The Arizona sentinel., 1903-09-30
THE GREAT COLORADO RIVER

'hA Sha6h OSASbInDO ttl A Lt
 The great Colorado river is the largest stream, both in drainage area and discharge, that lies wholly within the arid portion of the United States. IL is formed by the june ton of the Green and Grand rivers, rising in Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re- giOns of great precipitation, mainly In the form of snow. Only small percentage of the water yielded by the basin of the Colorado has as yet been utilized for irrigation, and practically none for any other purposes The obstacles are many. Through most of it's course this river and it's tributaries flow at the bottom of profound canyons, from which it Is impossible to divert them upon irrigable lands. The river emerges from it's canyon a short distance above the NCedleS-thc cross ing Of the Santa Fe Pacific railroad-and-h has a series of valleys which between th!S point and the Mexican line aggregate about 5000O0 acres In this region the waters are heavily laden with sediment, which is serious Ob- river is so flat that diversion canal taken out at the rivers bed must have SO slight a fall and so low velocity that il would quickly fill with sediment from the river. For the same reason a canal must be very long in order 10 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 river sometimes discharges mini- mum of about 30O0 cubic feet per second. It's maximum discharge is unknown, but prOba- bly exceeds One-half million cubic feet per second. As the river is supplied mainly by melting SnOwS, it's season of high water cul- inmates in June, and the low water season is in the winter. when it's sources are frozen.
 The river is naVigated more or less from it's mouth to the Needles by flat-bOttOm, stern wheel boats, which sometimes even ascend to the mouth of Virgin river. Its navigation, however, is so difficult and precarious as to 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 fifteen miles. In times of high water the swift current greatly impairs navigation. Wherever wagon transportation is possible this is preferred to the river.
 r The chief obstacle to the utilization of the waters of this basin are: First the great fluctuatiOn in discharge; second, the paucity Of land that can be reached by them; third, the large quantity of sediment, making iIn- practicable any diversion or smaif scale.
 A comprehensive project is here presented, which, if upon investigation, is found inn practicable, will largely remove all of these difficulties, and will also greatly improve navigation at all seasons of the year.
 The development Of the 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 he irrigated from the lower Colorado may be regarded as hav- ing a semi-trOpical climate, where the grow ing season for most products continues the year rOund-thC requirements ts for water, how ever, being greater in the summer season than in the winter. It is here assumed that the maximum use in July will be twice as great as the minimum requirements in January and that a stream with the maximum flow of two cubic feet per second i'll July, furnishing about 1000 acre-feet per anDum, will supply 200 acres Of Hand
 It is probable that with proper regulation the Colorado river will be able to furnish {: uses, varying from l0,OOO cubic feet per second in winter to 10000 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 irrgate 2,0O0,000 acres of land, and is so far in excess of the requirements below the Grand Canyon that no restriction Deed to be put upon storage and diversion Of waters from the tributaries of the Colorado.
 A considerable portion of the valleys of the lower Colorado consists uf sandy flood plains subject to occasional foundations, and rough, gr;IXtiiy foothills with soil unsuitable for cui- tiVatiOn. There dre also considerable areas of sand dunes, and some tracts rendered oar ren by alkalf. All these it is proposed to re- claim by impending upOU them the silt which annually passes down the Colorado river.
 SERIES OF DAMS.
 The general plnn here proposed is the pro vision of ;l series of reservoirs on the Colo raaO river by the construction Of high dams at numerous points whrre. the topography is favorable and where the possible storage is large. AT of these dams will hr provided with large siuiceways through the base, in order that the stored waters may be entirely drawn off, together with their load of silt, whenever it is found desirable to do so. The reservoirs will serve as settling basins for sed iment. The dams will also be utilized to raise the waters into canals, for the double
 
 such canals and of giving theIn vefocfty sufficient to carry large amount of sediment in suspension until it can be deposited upon the fields. The decliVity given to the canals will derend largely upon the character of the sOil and will be the highest permissible with out involving destructive erosion. The fall of the Colorado river is so slight that reSer- voirs of enormous capacity may be construct ed without involving dams Of iInpTacticable height. At any time, by opening the s1uicc- ways of the reservoir. the current of the river will quickly cut a channel through the de posted sediment from the upper end of the reservoir to the Sluice gates; this being the longest dimension and deepest part of the reservoir will in all cases form an important part of this storage capacity, and to this eX- tent every 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 20 to 40 feet, and to convert all of the reservoir site except the river channel into irrigated farming land, and if necessary, another reservoir for storage pur- poses higher up on the stream. This policy will greatly increase the arable area. It will then be practicable, wherever desired, to close the SluicCs and inundate all Of the agri- cultural land in each filled reservoir and thus fertfliZe it, as is naturally done by the river Nile for the valley. This is done artiffciaIly in some parts of Europe and Africa With the deep, alluvial soil, semj-trOpical climate, arid atmosphere, abundant water supply, and the possibility of fertiIiZing the fields every year without expense, it is believed that such regions can he farmed the year round, and several crops taken off annually, an acreage production being thus attained entirely without precedent in history.