New York Canal Opens

It was February 22 in the year 1909--the day for the formal opening of the Main Canal (that is the New York Canal). It was a day of celebration and many came to see the water enter the reservoir from its main source. The water crept slowly over the land... (see 1907 New York Canal)

...over the Alan Travis orchard and over the sagebrush still growing there. The rabbits ran and the water slowly engulfed the abandoned homes and schools.

Relentlessly the water swept over all of these and gradually it became a reservoir. Mr. Bliss, cheif engineer of the Reclamation Bureau, looked at the filling and felt a deep sense of satisfaction.

Paul Evans remembered when the lake had its opening. The people sat in the sunshine because there was no shade and he remembered the fried chicken. The ladies pulled up their skirts and walked into the water, splashing everyone. As the water flowed into the lake there were a lot of little humps of ground sticking up.

These little humps had jack rabbits, coyotes, and other wild creatures trying to flee the water.

From casual observation it now seemed like the farmers would have plenty of water, but the people of the valley were disappointed over the water loss after it reached the reservoir. This was due to seepage and evaporation: "The Nampa Chamber of Commerce was quoted as saying... 'The big Deer Flat Reservoir will not hold water...three-fourths of it leaked out during the period of filling that was going on early in the summer. Since that time it has nearly all leaked out..'" 

Experts had anticipated the seepage and knew the amount of water that would soak into the desert floor or would be evaporated from the summer sun. They also knew that the Deer Flat Reservoir could not supply suffcient water for all the land under the project.

So, during 1911 to 1915, Arrowrock Dam was built to store water from the Boise River. The dam is located 22 miles upstream from the city of Boise. The river was used two more times to impound water for irrigation.

The first was the Anderson Ranch dam on the South Fork of the Boise River, finished in 1950.

The second was Lucky Peak Reservoir finished in 1955.