P-()VvEil UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of the INTERIOR ...* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *news release

For Release to PM's April 7, 1966

REMARKS BY FLOYD E. DOMINY, COMMISSIONER OF RECLAMATION DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, AT THE SALT RIVER PROJECT LUNCHEON , PHOENIX, ARIZONA, APRIL 7, 1966 COMMEMORATING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST RECLAMATION HYDROELECTRIC POWER

The Kilowatts That Came To Stay

I am glad to be here and take part in this 60th anniversary of the first ·Reclamation hydroelectric power. This observance points up the importance of a major revenue source which helps Reclamation repay nearly 90 percent of the capital costs of one of the world 's most successful multipurpose resource development programs.

A second reason I am pleased to be here is because this celebration in Phoenix is a brain child of Salt River Project General Manager Rod McMullin ' s and mine. Last July t his "Sage of the Salt" and I got together and decided we should not let this 60th anniversary slip by without proper recognition. I remember Rod writing to me these words:

"You may be interested in this note from one of our early log books:

''March 1906 - Temporary plant in cave start ed . " And Rod, never missing an opportunity to toss a barb, added:

"So it looks like the USBR started in the power business in a cave and has been fighting to get out ever s ince !"

Just how do you mean that, Rod?

Well, we did get out of the cave with our power operations at Theodore Roosevelt Dam when the permanent powerhouse was built and placed in operation. But to this day, the small hydroelectric plant in that cave has rated as Reclamation's first and only underground powerplant. Now, however, we're con­ structing an underground plant at Morrow Point Dam on the Gunnison River in Colorado.

So, contrary to Rod's statement, we're not trying to get out of caves with our power generation--we're gett ing ready to go underground again. That little plant at the Theodore Roosevelt damsite was more up-to-date than our predecessors ever dreamed of. And while we might be in a "hole" or two physically, we certainly are not financially. The hydroelectric business during Reclamation's 60 years of power operations has paid off quite well. Just recently our hydroelectric cash regis­ ter rang the $100 million total annual gross income bell. And as we put more plants into operation, the dollars are rolling in at an ever-increasing clip. Now, I don't want to sound mercenary but the fact is that this hydroelec­ .. tric revenue is making possible many multipurpose benefits. Reclamation could not today serve water each year to over 9 million acres of irrigated land-- to over 10 million residents of municipalities--and provide vast recreation, fish and wildlife benefits without financial assistance from the 48 hydroelectric plants on our projects. And furthermore, I do not believe that the Congress would have authorized an investment by the taxpayers of $7-1/2 billion in Reclamation projects without some assurance that nearly nine dollars out of every ten would be repaid to the Federal Treasury--much of it with interest. And it is significant that roughly two- thirds of these repayment dollars come from the sale of hydroelectric energy. But I don't need to tell you people here in central Arizona about the value of using power revenues to create multipurpose Reclamation benefits. You've had a power and water team going in this valley for many years and this teamwork has made your Salt River Project a whopping success by any yardstick. And now we look into the future where we hope to see this partnership of power and water working again on the potential Lower Colorado River Basin development which includes your own long-awaited Central Arizona Project. Hydroelectric energy from the proposed project not only will pump your water, but it also will help you repay the construction costs. At the same time, system power will provide valuable peaking energy for the Pacific Southwest's predominantly steam generation systems. The Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund, to be established under legislation now before the Congress, will assist all of the Lower Basin States in meeting their multipurpose water requirements. But this is resource development, future, Today we are meeting to honor resource development, past and present. And I am indeed honored to join with you in commemorating the event that ~appened 60 years ago last week in a Salt River Canyon cave 79 miles east of Phoenix.

The Nation paid little attention to this event at that time. Outside of Arizona, the incident didn't even make the newspapers. But today, that event of six eventful decades ago is big news and we properly recognize it for the far- flung beneficial effect it has had upon Arizona and the entire West. Our story is one of the temporary kilowatts that came to stay - to 1t1Jltiply and team with water to build Arizona into the great State that we know and love--a delightful place to visit-- and to live.

