The Arizona sentinel., 1904-05-25
THE GREAT COLORADO RIVER

The great Colorado river is the largest stream, both in drainage area ald discharge that lies wholly within the arid portion oi The United States. IL is formed by the juno lion ofthe Green and Grand livtTs, rising in Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re- g5ons Of great precipitation, mainly h. the sorm of snow. Only a small percentage of the water yielded hy the basin of the Colorado has Gs vet been utilized for irrigation and Practically none for any other purposes. The obstacles are many. Through most Of it's sOurse this river and its tributaries flow at the bottom of profound canyons, from v hich jt Is impossible to divert them upon irrignb3e E,nds. The river emerges from it's canyon q short distance above the NeedleS-the cross ing of the Santa Fe Pacific railroad-apd has I series of valleys which between thIs point and the Mexican line aggregate about 50000 acres. In this region the waters are heavily laden with sediment, which is a serious ob- Stacle 10 their dfveTSiop The grade of the river is so fiat that diversion canal taken out at the rivers bed must have so slight fall and low velocity that it would quickly 1fll with sediment from the river. For the same reason a canal must be very long in order to command any considerable area Of land in the river valley.
 TWO AND A oUAKTER BILLION eAELoSs A
 MINUTE.
 Measurements 0f the flow near Tu mn show that the river sometimes discharges minf- mum of abont 5000 GU bic feet per second. lis naNimun discharge is unknown, but proba- biy exceeds one-h2lf million cubic feet per second. as the river iS supplied mainly by
  minateS in June, and tlse low water season is Sn the winter. when its sources are frozen.
 The rjver is rRavigated more or less from its mouth to the Needles by fat-bottOm, stern wheel boats, whsGb sometimes even ascend to the mouth of Virgin river. It's navigation, however, is so difficult and precarious as to make it almost useless. At low water the rhsAneI is so hroad. shallow and changeable that beats are continually running aground. sometimes being nearly a week ill advancing ten or fifteen miles. In tipes of high water fhe swift current greatly impairs navigation. W Whcrever 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 huctuation 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.
 X 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, percd 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.
 sCBTRorTCAL CLIMATE. An ofthc 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 requirements for water, how
  in the winter. Ii is here assumed that the | maximum use in July will be :wice as great | SIS the minimum requirements in January; | and that stream with the maximum flow of two cubic feet per second in July, furnishing | about 1000 acre-fcet per annum, will supply | 200 acres of land. It is probable that with proper regulation | inc Colorado river will be able to furnish continuous stream of water for industrial | uses, varying from 10000 cubic feet per second 1 in winter to 20,G00 cubic feet per second in summer, in years of smallest discharge, al- lowing the great floods of wet years to sweep 10 the sea as at present. This will be Suffi- rient to irrigate 2000,000 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
 X 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 alka!. 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 d series of reservoirs on the Colo rado 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 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- SnieIrt The dams will also be utilized to raise the waters into canals, for the double purpose Of enclosing more irriga5le lands by such canals and of giving them velocity sufficient tocarly a large amount of sediment fin suspension until it can be deposited upon rhe fields The declivity given to the canals will depend largely upon the character ofthe soil, and will be the highest permissible with out involving destructive erosion. The fall of the Colorado river is slight that reSer- cd without involving dams of imprac;icablc height. At any slime, 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 Sluce 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 20 to 10 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, whenever desired, to rlose the sluices and inundate all of the agri- cultural land in each filled reservoir and thus sertiliZe it, is naturally done by the river Nile for the valley. This is done artifcially Sn some parts of Europe and Africa. With she deep, alfuvial soil, semi-tropical climate, arid atmosphere, abundant water supply, and. the possibility of fertiiiZing the fields every year without expense. it is believed hat such regions can be farmed the year round, and several crops taken off annually, m acreage production being thus attained , entirely without precedent in history.