NATIONAL RECLAMATION OF ARID LANDS. 47 1 



Oregon : 



Klamath $2, 000, 000 



Uuiatilla 1. 000, 000 



$3, 000, 000 



South Dakota: Belle Fourche 2,100,000 



Utah: Strawberry Valley 1,250,000 



Washington : 



Okanogan 500,000 



Tieton 1,250,000 



Sunnyside 1,100,000 



Wapato 100. 000 



2, 050, 000 



Wyoming: Shoshone 2,250,000 



Total 40,354,101 



ARIZONA. 



Salt River project. — In the order of magnitude and prominence 

 of its engineering features the Sah River project ranks first. Actual 

 construction has been going on since April, 1904, and on September 

 20, 190(3, the first stone was laid in the great Roosevelt dam. 



This structure when completed will be one of the highest dams in 

 the world. It will be of uncoursecl rubble masonry (sandstone and 

 cement), with arch upstream. It will be 800 feet long on top, 235 

 feet at river bed, and 286 feet above the lowest foundations. It will 

 be finished in 1908 and will create one of the largest artificial lakes 

 in the world. The lake will contain 1,400,000 acre-feet, or sufficient 

 water to cover that many acres 1 foot deep. Its capacity is fourteen 

 times greater than the Croton reservoir, and it will store more water 

 than the Assuan dam in Egypt. The location of the dam site is 

 C)2 miles above Phoenix, at a point just below the junction of Salt 

 River and its tributary, Tonto Creek. 



Owing to the inaccessible location of the site the preliminary work 

 was arduous and expensive. It was necessary to construct a highway 

 for more than 40 miles through an exceedingly broken and rugged 

 country. A large part of the distance is in canyons, and for miles 

 the road is literally hewn out of the solid rock. In many places it 

 hugs precipices 1,000 feet high. The municipalities of Phoenix, 

 Mesa, and Tempe, in order to become supply points for the army of 

 laborers Avhich would be employed continuously on the work during 

 the construction period of four years, contributed $75,000 to defray 

 a part of the cost of tlie road work. All of this work was done by 

 the Government and not b}' contract, and a rather interesting feature 

 was the employment of a large number of Apache, Pima, Papago, 

 and Maricopa Indians as da}^ laborers. The experiment was emi- 

 nently successful, as the Indians proved industrious and faithful, 

 and were especially useful with pick and shovel. 



