The Arizona sentinel., 1904-07-27
THE GREAT COLORADO RIVER

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 The great Colorado river IS the largest stream, both in drainage area and discharge. that lies wholly within the arid portion Of fbr United States. It is formed by the june 7iop Of the Greer and Grand rivers, rising in Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re- gfons of great preci pitation, mainly In the form of SHOW. Only a small percentage of the water yielded by the basin oI the Colorado RaS as yet been utilized for irrigation, and Prsctieally none for any other purposes. The obstacles are many. Through most of it's coarse this river and its tributaries flow at che bottom of profound canyons, from which 1t Is impossible to divert them upon irrigable lands. The river emerges from it's canyon 6 short distance above the Ncedles-the cross tng of the Santa Fe Pacific raiTroad-and has d series of valleys which between thIs point and the NeXicanlin aggregate about 5OO,OO0 acres. In this region the waters are heavily laden with sediment, " hic h is a. serious Ob- stacle to their diversion The grade Of the river is so fiat that a diversion canal taken a fall and so low velocity that it would quickly fill with sediment from the river. For the same reason canal must be very bsng in order to command any considerable area Of land in the river valley.
 TWO AND A QUARTER BILLION GALLONS A
 MINUTE
 Measurements CT tlAe flow near Yuma show that the river sometimes discharges a mini mum of about 3000 cubic feet per second. Its maximum discharge is Gn known, but proba- biy exceeds osse-4E:tn ITsi1lica cubic feet per second As the river IS supplied Nlafnly by neelttns- SHOWS, Jts season Of nigh water cul- JaiusteS 5n 1sne, and the low water season is In | be wTurez. whefS its s0Trecs are frozen.
 TIJe river Is nsv sysstSd more or less from it's nTUxstll to the Needles by fat-bettOn, stern wheel boats, wh5eh sometimes even ascend to sae mouth o& Virgin river. Its navigation, However, is so difficult and precarioIHs as to zaselse 5t sstFeoSt useless. At low water the channel Ss SO hEoad, shallow and chanSeable sbat boats are continually running aground. sometimes being nearly a week in advancing ten fifteen miles. In 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 d 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.
 sUBTRoPICAL CLIMATE.
 All of the land that can be irrigated from the lower Colorado may be regarded as hav- ,ng a semi-tropical climate, where the grow
 
 year round-the equirements for water, how ever, being greater in the summer season than in the winter. It is here assumed that the maximum use in July will be twice as great as the minimum requirements in January; and that stream with the maximum flow Of two cubic feet per second ill July, furnishing about 1000 acre-feet per annum, will supply 1 200 acres of land. It is probable that with proper regulation the Colorado river will be able to furnish a | continuous stream of water for industrial | uses, varying from 10000 cubic feet per second | in winter 10 20,0o0 cubic 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 Suffi- | 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 of the Colorado. A considerable portion of the valleys ofthe | lower Colorado consists of sandy flood plains | subject to occasidEsal inundations, and rough, | graveliy foothills with soil unsuitable for cul- | tivation. There are also considerable areas | ea sand nuhes' and some tractS 9 reraersa par 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 EldO 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 ssrswH of, together with their load of silt, whenever it is found desirable to do so. The reservoirs will serve as settling basins for sed- fnfent. The dams will also be utilized to raise the waters into canals, for the double pSrpose of enclosing more irrigable lands by such canals and of giving them velocity ocarIy a large amount of sediment in suspension until it can be deposited upon the fields. The decfivity given to the canals will depend largely upon the character of the | soil, and will 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 impracticablc height. At any time, by opening the suice- 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 sluice gates; this being the longest dimension and deepest part of the 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 fill; when this occurs it is proposed to draw down the surface of the reservoir permanently 20 to 10 feet, and to convert all of the reservoir site except the river channel into irrigated farming land, and, if necessary. construct 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, to close the SluceS and iDundate all Of the agr- cultural land in each filled reservoir and thus feTtiliZe it, as is naturally done by the river Nile for the valley. This is done artiticially Sfl 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 fields every year without expense. it is believed hat such regions can be farmed the year Bouhd, and several crops taken off annually, an acreage production being thus attained entirely without precedent in history.