Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-03-31

Biggest dam in the world" is saying a good
deal. There is, for example, the Assuan dam In
Upper Egypt at the first cataract of the Nile. IL
is irrigation dam of solid masonry and is the
largest of its kind in the world 1t is 1851 feet
long and cost $24000,O00. 1t is 118 feet high and
is to be raised to 141 feet
Then there is the Gatun dam, essential part
of the Panama canal. 1t is an earth dam, 9'O4O
feet long, 1900 feet wide and 60 feet high. 1t
creates Gatun lake, which is 164 square miles.
The Shoshone dam in Wyoming just east of
the Yellowstone, rises S29 feet and is the highest
masonry dam in the world.
The Roosevelt dam on the Salt river in Ari-
zona is 2S6 feet high its base is 235 feet and its
top 1850 feet long. 1t cost $6,500,0O0. 1t makes
a reservoir lake about 25 miles long and to
miles wide
The Grand valley reclamation project in Col
orado has a roller-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, it will be the biggest Of
all in the that it will be the most spectacu-
lar of all dams, from engineering view point.
Perhaps engineer might call it the most spec
tacular engineering feat in all history.
For the proposed dam will have to be from
500 to 600 feet high-nearly twice as high as any
such structure in existence. To attain this i'm
mense height it will have to be many times as
great In bulk. 1t will have to be built between
floods in desperate race against time. 1t will
create tremendous reservoir nobody knows Just
how big; 1t will back up the waters of the Col
orado for a hundred miles and find it's level In the
innumerable canons leading off on both sides.
It's promoters claim that it will make fertile by
irrigation great desert; that it 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-
der canon. The Colorado, after leaving the Grand
canon, straight west for a 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 on 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 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, Yampa 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 on the main river in Ari-
zona 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 217 miles of the river, which in places
Is 5000 feet below the rim Of the canon
The lower Colorado runs through a low desert
country. At Yuma the Mexican line is an i'm
mense irrigation project which consists of a di.
version dam nearly a mile long, 400 miles Of
canals and 20 miles Of dkes and cost about S.
100000. The water is carried to Arizona lands