DESERT IRRIGATED

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVI, Issue 89, 26 November 1935, Page 5

DESERT IRRIGATED

WONDERS OF BOULDER DAM.

The Boulder Dam, in the Black Canyon on the Colorado River, United States, is the greatest of many public works carried out in America during the depression period.

It is the latest, and perhaps the last, step in opening up the vast "untamed" country of Western America. It has many purposes to fulfil; irrigation, flood control, supply of domestic water and power generation.

When the lake which has been forming behind the dam, since early in February, reaches its full size it will be 115 miles long and 40 miles wide at the Virgin river, 30 miles upstream from the dam. Already it is the largest artificial lake in the world. Its capacity will be something like 10,000,000,000,000 gallons. The Boulder Dam itself is one of the most wonderful feats of modern engineering. It rises to a height of 727 ft. and is 560 ft. thick at the base and 45ft. thick at the top, where the width is 1180 ft. Since work began in 1930, 5000 men have been constantly employed, and construction is 18 months ahead of schedule.

The cost of construction of the dam, estimated at £24,000,000, will be paid for. in 50 years by selling electricity, already contracted for, from the power plant. Nearly a million acres of arid land and desert, "with only rainfall enough to make puddles," will be irrigated and supplied with electricity, and an aqueduct 250 miles long will carry some of the stored water as far as Southern California.