The Arizona sentinel., 1904-04-27
THE GREAT COLORADO RIVER

ttG Stt&n SS6SttEtkS - ttt Atl
 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. It is formed by the june ton of the Green and Grand rivers, rising in Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re- GiOnS of great preci pitation, mainly In the form Of snow. Only a small percentage of the water yielded by the basin Of the Colorado has as vet been utilized for irrigation, ahd practically none for any other purposes. The obstacles gre many. Through most Of it's course this river and it's tributaries flow at the bottom of profound canyons, from which it Is impossible to divert them upon irrigphle lands. The river cmerges from it's canyon a short distance above the Needles-the cross ing Of the Santa Fe Pacific railroad-and has a series Of valleys which between lhIs point and the Mexican line aggregate about 5O0,601 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 fiat that diversion canal taken out at the rivers bed must have so slight fall and so low velocity that il 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 valley.
 TWO AND A QUARTER BILLION GALLONS
 MINUTE.
 Measurements of the flow near Yuma show that the river sometimes discharges a mini mum of about 30G0 cubic feet per second. Its maximum discharge is unknown, but proba- bly exceeds one-half million cubic feet per second. As the river is supplied mainly by melting snows, its season Of high water cu- mnateS in June, and the low water season is in the winter. when it's sources are frozen.
 The river is navigated more or less from It's month 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 as 10 make it almost useless. At low water the channel is so broad, shallow and changeable that boats are continually running aground, sometimes being nearly week in advancing ten or fifteen miles. In times Of high water 1he 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 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
 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 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.
 sUBrRoPICAL CLIMATE.
 All of the land that can be irrigated from the lower Colorado may be regarded as hav ing a semi-tropical climate, where the grow
 
 year rOund-the req urements for water, how ever, being greater in the summer season than | in the winter. IL is here assumed that the maximum use in July will be twice as great as the minimum requirements in January; l and that stream with the maximum flow of two cubic feet per second in July, furnishing about 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 of water for industrial | uses, varying from 10000 cubic feet per second | in winter to 10000 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- | cent to irrigate 2,0OO, ,00O acres Of land, and is 50 far in excess of the requirements below the Grand Canyon that no restriction need to he ! put upon storage and diversion of waters | from the tributaries of the Colorado.
 A considerable portion of the valleys of the lower Colorado consists or 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 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 a series of reservoirs on the Colo JadO river by the construction of high dams at numerous points where the topography is favorable and where the possible storage is
  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- iucnt. The dams will also be utilized to raise the waters into canals, for the double purpose of enclosing moro irTigable lands by such canals and of giving them velocity sufficient to carry a large amount of sediment in suspension until it can se deposited upon the 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 reseT- voirs of enormous capacity may he 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 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 sn 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 10 draw down the surface Of the reservoir 20 to 40 feet, and to convert all of the reservoir site except the river channel ] into irrigated farming land, and, if necessary. 1 another reservoir for storage pur- poses higher up on the stream. This policy will greatly increase the arabic area. It will then be practicable, whenever desired, 10 close the sluices and inundate all of the agri- cultural land in each filled reservoir and thus fertilze 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, Scmi-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, an acreage production being thus attained entirely without precedent in history.