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Show I FEAR GREAT POWER PROJECT HE PREVENT DEVELOPMENT OF IHAII'S IlilllUI MB State Engineers Aroused to Action by Enormous Scope of Contemplated Scheme to Harness Waters of Lower Colorado River in Mighty Work of Generating Electricity, as Outlined in California Application If . 'A PFREHENSION lest the ap-r ap-r plication of the Southern . j California Edison company for a grunt watur power privilege nu the lower Colorado river in Utah and Arizona may, jeopardize the ultimate completion of the great-Green great-Green river reclamation project! in Emery ami Grand counties of this state lias been expressed by government engineers. This immense im-mense project, which has been 1 under consideration for years and J which would water 'J.IO.OOO acres ; of some of the finest land in i ! Utah, is a goal to which the eyes of all interested in I 'tali dcvclop-; dcvclop-; ment have been turned. After nrwi of Iho application of the I Edison company to tho waterpower i commission fur the right to huilu the (huge project uniier contemplation, whli-h in rxpertert to develop 4.350.000-horsepowrr, 4.350.000-horsepowrr, which la equal to one-half of the total horsepower now (tenerated 1 in the United Unites through utlllsa- I Hon of water. Half K. Wool ley. local engineer with the water resource branch bf the jteoloptral survey, expressed ex-pressed the fear that it miKht Interfere with tho Green river project rights. Without opportunity to make a detailed de-tailed Ktuily of tho California company's com-pany's clHims. he said that it mifcht ' be poKsihlo that If the tJreen river , rights had been allowed to iHpse In ( any way, tile power company's appli cation might supersede them if granted by-the waterpower commission.. CLUB TAKES HAND. In view of thin uncertainty the mat-; mat-; ter was taken up with the Salt I.ak Commercial club by Mr. Woolley to ascertain Just what the) Kdison company's com-pany's application Includes. The matter mat-ter was immediately referred to the waterpower committee of the club and w ' communication was opened with i Washington to secure the necessary 1 Information from the power commls- ' sion. W. It. Wallace, member of the committee, who Is expected to return from the Kast tomorrow, will meet From the Little Colorado to Kanab creek, a net head of "00 feet could be secured in eighty-five miles, which would generate 1.090,000 horsepower. In the 145-mile atretch between Ktwth trrtk ant the Awaiw aimwiiasy line, at Diamond, a net head of 800 feet could be secured by the use of two high dams, Thc-river would then deliver de-liver to switchboards about 1.240.000 additional horsepower. The fourth power development will cover the 120-mile'stretrh between the Arixona boundary and Cottonwood valley. This will afford a 600-foot head, and deliver 780.000 horsepower. Within a radius of 500 miles of the different stationa. the company could electrify 15.000 miles of railroad which could use 1,500.000 horsepower, saving 75.000.000 barrels of fuel oil annually and still havo 1.100,000 horsepower from the estimated average annual load for use for lighting, pumping, heating, industrial and municipal and general sale. WILL STOP FLOODS. The huge Marble canyon dam will have a capacity of 40.000.000 acre-feet of water, but the an nun I flow of the river varies from a 10 000.000 acre-foot minimum to a 30.000.000 acre-foot maximum, and all of it can be controlled, con-trolled, and still leave an enormous capacity above the dam to store sediment sedi-ment for a long period of time before It will cause any trouble. The lake will average about 400 feet In depth along the Colorado for 200 miles, and up the San Juan river canyon for nearly fifly miTcs. Kven If bedrock cannot be found at the point where. It is proposed to build the Marble canyon dam. the Hellew report finds that a rock fill would be feasible and would be no more costly than a structure of masonry. The canyon walls at this point are only 300 feet apart, and are nearly vertical for 1000 feet. Hy mining and blasting away the upper portions of these walls, the river gorge could be Inexpensively filled with rock to any desired height and for any desired distance. ENORMOUS CROP AREA. This project will permit of raising the irrigated area along the Colorado river from 750.000 to about 3.000,000 acres, and should increase the net yearly crop returns by roughly 100.- 000.000, white the power which would be generated for railroad, commercial and municipal use would take the place of fuetT)il, which now cost $182.-(h $182.-(h '0,0 00 a year. It Is estimated that the development will add $4,000,000,000 to the national wealth. The report also points out that with the silt nuisance disposed of. and the river flow constant, the Colorado will be navigable for commercial purposes from lfouhler canyon to laguna dam, a stretch of nearly 800 miles. North and south steam?. routes would tap the Santa Fe railroad at Needles, and also nt Parker, and would connect with the. southern Pacific at Laguna dam. Preliminary estimates place the total co.