The Arizona sentinel., 1888-02-25

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 The Colorado and Gila river have their confluence at Yuma. Tn, course of the Colorado river, look ing up stream from this point, ii north-easterly for some twenty-fv, miles, and then turns to the north while that of the Gila is almos due east. Some eighteen miles above Yuma commences range O. hilly country, fattening out at it! sides into table-lands, and thil range separates the two valleys until they finally diverge at right angles. Between this point and Yuma both valleys join and merge into one, cut, from east to west, by the channel of the Gila river.
 The Colorado Canal will head al a point about twenty-eight miles above the town of Yuma, and will be carried around the hilly country above alluded to, across the Gila river, through pipes or fumes. It will irrigate the land lying between the Colorado and Gila rivers, and also the land embraced by the table. lands on the south and the Gila river on the north, making fully 25,000 acres above Yuma, subject to redemption. Below Yuma, all the land between the line of table lands and the Colorado river, as far as the Mexican boundary line, will be reclaimed, some 10000 acres, and when carried on to the table lands will redeem 8O,O0O acres more. A grand total, in Arizona, of 175,- 900 acres of as fine land as there is on the continent.
 If this canal can be carried on into Sonora, by concession from the Mexican government, it will make productive what is estimated at l, 100000 acres of land.
 The cost of this canal system, from it's source to the boundary line, will roughly approximate $2,O00,000. The width of the canal will be fifty feet on the bottom.
 The Colorado Canal heads op- posite Stevenson's Island, rocky protuberance which rears its head above the surface of the waters in mid-channel of the Colorado river. This is the only point on this river, for great many miles, from which an irrigating canal can be taken, owing to the fact that there is such 8 slight fall to the river 1t necessitates many miles of expensive work before the water can be brought to the surface of the land. Stevenson's Island, above alluded to, acts as a dam to the waters, raising their surface several feet, from the level of which the river rushes with tremendous force and rapidity. In a distance of less than six hundred feet there is a fall of fully four feet. From this point the taking out the proposed canal is not only practicable but compar- atively simple and an inexpensive matter.
 At Stevenson's Island it is pro- posed to erect a dam and. lock, which will not in any way impede or interfere with the navigation of the river, but will be of sufficient capacity to allow the largest steam boats and barges to pass through. This lock will be so constructed as to raise the water twelve feet above low water mark. One of the objects in thus raising the water is to enable the canal to cover much more of the table or mesa lands than it otherwise would; but the principal advantage to be gained is, that since the water of the Colorado at times holds a very considerable amount of mud or sediment, some times as much as ten per cent, the raising of the water by means of the dam or lock will cause the greater portion of this sediment to be precipitated, and the water will thus be partially settled and cleared.
 By means of waste gates and the lock this precipitation of mud is easily cleared out, so that it cannot cucumber or fill up the canal. The bottom of the canal will be above the bottom of the lock. Waste gates and sluice-ways along the canal, at intervals for distance of three miles, will clear out any sur plus of mud in the water, so that the canal will not carry any more sediment than enough to act as a fertilizer.
 A bill carefully prepared is to be presented to Congress to obtain permission to construct the pro- posed lock, and as there can be no objection to it, since it will assist, rather than impede, navigation by overcoming the heavy fall at this point in the river, there is little doubt that the measure will meet with legislative sanction. The ad- vantages of this great Colorado Canal not only lies in the increased quantity of land made subject to redemption, but it will form most important factor in furnishing this necessary water supply, owing to a peculiar providence of Nature. The high-water periods of the Colorado