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<br />Or., ";1.)1", <br />~J {.. ~. .... t <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />that wealth to the surface and using it. Engineers also have designed marvels of <br />machinery to i.mprove the plfU1ting, cultivation and horvesting of agricul tural pro- <br />duce. Production engineers are constantly at lrork improving the processing machin- <br />ery for foodstuffs, fibres, and hard goods. The reStut is a constantly improved <br />product, a better diet and better standard of living for the consumer, and usually <br />at a lower price. <br /> <br />No one needs to tell you here in Arizona that water is the most essential com- <br />modity in our life. You have a thriving economy here, but it is almost totally <br />dependent upon your water resources. And once more, ~le engineer is right in tJle <br />center of the picture. <br /> <br />The story of reclamation devalo:--ment in Ari~ona is almost the story of recla- <br />mation engineering. The Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River was considered one of the <br />major structures of its day. It has set the pattern for the great multipurpose <br />structtlres l<hich have accomplished so much in harnessing our rivers and turning <br />their lmters to a beneficial use. It renains, today, one of Reclamation's proudest <br />structures. Su~sequent constru~tion additions to the Salt River Project reflect <br />the changing and improved methods en6ineers have devised for utilizing our water <br />resources. <br /> <br />When the angineers moved into Blacl: Canyon to initiate construction of Hoover <br />Dam, a llhole ne\-1 horizon of possibil.itiec for ,;estern expa11sion and developllent <br />began to unfold. Oldtimcrs and some of you WlO are not so old Hill recall that <br />there were many doubters scout tJ:e constl~ction of Hoover Dam. It was a bold <br />undertaking which Has even questioned by some er.gineers. <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />'~ <br /> <br />How in the ~orld, they asked, cOlud anyone b~ld a dam that big? Besides, the <br />Colorado lrill probably go on another rampage and rip it all out. But the engineers <br />knelT. They kneH from past expe:dence on similar but smaller structures, and from <br />their surveys on the river, that ~ley could build a concrete dam in Black Canyon <br />"d1ich would create the world's largest artificial lalce and subdue the mighty <br />Colorado ferever. <br /> <br />TIle hardheaded busines~en in six big construction companies thought enough of <br />the engineers' opinion to contract to build the job, and the rest is history. <br />Hoover Dam stands today, still the Horld's highest, one of the engineering wonders <br />of the world and a tribute to tJle profession. <br /> <br />'rho same might be said of Bartlett Lam on the Verde River. the uorld' s highest <br />multiple-arch dam, Grand Coulee Dam, up in ,Iashin;;ton State, or Shasta, or the <br />other great mu,ltiple-purpose structures l-Ihicl1 have been completed in recent <br />decades. <br /> <br />Arizona has not only these ~onum3nts to the skill and importance of proper <br />reclamation engineering in tlle control and development of its water resources. It <br />also has evidences of what occurs when a nation or a peopla do not or cannot take <br />proper care of their water resources. <br /> <br />The first m06ern irrigation in the Western Hemisphere is popularly and cor- <br />rectly attributed to ;:.l-te ;',"or:uon pioneers l;ho settled in the Sal t La..~e Valley in <br />1847. But there are remnants here in Arizona ond other parts of the southlIest of <br />crude irrigation canp~s lmicl; tlle primitive Indians scooped out in an ef~ort to eke <br />out a living. <br /> <br />J <br />