400 



AIMERICAN FORESTRY 



big mess house feeding 600 at a meal, 

 refrigerator and ice-making plant, hos- 

 pital, dormitories, cottages, fire depart- 

 ment, electric lighting plant, Y. M. 

 C. A., and last but not least, a moving- 

 picture theater. The care and provision 

 made for the comfort and health of its 

 men have resulted in solving in a large 

 measure the problem of retaining com- 

 petent and industrious workers, many 

 of whom under the guidance of tact- 

 ful superintendents are today deposit- 

 ing their earnings each pay day in the 

 banks of Boise. 



Of almost equal importance and mag- 

 nitude is the Rio Grande project in 

 New Mexico, Texas and Old Mexico. 

 Its purpose is in a way to recreate a 

 valley in which are found the oldest 

 irrigation systems in the United States. 

 Along the bloody trail made by the 

 lustful Conquistadores of Spain, who 

 swept northward from Mexico in search 

 of the fabled cities of Cibola, the Gov- 

 ernment engineers are today engaged 

 upon a work of conquest, but of a dif- 

 ferent nature. They are marking the 

 lines of future canals which will re- 

 claim 180,000 acres of desert. It is a 

 region rich in historical incident, but 

 richer in future promise of permanent 

 and enduring prosperity. On this proj- 

 ect the structure of absorbing interest 

 is the great Elephant Butte dam and its 

 huge reservoir. This dam is located 

 about 120 miles north of El Paso and 

 blocks the river just below the black 

 mountain of basalt from which it takes 

 its name. It is of rubble concrete grav- 

 ity type, straight, with maximum height 

 of 300 feet and 1,200 feet long on top. 

 It will contain 500,000 cubic yards and 

 will cost about $5,000,000. While not 

 as high as the Arrowrock dam, its stor- 

 age capacity is vastly greater. Behind 

 the Elephant Butte dam is a valley con- 

 taining about 40,000 acres which will 

 become a lake more than 45 miles long. 

 Its capacity will be 2,627,000 acre feet, 

 making it one of the largest artificial 

 bodies of water in the world. Its 

 capacity will be a third greater than 

 that of the celebrated Assuan dam in 

 Egypt, at present the largest irrigation 

 reservoir ever built. The Elephant 

 Butte reservoir when full will contain 



enough water to cover Connecticut ten 

 inches deep. It would fill a stand pipe 

 ten feet in diameter reaching to the 

 moon. It would fill 100 canals stretch- 

 ing from New York to San Francisco, 

 each canal 20 feet wide and 4 feet 

 deep. 



A FRlENDIyY SWAPPING OF RIVERS. 



While Uncle Sam's armed forces are 

 engaged in patrolling our Southern 

 borders momentarily awaiting the com- 

 mand to cross the line to pacify the 

 revolutionary Mexicans, on our North- 

 western boundary his engineers are 

 peacefully engaged in the pleasing 

 pastime of swapping rivers. All is 

 amity here and two nations are viewing 

 the performance with every indication 

 of friendly satisfaction. 



In northern Montana two streams 

 rise, the St. Mary draining from the 

 lofty peaks of Glacier Park and the 

 Milk River, which has its source on the 

 Great Plains. Both streams flow north- 

 ward into Canada, the first named 

 finally reaching Hudson Bay. Milk 

 River, after a short course in the 

 United States, flows for nearly 200 

 miles in Canada and then returns to 

 the United States to empty into the 

 Missouri. Except during flood periods 

 the Milk River is an insignificant 

 stream. It flows through a broad and 

 fertile valley, wanting only a depend- 

 able water supply to become one of the 

 garden spots of the Northwest. In its 

 valley in this country the St. Mary 

 River has no irrigable lands, but in 

 Canada it traverses a beautiful valley 

 which could be reclaimed by its waters. 



Our engineers conceived the idea of 

 turning this stream by means of a canal 

 cut through a low divide into Cutbank 

 Creek, thence it would flow southward 

 into Marias River and ultimately into 

 the Missouri, irrigating en route a part 

 of the Milk River Valley. While the 

 scheme was feasible, it was expensive. 

 A better plan was found, to wit, turn 

 St. Mary River into Milk River by 

 means of a canal 20 miles long, let the 

 water flow through Canada and divert 

 it later into Milk River Valley in Mon- 

 tana. This plan while much less costly 

 was not practicable unless the United 



