Height, 318 feet; length at top, 1674 feet. Creates largest artificial reservoir for irrigation in the world
Reclamation Past and Future
Fifteen years have passed since reclamation became a Federal policy,—a short period in a nation’s life if measured only in time, but one of historic importance when measured by achievement and progress. In this brief span of years the Service has completed sixteen notable structures of masonry and concrete, controlling the floods of torrential streams, has excavated more than 10,000 miles of canals, many of which carry whole rivers, and seventy miles of tunnels, mostly in mountains. It has to its credit the highest dam, the longest tunnel and the largest storage reservoir for irrigation in the world. By an investment of $120,000,000, which is repayable by the farmers in twenty years, the productive territory of the nation has been expanded by more than a million acres, and there has resulted an annual increase in its food supply valued at $50,000,000. Where once the wilderness reigned, the hearth-stones of 200,000 people have been erected, and a citizenship established which constitutes a new bulwark of American liberty, and bulkhead the flood waters of anarchy. Thrilling, dynamic, and inspirational, this work quickens patriotic impulses and stimulates love for the republic that has promoted it.
OUTLET OF THE STRAWBERRY VALLEY TUNNEL
Four miles long, and connecting Pacific Ocean drainage with that of our great interior basin
Reclamation Plans
The plans of the Reclamation Service for the present and for the immediate future are centered upon the completion of twenty-six projects, embracing a total of 3,118,000 acres. To date, engineering works have made available an adequate water supply for approximately 1,800,000 acres. In 1917, water was applied to about 1,200,000 acres, and the gross value of crops was nearly $60,000,000. It is conservative to state that with the irrigation of all the lands included in these projects, 50,000 families will have been established on individual farms. The taxable wealth will be augmented by $300,000,000, and our annual returns from crops increased by $100,000,000. The area included in these projects exceeds the total cropped acreage of Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Delaware, and the estimated value of crops after reclamation is $20,000,000 greater than the total returns per annum of these states. In these estimates no account is taken of the important increment to our national wealth in the resulting growth of cities and towns, in the building of railroads, and in manufacturing and commercial institutions, which in aggregate usually equals that of land values.
THE NEW HOME ON THE DESERT