Los Angeles herald., 1891-08-11
The Flood at Salton Still
Steadily Rising.
Indications That 1t Will Cause
a Permanent Lake.
The Tremendous Amount of Water
Now in the Desert.
Some Interesting Calculations-The Flow
of the COlorado-A Condensed State
ment of the History of the Phe-
nomenon from superin-
tendent Durbrow.

The water in the HERALD lake at Sal
ton is steadily rising, at an average rate
OF three-fourths of an inch per day.
The lake is now forty miles long, ten
miles wide, and has an average depth of
four feet. Such is the information that
reaches the HERALD by gentleman
who arrived in the city yesterday from
the desert. This makes the amount of
water now in the Salton basin to be
4,460, ,544 900 cubic feet. 1t has been
just forty-eight days since the flood was
first noticed. At this rate the inflow
into the Salton basin has been 10,755
cubic feet per second. This is exclusive
of the amount absorbed by evaporation
and inliltration, for a roundabout dis
lance of 200 miles that tine water takes
in coming from the river to Salton.
In March, 1876, the Colorado river at
Yuma had an average flow of $3.50 cubic
feet per second, as measured by the gov
ernment engineers. For several months
past its flow has been not less than
100000 cubic feet per second to probably
ten times that amount, the bulk of
which has flowed to the gulf but large
portion has found it's way to the desert.
When the river stood at the 19-foot
water mark at Yuma water has always
flowed into New River, which floods the
Indian wells region. The river at Yu-
ma is not yet below the 20-foot mark.
Besides this, the channel of the great
break below Ell Rio is cut SO deep that
the water will hereafter flow into the
desert at the lowest stages of the river.
This would seem to insure the perma-
nency of the supply of the lake
at Salton. Even allowing, as it
is claimed, that the evapora-
ton will equal the inflow from this on,
if this state of things continues till the
next winters rains, there will then be
still greater rise at Salton, and the en-
tire basin, embracing an area of 5000
square miles below sea level, ,and over 200
feet below the Colorado river, will con-
tinue to fill.
There is yet no reliable news as to the
condition OF New river, next to the gulf,
whether or no it is receiving water from
the gulf.
B. A. Stephens has received the fol-
lowing from George w. Durbrow, super
intendent of the saltworks at Salton,
which forms a good condensed state
ment of the phenomenon
'Yours of the 30th ultimo received,
asking for information as to the first
appearance of the water on the salt
marsh at Salton.
"On the 23d OF June, 1891, at 6 80 a.
M, l noticed the water at the end of
our spur 1.-TWO and three-quarter miles
southwest from the main line of the
Southern Pacific company's), l did not
60 to the end of the spur until 2 p. m.
that day, thinking the cause OF the
water was cloud burst south of Salton.
At p. m. found six inches of water
at the lowest point on the marsh, that
being the point from which we gather
our salt (270 feet below sea leveD. The
water was coming from the southeast
and showed saturation of 25 per cent.
saline. The marsh is supplied with salt
water from salt springs, of which there
are many on both sides OF the marsh and
showing from to per cent. saline.
The evaporation quickly increases the
saturation and the average saturation
at the end of our spur is from 27 to 80
per cent. found it impossible to get
the exact rise of the water for each
twenty-four hours, as the wind moved
1t so no true observation could be taken
for several days. The evaporation, in
depth of water 18 inches, showed seven
sixteenths OF an inch per twenty-four
hours. The greatest depth of water is
four feet, think an average depth of
two feet nine inches would be about
right, foi the lake, say 10 miles by 80
miles. The water now seems to be at a
stand, though we know the water is still
coming in. think the evaporation is
now equal to the inflow"