The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1953-11-27
reclaiming land from the desert.

AlN vi ON AIlSRNNo II I'LL NetSiOAN "
pump water from Hells Canyon res
ervoir, as is done at Grand Coulee,
but that does not detract one iota
from HellS Canyons contribution to
irrigation. If the water can not be
transported to help develop the land,
certainly money from sale of power
can; and the plan of reclamation
engineers in the pre-McKay era was
to do that very thing.
The plan was to use part of the
power revenues from Hells Canyon
for Idaho reclamation because all of
the states low-cost projects have been
completed. The need now is for
money to help defray the expense of
getting water on high-cost projects,
as Congressman Koran has explained.
Under such conditions - and when
food needs of the future loom so
large-there is no better reclamation
use to which waters of the Snake
river could be put than for produc-
ton of power to provide financial
aid needed to make thousands of acres
of southern Idaho desert bloom. This,
Hells Canyon power can do.
AS was stated in Congressional
hearings on the Hells Canyon bill
year ago: "WITHOUT SUCH FL
NANCIAL ASSISTANCE FIR O NJ
POWER REVENUES, IT IS DOUBT
Full WHETHER ANY OF THE IR-
RIGATION PROJECTS WHICH ARE
COMPLETED FOR THE SNAKE
BASIN COULD BE BUILT UNDER
RECLAMATION LAWS"
Another aspect of Hells Cam
yon irrigation benefits, largely ig-
nored in the present debate, is that
the bill authorizing the high dam
also contains authorization for the
initial facilities needed to put water
on 10000 acres in the vicinity of
Mountain Home, Idaho.
These are the SERVER Greek pow
Ell facilities The SERVER Greek prof. !
ect is a key part of the plan to di-
vert surplus water from Idaho's Pay |
cite River into the Boise River wat |
ershed. Part of the water transferred |
would irrigate the northern section
of the Mountain Home project and |
the rest would be used to satisfy the
needs of Boise project farmers. This
exchange would permit diversion Of
water stored at the Bosses Ander
son Ranch dam to the remainder of
he Mountain Home project.
Revenues from sale of Hells Can
yon and SERVER Greek power would
pay for large portion of this de-
velopment which would create D.
$50 full-time farms.
A third, and equally ignored, rec
benefit provided by Hells
canyon dam is the low-cost power it
makes available for irrigation pump
ny Besides the Mountain Home prof.
ct, there are other large portions
f southern Idaho sagebrush land
uited to farming. The height which
yater would have to be lifted from {
he Snake river makes pumping from y
hat source uneconomical. Nature, I
owever, has provided another source :
f water for some of this land in e
he form of tremendous underground 7
low. !
Evidence Of the underground river
seen in the Thousand Springs which
ush from the walls of the Snake
iver canyon in the vicinity Of Twin
alls. Some land is now being irri- i
ated by deep-well pumps which tap s
ne underground flow. However, the G
hitting factor in further develop
tent is the high cost of power. Even f
18th farm prices at present levels,
in the area are feeling 0
le pinch Of 8-mill power. And their il
nd requires lifting water only 100
, $50 feet. e
They have concluded that only
with low-cost power will it be II
feasible to irrigate by deep-well D
pumping the thousands of acres re- a
curing greater lifts. The large Il
block of low-cost power from Helis Is