| OCR Text |
Show ;reat Arrowrock Dam Above Boise Is Finally Completed j je jt Jt lequired $12,000,000 to Construct; Will Reclaim 240,000 Acres IAUSTKATIONS TO SHOW THE IMMENSITY OF THE ARROWROCK DAM The upper picture is a panorama of the Boise river canyon, with the dam in the distance at the left. At the I left below is a comparison between the dam, which- is 348.5 feet high, and the Flatiron building in New York City, which is 286 feet high. At the right is a general view of the dam which ' Averts the channel of th, Boise river into a reservoir with a capacity of 244.300 acre-feet of water for the irrigation of 234,000 acres of land in the Boise valley. lull. This has a length of 402 feet. In the excavation for this 300,000 cubic yards of rook was removed. In add1 Hon to being anchored to the granrt on the hottom. Arrowrock .!:irn is driven far into tne granite on each side of the gorge. It Is expeited to mark time with the eternal hills, of which it forms ja part. ! Worth-While Investment. After ail, is this a wise investment, I'.bis $12,000,000 that the Tuited States government has put into the Arrowrock dam and the Boise irrigation project! It is not too early, even now. to answer an-swer this question. " The whole obligation obliga-tion of $12,000,000 could be wiped out with the returus from one big crop from the 240,000 acres in the project, at present pres-ent prices. Wheat at fifty bushels fo i the acre would turn the tuck; but this is a mere detail of dollars and cents. Above all other considerations is the great outstanding fact that this body ( I magnificent land, formerly the sole hob-j hob-j ilation of the jack rabbit and the coyote, is now to be divided into farm units, and that each unit is to be the home of a thriftv, happv and loval American l family. v. That is what makes it worth while. mess house with a seating capacity of HoO, warehouses, stores, bath house, hos pital, club house, heating plant, post- : office, telephone, fire department, water I system, sewer system, lighting system, I sawmill, cement walks, government rail- j road connecting with the nearest out side point fifteen miles away all the essentials demanded bv the modern American community. No greater care as to sanitation and other important I matters was tak en at T'auama than at I Arrowrock. Dam Is a Marvel. Accompanying cuts give a hetter idea of the completed dam than can be given in words, ft stands 348.5 feet high from the low point in the foundation to the crest. Tts thickness at the base is 2 Id feet, tapering to a width of sixteen feet at the top, with a fine driveway here lighted at night- with artistic electric lamps. The length of the dam is 1 060 feet, curving gracefully upstream with a radius of 662 feet. In the construction construc-tion of this dam 530,000 cubic yards of cement was used. Tf this were placed in a column ten feet square 'it would make a Washington monument twenty-seven twenty-seven miles high. An important accessory to the dam is the spillway at the side to dispose of the surplus water when the reservoir is at once on the banks of the, stream. Here were 200 cottages and tents, a ructure Is Monument to kill and Perseverance of Government Experts. l to The Tribune. OISE, Idaho, Sept. 23. 'Arrowrock 'Arrow-rock dam, that, arrests the flow of the Boise river, just above the city of Boise, that gigantic ft door of a reserve, bank in which ibe stored each year a mighty treas-:ii treas-:ii liquid millions, is an accomplished L Anr deep planning and years urd labor it is finished. There it uls today challenging the world as kigheat dam yet built, a monument fcp efficiency of the government rec-Ition rec-Ition service, the key to an irriga-i irriga-i project that adds 240,000 fruitful Mo the permanent wealth of the i, its lime when other communities in If couutriea are celebrating the ac-iplishmeots ac-iplishmeots of war, it seems fitting ittis community, in the heart of P, should celebrate this great ae-pshment ae-pshment of the arts of peace. This l done. Jubilee Center. JgOhe capital city of Idaho, is to Ijwene, on October 4, of a celebrate celebra-te and long to be remembered. ' partake of the nature of a har-'wuo har-'wuo and barbecue. Settlers from w of the project, the direct bene-"f bene-"f the water from Arrowrock, yf 'on the altar on this occasion wt their land has produced. Fat cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry are ready for the sacrifice. Fruit, grain and vegetables vege-tables challenging the best in the land wiU be free for the asking. Thanksgiving Thanks-giving offerings will be genuine and sincere. Gathered at this celebration will he the settlers from the four counties included in-cluded in part in the projectAda, Boise, Canyon and Elmore; citizens from the targe communities of Boise, Nampa and Caldwell, who profit, directly direct-ly from the reclamation of this land; residents of Meridian, Kuna, Bowmont, Melba, Greenleaf and Wilder towns that have sprung to life on the project since the water was given to the thirstv soil; men, women and children from all sides by the thousands to take part in the general rejoicing. Desert to Be Transformed. Few outside the semi-arid sections of the west realize what this means, this conversion of a vast tract of blistering waste into fruitful gardens, orchards and farms this transformation of a wearv stretch of sagebrush desert into an abode of thrifty and contented citizens, citi-zens, with their homes, their villages and their schools. Pew, even among those on the land, appreciate the magnitude mag-nitude of the undertaking. In the reservoir back of Arrowrock dam, a reservoir eighten miles long, capable of draining a basin of 2610 square miles, more than twice the area of the state of Rhode Island, there is to be stored each year 244,000 acre-feet of water for irrigation in the late summer sum-mer months, when the normal flow of the river