CHAPTER XXVI. 203 



breaks through a high mountain range in a narrow canyon. The 

 latter site has proven most favorable, not only on account of the 

 superior character of the rock available for construction, but because 

 the bedrock is nearer the surface, and the canyon walls are but 100 

 feet apart at the stream level. The reservoir capacity of the dam is 

 very great, and with a dam 150 feet high the water impounded would 

 exceed 360,000 acre-feet. This volume would not only amply supply 

 the Sacaton Indian reservation below, and render the Indians self- 

 supporting, but it would supply the white settlers above Florence, and 

 open a large area of desert government land to occupation and settle- 

 ment. 



These two reservoirs, when completed, will more than double the 

 present productive area of the territory, and their importance to the 

 nation cannot well be over-estimated. 



RESERVOIRS ON THE RIO GRANDE. 



The Rio Granae, which heads in Colorado and passes through New 

 Mexico and along the Texas border on its way to the gulf, has reached 

 the stage where reservoirs are required to promote further irrigation 

 possibilities. Increasing diversion of its upper waters, as in the Gila 

 valley, has deprived the lower appropriators of their customary supply. 

 To meet this condition, one of the greatest reservoirs of the Southwest 

 has been projected by an English company at Elephant Butte, 112 

 miles above El Paso. A masonry dam is to be built at this point which 

 is to be 100 feet high, 300 feet long at base, 550 feet at top, and im- 

 pound 253,000 acre-feet of water. The flood waters passing this point 

 rarge from 500,000 to i, 200,000 acre-feet annually, the greater portion 

 flowing off in May and June, while in August and September the stream 

 is frequently entirely dry. The construction of the reservoir will permit 

 of the irrigation of 250,000 acres of new land, and afford a reliable 

 supply to 100,000 acres more that now receive such a precarious and 

 uncertain volume as to be of little permanent value. The dam and 

 the 200 miles of canal involved In this enterprise are estimated to cost 

 $850,000 — an insignificant sum in proportion to the enormous addition 

 which the works will make to the material resources of New Mexico 

 and Texas. 



Immediately above the Elephant Butte reservoir is another site, 

 where a dam 80 feet high will impound 175,000 acre-feet of water. 

 These reservoirs are only second in importance to those of Arizona, just 

 described. 



