426 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



etables, and small fruit reward the man 

 with the hoe in this land of sunshine and 

 plenty. The soil's response to tillage 

 and moisture is immediate — yea, almost 

 miraculous. 



But earth grants no harvest here with- 

 out labor and expense. The desert, vast 

 and forbidding, is near and threatening. 

 Its threat of desolation is vitalizing; it 

 energizes the man who engages in the 

 combat. It thrusts its boundaries to the 

 very edge of the irrigation canal which 

 embraces the oasis. More than once in 

 early days, when the river failed, the 

 desert swept across the ditch and engulfed 

 the fields and orchards. Such disasters 

 emphasized the need for an assured water 

 supply and led to the initiation of one of. 

 the most stupendous irrigation projects 

 of our time in Salt River Valley. 



The; most difficult of al,l, projects 



In the variety of the engineering prob- 

 lems, in the magnitude of the works, and 

 in the extraordinary character and num- 

 ber of difficulties surmounted in prose- 

 cuting the work, the Salt River project 

 ranks first among the works of the Rec- 

 lamation Service. 



A few of these difficulties are made 

 manifest by an inspection of the country 

 in which the work is going on. The Salt 

 River for a number of years furnished 

 an inadequate supply of water for the 

 needs of the farmers. At times great 

 floods destroyed important headworks 

 and caused heavy losses until the neces- 

 sary repairs could not be made for lack 

 of money. Near the headwaters, in an 

 almost inaccessible mountain region, was 

 one of the best natural reservoir sites 

 in the West. To develop it involved an 

 expenditure so vast that it was beyond 

 the means of the community to attempt 

 it. Congress enacted the Reclamation 

 Law and the Reclamation Service took 

 up the great work. 



For 20 miles across a desert of cacti 

 and mesquite, an absolutely waterless 

 plain, a broad highway was laid out to 

 the foot of the mountains. For 40 miles 

 further into the most rugged mountain 

 country in the West the road was blasted 

 from the rocks. 



In scenic beauty and in artistic and 

 changeful coloring no highway in the 

 West compares with it. The mountains 

 are inspiring and the rocks are clothed in 

 richest colors. No language can describe 

 the glories of the sunrise or sunset pic- 

 tures on those crags and cliffs, or the 

 witching beauty of the deep canyons 

 veiled in purple shadows. It is a drive, 

 once taken, never to be forgotten. 



The entrance to the canyon which 

 Salt River has cut through the moun- 

 tains was selected as the site of a dam. 

 This structure in many respects will be 

 one of the great engineering works of 

 the age. At its base it covers an acre 

 of ground. It will rise 284 feet from 

 foundation to parapet and on top it will 

 be 1,080 feet in length. To erect such 

 a structure in a region so remote from 

 transportation involved many difficulties. 

 It was necessary for the engineers to 

 qualify in many capacities. The govern- 

 ment developed its own power by con- 

 structing a power dam 19 miles up the 

 river and turning the water into a canal 

 which was lined for miles with cement. 

 A drop of 220 feet above the big dam 

 furnished 4,000 horse-power, which was 

 utilized for many purposes. 



The engineers operated a cement mill 

 which has turned out to date more than 

 100,000 barrels of first-class cement. 

 Saw-mills were set up in the national 

 forest, 30 miles away, and several mil-, 

 lion feet of lumber were cut and hauled 

 to the works. Two farms were culti- 

 vated to supply forage and provisions, 

 hogs and beef. Water works and electric 

 light plants were established. A city of 

 2,000 people sprang up in the valley — a 

 town of transient renown, for it has al- 

 ready nearly disappeared. For laborers the 

 government turned to the Indians living 

 in the mountains. Though many of them 

 were Apaches, they proved tractable and 

 industrious, and it was largely by their 

 labor that the remarkable highway was 

 constructed. From the big dam and from 

 drops in the canal 26,000 horse-power 

 will be developed. A part of it will be 

 transmitted to the Sacaton Indian reser- 

 vation to pump water from wells upon 

 8,000 acres belonging to the Pima In- 



