RECLAIMING THE DESERT 171 



of eastern folk that the reputed barren deserts of our 

 ,West were real. 



A dam of monumental size blocking a deep can- 

 yon always centres public attention. Often it has 

 dramatic beauty. Besides the Roosevelt Dam in 

 Arizona, the Elephant Butte Dam in New Mexico, 

 the Pathfinder and Shoshone Dams in Wyoming, 

 the Arrowrock Dam in Idaho and the Tieton Dam 

 in Washington are among the world's most famous 

 and beautiful irrigation works, and at once became 

 so recognized. Including three dams in Indian Res- 

 ervations not parts of the System, storage reservoirs 

 built by the Bureau were capable, on June 30, 1927, 

 of storing 12,556,653 acre-feet of water. 



Projects are so widely scattered that few even 

 in the far West have any definite idea of the system 

 as an achievement. It is difficult to picture. Con- 

 struction results will give some idea. At the begin- 

 ning of the fiscal year 1928, these were: 



Storage and diversion dams 117 



Volume (cubic yards) 20,206,351 



Reservoir capacity (acre-feet) 12,556,653 



Canals, ditches, and drains (miles) 16,156 



Tunnels no 



Length (feet) I55>i72 



Canal structures (feet) 145,294 



Bridges IM74 



Length (feet) 262,626 



Culverts 12,925 



Length (feet) 476,904 



Pipe (linear feet) 3,759,8oo 



Flumes 4,55 



Length (feet) 836,580 



Power plants 35 



Power developed (horse-power) ISS>903 



