CHAPTER XXVI. 205 



The Pecos is one of the principal tributaries of the Rio Grande, but 

 its normal flow is of less volume, although subject to greater maximum 



THE PECOS RIVER, 

 floods. Irrigation from this stream never reached to any considerable 

 amount until reservoirs were constructed, and its flood waters were 

 controlled by two great dams, located above the town of Eddy, in 

 Southeast New Mexico. The upper and larger of these reservoirs 

 covers an area of 8,331 acres, and has a capacity of 82,640 acre-feet. 

 It is known as "Lake McMillan." The dam, constructed in 1893, is 

 1,686 feet long on top, 52 feet high, with an auxiliary embankment 

 5,200 feet long, 18.8 feet high. The dam is composed of an embankment 

 of loose rock, faced with an earth embankment of greater volume, the 

 two having a total base width of 280 feet, and a top width of 20 feet. 

 Its cost was $170,000. The lower dam is 48 feet high, 1,380 feet long, 

 and is of the same type of construction as the upper dam — loose rock 

 and earth. The lower dam has comparatively small storage capacity, 

 but acts as a diverting weir to raise the level of water to the main 

 canal leading down the valley. The canal carries 1,300 cubic feet per 

 second for 3.2 miles, to a point where it divides into two main canals 

 passing down each side of the valley. The town of Eddy, and a 

 large and growing farming settlement surrounding, is dependent solely 

 upon these two reservoirs. Here is located the only sugar beet factory 

 in the territory, manufacturing sugar from beets grown by Irrigation. 



In the San Joaquin valley the normal stream flow still supplies the 

 land brought under irrigation, without artificial storage, chiefly for 

 the reason that, being fed by melting snow, they are highest during 

 the early part of the irrigation season, although the need for reser- 

 voirs is being sharply felt, and there is a constantly recurring agitation 

 on the subject. The only important private enterprise in this direction 

 is the conversion of Buena Vista Lake, on lower Kern river, into a 

 broad, shallow reservoir, by the wealthy cattle firm of Lux & Miller. 

 An earthen dyke, five miles long, ten feet high, serves to enclose the 

 lake, but the success of the enterprise is questionable, in view of the 

 enormous loss from evaporation, which is estimated to reach as high 

 as 130,000 acre-feet. This loss can be reduced to a fraction of this 

 amount by storage reservoirs of greater depth and less surface area 

 exposed, located in the mountains. 



The Investment in canals, lands, and improvements, depending 

 solely upon irrigation from Kern river, is estimated at $6,000,000 to 



