Millions for Moisture 



237 



First Cutting of Alfalfa on Reclaimed Land — 4 tons to the acre — Yakima Valley 



lands in California and Arizona, has been 

 the subject of a presidential message to 

 this Congress. This is the region often 

 called the "Egypt of America," and in 

 climate, soil, and crops it bears a singular 

 resemblance to the fertile valley of the 

 Nile. The government is engaged upon 

 the construction of a great dam across 

 ^the Colorado River about 12 miles north 

 of Yuma. This structure is of the India 

 weir type and is the first of the kind ever 

 attempted in this country. It will have 

 a length of 4,780 feet across stream and 

 will be 19 feet high and up and down 

 stream will have a length of 247 feet. It 

 will be a great mass of masonry resting 

 on the sandy bottom of the river, as no 

 bed-rock was found in the channel at this 

 point. The weight of this structure will 

 be 600,000 tons. Water will be diverted 

 by means of canals connecting with both 

 ends of the dam and the area irrigated 

 will be approximately 90,000 acres. 

 When irrigated this will probably be the 

 most productive region on this continent. 

 Harvests are practically continuous 

 throughout the year, and the yields from 

 well-irrigated lands are enormous. 



1267 MILSS OF CANALS ALREADY 

 CONSTRUCTED 



A summation of the work of the Recla- 

 mation Service to January i, 1907, shows 

 that it has dug 1,267 miles of canals, or 

 nearly the distance from Washington to 

 Omaha. Some of these canals carry 

 whole rivers, like the Truckee River, in 

 Nevada, and the North Platte, in Wy- 

 oming. The tunnels excavated are 47 

 in number, and have an aggregate length 

 of 9}4 miles. The Service has erected 

 94 large structures, including two great 

 dams in Nevada and the Minidoka dam 

 in Idaho, 80 feet high and 650 feet long. 

 It has completed 670 head works, flumes, 

 etc. It has built 376 miles of wagon 

 road in mountainous country and into 

 heretofore inaccessible regions. It has 

 erected and in operation 727 miles of 

 telephones. Its own cement mill has 

 manufactured 70,000 barrels of cement, 

 and the purchased amount is 312,000 bar- 

 rels. Its own sawmills have cut 3,036,- 

 000 feet, board measure, of lumber, and 

 6,540,000 feet have been purchased. The 

 surveying parties of the Service have 



