Arizona republican., 1921-09-20
WORK 0N DIVERSION DAM GOING FORWARD
 IN SPITE 0F DELAYS

FLORENCE, Sept. 1S-A trip to the diversion dam on the Gila river east of Florence Wednesday after noon disclosed the fact that work on the project is progressing as rapidly as possible under existing conditions. It will be remembered that the very day the great apron that spans the river was completed the first flood came down the river. That was on July and since that date the work men have battled flood waters. The forms for the concrete sluiceway and the headgate were in place early in July, but wre swept away in the big flood that came down the latter part of the month. Not only did the flood carry away the forms, but it also carried away the railroad tres tie that extended across the river from the north to the south side and over which concrete was conveyed. To make matters worse the excava- tions for the sluiceway and headgate were filled with silt which had to be hauled before the work could be resumed. No sooner had this silt been removed than another flood came and filled the excavations. At present time men and teams are en- gagged fin clearing away the silt for lAAC i@AA4l VI lAAiAC anu ~ AS AlQpEQ tnt last time.
 New forms are about to be com pleted for one wall Of the headgate and within a few days the concrete will be poured and the excavation is nearly cleared for the south wall of the headgase so that the forms can be placed.
 On the north side of the river a F<.rrr 4ra1x, the removal of rock to give the nec- essary spillway. The 36 inch con crete tubing to be placed in the crest of the dam as conduit for carry ing water from the south to the north side of the river is ready to be put in place as soon as the blast ing for the north side spillway is finished.
 At the present time water is flow ing over the top of the dam for its entire width and the canals are run ming full
 A representative of The Repub- Gcan saw Major Oldberg, construc- tion engineer, who stated in answer to a question that there would be ample funds to complete the dam pro- vided he is given credit for the equip ment now on hand, amounting to something like $50.000; otherwise the funds will run a few thousand dol lars short Relative to the canal work. Major Oldberg stated that he had s67,000 available in addition to the S5O,000 appropriated for the purchase of the Casa Grande Valley Water Users canal. but that work on the canal cannot be undertaken until pay ment has been made for the old canal and title passes to the government. He has these matters up with the de- partment and will start work just as soon as the way is crear.
 City to Equip Camping Ground
 The Florence chamber of com merce met in regular semi i-monthly session at the Cozy cafe at luncheon Tuesday noon when it was reported that there were yet 10000 acres to be signed up under the power project.
 A letter from George Kinne, pres ident of the county farm bureau was read by President Thum. MT. Kinnie called attention to a seeming extray- agant expenditure of county road money and asked the chamber to ap- point committee to meet with a committee form the county farm bu- reau and from the Casa Grande cham Der of commerce for the purpose of
 
 Thum was named to represent the chamber of commerce and it is un- derstood that President s. G. Bailie of the Casa Grande chamber of com merce will represent that body, while President Kinne will represent the farm bureau.
 Letters were read from Senator Ashurst and Carl Hayden with ref erenee to available funds for com pleting the diversion dam and canal system. These letters contained in- closures from the office of the Indian department giving assurance that sufficient funds were available for immediate needs and that further funds for completing the canal would be provided.
 The matter of a public camping ground was again brought up and