The Arizona sentinel., 1905-02-15
TIE GREAT COLORADO RIVER

1 stream, both in drainage area and discharge. that lies wholly within the arid portion of
 the United States. 1t is formed by the junc- ton Of the Greer: and Grand rivers, rising Tn Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re- gionS of great precipitation, mainly !n 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, and practically none fer any other purposes. The obstacles are many. Through I1GSt of it's cDHiSt this river and iiS. tributaries flow st il Is Impossible 70 CiveTt them upcn ifi.2Eb!c lands Tn. river cliler@c9 from is canyon 2 short distance above tne NeediCs-thc cross ing of the Santa Fe Pacific railroad--and has a series of valleys which between this point and the Mexican line aggregate about 5WEG acres. In this region the waters are heavily laden with sediment, which is q serious Oh- St;iCle to their diversion The grade Oi the river is so flat that diversion canal taken out at the rivers bed must have so slight a a fall and so low 6 velocity that il would quickly fill with sediment from the river. For the same reason a canal must be very long in order 10 command any considerable area of land in the river valley.
 TWO AND A QUARTER BILLION GALLONS A MINUTE.
 Measurements Of the flow near Yuma show that the river sometimes discharges a mini mum of about 3000 cubic feet per second. It's maximum discharge is unknown, but pTOba- I second As the river is supplied mainly by
 melting snows, it's season of high water cni-
 inmates in June, and the low water season IS in the winter. when it's sources are frozen. The river is naYigated more or less from it's mouth to the Needles by fiat-bOttOm, stern wheel boats, which sometimes even ascend to the mouth of Virgin river It's navigation, however is so o~difiicult and precariOus as to make it almost useless. At low water the channel is so broad, shallow and changeable that boats are continually running aground. heinz nearly week in advancing ten or fifteen miles. In times Of high water
 the swift current greatly impars 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 fiuctuatiOn 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 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 hay .ng a semi-tropical climate, where the grow ing season for most products continues the year rOund-the req uiTements for water, how ever, being greater in the summer season than in the winter. II is here assumed that the maximum use in JEly will be :wice as great as the minimum requirements in January; and that stream with the maximum flow of two cubic feet per seccnd iii July, furnishing about 1000 acrc-fect per annum, will supply 200 acres of land.
 tis probable that with proper regulation the Colorado river will be able to furnish a continuous stream of water for industrial uses, varying from l0,WO cubic feet per second in winter 10 20000 cubic feet per second in summer, in years of smallest discharge, al- lowing the great floods of wet wears 10 sweep to the as at present. This will bc Sufil- cicnt to irrigate 2010,0GG 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 inc valleys of the lower Colorado consists of sandy flood plains subject to occasional inundatiOuS and rOEgh, gravelly foothills with soil unsuitable for cul- tivation. There are also considerable areas Of sand dunes, and some tractS-rendcrCd bar
 ren by alkal. All these il 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 rado river by the construction of high dams at numerous points where the topography is fa Sorable 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 off, together with their load of silt, whenever it is found desirable to dc so. The reservoirs will serve as settling basins for sed- iment. The dams will also be utilized to raise the waters into canals, for the double purpose of enclosing more irrigable lands by such canals and of giving them velocity sufficient to carry large amount of sediment in suspension until il can be deposited upon the fields. The declivity given to the canals will depend largely upon the character Ofthc soil, and will be the highest permissible with out involving destructive erosion. The fall of i the Colorado river is so slight that reSer-
 &vOirS Of enormous capacity may be construct ed without involving dams of inpractlcable height. At any time, by opening the sluice- l 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 10 the Sluicc gates; this being the l longest dimension and deepest part of the 1 reservoir will in all cases form an important 1 part of this storage capacity, and to this eN- i tent every reservoir can be permanently kept ] clear or sediment without expense. With l this exception. each reservoir is expected to | gradually fill; when this occurs il is proposed | to draw down the sarface of the reservoir | permanently 20 to 40 feet, and to convert all i of the reservoir site except the river channel l tato Irrigated farming land, and, if necessary, | eOnstrnet another reservoir for storage pur- | poses Higher dD oil the stream. This policy i viii gTeatky increase the arable area. It will i then be practicable, whenever desired, te ! close tsle sfuiTes and mandate all of the agr' i cultural land tn each filled reservoir and thus | fertiiiZe it. as is natursly done by the river Nile for tEe valley. This is doNe artiliclallV l in some parts Of Earopc and Africa. With | the deep, allaViaf soil, semi-trCpic&l climate arid atmosphere, abundant water supply | and the possibility of fertiSiZing the fields | every year withoat expense. it is believed
 [ hat such regions can be faTsned the veal
 round, and several crops taken off annually | an acreage production being thus attained entirely without precedent in history.