What the Boulder Dam Project Means to California and to the Nation

Abstract

OUT of many years of investigation by responsible Federal agencies and as a result of probably the most exhaustive course of hearings before Congressional Committees ever accorded any work of internal improvement, the so-called Boulder Dam Project for a development of the lower Colorado River has taken definite form. It contemplates the construction by the Federal Government of a great dam on the Colorado where that river forms the boundary line between the states of Arizona and Nevada and where there is not only a remarkably fine site for a dam but where there is also an exceptionally advantageous reservoir site. Under the plans for this development the dam will be 550 feet in height and will create a reservoir with a capacity of 26,000,000 acre feet. estimated cost of the dam is $41,000,000, which means a cost per acre foot of storage capacity of but $1.58. project also embraces the construction of what is termed The All-American Canal, being a canal running from the river to the Imperial Valley in California and located entirely to the north of the international boundary line between Mexico and the United States. estimated cost of this canal is $31,000,000. As this estimate was based upon price levels existing nearly ten years ago and was made before the advent of improved methods of excavating on a large scale, it may safely be said that the cost of this portion of the project will be substantially less than the estimated figure.