|
<br />r-"'-.
<br />
<br />
<br />. ...-..~~.-'~' .., --_. ..-, .,.., ''''I
<br />!
<br />
<br />~,.:..~~~~- ..... , 1 '11'1'. ' 1
<br />~l'"':_":;" ~,--~':':;. 1. '''1~m-::::?-':~1' . ,~: r L lf~:l\',: ,: ;:" ..-. -'~'1...'
<br />,P...<..4._,~.df!~'. . '".";1,- t. ~ 'iliIP" ~..-
<br />:.,' -- .xc _~, . '; 1 {f:':'. " :f ~,l>: J I H' · ..:; "\' 1
<br />_ .....4/, ~.H fi1;., ....' \ ,.- . '<i ~ ~..I" t
<br />^ ... ~_3f..... {i ~~, ..., _ .. ~ "" .\ ,..... - '"'
<br />f"t:~ . HI t...-,-"< ~.,,',.. .." .......... -' ~ ::1
<br />&'" "~t::~/'~~ ;~~:'::l ~,'~. ~\~~:.~ ./' )" ;''"'''~.. ~_. . ..~ )~~ _1.~
<br />tl.--t- ,,~-" A - ....".--' 'If ';J~q,t ,_~ ?,r.~..". t \ ~....~ _ ,,'" -: l'
<br />.= ~~~ ~} ".#1-i... ...;J' f;7;.~~l:.~~' ~ I; ~,~ F .. -...~ J - ~ _ ,- ,:..1.
<br />~' ''-' -' ~~..>;~+; 'J' " r- ~>\:.- " 'I :]~~<: ': ~;:j~~' -J_~~ "\'" -;'.-,<- -:.j
<br />;\'"',;,"',1~ - ~f~~y""~~ .,~~ ~ ~".... ,(.. ~ .~. '"~t ~ -'~'~_:::- ~
<br />_'P t - t""~. ... i. "'l j.t-, ~ ~ : ' .. . .. - _' 1 i
<br />t. . '~~+ci~" ~r " l j:~'': s..~ "':. ::~~ : ~ ." ~ .:.~ _ .' . r:- ,
<br />'....' ".t. ;,-.;$., . .:t ,'I ~. ,~_' "'~.+:...- ......._r.. .-'_>_.', ~ _ ~.:. ';t..,
<br />l~-.' ;,...~~~",,.,, !,'!.,~,:;r..-..~,"",...~ ,~ ,"'".~t;,;4- ~ <.:..--;""_'~~"l>-.:._ ""l
<br />'~1 (;..'1:1}. Y#_,,"' ~'~~~~.... .~_ '''' _.-", ......... ~..;\... . -, .'
<br />~\ ..~~ ;::~d-~ ..-: ' . <_ ~.~,:~~?$./.5.:;_'~~'- - . . ~~,.,. ~:-;..;. ~
<br />~~' :~:"~~, ; ~;t:~ 1,;~ _ ;:~ 2 ",_ _ ~, :o)~~"',~
<br />: "....~ ',.':".~~r::::( ~~~~+f:.-:~~;": . "',!-". -~o;...lo~ ,.. ~,~ -'- 1
<br />;~'""'~?i^,"L~~~~'7_.~:-- ~-~ii.;"':'\;. __.__ ..~;_}~~!~~~'t~~
<br />~~~~iX~f'~.;i;~::~~~::.:;.-::.~'.:;.~~r{i.!'.".- ..'__ .....~L;;~;::rh~~
<br />
<br />Central Arizona farms depend on life-giving irrigation.
<br />
<br />Although H.R. 4671 would authorize
<br />both dam projects; the Johnson ad-
<br />ministration has recommended the con-
<br />struction now of only one-the $238.6-
<br />million Marble Canyon dam. This dam
<br />is planned for a site 12.5 miles north
<br />of Grand Canyon National Park but
<br />still within the area known to geolo-
<br />gists as the Grand Canyon.
<br />The Bureau of the Budget, speaking
<br />for the administration. has said that a
<br />decision on Bridge Canyon dam, which
<br />would cost an estimated $511.3 mil-
<br />lion, should be deferred. The Bureau
<br />has recommended the establishment of
<br />a national water commission and in-
<br />dicated that this commission should
<br />study the dam's effect on Grand Can-
<br />yon National Monument and National
<br />Park, along with the dam's relation to
<br />regional water needs and the various
<br />alternatives for meeting those needs.
<br />Bridge Canyon dam would be in the
<br />Grand Canyon's lower reaches, well be-
<br />low the monument and the park, but
<br />its 93-mile-long reservoir would extend
<br />through the entire length of the monu-
<br />ment and through 13 miles of that part
<br />of the canyon's inner gorge which
<br />forms the park's northwest boundary.
