The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-04-13

days, too, land was cheap, ana Iarln-
ers practiced the method OF sum-
mer following portions of their land.
The areas actually irrigated were
considerably less than was the case
in 1919. BY that time land had in
creased in value to such an extent
and the overhead charges had Kept
pace so that it was improvident to
summer fallow, and too, practically
all of the sage brush had disap-
peared from the irrigible area OF
these counties. The supply of water,
however, had not increased. That
had remained the same, and while in
1910 to 1915 under the Progressive
Irrigation system, as an illustration,
we irrigated from twelve to twenty
thousand acres, in 1919 we irrigated
from thirty-one to thirty-three thou
sand acres.
ut took the drouth of 1919 to
make the people of the upper valley
realize that we must have an insur-
ance policy in the form Of storage
water to supplement our old rights.
OF course, there is large volume OF
| water appropriated by old rights
which originated so far back that
apparently no storage is needed. The
future must answer whether 1t IS IN
fact better for all rights to have
some storage water.
Various Sites Suggested
"The reclamation service finally
secured permission to build the
| American Falls canal after 1919,
| Contracts were made under the
terms of which the various canals
agreed to contribute to the construc.
ton of the dam at American Falls
and the storage capacity thus &C.
uuired was to be exchanged for like
capacity in the Jackson Lake reser'
voir. There was division OF opin'
ion for a time as to the Feasibility
of our joining in the building OF 9
reservoir below our locality. A small
group around Rigby favored the con
struction of a dam and reservoir II
the south fork at Table Rock in thu
canyon. Some wanted to build a
Conant valley and Swan valley ant
some considered building on Willow
creek in that canyon. Table Rocl
had never been recognized as a suit
able reservoir site by any person
with technical knowledge of the re
uuirements, but considerable atten
ton was attracted to it by speeches
newspaper publicity and other form
of propaganda. Engineers advis
against building reservoirs in can
yons because of limited capacit
which makes the cost high AM
further for the reason that after tn
construction of the dam across tn
river the side walls become dam
subjected to great pressure and
the side walls leak the whole ven
: ture is worthless. The Arrow Roc
dam is built in a canyon, but befor
it was decided to go ahead with I
!. the reclamation service spent owe
100000 exploring the side wall
with drills to determine whethe
, they would hold wtaer. 1t wa
5 decided to build and sine
9 it's construction it is said ths
! from $4,000 to $4,000
spent each year in patching leak
: places in the side walls. 1t is a tel
r1nC expense. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. III
experience of the government O.
: ficals those people at Rigby, VIII
: were talking in favor CT Table Roc
undertook to say that few hui
y dreds OF dollars would pay the COZ
: OF thoro examination of the Tab
9 Rock canyon. The scheme was final
wisely abandoned. During this tin
the Swan valley location came In Il
8 examination and discussion. But
! too was given up when it was foun
u that dam at that point would hay
:. to be as high below the surface
the river as it was above. That is If
ninety foot dam were to be bui
a there it would require excavation
= bed rock ninety feet below the wat
!. level, making the complete structu
: 1870 feet high, and increasing tt
= cost enormously. That was the re
= son the reclamation service had n
3 chosen Swan valley as the site for
% reservoir, instead of Jackson LAX
% The cost of storage at Swan VALE
! would have been $3.50 per acre TO
=. while the cost for the same quaint
= at Jackson Lake was about $1.75 p
4 acre foot.
|