and yield abundantly. The climate during
eight months of the year is unsurpassed.

Ostrich farming here is becoming an important industry. There are at the
present time in the valley about eight thousand birds, and the number is
rapidly increasing. The value of the feathers plucked yearly from each
full-grown bird is from thirty dollars to forty dollars. Indications are
that in the near future Arizona will lead the world in ostrich farming
and the production of ostrich feathers.

The history of this remarkable reservoir is full of human and natural
interest. It is located in a land whose civilization was old when Rome
was founded, a land of lost races, perpetual sunshine, forbidding
deserts, and picturesque wonders. Strange vegetation and scenes that are
novel are reflected in soft, changing tints from plain and mountain.
From dawn to dark they possess an indescribable charm.

The government engineers, in looking over the ground, found an ideal
spot for a reservoir formed by two valleys hedged in among the mountains
at the head of the canyon. It was necessary only to build a dam across
the narrow cleft where the river enters the gorge in order to impound
the water.

The place being practically inaccessible, much preliminary work had to
be done before commencing construction on the dam. A road forty miles
long was made through the rugged mountains by which to transport
provisions, machinery, and other supplies. A greater part of the road
was cut out of the solid rock; other portions were constructed of
masonry. At places on this wonderful highway, a stone dropped over the
edge of the road will fall almost a thousand feet without stopping. The
scenery along the whole route is both beautiful and awe-inspiring.

The question of supplying cement for constructing the dam was for a
while a difficult one; the price asked by the manufacturers was nine
dollars per barrel delivered. The engineer then summoned to his aid the
government geologists, and they discovered near at hand limestone rock
suitable for making good cement. But in order to convert the limestone
into cement, it was necessary to have a mill and motive power to run it.
Coal mines were five hundred miles away and such fuel would be too
costly. The engineer said, "Why not use as a power electricity generated
by the river itself?"

Accordingly a canal extending twenty miles up the river was constructed;
with a two-hundred-and-twenty-foot drop it was capable of d