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on2392 FIFTY YEARS OF RECLAMATION Fifty years ago a resource-minded president. de- scendant 01 old.world landowners. a son of our historic Dutch Patrons 01 New York State, Theodore Roosevelt. signed the initial federal Roclamallon Law June 17, 1902. A Reclamation Service was sel up under the Department of the Interior. This Ad changed the entire outlook of the West. The desert blossomed. the seml-arid lands flourished, the popu. lotion grew. and industry prospered., wherever water was brought 10 the land. The Reclamation Wesl includes all of the states weSl of the Missouri River. and the Territory 01 Alaska. Within this area. the Bureau 01 Reclamation has built projects bringing water for irnqation of more than 6 million acres, producing crops valued. annually at more than one-half billion dollars; and providing more than 21 billion kilowatl hours of hydroelectric energy for farms, homes and industry, returnmg 39 million dollars a year in power revenue to the Federal Treasury. Over 125,000 prosperous. familY-Sized larms have been reclaimed. On August 24, 1903. the lirst rec'amation construc- tion was begun on the Salt River Project in Arizona, from which water and power made possible the fabulous city of Phoenix. which sprang like its fabled namesake out 01 the head of the desert sands of Arizona. LINGLE POWEll PLANT IW,o..,i"'l1 ~ . -t'\..; .~~. ; Actually, the Bureau delivered the firsl imqation water to the Newlands Project in Nevada, 0:1 April I, 1905. The first hydroelectric power generated on a Reclamation project was at a temporary plant on Arizona's Salt River Project, built to j:.rovide power to erect Roosevelt Dam. The first commercia] power delivered from a Reclamation project was transmitled lrom the portly completed Roosevelt Dam on Salt River Project to operate a street railway in Phoenix, Arizona. SO miles away. The Reclamation Service. now the BureaU of Reclamation. was separated from the United States Geologicol Survey in 1907 and made into an inde- pendent ag8ncy reporting dIrectly to the Secretary of the Interior. The Reclamation structures hove been some 01 the greatest in the world. When it was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt on March 18, 1911. Roosevelt Dam was the largest concrete masonry dam. Arrowrock Dam. in south central Idaho, com. pleted in November of ]915. and 354 leet high. was then the world's highest dam. Grand Cou]ee Dam, authorized by another resource-minded president, and a member of the same illustrious family, Franklin D. Roosevelt, is now the world's largest concrete structure. It was begun in 1933. Hoover Dam, of Ihe Boulder Conyon Proiect, is 726.4 leel high. and is I !''' ' .- - .. ~ 1~ .~~ t... '"'" ~. - :"""