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<br />the cutting action. Thus the Ilcutbackll was held in check until the canaJ. <br /> <br />was closed. Now there is a useless, deep chasm from the Mexican border <br /> <br />to the Salton Sea, seventy miles in length that was constructed in less <br />than two months by a river! <br /> <br />, <br />_ Birth of the Bureau of Reclamation <br /> <br />Floods along the Salt and Gila rivers (tributaries of the Colorado) <br /> <br />in 1900 raised concern in Arizona for a permanent water supply for the <br /> <br />growing city of Phoenix and the surrounding agricultural lands. It was <br /> <br />then that Phoenix started its investigation for a dam site to provide <br /> <br />agricultural and industrial water, power, and nood control. A site was <br /> <br />,found 300 miles awa:y on the Sal t River and plans were laid for a dam and <br />accompanying canals that would cost as much as $5 million. Then Arizona <br /> <br />took its project to Congress. <br /> <br />Surprisingly enough, Arizona found allies in representatives of <br /> <br />other develOping Western states. Each state knew that it could not keep <br /> <br />pace wi. th agricultural and industrial growth without help from the Federal <br /> <br />government in developing the water resources. The result of this bold <br /> <br />request was the passage of the Reclamation Act in 1902, which provided <br />for the Secretary of the Interior to set aside funds from the sale of <br /> <br />land for the construction of irrigation projects in the seventeen states <br /> <br />west of the Mississippi. The projects were to be constructed by the <br />newly created Bureau of Reclamation and the costs were to be repaid by <br /> <br />the benefactors over a fixed time period. <br /> <br />Thus Arizona was awarded the first Reclamation Dam, which set the <br />pattern for all future Reclamation projects. The dam was completed in <br /> <br />-7- <br />