The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-03-30
Speakers Gave His
tory and Explanation
of How to Finance

| u 11OW ~ i uA0AACC
Continued from page three
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to raise several good crops, to make
every acre yield as much income as
possible, to look after necessities and
to cut out some Of the Injuries; he
says that the investment in the
American Falls reservoir even tho
we do it by the bonding process is a
commendable investment. He speaks
of it as a productive investment be-
cause it is investing money where 1t
will stop waste and increase pr0duc-
ton. Letting the water run by us
into the sea in the winter time Is q
waste and an extravaganza. Stop
ping 1t in the American Falls reser-
voir and placing it where we can use
1t in the hot summer weather Is con-
serving it and making it serve pur-
pose where it produces something,
therefore is an element of wealth
and is safe investment. Some Of
the canal men in the audience who
asked questions had shown an an
xiety about the chances Of being
taken advantage Of by others inter-
ested in the same reservoir. For
instance the people in the Twin Falls
country might take some advantage
of the people in the upper valley if
they had more votes or If they held
the majority of the ownership of the
reservoir. There had been a DISPOSE
ton to mistrust the people in the
Twin Falls country supposing they
did not want water used in the upper
valley. He said the people in the
Twin Falls country who understand
the situation are anxious to have all
the water used that is possible in the
upper valley because it makes their
water rights better in the lower val
ley. He says ii it were possible to
store all the winter flow of Snake
river and all the spring freshets and
put it out on the upper valleys, that
about 80 per cent of it would return
to the channel of the river in steady
flow thruout the year instead of COM
ing down in a deluge in May and
June, when they could not use it.
That would add wealth to the upper
valley, where the water is used,
would add to the real estate values
and it would be reflected in the
wealth and real estate values of their
own and other communities in this
part of the state. In like manner it
is an advantage to the people of the
upper valleys to have the water stop
ped and used again in the lower val
leys after they are thru with it in the
upper valleys because each commun-
ity in some degree reflects wealth
upon the others. A great many peo-
pie in the Twin Falls country, who
have not given much thought to the
matter have been timid about apply
ing for water in the American Falls
reservoir because SO many people in
the upper valley were taking water
rights and they in the Twin Falls
country had some fear Of being taken
advantage of by people in the upper
valley. AS a matter of fact the gov
eminent will operate the storage Of
water, the state will control it while
1t Is flowing in the streams and each
individual canal company will con-
troll it and distribute 1t among its
own people, and there Is no reason
for any anxiety about what the other
partners of the reservoir may do. He
said about 100000 acre feet have
already been engaged in the Ameri-
can Falls reservoir including 500, 900
or $4,000 for government for use
on the Minidoka extension. If the
reservoir is constructed to hold only
100000 acre feet it will cost about
100000. II it Is made to hold
100000 acre feet it will cost about
100000. If it is built to hold
100000 acre feet the cost per acre
foot will be still further reduced be-
cause al lthey have to do is to build
the dam higher, the dam being only a
mile long, and that holds the water
back over territory that is vastly
greater in extent than the territory
covered by the dam made fifty feet or
seventy-five feet high. A raise of
one foot in the dam near the top will
store several times as much water as
a raise nearer the lower part of the
dam. The estimate of the cost will
be made on the basis of So per acre
foot, and the contract will probably
be drawn accordingly. II other peo-
pie come in so that the cost is less,
then the accounts will be adjusted
afterwards to equalize it. If the dam
is completed seventy-five feet high
at the cost Of So per acre foot and
then some new arrangement is made
to build it on up and store several
times as much water as the lower
cost per acre foot, these people COM
ing in later and completing the dam
to higher level would have to pay
money back to the people who built
the lower part of the dam and it
would not matter when this is done
the contract will provide that the
original constructors shall have the
rebate paid back to them.
L. L. Evans Talks
L. L. Evans, merchant and banker
of American Falls, said that the
American Falls reservoir was started
as a privte enterprise by Mr.. Perrine
to store the food waters of the Snake
river to use on the Bruneau project
in southwestern Idaho. The govern
ment subscribed to take 100000 acre
feet and the others in the Bruneau
and elsewhere subscribed to take
2k0 nm ocro faok onJ ,,ocdo xl-.