Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1874-04-15
The Proposed irrigation Of the
COlradO Desert.


COlradO Desert.
Senator Jones, Of Nevada, proposes
soon to bring TO the attention OF Congress
a scheme which, though of colossal mag
nitude and involving al immense expense,
seems nevertheless to find warranty in
the vast benefits which, the protector
considers, will be gained by the under
taking. Though great as it is: in these
DAYS when VIC turn continents into islands
by canals as large as small rivers, when
we burrow under mountains, and contem-
plate structures reaching almost to the
clouds, when We alter river courses, and
convert great tracts of swamp into avail
Bile land there is really nothing very
startling IN the suggestion Of irrigating a
great desert. The objective point Of Sen.
ator Jones plan is the vast waste known
as the Colrado desert, which stretches
from Lower California to Inyo county IN
the State Of California, cmoprislng
an area about 800 miles longsby l5O
wide. Al their private expense, Senator
Jones and citizen Of California recently
fitted out surveying expedition: and
from the report Of the engineers, it ap-
pears that the whole tract may be reclaim
ed by turning into it the waters of the
Colrado River or of the Gulf of Califor-
MIA. A large portion of the desert, we
learn, consists of fertile soil which is a
deep aluvium, susceptible to the highest
cultivation. 1t is also shown that the
prevalence of sard storms, ho, winds, and
deficient rain falls, evils suffered by the
adjoining country as far north as the Tu-
lare valley Of California. is directly trace
able to this arid expanse, from which. as
from a great furnace there constantly
rises in summer vast column of heated
air, without appreciable humidity. Thus
the moisture of The rain bearing clouds
which are blown northwesterly during the
summer months from ths Gulf of Cali
forna, is dissipated as soon as they reach
the border Of this superheated region,
and they are prevented from reaching the
dry but fertile plains of California beyond.
Mr. r. Il. Stretch, an eminent civil
engineer of San Francisco, in commenting
on the report, points out that the shells
found on the surface Of this desert prove
that it has been at one time the bed OF
sea, and at subsequent period the bed
of a fresh water lake. The shore liues
of both sea aud lake can be seen and
recognized in many places; and Mr.
Stretch expresses the opinion that the
Aztec civilization Of the ajacent region in
Arizona (of which there are 80 many
traces) came to an end in consequence OF
the climatic changes caused by the evapo.
ration of these vast lakes in Southern
California, after the Colrado River had
cut down its bed in the great canon So
deep that its course was diverted at Col
vile to southerly direction.
The question issuggested whether these
desert lands cannot be reclaimed by irrl-
CATION, and thus saved. Instead of being
totally submerged, as it is considered GER
tain that covering them with vegetation
would tend to prevent the evaporation of
moisture, and at the same time act as a
precipitant for whatever moisture the at.
mosphere may carry,or whether both plans
might not be combined.