Report, Flood control and soil conservation in southern Nevada

FLOOD CONTROL AND SOIL CONSERVATION In Southern Nevada Virgin River Watershed Flood Control and Soil Conservation Committee. The story of a large part of Southern Nevada's agricultural development and corresponding problems cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of the Flood and Soil Erosion menace of recent years. Since the early mining days of Pioche and Delamar; since the building of the railroad thru the Clover Creek-Meadow Valley Wash drainage course from Crestline near the Utah-Nevada State line in Lincoln County to near Moapa in Clark County; and as a consequence of an ever-increasing depleted range vegetative and timber cover of this watershed, the flood-menace has become an ever-increasingly more serious problem. The drainage from the Pahranagat-Kane Springs-Sheep Mountain areas converging into the Double and Arrowhead Canyons on the West, pouring out their floods over the farms of the Upper Muddy and the Indian Reservation likewise flooded farms one, two and occasionally three times in one season; the remnants of those storms at times joining those of the Meadow Valley "'ash from the North near what is now the Glendale Service Station, ? thence spreading over the entire Valley floor, thru the Narrows, and "of the upper one third of the Lover Moapa Valley, inundating nearly all the fan-is in whole or in part, and of the other two thirds, flooding all lower lands. Fences were swept away or buried; fields were piled high with flood sand and debris where had been promising crops of alfalfa, grain, vegetable crops, or orchards in full bloom." where levees were built to guard against damage, flood waters, during the night would rise to such heights that cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry everything would be flooded, to be either carried downstream to destruction, or unless by chance a way out would be found to banks and hillsides for temporary safety until floods subsided end their owners would later gather them in to eke out a mere existence over the desert hills, for little if anything by way of 2- forage was left on farms until, thru the process of reclamation, land was again levelled, fenced and replanted to emergency crops; homes re-juvenated, and irrigation systems rebuilt or repaired. Similar conditions maintained in the upper reaches of the various tributaries of the Virgin River in Arizona and Utah causing floods of unprecedented size and consequent damages among down-stream communities such as Bunkerville and Mesquite where the full force of damages were keenly felt thru losses sustained, not so much by overflowing of lands but rather thru cutting away of entire farm holdings during a single flood season; in addition, wrecking irrigation systems to such extent that there would be no water for crops for periods of from three to six or more weeks at a time. Thus floods meted out their vengeance successively with damages of more or less degree beginning in 1906, then in 1910, 1912, 1914, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1937 and 1933. For the most part these floods came during early spring; but the 1925 flood came in late September and served to impress upon residents of the Moapa Area, the fact that there was nothing certain as to time of occurrence. Such uncertainties served well faithless hope of harnessing devastating floods on the one hand, on the other hand encouraging an attitude of letting nature take its course rather than try to control floods of unknown volume, unknown time of occurrence, and unknown place of origin. Total losses sustained on farms, homes and other community interests, of these areas during those years, amounted to nearly $800,000.00; railroad interests alone suffered losses exceeding $7,000,000.00. The relocation of the railroad, then known as the Salt Lake Route, following the harrowing experience of the 1910 flood is so well know that mention only need be made of that epocal stride in Railroad history of Southern Nevada. However, it was not until after the 1925 flood that the agricultural communities represented by the Muddy Valley Irrigation Company thru its directors, the Clark and Lincoln County Commissioners, the Panaca Community Flood Control Committee, the Town Boards and Canal Company officials of each Bunkerville and Mesquite in cooperation with various State and Federal agencies, seeing the grave consequences of letting nature thus take its course regarding a problem of such perplexing proportions, proceeded with a series of investi-gations end surveys of the problem, and completed a report of the first preliminary studies in the summer of 1928. To show the degree of faith shown in this report, one man of one section upon being shown the need for over $250,000.00 with which to effect worthwhile protection for a given area, virtually "threw up his hands" with the exclamation that "the whole Country (concerned) was not worth the p r i c e . " ! The program thus meeting such consternation all thought of active to overcome any of the apparent difficulties was for the time set aside. Thus it remained until in 1933 when President Roosevelt's program of CCC camps became operative, and Nevada's Congressional representatives, Senators Key Pittman and Pat McCarren end Congressman J. G. Scrugham, with Cecil W. Creel, Director of Nevada Extension, seeing CCC potentialities, seized the golden opportunity of directing all efforts possible toward extending men power and finances with which to proceed with a construction program largely in line with plans as recommended by surveys indicated heretofore. The sum total of benefits that have since been derived from the efforts of the splendid cooperation of all local, county, State and Federal agencies -1 might be enumerated as follows: 1. Materially reducing damages through structures