THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



87 



Work on Belle Fourche Dam. 



Owing to the cold \yeather, work on the dam embank- 

 ment, Belle Fourche irrigation project, South Dakota, has 

 been discontinued and probaby will not be taken up again 

 before April. The total progress on this embankment to date 

 is 219,000 cubic yards. The closing down of work on the dam 

 made available a large force of men for other work. The 

 men employed by different contractors, as well as those un- 

 der the direct supervision of the Government engineers, have 

 been placed on canal excavation, finishing structures, etc., as 

 soon as unfavorable weather made concrete and embankment 

 work impossible. 



In many respects this is one of the most remarkable irri- 

 gation projects yet undertaken by the Government. It in- 

 volves the construction of one of the greatest earth dams in 

 the world, a structure over one mile long, 100 feet high in the 

 highest place, and 20 feet wide on top. Its cubical contents 

 will be nearly half those of the Pyramid of Cheops, which is 

 estimated to have occupied" 900 years in construction. The 

 Belle Fourche dam will be competed in less than one year. 

 This dam will create a reservoir 60 feet deep, with a water 

 surface of about 9,000 acres when full. 



More than one thousand new farms will be created by 

 this project in a valley where the principal product has been 



Roosevelt Darn. 



A message was received at the office of the Reclamation 

 Service early in December, stating that a flood carrying about 

 00,000 second-feet of water had swept down upon the Roose- 

 velt dam in Arizona. The contractor saved almost all of 

 his machinery. Another report received later conveys the 

 assurance that no actual damage to the dam itself was sus- 

 tained, but that there would be a delay in the work of about a 

 month in clearing out the pit. 



Probably no engineering work in this country has at- 

 tracted more attention than the construction of the Roosevelt 

 dam, which is being erected by the Government in Salt 

 River. The contractor, J. M. O'Rourke, of Galveston, Texas, 

 laid the first stone of the dam on September 20th, and the 

 Government officials have watched with almost breathless 

 interest as block by block the great curve of stone has stead- 

 ily grown, and it is with a sense of relief news is received 

 that the dam has reached a point where it can withstand with 

 little damage the sudden floods which have repeatedly de- 

 stroyed the works during the past year. 



The dam will be 294 feet high and 800 feet long on top, 

 and will form a lake twenty-five miles long, with a capacity 

 of 1,300,000 acre-feet. The work is progressing rapidly and 

 it is expected that water will be furnished for irrigation dur- 



Two-year-old Peach Orchard, Palisade, Colo., on D. & R. G. Ry. 



low grade range cattle, and the value of lands, which now 

 ranges from $5 to $10 per acre, will be increased to $75 and 

 upward. 



With assured forage crops, the ranchmen can greatly in- 

 crease their herds, and with winter feed the quality of the 

 stock will be materially improved and the prices corespond- 

 ingly better. Small grains, such as oats, wheat, rye and bar- 

 ley, and such fruits as apples, pears, plums, cherries and small 

 fruits, can be raised. Sugar beets will also probaby prove a 

 profitable crop. The demand for farm and garden products 

 is great on account of the proximity of the mining regions 

 of the Black Hills. The mining industry will undoubtedly 

 undergo a fresh boom, as food supplies at a reasonable price 

 and increased transportation facilities make the working of 

 low grade ore profitable. 



New lines of railroad are already being built which will 

 connect this valley with Minnesota's Twin Cities, and already 

 the population of Belle Fourche has more than doubled. 



The Government officials hope to be able to furnish water 

 for about 10,000 acres during the season of 1907. 



ing the season of 1907, although the completion of the dam 

 will require a much longer time. A brief summary of the 

 work completed to date shows that a power canal 19}4 

 miles long, with a drop of 220 feet, is completed and fur- 

 nishing power to operate the cement mill and for use in 

 constructing the dam. Ten thousand four hundred linear 

 feet of tunnels have been constructed, forty bridges built, and 

 sixty-eight structures, such as headworks, flumes, culverts, 

 etc., completed. A cement mill with a capacity of 350 barrels 

 a day has been erected, and 43,000 barrels of first class cement 

 have been manufactured. The sawmill thirty miles up the 

 canyon has cut about three million feet board measure of lum- 

 ber for use in the various structures. One hundred and 

 thirty-five miles of road have been built and about one hun- 

 dred miles of telephone installed. The work so far accom- 

 plished involved the excavation of 975,000 cubic yards of ma- 

 terial, the laying of 38,000 cubic yards of concrete, the driving 

 of 20,000 linear feet of piling, and drilling and boring 3,560 

 feet. When completed, the project will reclaim more than 

 200,000 acres of desert land. 



