The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-26
IRRIGATION IN COLORADO.
About 100000 Acres of Arid Land
 Will Soon Be Fit for Cultivation.
Scientific American.

Scientific American.
 No more interesting series of engineer ing problems has been worked out of late than those connected with the irrigation of the delta of the Colorado River, in- clueing lands in Arizona, California and Lower California, Mexico. At the time of writing November l, 190l, water IS in use for the irrigation of several thou- sand acres of land while 1t is expected that before the close of the coming win ter fully 100000 acres will be subject to irrigation.
 The total area which will be brought under irrigation within two or three years on the delta is estimated as fol- lows: In Arizona. from several canals leading from the Colorado River, 150,00o acres; in Lower California. from similar canals, 300,e0o acres; in Southern Califor- mia. from similar canals, 500,OO0 acres; In Southern California, from artesian wells 50.Oo0 acres. This makes a total of 1,0o0,- GOO acres of irrigable land where heretQ- fore has been desert and. considered the most forbidding desert on the Ameri- can continent. That the addition Of that vast amount of productive soil, most of which will be devoted, to cattle raising, will greatly increase tue productive pow CT of the far Southwest is already be- ing demonstrated.
 The Colorado River delta includes land which ranges from about 100 feet above sea level to SSo feet below the level of the sea, the, latter point being the Sal ten s6ix. or salt march. in Riverside County, California.
 The character of the soil throughout the delta has great uniformity, and 1t Is evident that to a great extent the deposit of salt, aside from shutting off the gulf water, is responsible for the desert char acter of the land. In the Southern Cal ifornia section. known as the Colorado desert, alone there is an area of about seyenty-five miles square, not all of which Is subject to reclamation, in which mo water is known to exist for the pres ervation of the lives of the travellers kAaak nfaJ. fe 1nNs lad tYa Inxr the Southern Pacific Railroad and that which is being brought in for irrigation purposes. while the temperature ranges from minimum of 20 degrees above zero in the winter to a maximum of about 116 degrees above zero in the summer. there being six or seven calendar months in each year during which the mercury re- cords at least 100 degrees.
 The extreme dnyneSs of tho atmosphere
 auses so rapid evaporation of moisture
 rom the skin that human temperature ioes not rise above normal blood heat
 ghen there is ample drinking water to seed the pores of the skin. But with an absence of drinking water, the skin be- comes dry. fever ensues and delirium and death soon come. The Colorado Desert has thus claimed many victums, but the wide-reaching irrigation caDals have put an end to that variety of suffering in this region forever, and one can live on the desert with a much greater degree of comfort than he can in many regions where the mercury marks a lower max imum temperature, but where the degree of humidity is greater.
 It was some forty-flve years ago that army engineers first called the attention of the government to the possibility of redeeming the Colorado delta by using the water of the river for irrigation. But long the project lay dormant and, while it was an ideal line of irrigation devel- opment for the government to undertake !, for the rescuing of its own lands, the venture awaited the initiative of several private individuals and corporations. one of which is constructing canals for the 50C.000 acres in Southern California. and the 100000 acres in Lower California, un- der the direction of George Chaffey. c. E.. and member of the Institute of Me chanical Engineers of London.
 The task of making an adequate survey of the 500O0O acres In Southern Califor- mia has proceeded continuously through all degrees of temperature, and as close lv as possible earlier surveys have been followed though they serve more to con | fuse than to assist the work.
 At Hanlon's heading, just above the in- | ternational line, on the California side of | the Colorados River, water has been di- | verted through a temporary headgatc into a canal capable of carrying water for the irrigation of over 100000 acres of