Bisbee daily review., 1922-03-29

no storage reservoir can have too great storage capacity either for flood control. for irrigation, or for poweT-the more storage the better for an of these needs.
 "The Lees Ferry site for flood con- :trol has decided advantages ofer the Boulder Canyon site. While it will not intercept the floods of several Small streams below, that would be intercepted by a dam at Boulder Can yon, it has feasible storage capacity three times greater for controlling the extraordinary floods of the main river, making it safer and more de- pendable for this purpose. It is the possibility of an extraordinary flood of the main river that constitutes the real menace to the Imperial Valley, not the floods of the several very small streams flowing in between Lees Ferry and Boulder Canyon.
 "On account of the wide variations in the total flow O. the river from year to year, the Lees Ferry reser- voir site, with it's capacity to store three years flow, or more, will best serve the needs for irrigation and power
 AS the interest charge for capital will constitute nearly the whole cost of power from a river development, power delivered from Lees Ferry will cost less, with the dam I advo- cate, than it will cost from Boulder r Canyon with a dam as recommended | by the reclamation engineers. The longer transmission distance to Cali dornia will be of small consequence in comparison. When the second pow CT dam is built. and from then on, Lees Ferry will have still further advantage as regards cost of power. A power dam in the Canyon will cost less to construct and will have four times the capacity of the river con- trol and storage are above it.
 Nature has been extremely kind in locating by far the largest reservoir site on the river just at the head of the Canyon at Lees Ferry where it can be utilized to the greatest possi- ble advantage. Nature has also been kind in another way. The windings of the river in the narrow Canyon just above Lees Ferry, the vertical walls 140O feet high, and the flat at Lees Ferry are all so related as to minimize the cost of building d dam and power plant there. I advocate
 
 Ferry and making a rock fill dam, just as was suggested number of years ago by our late eminent engi- neer, Epes Randolph.
 "A wide, properly constructed and safeguarded rock fill dam with flat tened slopes, similar to the Gatun dam at the Panama Canal. which is 1-2 miles long and 115 feet high, | will be the safest that can be devised and will withstand the changes of time with the least possible danger of disaster.
 T believe the feasibility of build i ing the concrete dam at Boulder Can syon. with foundations 150 feet below the water level as proposed by tho reclamation engineers, is not only questionable from an engineering 1 standpoint under the adverse condi- tions obtaining, but is a great waste of valuable time and many millions of dollars, and with the possible changes of times, may constitute a serious menace to life and property below. While the rock fill dam would not be, a monument of ant. il would appeal to EDes Randolph as a monument of good engineering.
 If the Imperial Valley requires the most dependable flood control and the greatest amount of water for ir- rigation, and if really cheap power is wanted for California's many in, dustries and for Arizona's mining in dustry and irrigation pumping and her prospective electric smelting lthen the people of these states will dc we'll to heed the advice of that emi neDt engineer and honor the mem ory of California's great benefactor \ who once damned the Colorado and saved the Imperial Valley. They l should get behind the building of q \ Randolph Dam at Lees Ferry, where it will te of the greatest ultimate benefit to them from every stand point"