<br />Rising to a height of 736 feet, the dam
<br />would have a generating capacity of
<br />1.5 million kilowatts, compared to the
<br />600.000-kilowatt capacity of the 3 10-
<br />foot Marble Canyon dam. Having bet-
<br />ter than twice the other dam's poten-
<br />tial for production of power and rev-
<br />enue, thc Bridge Canyon dam is the
<br />one the Bureau of Reclamation and the
<br />sponsors of H.R. 4671 really want.
<br />The Bureau is, to say the Ic:ast,
<br />
<br />1602
<br />
<br />doing nothing to discourage an idea,
<br />which has been circulating among the
<br />bill's sponsors, that a deal should be
<br />struck with the conservationists. The
<br />proposition would be (il to abandon
<br />the proposal to build Marble Canyon
<br />dam and to have the National Park's
<br />boundaries extended northward to take
<br />in Marb]e Canyon, and (ii) ~o build
<br />Bridge Canyon dam with the agreement
<br />that this dam would be the last Grand
<br />Canyon dam ever to be built. But there
<br />is virtually no chance tbat the conserva-
<br />tion groups--certainly not the Sierra
<br />Club-will concede that Bridge Canyon
<br />dam should be built. They can be ex-
<br />pected to continue denouncing the
<br />Bridge Canyon proposal as contrary to
<br />the Grand Canyon National Park Act.
<br />The act would permit dams and
<br />reservoirs necessary for reclamation
<br />projects to be built in the park, but only
<br />when such construction is consistent
<br />with the park's primary purpose of pre-
<br />serving the canyon's scenery, wildlife,
<br />and "natural and historic objects."
<br />Representative John P. Saylor of
<br />Pennsylvania. the Interior Committee's
<br />ranking Republican member and a
<br />caustic critic of the Bureau of Rec-
<br />]amation. has introduced a bill drafted
<br />by the Sierra Club that would en-
<br />large the park to take in the entire
<br />Grand Canyon from Lee Ferry at the
<br />beginning of Marble Canyon to Grand
<br />Wash Cliffs at the head of Lake l>.Iead.
<br />The bill would prohibit construction of
<br />any dams in the park.
<br />Ironically, the Sierra Club and .the
<br />Bureau of Reclamation both revere, as
<br />a spiritual antecedent, John Wesley
<br />
<br />-.;2.q-
<br />
<br />Powell, the one-armed Union Army
<br />veteran and geologist whose Grand
<br />Canyon expedition of 1869, by small
<br />boat, was one of history's great adven-
<br />tures.
<br />"We are three-quarters of a mile in
<br />the depths of the earth," wrote Powell
<br />in his journal. "and the great river
<br />shrinks into insignificance, as it dashes
<br />its angry waves against the walls and
<br />cliffs, that rise to the world above; they
<br />are but puny ripples, and we are but
<br />pigmies, nmning up and down the
<br />sands. or lost among the boulders. We
<br />have an unknown distance yet to run;
<br />an unknown river to explore. What
<br />falls there are, we know not; what
<br />rocks beset the channel, we know not;
<br />what walls rise over the river, we know
<br />not. Ah, well! we may conjecture many
<br />things. The men talk as cheerfully as
<br />ever; jests are bandied about freely
<br />this morning; but to me. the cheer is
<br />somber and the jests are ghastly."
<br />Powell's journal provides a classic
<br />account of a journey down a "wild
<br />river"-a tcrm much used by con-
<br />servationists, including the Secretary of
<br />the Interior. According to Georgie
<br />White, a white-water adventurer who
<br />has gone down rivers in Alaska, Can-
<br />ada, and Central America as well as in
<br />the Southwest, the Coiorado, on its
<br />280-mile course through the Grand
<br />Canyon, is the wildest river of them alL
<br />The only point of contact with the out-
<br />side world is at Phantom Ranch, the
<br />Park Service camp on Bright Angel
<br />Creek for hikers and mule riders who
<br />take the Kaibab or Bright Angel trail
<br />to descend into the canyon from the
<br />South Rim.
<br />The Sierra Club wants to pr~~p.~
<br />the free-flowing river-all of it. not
<br />just the ll6 miles that would be left
<br />between thc foot of Marble Canyon
<br />rlo:),rn 'ln~ tnp lIpppr pnn rtf thp rpllii:pr"nir
<br />ht>hincl RriclO"p. Canyon dam. The club
<br />wants the inner gorge left undisturbed,
<br />preserving a unique geological record
<br />and the river which helped to write it.
<br />The club is outraged that spots such
<br />as Vasey's Paradise, a place of mosses,
<br />ferns, and flowering plants below a
<br />fountain that gushes from the side of
<br />Marble Canyon. would be drowned by
<br />the water rising behind Marble Canyon
<br />and Bridge Canyon dams.
<br />The Nqtlnn~l P!"I...1: C;:Pl"'vif"'P. in a 1963
<br />
<br />report, also criticized the Bridge Can-
<br />yon dam proposal. Edwin D. McKee.
<br />now wit.h the U.S. Geological Survey,
<br />was quoted as saying, in a paper pre-
<br />pared in 1942 when he was a Park
<br />
<br />SCIENCE, VOL. 152
<br />
|