2 The kilowatts that were born in that cave 60 years ago helped chart Reclamation's multipurpose course throughout the West. And thus was estab­ lished a Reclamation policy that water is more than a single-purpose com­ modity. Here it was demonstrated that the sparkling rain and melted snow, cascading down from the mountains, is working water--capable of doing more • than one job •

One of the first to recognize this was Arthur Powell Davis, who studied the Salt River for many years and who served as Director of Reclamation from 1914 to 1923. Davis foresaw the tremendous role that hydropower would play in the development of water resources in the West.

A year before the Congress passed the Reclamation Act, Mr. Davis made this statement on the importance of hydroelectric power: "In the construction of a great dam, one of the most important elements is that of power. The best means for providing the necessary power is by the development of water power on the river. The power developed can afterwards be used in the neighboring mines or transmitted to the valley below for pumping purposes . For either purpose it will be a valuable asset. " These published views made Arthur Powell Davis--the man whose name was immortalized at Davis Dam on the Colorado River-­ perhaps the first proponent of Reclamation power. And certainly these views were applied by those who built that first powerplant at Theodore Roosevelt Dam .

Here in the Salt River Valley today, one sees many results of working water--developments that testify to the principle that power is water's pay­ ing partner, that Arizona and other Reclamation States grow where water and power flow.

You were preceded in this valley by the Hohokam -- "the people who went away." These pre-historic Indians irrigated the lands and cultivated their fields just as you and your fathers have done. But without electricity and modern engineering technology, they were unable to defeat the forces of nature. They could neither drain the ground water -- which always accumulates in irrigation projects -- nor could they cope with high sumner temperatures which made life unbearable. These were the people who went away. Your con­ tinued presence here in this valley is symbolized by the Reclamation program and its "kilowatts that came to stay."

The kilowatts came with Louis C. Hill, one of Reclamation's top early­ day engineers, who arrived in Phoenix in October 1903--less than a year after the passage of the Reclamation Act. Engineer Hill had charge of the planning and construction of Theodore Roosevelt Dam, destined to be, when completed, the world's highest dam, and backing up the largest manmade lake of its time. •' But how could Engineer Hill build a huge dam at a wilderness site, many miles from any source of powe~? He needed power to operate his cement mill, ' to hoist the giant blocks of stone to be quarried by the Apache Indians, and to operate the tramway and other construction equipment.

Fortunately, Davis had earlier considered this problem and steps had already been taken toward providing the necessary power at the damsite.

3 Surveys had been initiated for a power canal 20 miles upstream to divert part of the Salt River' s flow to a small generating plant installed in a cave at the damsite. Engineer Hill placed into operation a temporary, wood-burning, 150-horsepower, steam-generating plant at the damsite to operate the construc­ ' tion equipment pending completion of the much more powerful hydroelectric plant, • The proposed hydroplant would have eight times the rated horsepower of the temporary steamplant.

The contract with John M. O'Rourke and Company for building Theodore Roosevelt Dam read tersely: "The United States reserves the right to con­ struct a powerplant."

Engineer Hill saw to it that the United States exercised this right. Digging of the power canal began in April 1904, and equipment and materials for the small hydroelectric plant were ordered. The Reclamation Service's report on the project's construction announced the operation of the plant under the date of March 28, 1906, with this matter-of-fact entry: "First test of temporary hydroelectric powerplant."

Engineer Hill noted in his report in October of that same year: ''The power house has been in operation since March and since June has run 24 hours a day, except for a few hours once a week."

The Federal Government's entrance into the hydroelectric power field is a fascinating example of how practical engineering problems and their solution at Theodore Roosevelt Dam have had a profound effect upon the laws of the land.

