The Arizona sentinel., 1903-11-11
THE GREAT COLORADO RIVER

The great Colorado river is the largest | stream, both in drainage area and discharge, 1 that lies wholly within the ari,t portion of | the United States. It is formed hy the Junc- 1 tion Of the Green and Grand rivers, rising In l 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 1t k impossible to divert them upon irrigabe lands. The river emeTJgeS from its canyon a short distance above the NeedipS-the cross ing of the santa Fc Pacific railroad-;tnd has a series of valleys which between thlS point and the Mexican line aggregate about j0G,O0 acres In this region the waters are heavily ia,icn with sediment, which Is a serious Ob >I;tcle to their diversion The grade Of the river is 50 fiat that a diversion canal taken out at the rivers bed must have so slight a a fall and so low a velocity that IL would quickly i'll with sediment from the rivur. Fer the same reason a canal must be very long in order to command any considerable area Of land in the river valley.
 TWO AND QUARTER BILLION GALLONS
 MINCTE.
 Measurements of the flow near Yuma show that the river sometimes discharges mini mum of about 5000 cubic feet per second It's maximum diSchalge is unknown, but proba- ply exceeds One-half million cubic feet per second. As the river is supplied mainly by melting snows, its season of high water cul-
 minaics In June, and the low water season is in the winter. when it's sources are frozen. The river is uavigated more or less from It's louth to the Needles by flat-botun, stern-
 heel boats, which sometimes even ascend to
 he mouth of Virgin river. Its navigation,
 -owever is so difficult and precariouS as to
 .Iakc 1t almost useless. Al low water the
 haunel is so broad shallow and changcable
 nat boats are continually running aground.
 lnrtimes being nearly week In advancing or fifteen miles. In times of high water
 he swift current greatly impairs navigation. W hcrever wagon trans spOrtatiOn Is possible,
 this Is preferred to the river.
 I he chief obstacle to the utilization of the waters nf thIS basin arc: First, the great of land that cnn be reached by them; third, the large quantity Of sediment, making inn practicable any diversion on small 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 be 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-the req Iirements 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 stream with the maximum flow of two cubic feet per second in July, furnishing about 1900 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 10000 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 irrigate 2,000, 900 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 of the Colorado.
 4 considerable portion Of the valleys of the lower Colorado consists of sandy flood plains subject to occasional inundatiOns and rough, graVelly foothills with soil unsuitable for cul- tivation. There are also considerable areas of sand dunes, and some tracts rendered bar ren by alkali. All these 1t Is proposed to re- claim by impounding upon them the silt which annually passes down the Colorado river
 SERIES OF DAMS.
 The general plan here proposed Is the pro- vision of series of reservoirs on tine Colo rado river by the construction of high dams
  favorable and where the possible storage is large. All of these dams will be provided with large sluiceways through the base, in order that the stored waters may be entirely drawn of, 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 purpose of enclosing more irrigable lands by such canals and of giving them velocity sufficient to carry a large amount of sediment n IS fDn hn Rn the fields. The declivity given to the canals l will deDend largely upon the character ofthe | soil, and will be the highest permissible with | out involving destructive erosion. The fall of the Colorado river iS so slight that reSCr- ! voirs of enormous capacity may be construct | ed without involving dams of impracticable | height. At any time, by opening the Sluice- | 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 l 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 | fill; when this occurs it is proposed i to draw down the surface of the reservoir | permanently % to 10 feet, and to convert all | of the reservoir site except the river channel | in to irrigated farming land, and, if necessary, | construct another reservoir for storage pur- poses higher up on the stream. This policy | will greatly increase the arabe area It will | then be practicable, whenever desired, to l close the SluiceS and inundate all Of the az gri- cultural land in each filled reservoir and thus | fertiliZe it, as is naturally done by the river | Nile f"r the valley. This is done artifically | in some parts Of Europe and Africa. With | the deep, alluvial soil, Semi-tropical climate, | arid atmosphere, abundant water supply, | and the possibility of fertiiZing the fields i every year without expense, it is believed | that such regions can be farmed the year 1 round, and several crops taken of annually, ! an acreage production being thus attained | entirely without precedent in history.