The Arizona sentinel., 1904-11-30

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. 1t Is formed by the june
ton of the Greer and Grand rivers, rising in
Colorado and Wyoming respectively, III re-
gions of great precipitation. mainly I'm the
form Of snow. Only small percentage Of the
water yielded By the basin Of the Colorado
has rs yet been utilized for irrigation, and
practically nCDe for any other purposes The
Obstacles are many. Through most OF its
course this river and its tributaries how at
the bottom ofprofound canyons, from which
it lsimpoSsbie to divert them upon iTrigabie
short. distance above the Needles-the CROSS
ing of the Santa Fe Pacific railroad-and has
q series OF valleys which between tins point
and the Mexican line aggregate about JOO,CUc
acres. In this region the waters are heavily
laden with sediment, which Is q serious OBJ
stacle TO their diversion The grade of the
river is so fat that diversion canal taken
out ut the rivers bed must have so slight q
fan and so low velocity that it would
quickly I'LL with sediment from the river.
For the same reason q canal must be Very
long in order to command any considerable
area of land in the river valley
Two AND A QUARTER BILLION GALLONS a
MINUTE.
Measurements of the flow near Yuma show
that the river sometimes discharges mini
mum of about 1000 cubic feet per second. Its
maximum discharge is unknown, but prOha-
bly exceeds One-half million cubic feet per
second. AS the river is supplied mainly by
melting SHOWS, its season of high water Cul-
inmates in June, and the low water season is
in the winter. when its sources are frozen.
The river is navigated more or less from its
mouth TO the Needles by tlat-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 chanseable
that boats are continually running aground.
sometimes being nearly q week III advancing
tat1 mil I'm Af cat
the swift current greatly 1mpairS navigation.
Wherever wagon transportation is possible,
this Is preferred to the river.
The chief obstacle to the utilization of the
waters Of this basin are: First, the great
fluctuation in discharge; second, the paueity
OF land that csn be reached by them; tiiiSd,
the large quantity Of sediment, making Inn
practicable any diversion on small scale.
\ comprehensive project is here presented,
which, If upon investigation, Is found I'M
practicable, VIII largely remove all OF these
difficulties, and will also greatly improve
navigation at all seasons of the year.
The development ofthe 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
i'll completely solve both problems.
sUBIRorIcAL CLIMATE.
All of the land that can be irrigated from
the lower Colorado may he regarded as hav-
.ag semi-tropicai climate, where the grow
year round--the REQ ajrements for water, how
ever, being greater in the summer season than
in the winter Ii is here assumed that the
maximum uSein duly 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 annu1n, Will supply
200 acres of land.
1t is probable that with proper regulation
the Colorado river Will be able to furnish q
continuous stream of water for industrial
in winter 10 10000 enbic 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 sufTi-
cient to irr1gate 20G0,000 acres OF land, and IL
50 farip excess Of the requirements below the
Grand Canyon that no restriction need to nc
put upon STORAGE and diversion of waters
from the tributaTrcS Of the Colorado.
y considerable portion of the valleys OF the
lower Colorado consists of sandy flood plains
subject to occasional inundations, and rough,
gravely foothills with soil unsuitable for cul.
/ tlvation. There are also considerable areas
OF sand dunes, and some tracts rendered bar
rcn by alka!i. All these il is proposed 10 re-
I claim by iinpounding upon them the silt
which annually passes down the Colorado
river.
sErIEs oT DAMS.
Tic general plan here proposed is .hc pro
Lvis4OD Of "a series of reservoirs ON the Colo
rado river by the construction of high dams
at numerous points where the topography is
favog;rble and where the pnssIble storage is
/ large. All of these dams will be provided
I with large sideways through the base, in
order that the stored waters MAJ, be entirely
drawn off, together with their load of silt,
l. whenever II is found desirable to do so. The
reservoirs will serve as settling basins for Scd'
| iment The dams will also be utilized 10
| raisethc waters into canals, for the double
/ purpose'o of enclosing more irrigable lands By
| such canals and of giving them q velocity
| sufficient tocarTy q large amount of sediment
in suspension until il can be deposited upon
| iro f1pTN dnQliyffV To. 10
will DEPEND largely upon the character Ofthc
soil, ndTiif 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 impracttcable
/ height. at any time, by opening the sluice-
ways; of the reservoir, the current of the river
will quickly cut u channel through the de
/ posted sediment from the upper end of the
RESERVOIR to the Siuice gates; this being the
longest dimension and deepest part of the
reservoir VIII in all cases form an important
| part Of this storage capacity, and to this ex
I tent every reservoir can be permanently kept
clear OF sediment without expense. With
! this exception. each reservoir is expected &c
! gradually fill; when this occurs IL is proposed
/ to draw down the surface of the reservoir
permanently 20 TO 10 feet, and to convert AT
of the reservoir site. except the river channe
! into irrigated farming land, and, If necessary
construct another reservoir for storage pur
4 poses higher mp on the stream. This policy
| will greatly increase the arabic area. 1t vii
| then be practicable, whenever desired, tC
/ close the suices and inundate all of the agTi
I cultural land in each filed reservoir and thu!
fertilize it, as is naturally done by tho rive
| Nile for the valley. This is done artificially
lin some parts of Europe and Africa. With
the deep alluvial soil, semi-tropical climate
arid atmosphere, abundant water supply
and the possibility of fertiiizing the field;
every year without expense. it is. believed
| hat such regions can be farmed the yea
| round and several crops taken Off annually
an acreage production being thus attained
firalNy ftN<NVrf don't