The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-04-27
BUILD ALL THE
RESERVOIRS

1tALOILItv Wins
Following is a reclamation
article by Bash l.. Bennett of Rigby,
regarding the American Falls reser-
voir and other reservoir sites higher
up in the valley and while we do not
consider every phase Of his argu-
ments sound, we want to emphasize
the soundness of what he says about
storing water above the main valley
to save the disastrous effect of the
spring floods. The high waters do
untold damage when we have the
food years, and storing water at
Table Rock or somewhere above the
mouth of the South fork canyon, will
forever settle the food damages, and
nothing is more certain than that
this would be absolutely sound in
vestment as food insurance as we'll
as for irrigation and return flow adj
vantages in the upper valley.
We invite others to contribute
their views on storage. We publish
articles whether WI agree with the
writer's or not. This paper is not
trying to decide these questions for
the public; we are trying to give the
facts and the reasons that should be
considered along with the facts, and
when the people decide on a course,
theirs will be the responsibility.
Rigby, Idaho, April 10, 1922
Dear Sir:
l would greatly appreciate it, if
you would publish the following
article, If you think it of any i'm
portance to the public.
l have read with a great deal Of
interest the articles and statements
made by various persons regarding
the construction of the American
Falls reservoir, at American Falls,
Idaho, and while I agree with what
G. E. Hill of this city and S. W. Den
mis- of Idaho Falls have written, /
am obliged to go farther than either
and will state that if the people
owning real estate (irrigated) from
Blackfoot north to the south fork of
Snake river take any stock in the
American Falls reservoir, they are,
in my judgment. making a grave er-
ror which will result in lasting dam
age and as a bar to further develop
ment in and to this territory men
toned, and among other reasons l
desire to call your attention to the
following. .
That there is enough land not now
irrigated that is susceptible of irri-
cation lying adjacent to the present
irrigated area, to more than use the
entire capacity of the Jackson Lake
reservoir, thereby making it neces-
sary if we wish our upper valley to
grow to it's limit we would be OBJ
liged to construct another reservoir
up the south fork somewhere pre-
ferable at Swan Valley, or Table
Rock, and that if this plan Is
adopted it will result in more than
doubling the population and wealth
of the present area, and it's cities and
towns, whereas if the American
Falls reservoir is constructed, it will
result undoubtedly in the greater
growth below American Falls, thus
leaving us without chance for future
growth, in as much as the American
Falls reservoir will then have the
water secure for it's maintenance.
And in this connection it seems to
me just as consistent for us to ask
Twin Falls and Minidoka people to
assist and cooperate with us in de-
veloping Idaho up here, where they
will get the benefit of all return flow
and seepage waters, which will with
the additional run-off be ample for
all their present needs and perhaps
some additional, as for them to ask
us to come down there and help.
finance their project.
The lands that l refer to are those
on Antelope, the bench lying east of
Ririe, Ionia, etc., on the east side of
the valley and the Rexburg bench,
and the lands lying west of Roberts
between Roberts and Idaho Falls, on
the west side, this would also be suf-
ficient to furnish the necessary
water for lands lying between Rex
burg and st. Anthony. This would
practically double the irrigated
areas of Madison and Bonneville
counties and greatly increase Bing-
hams and Jefferson's.
Now as regards the solvency of
the various proposed parts of the
n big district, permit me to call
your attention to the following:
Twin Falls and Minidoka tracts, this
also includes the Twin Falls north
side tract, are all heavily bonded as
irrigation districts for their con-
struction, which bond of course is a
first mortgage upon all this land,
now in the upper valley there is but
little bonded debt on any of the
canals or lands, now this would
make the bond here a first mortgage,
while below it would be secondary,
and it seems to me that everyone
here knows the difference in value
placed by investors in first and
second mortgage bonds, thus it will
make us really the primary consid-
GRAFTON in issuing and selling these
bonds, and we will be actually the
guarantors of the proposed issue.
Another matter is the flood waters
which will of course have to go to
American Fails If the reservoir there
Is constructed, it seems that about
every ten years we have such high
water that this water takes all the