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Show IDAHO DAM WILL BE CAPAGITY SI ORDER IS GIVEN TO COMPLETE DAM TO UTMOST CAPACITY; MUCH LAND AFFECTED Increased Size Of Dam Will Mean Saving To Water Users, As Well As Water A Much Larger Territory Boise, Idaho. The American Falls reservoir will he the largest artificial body of water In the United States and the third largest in the world as a result of official authority that was transmitted by the regional office of the United States reclamation service at Denver to Engineer Banks, in charge of construction at American Falls. The Instructions are to build the dam to its full height and authority is given to Engineer Banks to proceed along that line. This information was transmitted to R. E. Shepherd of Jerome, Je-rome, who is in Boise. The order will permit raising the giant dam twelve additional feet, resulting re-sulting in the impounding of 1,700,000 acre feet of water in a reservoir that will be thirty-five miles long. This la an addition of approximately 700,000 acre feet, as under the former plans had they been carried out, and the height of the dam not raised, the reservoir res-ervoir would have impounded 1,045,-000 1,045,-000 acre feet of water. The raising of the dam, permitting the impounding of 700,000 acre feet additional, will make it possible to have water sufficient to take care of all the land that can be irrigated below American Falls, east of Bru-neau Bru-neau and Mountain Home, but does not include the land in the Boise-Mountain Boise-Mountain Home project. Under the original plans the dam was to be constructed con-structed on a basis of $7 per acre-foot. "Under the increased plan as now authorized au-thorized the charge will be $5 per acre-foot, the cheapest storage now in existence in the United States. This saves the settlers ?2 per acre-foot. acre-foot. To the American Falls reservoir reser-voir district it means a saving of more than $600,000. It makes possible all of the available storage of the great Snake river and the maintaining maintain-ing of a water level that will be satisfactory sat-isfactory at all times, whether it happens hap-pens to be a short or a long water year. In other words, there always will be in the reservoir sufficient water to irrigate the lands that are included includ-ed within the district, said Mr. Shepherd. |