is exhausted. By throwing the dam across a narrow gorge in the canvon the channel of the river is converted con-verted into a natural reservoir, running back into the hills for eighteen miles and with a maximum depth of 200 .feet. This bodv of water to be thus held in reserve would cover 244.000 acres, or 383 square miles to a depth of one foot. It would cover the entire city of Boston, Bos-ton, with her forty-seven square miles, with eight feet of water. It would float the combined navies of the world in a lake of nineteen square miles thirty feet deep. Surplus Is Conserved. Every gallon of the regular flow of the Boise river throughout the irrigation irriga-tion season, from April 1 to October 31, had been appropriated by early settlers, and neither the federal government nor anyone else could infringe on these prior rights. But in the fate winter and early spring, before water is needed for irrigation, irri-gation, the river is a torrent, and this Valuable surplus heretofore sim planished pla-nished away, year after year, to swell the volume of the Snake and Columbia. And in all these years there was lying right at hand this magnificent body of land, parched and useless. This, then, was the problem of the reclamation service to capture thist flood, to bold it in reserve until needed need-ed for irrigation in the hot, dry summer sum-mer months, and then to pay it out as a prudent banker throws his money into circulation. Tt was a problem that called for clear vision, engineering skill, patience, hard work and the expenditure expendi-ture of $12,000,000, the approximate cost of a modern battleship. This reference to the cost of a battleship battle-ship in this connection, however, is hardly hard-ly fair. Little of the money. put into a battleship ever returns, and the battleship, battle-ship, at the end of a few years, is but a pile of junk. Every dollar put into a government irrigation project is returned re-turned in the form of payments for land and water. And while the battleship is scraping the bottom of the ocean or rusting rust-ing into junk, the irrigation project is the foundation for many happy homes, each year becoming a more valuable asset as-set to the nation. When the government reclamation service first came upon the ground in 1902 it found private capital wrestling with the problem and doomed to failure because of the size of the job. After a careful survey it took over the enterprise. A diversion dam twelve miles below Arrowrock was completed; com-pleted; the main canal from this dam to Deer Flat was built. Deer Flat was a low tract in the center of the project, and by the erection of earthen dams this was converted into a reservoir. reser-voir. A network of distributing canals was built. A power plant was installed in-stalled at the diversion dam. An exclusive ex-clusive telephone system was installed. All this was but preliminary a clearing of tbe ground for the real work to be done in the construction of the Arrowrock dam. The preliminary pre-liminary work started in 1905; construction con-struction work on the main dam did not start until 191 L Here it must be said in justice to the reclamation service, and especially to F. E. V ey m oath, su pe r v is i ug engineer; en-gineer; Charles It. Pan, construction engineer, and .James Munn, superintendent superin-tendent of construction, that Arrowrock Arrow-rock dam is completed a full year in advance of the time specified at the bep-inning and at a saving in cost on the dam itself of $2,000,000. The fact that water was available this year was a gou'sbnd to thousands of settlers in this, the driest season ever known in southern Idaho. The government, with the water stored at Arrowrock this year; was not only in position to save the crops on the project, but to sell water to many other farmers near by, neighbors who were in dire straights. 4.n the saving of these crops it is estimated esti-mated that (he 'lam practically paid for itself this year. Name Is Significant. Sentiment played a part in the final location of this monster dam. Jutting out into the canyon, overhanging the trail that crept along by the side of the stream stood old Arrowrock, a grim and silent sentinel of the ages. It had won its name from the custom of the roving Indian hunters who shot arrows into the face of this particular j rock to tell their comrades who came after them which way they had gone. By the angle of the arrow the late comers knew at a glance whether those in advance had gone up stream, down stream or up one of the many tributaries. tribu-taries. Other places farther up the stream liar been recommended as sites for the dam, but before the final decision was reached by the government officials, I Frank Crowe, a youug field engineer.! I was attracted to Arrowrock. He became be-came interested inthe traditions and surroundings of the place, with the result re-sult that measurements and tests were made and the spot finally chosen for the dam. This meant the obliteration of the old landmark of the Indians, but the substitution of an enduring monument in the onward march of civilization. River Turned Aside. The first work to be done here was to banish the river from the site of the dam while the main work was in progress. prog-ress. This was done by boring a tunnel through the rock at " the side, and through this tunnel for G00 feet the river was diverted. The tunnel was large enough to carry the entire river at its highes flood, and was lined with j cement. When the dam was completed this. tunnel was plugged with solid cement. ce-ment. A cofferdam was planted above j na in dam and another below- to keep out the water during construction. n idea of what this preliminary work meaut mav be gleaned from the fact that it was necessary to go down 01.5 feet below the normal bed of the river to anchor the foundation of the dam in the solid granite. A model city of 1500 souls sprang up |
