The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1890-08-23


of the Colorado until it reached /;
point some 40 miles down the rive
Leading from these large canal
| back into the country, are hun
drods Of small canals, from 10 t
30 feet wide, and 2 1-2 to #. ir
depth, through which the wateI
lows, until the who'd region is
well supplied, ana finally com
pletely owe! flowed. The value oI
this great canal system cannot lie
over-estimated when we take VI
the matter of irrigating this great
body Of garden land. Colonel Al
len and Engineer Mendenhall esti-
mated that the 1irewood growing n
these canals and al ing their banks
will more than Fay all the expense
Of clearing them from the brush
stumps, wood and trees. This
wood can be cut and piled on the
banks of the canal, and when they
are filled with water the wood can
be loaded on the fat-bottom boats
or scows and towed or foated out
to the Colorado, where steamboats,
can take it to the railroad or up
the river to the mines and other
points where there may be a de-
mand for it. This natural canal
system
WILL SAVE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
in the great work Of irrigating the
lands on the west side of the Colo
River below Yuma, as these viii
form the channels through which
the water will be conducted for
more than 100 miles to the west
ward, and thus save digging bitches
or building fumes. These canals
are wonderful. How, when or by
what agency they were made, no
one knows. Upon their sides the
deep, wellworn water-marks show
that at no less than nine different
times or periods have they been
filled with water. Mesquite, willow
and cottonwood trees, 2 1-2 to 4, #.
in diameter, are found growing
there still. Others of like size have
fallen and have lain on the ground
for years and year, as shown by
their decaying forms. Large will
low trees have been taken from
where they grew and carried to the
westward by some of the great
overfows more than 100 miles. 1t
is generally believed that the water
cut out these canals, but what did
it do with the millions and millions
of cubic yards Of sand and clay
which have been removed q? If the
water did this great work, how is
it that for miles and miles the canal
is made so perfect Man could not
do more perfect work. The banks
sides, slopes and bottoms are per
feet, the bends are beautiful. Often
the canal will form a loop eight,
ten or fifteen miles in length, six
to eight miles across the widest
part, and in places not more than
100 #. wide, and yet the water in
one canal runs to the west and in
the other, just beside it, 200 to 500
feet distant, it runs to the east at
from one to three miles per hour.
At the present writing, notwith-
standing the fact that the Colorado
River has fallen some six feet, the
water in all the canals to the west
and south has fallen only from six
to fifteen inches, and much of the
country IS still under water.
So level is the country that the
water in the canals can be easily
controlled whenever it shall be
utilized for irrigation, One of the
most singular facts connected with
them is the fact that in but three
or four places in the whole length
of the system has the blowing,
shifting sands of the desert filled in
so as to neeessitate its removal be-
fore the canal can be used for con-
Quoting the water across the valley
to the westward.
Along almost the whole length of
the main canal and it's branches
every few miles, and in many places
every few rods, there are salt as
we'll as fresh water springs. In
other portions water is found very