Proposed route of the Dubois Project
One version of the Dubois Project that never came to be
7/9/20261 min read
Idaho historian/legislator Rick Just uncovered this map for me. It's likely the last representation of the Dubois Project, an irrigation system that had been proposed since 1895. In its original ideation, it covered over a million acres. In this 1922 proposal it covers much less, but is the first version I've seen with a six mile tunnel running from the Island Park Reservoir (not yet built at that time) to the flatter lands toward Dubois. Part of the proposal includes a canal that uses water from the Jackson Lake Reservoir runs toward Dubois and crosses the Snake—another new version to me. The shaded areas are lands that would be irrigated by the massive system. It would have included the Taber area and some of what is now the INL. The American Falls Reservoir and Dam Project had already been okayed in 1920 but was still in limbo due to political and economic disagreements between interested parties, so this proposal was probably a last ditch effort.
