Minidoka Project
The Minidoka Project is a series of public works by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to control the flow of the Snake River in Wyoming and Idaho, supplying irrigation water to farmlands in Idaho. One of the oldest Bureau of Reclamation projects in the United States, the project involves a series of dams and canals intended to store, regulate and distribute the waters of the Snake, with electric power generation as a byproduct. The water irrigates more than a million acres (4,000 km²) of otherwise arid land, producing much of Idaho's potato crop. Other crops include alfalfa, fruit and sugar beets. The primary irrigation district lies between Ashton in eastern Idaho and Bliss in the southwestern corner of the state. Five main reservoirs collect water, distributing it through 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of canals and 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of lateral distribution ditches.
Early studies for irrigation in southern Idaho began in 1889-90 by the U.S. Geological Survey. The data developed were made available to the Reclamation Service after the passage of the 1902 Reclamation Act. The Minidoka Project was established in 1904, with construction of Minidoka Dam starting the same year. Water could flow to the north bank of the Snake by gravity, but pumping was required for the south bank. The project was designed to combine flood control and impoundment of spring runoff for use later in the growing season. Jackson Lake and Palisades Reservoir are regulated to keep the flow at Heise, Idaho from exceeding 20,000 cubic feet per second (570 m3/s).
The Minidoka Project contributed to the settlement of the Snake River Plain and river valley, converting semi-arid land to productive farmland. Population rose from a few thousand people in 1915 to more than 200,000 by the 1980s.
During the 1930s the project used labor provided by the Civilian Conservation Corps to construct canals. Later, during World War II, 10,000 Japanese-American internees were held at what is now Minidoka National Historic Site in Jerome County, Idaho. Internees worked on canal maintenance and provided agricultural labor. Population at the Minidoka camp declined to 6500 in 1944, before it was finally closed. The former CCC Camp BR-56 at Paul housed some of the internees in 1943, as well as 148 more internees moved from the Manzanar camp in California. Following the closure of the Minidoka camp, the facilities were used Veterans' Resettlement Program to house returning World War II veterans.
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