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The National Geographic Magazine 



the surveys experienced unheard-of trials, 

 but they too accomplished their task. 

 Then a road into this frightful gorge was 

 constructed — a remarkable road, with 

 grades out of the canyon 24 per cent in 

 places. Heavy machinery was brought 

 in and a power plant was installed. River 

 Portal became a village with a store, a 

 school, a public reading-room, machine 

 shops, cottages, and a hospital. Three 

 crews of men, each working 8 hours a 

 day, were set to work in the canyon, 

 driving a tunnel under a mountain 2,000 

 feet high. This tunnel is to furnish an 

 underground waterway, with cross-sec- 

 tion of 10^ by 11^ feet and nearly 6 

 miles long, to carry the waters of the 

 Gunnison River into the Uncompahgre 

 Valley. Simultaneously other crews be- 

 gan the same work on the other side of 

 the mountain, and night and day the 

 drills were kept boring into the rock and 

 shale, each crew vying with the other to 

 achieve a record. For a time work was 

 carried on from four headings. The tun- 

 nel has been driven 18,000 feet, or 3^^ 

 miles, to date. A world's record has 

 been made, 823 feet having been driven 

 in one month. The records on the Sim- 

 plon Tunnel, in the Alps, do not equal 

 this. One gang of laborers drove over 

 7,500 feet in one year. 



Gas, cave-ins, and subterranean springs 

 have all interposed difficulties requiring 

 the utmost care in the prosecution of the 

 work. While the excavation was going 

 on, many miles of canal have been dug, 

 some of which are in exceedingly un- 

 favorable country. 



The Uncompahgre Valley has a general 

 elevation of 5,000 feet, but owing to the 

 lofty ranges of mountains which sur- 

 round it, the climate is mild and equable. 

 The soil of the valley is of unusual fer- 

 tility, and this section is noted for its 

 fine fruits. 



AN INTBRNATIONAI, COMPLICATION 



Up in northern Montana, close to the 

 International Boundary, the engineers of 

 the Reclamation Service are wrestling 



with what is known as the Milk River 

 project. One of the problems on this 

 project is to divert the waters of the 

 stream which rises in this country, but 

 empties into Hudson Bay, and utilize the 

 same on lands in one of our own valleys. 

 There are some rather delicate interna- 

 tional features connected with this 

 scheme which the diplomats of the two 

 countries are endeavoring to adjust. 



Briefly, the plans provide for the taking 

 of the waters of Saint Mary River across 

 the low divide into the North Fork of 

 Milk River. Milk River rises in Montana, 

 flows northward across the boundary into 

 Canada, continuing in that country for 

 200 miles, and then turns southward into 

 Montana again, emptying finally into the 

 Missouri River. Our Canadian neigh- 

 bors are already using the waters of both 

 of these streams for irrigation and an 

 endeavor is being made to settle the ques- 

 tions of water rights. The first work on 

 this project will be the construction of a 

 dam in Saint Mary River near Lower 

 Saint Mary Lake and a canal 37 miles 

 long to carry the water into Milk River. 

 Considerable work has been done on the 

 canal, and on this work a number of 

 Blackfeet Indians have been employed. 

 This region is one of unusual scenic 

 beauty. The mountains are rugged, of 

 great elevation, and contain a number of 

 the largest glaciers in the United States. 

 There are several beautiful lakes and 

 waterfalls in this vicinity. 



A UNIQUE PROJECT 



A rather unique irrigation project is 

 located partly in southwestern Oregon 

 and partly in northern California. This 

 is called the Klamath project, and in- 

 volves problems of irrigation and drain- 

 age in unusual combinations. It is pro- 

 posed to drain partly two lakes and to 

 irrigate their exposed beds from water 

 drawn from Upper Klamath Lake. About 

 180,000 acres of land will be reclaimed 

 by this project, some 20,000 acres of 

 which will be watered next spring. 



The Yuma project, which embraces 



