472 NATIONAL RECLAMATION OF ARID LANDS. 



In the construction of the dam 240,000 barrels of cement are re- 

 quired. The cost of cement delivered at the dam site by any private 

 agency would have been almost prohibitive. Owing to a fortunate 

 discovery near the clam site of the materials required for its manu- 

 facture, it was decided to erect a mill and furnish cement to the 

 contractor. This mill began operation in April, 1905, and is turning 

 out first-class cement at a cost which will save the farmers over 

 $1,000,000 on the first bid submitted by the manufacturers. 



A power canal 17 miles long has been constructed to the top 

 of the hill at the dam site, where the water drops through a tunnel 

 sheer 220 feet upon great turbines. Here electricity is generated 

 for all purposes. It furnishes the contractor his power; it runs the 

 cement mill, the rock crusher, and the pumps ; it lights the camp, the 

 city of Roosevelt, and illuminates the canyon throughout the night. 



During the early progress of the work the Government operated 

 two sawmills in the forest reserves nearby, and cut many millions 

 of feet of lumber for use in timbering tunnels, for concrete forms, 

 for buildings, repairs, bridges, etc. 



In the lower end of the reserA^oir, on a flat just above the river, is 

 located the thriving little city of Roosevelt, a city of 2,000 people, 

 with waterworks, electric lights, schools, stores, etc. ^Mien the dam 

 is completed the site of this town will be submerged 200 feet. 



Work on the dam has been greatly delayed by reason of several 

 unprecedented floods, which have swept away the false works and 

 carried away some of the machinery of the contractor. The Salt 

 River project will cost $6,500,000, will irrigate about 200,000 acres 

 of land, and will be completed in 1909. 



NEVADA. 



T ruehee-C arson project. — On June IT, 1905, the third anniversary 

 of the reclamation act, occurred the formal opening of the first com- 

 pleted work of the Reclamation Service. In the presence of a dis- 

 tinguished body of Congressmen, governors, legislators, engineers, 

 and others the gates in the Truckee dam were shut down, the head- 

 gates of the great canal were oj^enecl, and the waters of the Truckee 

 River for the first time were turned into the Carson River reservoir, 

 from whence long lines of canals and ditches had been constructed to 

 carry it out upon the desert. 



The location of this work is in the bed of ancient Lake Lahontan, 

 and embraces what was long known as Fortymile Desert, one of the 

 most desolate and arid spots on this continent. 



The great dams on the Truckee and Carson rivers, the former 

 110 feet in height, are beautiful and finished products of modern 

 engineering. The long lines of canals, many of them large enough to 

 carry rivers, in places are lined with cement, and obstacles in the 



