The Arizona sentinel., 1904-04-20
THE GREAT COLORADO RIVER

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 jHDc- tioD of the Green ansi Grand rivers, rising ia Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re- gions of great precipitation, mainly In. the form of SHOW. Only small percentage Os the water yielded by the basin of the Colorado has as yet been utilized for iYrigat on, and practically none for any other purposes. The obstacles are many. ThF0nSh noSt of it's course this river and its tributaries flow at the bottom of profound canyons, from which ft k impossible to divert them upOsf trriEabIc lands. The river emergeS from its caAyoa short distance above the Needlcs-the cToss- ing of the Santa Fe Pacific Taiiroad-Snd has st series of valleys which between thfs point and the Mexican line aggregate abO6s JyH,090 acres. In this region the waters are heavily laden with sediment, which is a serious of- stacfc to their diversion The grade af the river is so fiat that a diversion canal t;tser out at the rivers bcd must have SO slight fall and so low velocity that ft woa!d quickly i'll with sediment from the rveF. For tue same reason canal must be very long in order to commafd any considerably area Of land in the river valley.
 TWO AND A QUARTER BILLION GALLONS ],
 NiNUTE-
 Aieas urements of the flow near Yuma show that tbc river sometimes discharges a nlkNi- mum of about 30Oe cubic feet ger second. Its maximum discharge is unknown, but proba bly exceeds OOe-hSn million cubic feet per second. As the river is supplied mainly by melting snows. it's sr,sSon of high water cui- 1ninates in J5ae, and Ehe f0S water season is Iu the winter. when it's soHFCcS :tse frozen.
 The river is HAvtgated more oT less from It's mouth to the Needles by ffat-DottOnl, stern wheel boats, vbSeh sometimes even ascend to the nsCs1.h ef NfTEiu river. 1ts navigation, however, is so difficult and precarioCS ;SS to make It almost useless. At low water the channel Is SO bread, shallow and changcGble that beats are continually rpnning aground. sometimes being pearly week in advancing Sen or fifteen miles. In times of high water the swift current greatly impafrs navigation. Wherever wagon trans Sp0rtaIion iS possible, this is preferred to the river.
 The chief obstacle to the utilization of the waters of this basin are: First, the great f1uctuation in discharge; second, the paucity 0f land that can he reached by them; third, | the large quantity of sediment making i'm practicable any diversion on a small scale
 A eomprchcnsive project is lTcFe preSen ted, l which, if upon investigation, is found inn | practicable will largely remove all Of these l difficulties, and will also greatly Improve | navigation at all seasons Of the year.
 The development of the mineral resources, in which this country is richy is greatly ham pcrcd by the great cost of power and the lack | of transportation, Ioth important requisites 1 for the mining Industry. The proposed plgsn | will completely solve both problems.
 sUBTRorICAL CLIMATE.
 All of the land that can be irrigated from the lower Colorado may be regarded hav- ing semi-tropical climate, where the grow Ing season for most products continues the | wear rOund-the requirements for water, how ever, being greater ID tDc summer season Ihan in the winter. It is here aSSpnfest 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 1000 acre-feet per annum, will supply s00 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 smallest 3l-l lowing the great floods of wet years to sweep 10 the sea as at present. This will be Suff1- cent to irrigatc 20 900 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.
 A considerable portion of the valleys of the lower Colorado consists of sandy flood plains subject to occasional inur dationS, and rough, grayeify foothills with soil unsuitable for cul- fivation. There are also considerable areas of sand dunes, and some tracts rendered bar Sen 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 a series of reservoirs on the Colo rado river by the construction Of high dams at numerous points where the topography is favorable ana 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 maN<pe 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 inent. The dams wfn also be utilized tO raise the waters into canals, for the double purpose of enclosing more frrgabe lands by such canals and of giving them a velocity sufficient tocarfy large amount of sedi n!ent in suspension until II can be deposited upon the fields. The declivity given 10 the canals will depend largely upon the character of the soil, and will be the highest permissible with out involving destructive erosion. The fall Of inc Colorado river Is so slight that rcSer- xoirs of enormous capacity may be construct ed without involving dams of mpracticable ! height Al any tine by opening the sl1ice- 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 sluicc gates; this being the longest dimension and deepest part of the reservoir will in all eases form an important part of this storage capacity, and to this eX- tent ever- reservoir can be permanently kept clear Of sediment without expense. With this exception. each reservoir is expected to gradually fill when this occurs if is proposed 10 draw down the surface of the reservoir permanently 20 to 40 feet, and to convert all of the reservoir site except the river channel I 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 arabic area. If will then be practicable, whenever desired, 10 close the sluices and inundate all of the agr- cultural land in each filled reservoir and thus fertiliZe it, 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, alluvial soil, semi-tropical climate, | strid atmosphere, abundant water supply, and the possibility of fertiiizfng the fields | hat such regions can be ftrincd the year round, and several crops taken off annually, an acreage production being thus attained entirely without precedent in history.