The Arizona sentinel., 1903-10-21
THE GREAT COLORADO RIVER

IF U1EA ! UULUnAUU nIsEn
 The great Colorado river is the largest stream, both in drainage area and discharge, that lies wholly within tae arid portion of the United States IL is formed by the june tiNn Of the Green and Grand TivPTS rising in Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re- gioIrS of great precipitation- mainIy !H the form Of snow. Only small percentage of the water yielded by the basin of the t'OIoyacio has Hs yet been utilized for irrigation and practically none for any other purposes. The obstacles many Through most of itx course this river and its tributaries flow at the bottom of profound canyons, from which Ii Is Impossible 10 divert them upon irrigable lands. The river eIncrgeS from its canyon a short distance above the Needlps-the cross ing of the Santa Fe Pacific railroad-and has a series of valleys which between lhIs point and the Mexican line aggregate about J0G,k0 acres. In this region the waters are heavily laden with sediment, which Is a serious Ob- saclc To their diversion The grade of tlIe [ river is flat that diversion canal taken out at the rivers bed must have SD slight a fall and so low velocity that it would quickly i'll with sediment from the river. For tie same reason canal must be very long in order to command any considerable area of land in the river valley.
 TWO AND QUARTER BILLION GALLONS A
 MINUTE.
 Measurements of the flow near Yuma show that the riN CT sometimes discharges.a mini mum of about 3UOC cubic feet per second It's ma ximum discharge iS unknown. but proba- bly exceeds one-half million cubic feet per second. As inc river is supplied mainly by melting SnOwS, it's season of high water cul- minateS in June, and the low water season is in the winter. when it's sources are frozen. The river is navigated more GIT less from it's mouth to the Needles by tat-bottoln, stern- wheel boats, which sometimes even ascend to the mouth of Virgin river. It's navigation, however is SD difficult and preCariOuS 10 make it almost useless. At low water the channel Is so broad. shallow and changeable that boats are continually running aground, sometimes being nearly a week in advancing ten pr fifteen miles. In times of high water the swift curr mt greatly impairs navigation. Wherever wagon transportation is possible, this iS preferred tO the river.
 The chief obstacle tO She utilization of the waters of thIs basin are: First, the great fiuctuation in discharge; second, the paucity Of land that con be reached by them; third. the large quantity of sediment, making inl- practicable any diversion on small scale.
 \ comprehensive project iS here presented, which, if upon investigation, is found i'm practicable will largely remove all of these difficulties, and will also greatly improve navigation at all seasons of the year.
 The development of he mineral resources, in which this country is rich, is greatly ham pered by the great cost of power and the lack of transportation, both important requisites for the mining industry. The proposed plan will completely solve both problems.
 suBTROPICAL CLIMATE.
 All of the land that can be irrigated from the lower Colorado may be regarded as hev- ing d semi-tropical climate, where the grow ing season for most products continues the year round-the requirements for water, how ever, being greater in [ ae summer season than in tine winter. II is here assumed that the maximum use in July will be 'wice as great as the minimum requirements in January; and that stream with the maximum flow of two cubic feet per second ill July, furnishing about 1000 acre-feet per annum, will supply 200 acres Of land
 It is probable that with proper regulation the Colorado river will be able to furnish continuous stream of water for industrial useS varying from lQ,000 cubic feet per second in winter to 20,0OO cubic feet per second in summer, in years of smallest discharge, al- lowing the great floods of wet years to sweep to the sea as at present This will be suffi- cient to irrigate 2000,000 acres of land, and is so far in excess of the requirements below the Grand Canyon that no restriction need to be put upon storage and diversion Of waters from the tributaries ofthe Colorado.
 A considerable portion Of the valleys of the lower Colorado consists Of sandy flood plains subject to occasional inunGations, and rough, %Favelly foothills with soil unsuitable torcul- tivation. There are also considerable areas of sand dunes, and some tracts TendPT,ssf bar ren hy ;Ilkiuf. All these It iS pr posed "a rt- claim by mpaunding upon them the silt which annually passes down the Colorado river.
 SERIES OF DAMS.
 The general plan here proposed is the pro- FlSl1R fft SSTttS pI E'S0TNOlfS On Efir~ tOlO- rsan ri yer ny the construction of high dams at numerous points where the topography is favorable and where the possible storage Is large All of these dams will be prOS i1td with large sideways t:,rOuga the base, in order that the stored waters tnay bg f:n tirty drawn off, iO%eth.r with their load of silt, whenever 1t is fOunf desirable tn do so. The reservoirs will .-orVc as settling basins for S"d- ilntnt. The dams will also be utilized to raise the waters into canals, for the double purpose of enclosing more iTrigable lands by plN-1 ghnrrl N-CIs sufficient to carry large amount If sediment in suspension until if can be deposited upon ;l.e fields Th- decifvity given to the canals will d,'t'nnd laI 5elN upon the character Ct the soil, and will be the highest permissible with out involving destructive erosion. The fall of the Colorado river k so slight that r''ser- vOirs Ci enOrnlOTS c:l p2city may be cons. .ruct- cd without involving dams of impracticable height. At any time, by opening the Slulce- ways of the reservoir, the current of the river will t,uic.iiY cut channel through tii1 de posted sediment from the upper end of the reservoir to the Sluicr gates this being the longest dimension .,!:d deepest part of the reservoir will in all cases form an important part of this storage capacity, and to this eX- tent everr reservoir can be permanently kept clear of sediment without expense With this exception. each reservoir is expected to gradually fill; when this occurs it is proposed to draw down the surface of the reservoir permanently 2l to 10 feet, and to convert all of the reservoir site except the river channel into irrigated tarming land, and, If necessary, construct another reservoir for storage pur poses higher up on the stream. This policy will greatly increase the arable area It will then he practicable, whenever desired, to close the sluiccs and inundate all of the agTi- cultural land in each filled reservoir and thus fertiliZe il, as is naturally done by the river Nile for the valley. This is done artificiallY in some parts of Europe and Africa. With the deep, aluvial soil, semi-trOpcal climate, arid atmosphere, abundant water supply, and the possibility Of fcrtilizing the fields every year without expense, it is believed that such regions can be farmed the wear round and several crops taken off annually. an acreage production being thus attained entirely without precedent in history.