THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



139 



328,000 acre feet to storage of reservoirs 

 and reduce the cost per acre foot to $3.43. 

 "Sweet water Site Capacity, 326,965 

 acre feet; cost, 276,484.80; cost per acre 

 foot, 85 cents; storage not yet urgently 

 needed; probable annual storage when the 

 stream is fully utilized will be 1,000,000 

 acre feet; cost per acre foot on this basis, 

 $2.76. 



"The Piny creek system consists of 

 three sites: Cloud peak site, near the 

 source of the stream, capacity, 6,800 acre 

 feet; cost $31,048; cost per acre foot, 

 $4.56. Piny site, capacity 11,040 acre 

 feet; cost $70,346; cost per acre foot, 

 $6.37. Lake Desmet site, capacity 67,678 

 acre feet; cost, $113,360; cost per acre 

 foot, $1.67. 



''In case the national government should 

 undertake the work of reservoir construc- 

 tion in the West," he says, "the Piny sys- 

 tem would be recommended for first con- 

 sideration in Wyoming. The water is 

 now urgently needed and construction 

 should proceed in the following order: 

 Piny site first, Cloud peak second, and 

 Lake Desmet last. The work should 

 cover three years, and the first appropria- 

 tion should be $100,000." 



Of the two sites examined in Colorado, 

 the report says: 



"The South Platte in Colorado, capac- 

 ity 41.320 acre feet, cost $540,000; cost 

 per acre foot, $13.07. This site should 

 receive first consideration of the two ex- 

 amined in Colorado. The water is urgent- 

 ly needed. Construction should take 

 three years, and the first appropriation 

 should be $200,000. 



"The Lowland site for storing waters 

 from the Big Thompson and Cache La 

 Poudre rivers, capacity 45,741 acre feet; 

 cost $262,106.34; cost per acre foot, $5.73; 

 storage now needed. Complications with 

 existing water rights render the project 

 for government construction one of doubt- 

 ful advisability." 



Quoting further from the Captain's re- 

 port, he says regarding the reservoirs as 

 flood regulators: 



*'A general system of reservoirs in the 

 arid regions sufficient to contain the flow 

 of the streams over what is possible to 

 draw from them directly in irrigation 

 would, it is believed, cause some reduc- 

 tion in the flood height of the Missouri 

 river during the June rise. The amount 

 uf this reduction would, of course, depend 

 upon the distance of the section of the 

 river considered from the point of storage, 

 and would diminish rapidly with an in- 

 crease of this distance. 



"Reservoir construction in the arid 

 regions of the West is an indispensable 

 condition to the highest development of 

 the section. It can be carried out only 

 through public agencies. Private enter- 

 prise can never accomplish the work suc- 

 cessfully." 



He claims that the government should 

 own and construct these reservoirs, but 

 that irrigation works should be left in the 

 hands of states and private corporations. 

 To give some idea of the magnitude of the 

 enterprise that is advised, we give the 

 following estimates, that are the result of 

 the recent investigation: 



"The total extent of a reservoir system 

 in the arid regions which shall render 

 available the entire flow of the streams 

 will not exceed 1,161,600,000,000 cubic 

 feet. If the construction of such a sys- 

 tem were to consume a century in time it 

 would represent an annual storage of about 

 11,600,000,000 cubic feet, or 266,800 acre 

 feet. At $5.37 per acre foot this would 

 cost $1.432.716 per annum. This amount 

 distributed among the seventeen states 

 and territories of the arid section, gives an 

 average annual expenditure in each of 

 $84,277. The annual value of the stored 

 water would return the original cost and 

 maintenance in an average period of three 

 years." 



This, is one of the most vast and far- 

 reaching plans yet advanced for reclaim- 

 ing the arid West. 



A western paper emphatically denies the 

 report that Crazy Woman creek in Wyom- 

 ing, was named after Mary Ellen Lease, 