The Congress quickly recognized the importance of hydroelectric energy to Reclamation development by amending the Reclamation Act in 1906 to authorize the construction of a permanent plant at Roosevelt Dam, which today has a generating capacity of 20,000 kilowatts.

As President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated the dam bearing his name on March 18, 1911, he pressed a button that started the water from the tamed Salt River plunging downward from the reservoir through the penstocks to spin the turbines and generate permanent power for Salt River Project farms, homes, and factories.

A note of certainty in his voice, the President made this forecast: "Great things will happen in this valley due to this great project, "

The Salt River Project has come a long way in the power business since the small generator in a cave turned out its first kilowatts. The permanent plant . at Theodore Roosevelt Dam set the pattern for the development of hydroelectric • plants at Horse Mesa, Mormon Flat and Stewart Mountain Dams, subsequently con­ structed downstream.

Hydroelectric power also was developed at drops along the canal system.

The combination of water and power started the Salt River Project area on a growth cycle which appears to have no ending. As a result, the Salt

4 River Project- -operated by the water. users since 1917--has struggled to keep up with the demand for these commodities, The project, through improved water­ shed management and all forms of conservation, has made the most of its water. , Steam-generated electrical energy has been added to the original hydroelectric energy and, the project has purchased additional hydroelectric energy from Reclamation plants on the Colorado River. Today, the Salt River Project operates one of the largest public power systems in the West, and has wisely used its power revenues to keep the cost of water to farm and city users at one of the lowest rates in the west,

It is not merely coincidental that the Salt River Project was the first Reclamation project to produce power and also one of the first to repay its original cost, Without those kilowatts that came to stay, it is not likely that Salt River Project President Vic Corbell could have delivered a check for the final installment on the original debt to the Federal Government 11 years ago.

The importance and value of hydroelectric installations increase as our interconnections become more extensive and complex,

The Department of the Interior is increasing the value of its hydroelec­ tric energy through interconnections. Within a few years, systems of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bonneville Power Administration will be linked with all of the major public and private electric systems of the Pacific Northwest and the Pacific Southwest.

This Pacific Northwest-Pacific Southwest Intertie will include two direct-current 750-kilovolt lines from the Northwest--the largest to be built in this country--one to the Los Angeles area and one to Mead Substation near Hoover Dam, two 500- kilovolt alternating-current lines through the length of California, two 345-kilovolt alternating-current lines from the Mead Substa­ tion to Liberty near Phoenix, with a final stretch of 230-kilovolt connections from Liberty to Pinnacle Peak.

A 750-kilovolt direct-current line or high-voltage alternating-current lines linking the Los Angeles area and Mead Substation is also to be con­ structed,

These trunk lines, carrying over 4 million kilowatts of hydroelectric capacity, will facilitate the exchange of power between the two regions .

The Intertie will connect with the Parker-Davis Project, Colorado River Storage Project and indirectly with the Missouri River Basin Project systems. And someday, I expect there will be a heavy-duty direct connection between the Columbia River System and the Missouri River Basin System, and the South Central area,

Arizona will exchange capacity and energy with the Pacific Northwest by means of the 750-kilovolt direct-current line to Mead Substation and the alternating-current lines from Mead Substation to the Phoenix area, Because of the winter-summer diversity of energy demand, both areas can share in a savings of millions of dollars in plant construction costs.

5 The joining together of public and private power utilities under the sponsorship of WEST promises further progress in interconnecting systems and a further blending of hydroelectric and steam- generated energy.

' I have attended and enjoyed several of your celebrations of Reclamation milestones. This observance of the 60th anniversary of the first Reclamation hydroelectric generation is one of the most meaningful. It gives us a chance to pause and look backward--but more important, to look ahead.

The added kilowatts of capacity proposed for development on the Colorado will come to stay and work for the continued growth and prosperity of Arizona and her siste r Colorado Rive r Basin States. These kilowatts will be paying partners for water that someday will flow through the Central Arizona Project system to farms, cities and factories in this Valley of the Sun. You have waited long but patiently for this water--water that will steer the State away from its collision course with growth stagnation.

