The Arizona sentinel., 1904-05-11
TIE GREAT COL L0RkDO RIVER

The great Colorado river is the larges
 stream, both in drainage area and discharge
 that lies wholly within the arid portion O.
 inc United States. lt is formed by thc june
 lion of the Green and Grand rivers, rising iT
 Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re> gions of great precipitation, mainly In the
 form Of snow. only a small percentage Of the
 water yielded by the basin of the Colorado
 has vet been utilized for irrigation, and
 practically none for any other purposes. The
 obstacles gre many. Through most Of its
 course this riyer and its tributaries flow al
 the bottom Of profound canyons, from " hich it Is impossible to divert them upon irrigaBit lands. The river emergeS from ifs canyon q short distance above the NeedcS-the cross ing of the Santa Fe Pacific TaiirGad-and has 8 series of valleys which between thus point and the Mexican line aggregate about JG0,mt acres. In this region the waters are heavily laden with sediment, which is a serious ob- Stacle to their diversion The grade Of the river is so fat that a diversion canal taken out at the rivers bed must have slight a 8 faH and so low 8 velocity that it would quickly fill 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 vailey.
 TWO AND QUARTER BILLION GALLONS 4
 MINUTE.
 Measurements of the flow near Yuma show that the river somCtimes discharges mini mum of about 30C0 cubic feet per second its maximum discharge is unknown, but prcba- hlV exceeds One-6Su lAllllOl tuDlc tcCt ger second. As the river Is supplied mainly Icy melting SnowS, its season of high water cul- Q,inatcs in June, and the how water season is in the winter. when its sources are frozen.
 The river is Davfgated more or less from !is month to the Needles by fiat-60ttOm, stern wheel boats, which sometimes even ascend to the mouth of Virgin river. Its navigation, however, Is so difficult and precautions as 10 make it almost useless. At low water the channel is so broad. shallow and changeahle that boats are continually running aground. sometimes being nearly a week in advancing ten or fifteen miles. h times of high water The swift current greatly impairs 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 huctuation in discharge; second, the paucity of land that can be reached by them; third, the large quantity Of sediment, making i'm practicable any diversion on a 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.
 sUBTRorICAL CLIMATE.
 All Of the land that can be irrigated from the lower Colorado may be regarded as hav- lnE a SelOl-bTOplcdl tllIndbt, NDtEt lllC glON- ing season for most products continues the wear rOund-tbe eQuirementS for water, how ever, being greater in the summer season than in the winter It is here assumed that the use in July will be :wice as great as the minimum requirements in January; and that stream with the maximum flow of two cuhic feet per second in July, furnishing al bout 1000 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 or water TOT lndustral uses, varying from l0,G00 cubic feet per second in winter to 90,Q00 cubic feet per second in summer, in years of smallest discharge, al- lowing the great floods of wet years to sweep fO the sea as at present. This will be Suffi- rient to irrigate 2,0OO0O0 acres of land, and is SD 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 1 subject to occasional inundatiOnS, and rough, sravelly foothills with soil unsuitable for cul fivation. There are also considerable areas Df sand dunes, and some tracts rendered bar ren by alkali. 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 | -a do river by the construction of high dams |
 
 favorable and where the possible storage is | arse. All of these dams will be provided | yit1 large sluceways through the base, in | order that the stored waters may be entirely | Ira gn of, together with their load Of silt | yhcnev it is found desirable to do so. The | will serve as settling basins for sed | ment. The dams will also be utilized to | raise the waters into canals, for the double | purpose of encl oSing more. irrigahle lands by | .uch canals aud of giving them velocity | sufficient to carry a large amount of sediment | cuc Ilnfil if Ina lpnOzifpd .he fields The declfvity given to the canals | will depend largely upon the character of the | 'oil, and will be the highest permissible with | nut involving destructive erosion. The fall of | he Colorado river is so slight that rcSer- ! soirs of enormous capacity may be construct | d without involving dams of impTacticable | height. At any time, by opening the Siuice- ] ways of The reservoir, the current of the river | will quickly cut channel through the de | ,ositcd sediment from the upper end of the | to the sluice gates; thiss being the | eServOir will in all cases form an important | ,art of this storage capacity, and to this eX- cnt everJ reservoir can be permanently kept | lear Of sediment without expense. With l his exception. each reservoir is expected to | fill; when this occurs ii is proposed | O draw down the surface of the reservoir 20 to 10 feet, and to convert all | ,f the reservoir site except the river channel l nto irrigated farming land, and, if necessary. construct another reservoir for storage pur- poses higher up on the Stream.-This policy viii greatly increase the arabic area. It will hen be practicable, whenever desired, to lose the sluiees and mandate all of the agri- cultural land in each filled reservoir and thus ertiliZe 1t, as is naturally done by the river Nile for the valley. This Is done artificially n some parts Of Europe and Africa. With he deep, alluvial soil, semi-tropical climate, .rid atmosphere, abundant water SupplH, md the possibility of fertiiizng the fields very year without expense it is believed hat such regions can be farned the year ound, and several crops taken off annually, Tn acreage productions being thus attained ntireiy without precedent in history.