235 feet and It's
top 1850 feet long 1t cost S6500,000. 1t makes
a reservoir lake about 20 miles long and to
miles wide.
The Grand valley reclamation project in Col
orado has a 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 In the sense that it will be the most spectacu
lar of all dams, from an engineering view point.
Perhaps engineer might call 1t the most spec
tacular engineering feat in all history
For the proposed dam will have to be from
800 to GOO feet high-nearly twice high any
such structure In existence. To attain this Inn
mense height it will have to be many times
great in bulk. 1t will have to be built between
create a tremendous reservoir nobody knows just
how big; it will back up the waters of the Col
orado for a hundred miles and find its level In the
innumerable canons leading off both sides.
Its promoters claim that it will make fertile by
irrigation a great desert that 1t will furnish vast
hydro-electric power; that it 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-
C,1Ar do flor A.
canon. runs straight west for hundred miles
Then It turns slmost at right angles to the south
forming the boundary line between Nevada and
California the west and Arizona the east
Near this right-anged turn is Boulder canon
1000 feet deep and 800 feet wide at the base
come One end of the dam win be in Arizona and
the other in Nevada.
This, you see is a dam site worthy of the
great Colorado. which has its 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
in race to change the "Green" and "Grand" to
Colorado" and bill to this effect is also pending
In congress-
Many rivers unite to form the majestic Col
orado The principal branches of the Green are
the Uinta Price, Tampa and White of the Grand
the Eagle. Roaring Fork, Gunnison and Dolores;
of the Colorado, the Fremont, Escalante Paria,
Kanab and Virgin on the right and the San Juan,
Little Colorado. Bill Williams and ella on the
left.
The Grand canon is 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 1914 square miles and en-
closes PIT miles of the river, which In places
Is 5000 feet below the rim of the canon.
The lower Colorado runs through low desert
country. AT Yuma the Mexican line is an i'm
mense irrigation project which consists of d.
version dam nearly mile long. 400 miles OF
canals and 70 miles of dikes and cost about So
100000. The water is carried to Arizona lands