The Arizona sentinel., 1904-06-29
THE GREAT COLORADO RIVER


 stream, both In drainage area and diScharge. that lies wholly within the arid portion of fhe United States. IL Is formed by the Junc- lion of the Greer and Grand rivers, rising ill Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re- glonS of great precipitation, mainly In the form Of snow. Only small percentage of the water yielded by the basin Of the Colorado has vet beea utilized for irrigation, and practically none for any other purposes. The obstacles are many. Through most of its course this river and Its tributaries hoT at the bottom of profound canyons, from which il Is impossible to divert them upon irrgablc lands. The river emerges from it's canyon a short distance above the NeedleS--the cross ing of the santa Fc Pacific raiiroad-sAnd has a series Of valleys which between thus point and the Mexican line aggregate about 5H,tpd acres. In thiS region the waters are heavily laden with sediment, which is a serious ob Stacle 10 their diversion The grade of the river is so fiat that d diversion canal taken . fall and so low velocity that 1t would quickly fill with sediment from the piVer. For the same reason a canal r1ust bc very hong in order to command any considerable area of land in the river valley.
 TWO AND A QUARTER BILLsoE GALLONS A
 MINUTE.
 Measurements Of the flow near Gunsa show that the river sometimes discharges q mini mum of about 5000 cubic feet per second. It's maximum discharge Is unknown, but proba-
 
 second. As the river k supplied mainly by melting Snows. its season Of high water cu- minases Tn JulFc- and the low water season IS sn the winter. when Its sources are frozen.
 The river is na vigats<f mo rc or less from it's ynouth to the Needles by fiat-bottOm, stern wheel boats, which Solr9etimes even ascend to The mouth of Virgin river. It's navigation, however, is so difficult and precariOuS aSS to make 1t almost useless At low water tine channel is SO broad, shallow and changeable 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 is possible, this is preferred to the river.
 The chief obstacle to the utilization of the waters of this basin are: First, the great nuctuatiOn 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 pTcSSn ted, 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, pcrcd by the great cost of power and the lack Sf transportation, both important requisites for the mining industry. The proposed plan will completely solve both problems.
 sUBrRorIcAL CLIMATE.
 All ofthc land that can be irrigated from the lower Colorado may be regarded as hav ag a semi-tropical climate, where the grow Ing season for most products continues the year round-the req uirements 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 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 a continuous stream of water for industrial uses varying from 10000 cubic feet per second | in winter 10 10000 cubic feet per second in summer in years Of smallest discharge, al- | lowing the great floods of wetyearS to sweep ! 10 the sea as at present. This will be Suffi- | eicnt to lrrigate 2000,000 acres of land, and iS so far in excess Of the requirements below the ! Grand Canyon that no restriction need to be | nut upon storage and diversion Of waters | from the tributaries of the Colorado. A considerable portion of the valleys of inc | lower Colorado consStS of sandy flood plains l subject to occasional inundations, and rough. | gravely foothills with soil unsuitable for cul- | tiyaton.- There are also considerable areas | of sand dunes, and some tracts rendered bar | ren by aIkali. All these it is proposed to re- claim by impounding upon them the silt | which annually passes down the Colorado | river.
 SERIES OF DAMS.
 Tho general plan here proposed is the pro- vision of a series Of reservoirs on the Colo rado river by the construction of high dams at numerous points where the topography is s;pNorahlc and where the possible storage is large. All Of these dams will bc provided with large SluicewayS through the base, in order that the stored waters may be entirely drawn of, together with their load of silt, it. is found desirable to do so. The l will serve as settling basins for Sed- tnlent. The dams will also he utilized to raise the waters into canals, for the double purpose of enclosing more irligablc lands by Euch canals and of giving them velocity sufficient to carry a large amount of sediment m suspension until it can be deposited upon Inc fields The declivity given to the canals will depend largely upon the character ofthe ,oil, and will be the highest permissible with lIlt involving destructive erosion. The fall Of { he Colorado river is so slight that Tcser- soirs of enormous capacity may be construct d without involving dams of mpracticable height. At any time, by opening the siuice- ways of .he reservoir, the current Of the river ( rill quickly cut a channel through the de soSited sediment from the upper end of the to the sluice gates; this being the l ongest dimension and deepest part of the ( CServoir will in all cases form an important , ,art of thiS storage capacity, and to this eX- l ent every reservoir can be permanently kept { lear of sediment without expense. With | his exception. each reservoir is expected to radually fiji; when this occurs il is proposed 1 20 to 70 feet, and to convert all | f the reservoir site except the river channel nto irrigated farming land, and, if necessary. : onStruct another reservoir for storage pur- I toses higher up on the stream. This policy , Till greatly increase the arabic area. It will 1 hen be practicable, whenever desired, to (
 
 ultural land in each filled reservoir and thus l srtilZe it, as is naturally done by the river 'ile fer the valley. This is done artificially n some parts of Europe and Africa. With he deep alluvial soil, seml-tropical climate, ( rid atmosphere, abundant water supply, z nd the possibility of fertiiiZing the fields very year without expense. it is believed hat such regions can be f&rmed the year [ ound and several crops taken off annually, i; n acreage production being thus attained '. ntirely without precedent in history.
 . SaaSida ExcII[si0nS ::