THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



447 



A DAM TO LAST FOR AGES. 



The Wonderful Structure Being Built on the Twin Falls 

 Salmon Tract. 



In a narrow canyon, far from any settlement in south- 

 ern Idaho, an army of engineers, mechanics and laborers 

 are building one of the greatest dams in the world. This 

 mammoth structure will rank as one of the highest, cost- 

 liest and most enduring structures of the kind in existence. 

 This is known as the Salmon Dam, and its location is in 

 the canyon of the Salmon Falls or Little Salmon River in 

 Twin Falls county, some forty miles southwest of the city 

 of Twin Falls. 



The enterprise which necessitated this extensive struc- 

 ture is the irrigation of a tract embracing 125,000 acres in 

 the same county South of Twin Falls. This is known as 



the outlet of the second tunnel the water flows in a main 

 canal along the southern boundary of the extensive tract 

 to be irrigated. 



This tract joins what is known as the Twin Falls 

 South Side Tract, and is one of the four extensive tracts 

 that are being irrigated in the Twin Falls country by the 

 organization of J. S. & W. S. Kuhn of Pittsburg. Mr. H. 

 L. Hollister of Chicago is the associate of Messrs. Kuhn 

 in this extensive work, and it is through his office that the 

 colonization of the Kuhn properties is being carried on. 



The Salmon dam will be completed in time for irriga- 

 tion in 1911. The principal town in the new tract is 

 Hollister, some seventeen miles south of Twin Falls. Al- 

 ready a railroad has been built through the tract by the 

 Oregon Short Line Company as a branch of the Minidoka 

 & Southwestern. The town of Hollister has already be- 

 come an important center because of the immense range 

 and mineral country lying south of the Salmon tract. It 



The Mammoth Salmon River Irrigation Dam, Twin Falls Country, Idaho. A Close View of the dam when at a height of 80 feet looking 

 > south. 



the Twin Falls Salmon tract, of which 80,000 acres were 

 segregated under the Carey Act some three years ago. 



The opening sale of these lands was held on June 1, 

 1908, and at that time, with the exception of a few farms 

 here and there, the entire tract was sold out, so that even 

 a 40-acre tract has not been available for more than a 

 year. The eagerness with which this land was purchased 

 illustrates the great demand for good, irrigated land under 

 a well-built and enduring system of water supply. 



The accompanying pictures show the Salmon Dam 

 in course of construction. The dimensions are as follows: 

 Height of dam at center, 220 feet; thickness of dam at 

 base, 108 feet; length of dam at top, 500 feet; thickness of 

 dam at top, 22 feet. 



It will be noted that the dam is arched up stream and 

 braced against the two walls of the canyon. The can- 

 yon widens into a broad valley a short distance above 

 the 'dam and affords a storage basin of vast extent. The 

 dam will contain available water storage approximating 

 260,000 acre feet, or enough water' to cover more than 

 eleven townships a foot deep. 



For the purpose -of delivering the water to the land 

 it is drawn from a reservoir through tunnels in the east 

 wall of the canyon, the first of these being 1,300 feet in 

 length, and the second about 2,500 feet in length. From 



is through Hollister also that the famous new mining camp 

 of Jarbidge in the northern part of Nevada is reached. 



The people of the Twin Falls region are looking for- 

 ward to the time in the near future when they may truth- 

 fully say that a million acres are under irrigation in a 

 solid bodv in southern Idaho. The development of the 

 Twin Falls region has been observed with great interest 

 by people all over the West, and the completion of the 

 Salmon Dam will give a tremendous impetus to develop- 

 ment in that part of the state. 



Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age, one year, 



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*:* and the Primer of Irrigation, a 260-page, cloth 



bound, finely illustrated work for new beginners 

 X in irrigation. 



