The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-04-07

summer water shortage.
 Completion of preliminary sur veyb and selection of nearby Ken nett as the focal dam site have been announced.
 Magnitude of the project almost Stasgers the imagination. Greater than famed Boulder Canyon dam development, the Central valleys project includes plans for 8 5OO- mile waterway from the upper Sacramento river, down through tho Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys to the great citrus fruit re- gions of Southern California.
 The, valleys lie midway between the Sierra range and the Pacific coast, and San Francisco and Los Angeles lean heavily upon their productivity. San Francisco's de- pendency has been conservatively plaeed at $6O0,000,0O0 and that of Los Angeles at $lSo,oo0.0O0.
 Prosscs Co Pay Out
 A self-liquidating undertaking, the project will repay federal loans byAsale of water and power.
 The APO foot dam at Kennett at the headwaters of the Sacramento river will impound 3,00OOOO acre feet of water, half as much as the combined total of California's 750 other dams, assuring a year-round controlled river flow. The dam will give to 100000 acres of settled lands fiood protection valued at $14,O0O, ,OOO and assure year-round river navi- gati0n valued at $15,OO0,00
 Spectacular engineering feats will be necessary.
 The main llne or the Southern Pacific must be re-routed and United States highway 99 will be radically reyamped.
 Bennett itself will be at the bot tom of a huge lake, with the waters surface far above the present roof tops.
 A double-deck bridge, with the worlds tallest piers, will carry au- toinobile and railroad traffic far above the then swollen waters of the Pitt river.
 River Boats to Ply
 River boats, a joy to the hearts of Sentimentalists and a source of profit to businessmen, again will reach Red Bluff, 60 miles south of hefe, from Sacramento and San Francisco.
 Inland encroachment of salt water from the San Francisco bay area will be halted, likewise arid- ity In the San Joaquin valley.
 At the top of the San Joaquin watershed, the 4,OOO foot Friant dam will become the longest con- crete dam in the world, making the San Joaquin river run backward and carrying much needed irriga- ton water over step dams under pressure.
 From a national viewpoint inter- est centers on the project because it's completion will mean assurance of water normalcy in an area from which are drawn the country's choicest speciality crops of raisins, HRS. olives, prunes, citrus fruits, vegetables and cotton.
 10 Harness Vast Area
 When all the seemingly "insur- IinUuntable" engineering problems have been solved and numerous other pieces fitted into the gigantic jigsaw, California will have har- messed and put to work the 20 mill lion acre feet of surplus water that now sweeps away in destructive floods.
 Legal, economic and financial problems regarding rights of way, selection of dam sites, provision for transmission lines to bring the power to commercial markets, and engineering questions, occupied many days of conference between Q. s. reclamation officials and the California Water authority.
 The big job will require:
 More than 100000 cubic yards Of concrete: 2s,809.0o0 pounds of reinfcrcing steel: 1l4.543,000 pounds 0f structural steel: 6,496, 900 barrels Of cement; 3e,3i1,00O cubic yards of excavation, and l86,224,0O0 man. Asnlys. of labor.
 Fund Set Aside in 1885
 An executive order from Pres itient Roosevelt in 1885 ordered al- location of $l5,00OI0O0 to begin