The Coconino sun., 1924-03-28

- oAPPANAiOAce~AJ AOPVAN VI viz oE~N
ial board of engineers on the Colo
RADIO river development problems was
submitted to Secretary of the Interior
Work this week.
The report deals with the proposed
canal project for the irrigation of 81
100000 acres of land in southwestern
Arizona. The engineers do not rec
ommend the construction of this feat
ure and declare it is not worthy of
serious consideration. The report in
full follows:
In accordance with your request,
the committee of engineers appointed
by you to consider the problems of the
Colorado river has the honor to sub
nit the following report on the canal
project set forth in the report of G.
w. Sturtevant and E. L. Siam, dated
September IS, 1923.
This project is proposal to divert
water from the Colorado river at or
near Spencer Canyon for the irriga-
tion of 3,500,000 acres of land In
southwestern Arizona. The canal
with an intake elevation of 1000 feet
would be constructed down the can
yon to a point few miles above
Grand Wash; thence by alternating
tunnels and open channels it would
extend in a southwesterly direction
across Grapevine creek, Hualpai
Wash and Detrital or Squaw Wash
and the intervening mountain ranges
to the western slope of the Black
mountains, about five miles east of
the old Eldorado ferry; thence down
the west slope and around the south
ern extremity of the Black mountains
crossing the Santa Fe railroad about
three miles south of Yucca station
| then down the east side of Sacramen-
to valley and through long tunnel
| to the Williams river valley at the
| head of Mohave creek; thence up the
| Williams valley crossing Big Sandy
and Santa Maria river about ten miles
above their junction; thence in 9
| southwestely direction across Date
| creek and Bullard Wash, under a low
divide into Butler valley and down
| the west slope of Harcura mountains
to a crossing of the Santa Fe rail
| road about three miles east of Vicks-
burg station. Here the main body OF
irrigable land would begin and this
| first main lateral would branch off
| Thence the main canal would extenC
eastward through comparatively leve
country across the Hassayampa anC
Aqua Fria valleys, through Paradise
/ valley to siphon crossing of Sal
| River at Granite Reef dam, the cana
/ level being 157 feet above the dan
/ crest; thence southeasterly to {
crossing of the Gila river about sever
i miles below Florence; thence south
| westerly to Casa Grande and west
erly to a point 8 miles southwest o.
Maricopa, the elevation at this poin
i being Approximately 1900 feet. Th'
length of this canal is given by tht
| promoters as approximately 548 mile!
/ but measurements following cours'
| outlined, on the best contour map'
available, give $50 miles to SAINT;
j Maria crossing, 420 miles to Vicks
| burg, 555 to Granite Reef dam, anC
| 645 to the end If the canal wer
actually located it is safe to sa.
that it would be even longer ant
possibly over 800 miles long. 1t il
our belief that the average length wa
ter would have to travel from diver
sion to land would hardly be less thai
TOO miles.
| The irrigable area appears to In
clude all the lands that can be reach
ed from this canal. 1t is known tha
a portion of this area, particularly II
the lower Gila valley below Sentine
Butte, is unsuited to irrigation an
there are also about 100000 acres noy
irrigated from other sources whlc
seem to be included. However. 1T 1
impossible from information furnish
ed by the promoters of this plan, o
any other data at present available
to determine even approximately tn
area of lands which could be properl
classed as irrigable, and we flav
grave doubts that so large body o
irrigable land exists under this pro
: posed canal.
Land in this locality requires TO
successful irrigation at least thre
acre-feet per acre delivered. Consid
ering the great length of this cana
t system, even though all the main car
: ais are concrete lined, loss fror
seepage and evaporation would Gel
7 tainly amount to 25 per cent to 4
per cent. Taking the smaller amour
5 it will be necessary to divert lou
acre-feet for each acre of land, Q
) 14,O00,0O0 acre feet for the seasor
{ The maximum use of water in irriga
! ton in this section occurs in Jul
5 and averages about 13 per cent
3 the total for the year. This deman
j will require canal with a capacity
S 10000 second feet. The first 30 9
40 miles of the canal would be Local
!, ed in shale along precipitous cliff
s and narrow benches within the car
yon. Considering the well-know
treacherous character of shale whe
saturated with water, we thin
it would be necessary to place tf
\ entire canyon section Of the canal
e tunnel.
Further on the main canal woul
', traverse a great deal of country wit