Home-making by the Government 



279 



at the base. Its foundation will coyer 

 one acre of ground. 



Placed by the side of a 20-story build- 

 ing, it would rise ten feet above it, while 

 its length on top would be more than two 

 city blocks. Across its top will be a road- 

 way 20 feet wide. 



By day and by night the dull roar of 

 dynamite breaks the desert stillness, and 

 the canyon walls go crashing down to 

 furnish material for this structure. Great 

 blocks of sandstone weighing ten tons 

 each aie swung out on cranes and set in 

 place. 



When night comes myriads of electric 

 lights burst forth, weirdly illuminating 

 a busy army of toilers, working gnome- 

 like in a shadowy canyon. It is a wond- 

 rous scene, unreal, awesome, and in- 

 spiring. 



Every stone that is laid in that narrow 

 arch, which is to curb that foaming river, 

 brings nearer and nearer the day when 

 the town of Roosevelt shall vanish be- 

 neath an inland sea. 



When those massive gates of iron in 

 the big dam, weighing 60,000 pounds, are 

 closed, a rising flood will cover the site 

 of the city 220 feet deep. The people 

 knew it was a doomed city when they 

 built it, but this did not deter them. They 

 built stores and dwellings, a school-house 

 and a church, and brought water from 

 distant mountain springs. 



This government work is interesting 

 not only to the engineer, but also to the 

 layman. It is located in a valley which 

 has been the abode of three races, one of 

 which lived here when Rome was young. 

 Two of those wonderful cliff-dwellings 

 are almost in sight of the modern struc- 

 ture that is soon to submerge some of 

 the lands which formerly produced their 

 harvests. 



Owing to the remoteness from trans- 

 portation, the government engineer had 

 to engage in many enterprises. He built 

 roads to get machinery in. He sawed 

 millions of feet of lumber from the na- 

 tional forests nearby. He turned farmer 

 and raised his own produce, his hay, pork, 

 beef, and chickens. In the construction 

 of the dam 240,000 barrels of cement are 

 required and the lowest bid from the 



cement manufacturers was prohibitive. 

 This engineer, undaunted, found a lime- 

 stone ledge near the dam and proceeded 

 to erect a cement mill. It has already 

 turned out 80,000 barrels of cement at a 

 cost far below the lowest bid. 



Power was essential, so a dam was 

 built 16 miles upstream, turning a part 

 of the river into a power canal. The 

 canal, having less grade than the river, 

 appears to carry the water uphill. 



A part of it is lined with cement. It 

 crosses rough country in viaducts that 

 make us think of the works of ancient 

 Rome. Near the dam site it passes 

 through a tunnel and downward into the 

 mountain, a drop of 220 feet. The water 

 falls upon the turbines located in a unique 

 power-house, a niche in the canyon walls, 

 and generates 4,400 horse-power. The 

 power is utilized by the contractor, it 

 operates the cement plant, the electric- 

 light plant, and is used for other pur- 

 poses. 



the; apache laborers 



On the way to the saw-mills we pass 

 a number of salt caves, each of wonderful 

 beauty. The salt is deposited by salt 

 springs. It is from these springs that the 

 river takes its name, for the waters of 

 Salt River are too salty to drink, but for- 

 tunately not salty enough to be injurious 

 when used for irrigation. 



The most difficult problem for the engi- 

 neer to solve was the labor question. The 

 common laborer did not like the job, 

 chiefly, it is said, because he could not 

 spend his money fast enough. This is a 

 government reservation ; there are no 

 saloons ; no gambling is permitted. There 

 are no towns nearer than 60 miles, so 

 he did not look with favor on the work. 

 The real worth of the engineer came out 

 when he turned missionary and held a 

 pow-wow with the Apache Indians, who 

 have lived in the basin for generations. 

 It seems incredible, yet it is nevertheless 

 true, he succeeded in inducing several 

 hundred of them to go on the pay-roll, 

 and, largely through their labors, the 

 wonderful highway we just crossed over 

 was built. 



Some of the Apaches developed. Sev- 