The Lower Colorado River Basin Project is on the threshold . And so, my wish to you is that within the next few years we may all gather again--as we are here today--to celebrate the arrival of water from the Color ado River-­ another "first" for Arizona--like the kilowatts that came to s t ay in that small cave at Theodore Roosevelt Dam 60 years ago.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in concluding my remarks this afternoon, I would like to have you join with me in a long-overdue look at what is now the basic function of electric power in this great southwestern area. -- Here you have demonstrated that electric power can be more than a "limited partner" in Reclamation's struggle to conquer the desert. In your beautiful valley of comfortable homes, prosperous farms, and modern cities, electric power has become a full partner with water -- a full partner in converting what was once a hot, dry wasteland into a dream come true.

I hardly need to point out to the many "old-timers" I see in this audience that shortage of water was not the only ace which nature had up her sleeve in the game of keeping you and your predecessors out of this lovely valley. Summer days which sometimes reach 118 degrees may be just fine for growing cotton, but that ' s about all one can say for them! One of my good friends here described life in the "old days" this way : ''When summer really arrived we just rolled up the sidewalks and quit." He went on to add : "The rich folks all went to Long Beach or Iron Springs -- the rest of us slept in the backyard under wet sheets and burned smudge pots to keep the mosquitoes away!"

Today, it is hard to believe that as late as 1928 only the cities and towns in this area were blessed with electr icity. In 1928, many of you i n t his room were sti ll r eading by kerosene lamps , cooking on wood stoves, and heating your houses with cottonwood and mesquite logs burned in open fire­ places. And, looking back to 1928, you will recall the electric fans that would hum away through a long hot sul!lller afternoon -- as you lay on the living­ room floor with all the blinds drawn to keep out t he suamer heat. If you do remember this, you must have lived in town, because in 1928 those who lived in the country were doing their best to keep cool with a little palm leaf fan,

6 which probably had printed on it "Courtesy of A. L. Moore & Sons - Your Friendly Undertaker. "

In 1928, the Salt River Valley Water Users' Association took its second I significant step in the evolutionary process of reclamation in this valley. • This was the year that electricity was brought to every farm home in the • valley. The same year of 1928 was the year a division of electric service territory was agreed upon between the Water Users' Association and Central Arizona Light & Power Company, the predecessor of Arizona Public Service Company. That was the year that a form of competition evolved between these two great distributors of electricity, a form of competition which has resulted in unexcelled electric service to the people of this colllllUnity . It also has resulted in electric rates which encourage all of you to make life easier, to make life more comfortable, and to make life more profitable by reliance on electricity, aptly described as "the slave of the 20th century. "

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, lest we forget, water alone is not responsible for your success -- for~ success -- in conquering the Arizona desert. True, a controlled water supply was the first step, and a most vital step, but with­ out low- cost electricity to cool and heat your homes, your offices, and your factories, without electricity to pump your ground water, to turn the wheels of industry, to operate your copper mines and to fire the furnaces of the mines' great smelters, to light your streets, your airports, your churches and your schools, this would not be the 32nd largest metropolitan area in the United States. Without this beneficial partnership of water and low-cost power, Phoenix would not be the cultural center of the entire Southwest, you would not have your beautiful retirement communities, you would not have these new multi­ storied office buildings and high-rise apartments, you would not have the greatest banking institutions in the Rocky Mountain States, you would never have seen the metamorphosis of little Tempe Normal School into one of the count ry's finest univer sities, you would not have more boats, per capita, than any State in the Union, you would not be the electr onics capital of the world , nor would your general way of life be the envy of the entire country!

Water and electricity, full partners in the Valley, combi ned with the vision, the courage, and the tenacity of the dedicated men and women of this cotmnunity -- both past and present - - have truly wrought a miracle in the desert . This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is maximum use of our natural resources. It is Reclamation at its best! x x x

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