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<br />nn~39~ <br /> <br />now the world's highest dam. It was dedicated by <br />P~esident franklin D. Roosevelt on September 30, <br />193;. <br />Many project acts 'f,"ere IXl'ssro. enabling acts 10 <br />build projects all over the- West. but in 1939lhe basic <br />Reclamation Project Act was signed on Auy-ust 4. <br />by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. <br />Another act worthy oi mention was the Flood <br />Control Act. signed by President Roosevelt on De-- <br />ceP.'lber 22, 1944, authorizmg the Missouri Rivl?r <br />Project, the largest peace-lime construction ever <br />undertaken. <br />The story of the growth of Reclamation is the <br />story of the multiple-purpose project. In 011 resource <br />development. the need has brought forth the de- <br />mand. which in turn has inspired the technique lor <br />building more and greater systems for the irrigation <br />of land. <br />from the Ilrst crude ditches, hand.shoveled di- <br />rectly Irom a stream to provide irrigation for some <br />small garden patch. the next step was usually a <br />larger ditch scooped out by a horse- or oxen-drawn <br />slip to irrigate some hay land. or even 0 sma!! farm. <br />HamEL-made diversions, forl1fied with willow wands <br />and plum brush. and anchored with buckets 01 sand <br />or scrap metal. gave way to more substantial con- <br />crele structures. <br />The next step was to build a diversion canal that <br />would have sufficient drop to allow the water to <br />spread over greater areas 01 land. These were <br />usually coperatlve ventures between the neighbors. <br />Sometimes they formed a formal irrigation district. <br />Presently, the on-river diversions were exhausted be- <br />cause irrigation seasons ineviiably come in low. <br />stream-flow cycles. The next natural step was to <br />store winter and flood run-olf. <br /> <br />Stora'':1e reservoirs cost money_ The problem then <br />was to provide 0 means of paying for lhis storage <br />without loading all cf the cost onto the irrigo:or. <br />which costs in many instances would be prohibillve. <br />Meanwhile. Bureau engineers were using the <br />energy frem falling water to provide power lor dam- <br />building. When they were Iinished with the build- <br />mg, local communiUes wonted. the advontaq<?s of <br />eleclric power Jar the-ir own use. The first example <br />o! this was the Roosevelt plant on lhe Soh River <br />Valley Project in Arizona in 1906. The second was <br />the Spanish Fork power plant on the Strawberry <br />Volley Project in Utah. built in 1908 for !he some <br />reason. The power plants at Lingle and Guernsey. <br />Wyominq. on the North PlaHe River, were olner <br />examples_ <br /> <br />The next need was for addil10nal power for pump- <br />ing the water onto higher land. As an example, <br />Black Canyon po.....er planl, completed in 1925, was <br />used for pumpinq water on the Owyhee project in <br />Idaho and Oregon. It was deSigned as port of the <br />Irrigation works. to provide grealer efficiency. How- <br />ever. 0 local demand arose for that power among <br />the farms ond homes, and to provide power lor the <br />new industries that Immediaiely sprang up in the <br />wake of the new irrigation projecl. <br /> <br />The need for drainage bedeviled the early irri- <br />gators. As lime went on, provision for drainage was <br />set up in the original plans for reclamation projecls. <br /> <br />Finally, lhe multiple-purpose project was recog- <br />nized for what it actually was. a device making pos. <br />SIble the greatest use oj the limited water supplies <br />ot the West. <br /> <br />ROOSE....ELT DAM [Aril0~.) <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />