1941: Reclamation

During 1941 the government's program of reclamation suffered little if any modification or disruption as a direct consequence of the United States' preoccupation with national defense. Indeed, a perusal of the articles in the Bureau of Reclamation's monthly publication, The Reclamation Era, reveals a detachment which, on first thought, may seem like Nero in Rome, but which becomes thoroughly understandable when one recalls the magnitude of modern reclamation activities. A project unfinished is no more useful than a project unstarted, and Congress has consistently appropriated sufficient money to complete entire projects or major units of involved regional plans. For this reason 1941 witnessed steady progress on plans made months, and even years earlier. Though an outsider may feel that the Bureau is annoyingly smug and complacent, its achievements can and should command admiration.

The Central Valley Project in California was one of the major activities of the year just past, and its importance in the state's agricultural economy is obvious. A century ago the Central Valley was an incongruous patchwork of desert and swamp, maltreated by the early gold-seeking settlers. With permanent occupancy, interest shifted to the raising of cattle and grain, and as irrigation was more extensively applied, two facts became apparent: the Valley had far greater economic possibilities in diversified agriculture than in stock raising; and there was not enough water to go around. The Central Valley Project is an imaginative engineering effort to achieve a richer economy through the shrewd management of the available water supply in the Sacramento River system. Water control will also minimize the serious flood hazards in the Valley, check salt water encroachment in the channels of the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta, and provide hydroelectric energy for diversified use. In the San Joaquin drainage area, the Friant dam and reservoir, scheduled for completion in 1943, will supply the dry and hot acres of Kern County with water, and the Shasta dam and reservoir are their counterpart in the upper Sacramento at the opposite end of the Valley. Already the Contra Costa Canal is delivering water to the little industrial city of Pittsburg and to the orchards and vineyards near Oakley; 30 miles of railroad have been relocated to make way for the Shasta dam and reservoir; and both dams are rising rapidly as 1942 opens.

Another boon to California is the All-American Canal, which is designed to divert Colorado River water 20 miles north of Yuma, Ariz., bringing it across the desert and sand dune country of southern California just north of the international boundary, and delivering it to the Imperial Valley. It was believed that an all-American canal would reduce uncertainties in deliveries and would eliminate several physical and political difficulties in comparison with the old canal, 60 miles of which lie wholly within Mexico. But an American-controlled canal is not without its problems. The earthquake of May 18, 1940, disrupted service in the old canal and especially on the laterals; and although the All-American Canal suffered only minor damage, the earthquake hazard is one that must be reckoned with. Already sand is drifting into the canal at several points, and floods have caused some damage. Clearly, maintenance costs threaten to be heavy, but the financial stake is large and it is confidently believed the agricultural returns will warrant the expense when, early this year, the Imperial Valley in California receives all its water via this route. Since April water has been delivered to the laterals at Allison Heading, and in June a third reach of the canal went into use when water started flowing into the Central Main.

Much more could be written regarding the Parker Dam, the Klamath Project, the Deschute Project, the Yakima Project, the Grand Coulee Dam and other reclamation activities which directly benefit the West Coast states, but they all exemplify the thoroughness and engineering skill with which the Bureau of Reclamation has carried on each item in its ambitious program. Of greater importance are projects which affect the Great Basin and the Great Plains.

The Colorado-Big Thompson Project got under way with the boring of a 13-mile tunnel beneath the Continental Divide. The tunnel lies almost wholly within the Rocky Mountain National Park, crossing the park on a line situated 3 miles north of Longs Peak. For some time the project has aroused controversy, partly because it seemingly desecrates one of our National Parks, and partly because it may have unfortunate consequences in lowering the level of Grand Lake, whose waters it will tap and divert to the Big Thompson River. Grand Lake is one of the feeders of the North Fork of Colorado River, and it is difficult to gauge the effect of diversion on downstream irrigation projects in Arizona and California. It is obvious that Colorado River water has but little agricultural use until it has gone hundreds of miles beyond the confines of the state of Colorado, whereas the Colorado Piedmont can undergo no further economic development unless new supplies of water are utilized. Obvious benefits to the communities, farms, and ranches north of Denver were given more weight than problematic harm 600 to 700 miles downstream; conservationists were appeased by placing the tunnel portals just outside the limits of Rocky Mountain National Park, and only a few of Colorado's own residents suffered—property owners on the shore of Grand Lake.

The Colorado-Big Thompson Project is one of several which promise to help the drought-ridden acres of the Great Plains. Near Williston, N. D., just east of the Montana line, the Buford-Trenton Project is designed to rehabilitate a small area in one of the 'Dust Bowls' at the considerable cost of $10,000 per farm. But each farm will be a real farm, and as the first of the Great Plains relief projects, the experiment may be watched with interest. Also significant because of its location in the sub-humid section of the Plains is the Altus Project, which will impond water in the Wichita Mountains to give the town of Altus, Okla., a water supply and its inhabitants a more diversified agricultural economy. There is slow realization of the reclamation needs of good farm lands which lie precariously close to that shifting and shadowy line of 20-inch rainfall, and the translation of this dawning realization into action is one of 1941's significant developments.

As it has come to all phases of American life, war has now descended upon the Bureau of Reclamation. During 1941 it suffered losses of staff to other Government departments engaged in more urgent defense activities. Priorities and shortages of materials are beginning to make themselves felt in its operations. Appropriations may soon lapse in 1942, although it seems probable that the Bureau may be permitted to carry through its program of stepping up the capacity of hydroelectric plants operating on reclamation projects from the present 1,559,000 kw. to slightly more than 3,000,000 (scheduled for 1944). We may expect to get returns from reclamation both in power and in crops to help us in our war effort, but it looks as if new reclamation projects will fall into the category of post-war activities—they have but a secondary place in the stupendous program on which we are now embarked..