The Arizona sentinel., 1904-12-21
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. Ii is formed by the juno
| ton the Greer and Grand rivers, rising in
! Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re-
gons 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 its tributaries flow ut
the bottom OF profound canyons, from which
| IL Is impossible to divert them upon irrigable
| lands. The river cmerYes from its canyon q
short distance above the Ncedlcs-the cross
! ing OF the Santa Fee Pacific railroad-and has
| n series OF valleys which between tins point
and the Mexican line aggregate about 0OO,WO
acres. In this region the waters are heavily
| laden with sediment, which is a serious OBJ
Stacle TO their diversion The grade OF the
| river is so nat that q diversion canal taken
| out at the rivers bed must have so slight =
q fall and so low q velocity that ii would
quickly fill with sediment from the river.
For the 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 river sometimes discharges y mini
mum OF about 30OO cubic feet per second. Its
ma ximum discharge is unknown. but proba-
bly, exceeds Onc-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 il 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 rs to
make IL almost useless. At low water the
channel is so broad. shallow and changcable
that boats are continually running aground,
sometimes being nearly a week in advancing
ten or fifteen miles. In times Of high water
the swift current greatly impairs navigation.
Wherever wagon transportation IL 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 paucity
OF land that can be reached by them; third,
the large quantity of sediment, making inn
practicable any diversion on a small scale.
A 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 the mineral resources,
I'm 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.
sUBTRoP1CAI. CLIMATE.
All of the land that can be irrigated from
the lower Colorado may be regarded as hav-
ing Il selni-tropical climate where the grow
Ing season for most products continues the
year TOunQ-tnc lOT now
ever, being greater in the summer season than
in the winter. 1t is here assumed that the
maximum use in July will be twice as great
as the minimum requirements in January;
and that q stream with the ma Nimum flow of
two cubic feet per second in July, furnishing
about 1000 acre-feet per annum, will supply
200 acres OF land.
1t 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 pei. second
T., iratn INifaf foot f,r,d 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 sufii-
cient to irrigate 100000 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 foundations, and rough,
gravelly foothills with soil unsuitable for cul-
tivation. There are also considerable areas
of sand dunes, and some tracts rendered bar
rem by alkai. All these it 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
RADIO river by 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 provided
Win large SIulCeWayS through the base, In
order that the stored waters may be entirely
drawn off, together with their load OF silt,
whenever IL 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 tocarry n large amount of sediment
In suspension until il can be deposited upon
the fields. The declivity given to the canals
will depend largely upon the character of the
soil, and will he the highest permissible with
out involving destructive erosion. The fall of
the Colorado river is so slight that rcSer-
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 4 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 cx-
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 ii is proposed
to draw down the surface of the reservoir
permanently 20 to 10 feet, and TO convert ali
OF the reservoir site except the river channel
into irrigated farming land, and, II necessary.
construct another reservoir for storage pur-
poses higher up On the stream. This policy
will greatly increase the arabic area. 1t will
then be practicable. whenever desired, to
close the sluices and inundate all OF the agri-
cultural land III epch filled reservoir and thus
frftiliEe il, rs is naturally done by the river
Nile for the valley. This is done artificialy
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
every year without expense it is believed
that such regions can be farmcd the year
round, and several crops taken Off annually,
an acreage production being thus attained
entirely without precedent in history.