-t of the enormous project at about $6l'5.ono,00.000. HUGE-DFtAINAGE AREA. The river system which will furnish water for these enormous power and nrriKutinn projects has a drainage area of 2.0.000 square miles. Jt draws water wa-ter from portions of sewn tates, and! its tributaries run back even to the snows of the high mountains of Wyoming, Wyo-ming, L'tnh and Colorado. The proposed Marble canyon dam Is below the point of origin of nine-tenths nine-tenths of the river's annual run-off and will control all floods of any size except the variable freshets of the ilia river, which joins the Colorado in its delta lands where anything from oranges to onions may be successfully grown. Mr. Sellew's report points out that the figures given for variations of the river's flow are compiled from statistics statis-tics running back nearly half a century. cen-tury. At Yuma, gauge readings have been made twice daily since 172, and since 1S02 accurate meter measurements measure-ments have been made several times each week. The power and Irrigation plans are based upon the assumption that 13.-OOO.ftOO 13.-OOO.ftOO acre feet will he available annually an-nually at the Marble canyon site. The immense storage capacity of the huge with tho committee Monday and is expected to have information on the general subject which will determine the future action of the club. The question raised as to the Green river project Is separate and distinct from possible water right damages on the Virgin and Santa Clara rivers in southern Utah as taken up by J. ti. Schrugham, state engineer of Nevada, with St a to Kngineer George F. Motion Mo-tion agle. DESCRIBED BY PAPER. The project as conceived by the Southern California Kdison company la gigantic in its scope and is described as follows in the-iK'cember US issue of the Los Angeles Times: Generation of a peak load of 4,350.-0A0 4,350.-0A0 horsepower, and an average annual an-nual load of 2.600.000 horsepower from four immense hydroelectric projects along the Colorado river will be possible pos-sible if the stream flow is controlled by the 500-foot dam which the South- i ern California Kdison company plans to construct at the head of Marble 1 canyon, according to a detailed pre liminary report made by Francis I Sellew, consulting engineer. The first of these projects would be th Marble canyon plant, situated at .the main dam. where a lake l!00 miles long .would be backed up by the almost al-most level basin of the Colorado to the mouth of the Fremont river. From this point the river descends in 400 miles from 3300 feet above sea level to 500 feet above sea level, a fall of 2S00 feet. To this 1!00 feet must be j T added the 600 feet of the dam itself. I f giving a gross head of 3300 f-t for power development. FIFTY-MILE CANAL. At the Marble canyon dam, according accord-ing to plans, a uniform flow of 18.000 second feet would paes through turbines tur-bines and thence through a power canal for fifty miles to the mouth of the Little Colorado. This would give a net head of fcoO feet and would gen-erate gen-erate I IMP O'tQ h"repower compensate many times for the capital capi-tal investment, Mr. Sellew declares. The closing paragraph of his report says: "The question Is not Can we afford af-ford it? but, rather, "Can we afford to delay it?" The economic future of the great Southwest is wrapped up in the Colorado river problem, and upon the wisdom of its solution hangs the destiny of advancing millions, i - - boundary. Immense mining and agricultural agri-cultural districts in Mexico could be served. Complete control of the Colorado will pot only creat enormous wealth, Mr. Sellew points out, but also will prevent the annual destruction of wealth and large annual expenditures made In the rich delta lands to control the extremely destructive floods of the Colorado. Only lands below the Junction Junc-tion of the Colorado and the Gila will still hav the flood nuisance to contend con-tend with after tha Marble canyon project is completed. j Great as the cost of the project will be, the returns and advantages of , proper control of the Colorado will 1 reservoir, 40,000.000 acre-feet, is counted count-ed upon to equalize the flow of wet 1 and dry years, and the driest year! since 1872 has given a flow of 10.000.- 000 acre-feet. The margin of morel than 2i.000.0o0 acre-feet over one year needs which which the dam will im- pound would t herefore assure both power and water supplies for almost ; two whole seasons even if the flow of, the stream ceased. 8ILT COMES BELOW. Kven the slit nuisance will be largely large-ly done away with by placing the main storage dam at Marble canyon, for i the tributaries which carry most ailt j into the Colorado are the Little Colo- r.tdo and the Virgin rivers, which empty in below the dam site. The middle division of the river, i comprising the 400-mile stretch in which the power-generating plants will be located, is made up entirely of canyons so steep and rugged that agriculture agri-culture is impossible, and along this whole distance there will be no conflict con-flict of power and irrigation demands upn the flow of the stream. The area to which power from the four different developments may be j delivered, embracing land within a 500-mlle 500-mlle radius of each station, covers the entire states of Arizona. Ttah and Nevada, three-fourths of California, more than hh of t Motors da and New Mexico and about one-fifth of Wyoming Wyo-ming and Idaho. In case it is possible to earn transmission trans-mission lines across the international |