The Arizona sentinel., 1895-03-02
NUMBER l5.

ing canal in the world. Work ig
 now in progress on the heading.
 You will readily perceive that
 such an enterprise partakes of the
 nature of the gigantic. Such in-
 deed 1t does; and yet it has not
 been undertaken hastily nor with
 out a proper study of all the feat
 ures involved. As a matter of fact
 the enterprise is not by any means
 new one. Thirty years ago it
 was broached, and the state of
 California proposed to give to the
 promoter the entire body of land if he would irrigate it and the gov
 ernment would transfer t1ttle to it
 to the state. The government fail- ed to make the transfer and the scheme fell through. This present company proposes nothing of that kind. Its aim is simply to dispose of water-rights and rentals to set, tiers on the land which it covers, believing that there is ample re- muneration in that for any legiti- mate enterprise. It is going ahead on that basis. Competent engineers have made the plans necessary for the canal. the soil is ready and waiting.
 THE COLORADO DESERT.
 l spoke of camping out on the desert at this time of year. In con- pany with some gentlemen interested in the canal enterprise I have lately been over almost all of the territory involved; have seen what they pro- pose to do and how they propose to do it. We traversed country where it is said that not dozen white men, outside of the surveying party and an occasional cattle herder, had ever previously been. have seen the far famed No. hard wheat country of the Dakotas and goodly number of other tracts in various parts of the United States noted for their rich ness of soil and salubrity of climate, but 1 am sure that never saw any thing like intending miles of this so- called desert. 1 had thought after going over the bottom lands of the Indian reservation, which will be thrown open to settlement, that it would Do difficult to find soil which appeared to be easier of cultivation. or more likely to give abundant re- turns to the cultivator. I was un- deceived by this desert panorama. Imagine a great plain ninety miles long by forty miles wide,: stretching from one mountain range to another, from the San Bernardinos on the east to the San Jacintos Ia branch of the Coast Range) on the west, in shape like big platter, the interior portion depressed just enough to all low of the downward flow of water from the canal lines running along the edges, under the lee of tho foot hills. Across this plain we drove for days, not hill nor stone in sight, the land trending away to the horizon, with only an occasional clump of mesquite trees to break the monotony, the surface as even as 0 floor, and, wherever little moisture remained from some long-passed shower, car peted with thick growth of rank grasses. Here and there rains on the mountains and foot hills had sent down streams of water which had furrowed their way through the plain seeking large water courses. Down the sides of these gullies, the black soil showed to the bottoms without a change; and 1t was in crossing one of the larger ones, the dry bed of the Carter river, that we measured tue depth of the deposit, and found 1t to to be, as have stated, twenty feet.
 Such was the desert as we saw 1t. It is so named, I suppose, because there Is no water upon 1t. Certainly there is no sand, simply the deep, fine loam that needs only the touch of water to quicken into life. I should like to go more into details conce rniBg this rather unusual trip of ours, wh cl extended into Lower California, ana embraced a numtec of intei ting sights and incidents I should like to attempt description of bowling wild erness in the every act of bowling its loudest; but you have doubtless had enough for once and the rest can keep for another time. twill not be long, according to all calculations, before this big irrigation scheme will be able to furnish tangible evidences of the of Yuma aud its re- nowned heat. R, c. c.