that have definitely served their purpose by either spreading peaks of floods or temporarily storing appreciable quantities of flood waters at (1) The Panaca Townsite where flood waters were diverted around the town, spreading same over the south fields where little or no damage was done, thus protecting a large part of the community and the Lincoln County High School from heavy losses. (2) The Meadov Valley Wash Flood Control works near Moapa, have served well the temporary purpose of a spreading , ground for the 1937 and 1938 floods, but which are seriously in need o insure this project serving its*full purpose, both as a spreading ground and as a protection to flood control structures at the Wells Siding diversion and flood control works at the head of the Lower Moapa Valley besides reducing very materially damages that might otherwise accompany flooding of farms in the Lower Moapa Valley. / ^ (3) The Arrowhead Canyon Dam at the head of the Upper Moapa Valley, which has already oowwe^the upper Muddy Ranches and the Indian Reservation (A) The Wells Siding Diversion Dam?Flood Channel and Bowman Reservoir, which during the March 1938 flood prevented heavy losses to Lower Moapa Valley (5) Two minor structures for dissipating flood water in the vicinity of the Moapa Indian Reservation, each having dissipated several floods to such extent that none of the usual damage occurred in that 2. Construction of rock-brush and wire-bound rock revetments and automobile frame tetrahedrons cabled together for protection of irrigation and canal structures, river bank protection to farm* aRj.-cant to the ' esouitp, Bunkerville and Riverside communities in the Virgin Valley and over-passes to protect canals from side-hill floods, which have very materially reduced), losses usually suffered. 3. The establishment of Public Domain Range Land Experimental strations fenced areas in each the Virgin, the Pahranagat and the Meadow ( Panaca) Valleys to, determine possibilities of re-establishing the vegetative cover to improve forage potentialities/and limiting precipitation run-off thereby prevent accumulation of flood waters, A. The designing and construction'of a series of dams in the vicinity of Panaca, Ursine end Spring Valley for prevention of further heavy erosion which in recent years has been responsible for gullying the very heart of ranches and communities of areas concerned, thus rendering many acres of choice farm lands unfit for further crop production. This work is now restoring these same lands to their original value and use, and is holding in place, thousands of tons of soil that would otherwise be carried into Lake Mead where it tells its own story. 5. The completion of a system for e supply of Domestic Water for the Bunkerville and Mesquite communities where residents heretofore have been obliged to utilize to best advantage possible thru the use of cisterns, tanks, y and barrels, the waters of the Virgin River, or by hauling their most urgent needs of a more wholesome quality from sources five to fifteen miles away. In addition to the foregoing preliminary surveys are now under way for the establishment of improved irrigation, livestock watering and culinary water facilities on farms, in agricultural neighborhood groups and communities in each the Pahranagat, the Moapa and the Virgin Valleys. 6. The organization, thru legal procedure, of Soil Conservation District Associations in each the Virgin, the Moapa, the Pahranagat and the Meadow Valleys. The purpose of the organizations is to carry on with a definite program of soil conservation t&ru flood and erosion control and the ^ encouragement of proper land use on both private and public lands. ^ A definitely outlined program of action, which, with the cooperation of Lincoln County interests, State end Federal agencies, bids fair for the con-sumption of an action program that will serve all interests over the entire Virgin River watershed as it concerns Southern Nevada lands. This story would be incomplete without special mention of the various agencies having had to do with the promotion of these activities, namely: - 6 - Federal agencies represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, by Robert Fechner civilian conservation corps<in cooperation with the U. S. Army, the Forest Service, the Soil Conservation Service, the Division of Grazing, and the Park Service; also the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering, the U. S. Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U, S. Indian Service, the Biological Survey, the Farm Credit Administration the various Nevada Congressional delegations, State Governors, State Engineers and State Highway Engineers who have served since this program h?s been under way; the State Experiment Station, the State, Clark end Lincoln County Farm Bureau and Extension Service organiza-tions in cooperation with County Commissioners of each Clark and Lincoln Counties and the Union Pacific Railroad System; the Soil Conservation District Super-visors, local irrigation company directors with respective stock holders, Town Boards, Community Committees, the L. D. S. Church, Chambers of Commerce and Service organizations of respective areas and,last but not least, the local press represented by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Age, the Caliente Herald and the Pioche Record. ? n ,*3erefforts of the past and. thru continued efforts of that which appears a prospectively brighter future, it is hoped that Southern Nevada homes^ and the Institutions by n&ich they live, may yet be made safe from further depredations of unnecessary erosion and floods; that in time a due proportion of the energies of farm folk of this seemingly hard though choice land, may be directed toward such that make for the enrichment of the mind, the heart end soul, as well as for physical well-being.