The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1905-04-19
The GREAT COLORADO RIVER

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. 1t is formed by the juno
! ton Of the Greer and Grand rivers, rising in
! Colorado and Wyoming respectively, il re-
giOns Of great precipitation, mainly IN the
| form Of snow. Only q small percentage OF the
water yielded by the basin of the Colorado
has as yet been utilized for irrigation, and
practically none for any other purposes. The
| obstacles are many. Through most of its
| course this river and it's tributaries flow at
| the bottom Of profound canyons, from which
| Ii Is Impossible TO divert them upon irTi%dbIc
| lands. The river energies from its canyon 4
short distance above the Ncedles-the cross
! ing of the Santa Fc Pacific railroad-and has
! a series of valleys which between this point
| and the Mexican line aggregate about 5C00oO
acres. In this region the waters are heavily
! laden with sediment, which is a serious OBJ
/ Stetclc to their diversion The grade of the
river is so fat that diversion cana! taken
out ut the rivers bed must have so Slight q
q fail and so low q velocity that 1t would
| quickly fill with sediment from the river.
For the same reason a canal must be very
! lOng ia 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 Il mini
! mum OF about 5000 cubic feet per second. lis
maximum discharge is unknown, but proba-
| bly, exceeds oGc-half million cubic feet per
second. As the river is supplied mainly by
melting SHOWS. us season OF tlSn water Cul-
inmates in June, and the low water season is
in the winter. when its sources are frozen.
The river is navigated more or less from its
mouth TO the Needles by fiat-bottom, stern
wheel boats, which sometimes even ascend to
| the mouth of Virgin river. Its navigation,
however, is SO difficult and precarious as TO
make ii almost useless. Al low water the
channel is so broad, shallow ana cnanseabie
that boats are continually running aground.
sometimes being nearly a week in advancing
ten Or fifteen miles. In times OF high water
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 paGcity
of land that can be reached by them; third,
the large quantity of sediment making i'm
practicable any diversion on q small scale.
A comprehensive project is here presented,
which, if upon investigation, is found i'm
practicable, will largely remove all of these
difficulties, and will also greatly improve
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
viii completely solve both problems
sUBTRoPICAL CLIMATE.
All of the land that can be irrigated from
the lower Colorado may be regarded as hav-
.ag q sem-tropical climate, where the grow
ing season for most products continues the
year rOund-tEe requirements for water, how
ever, being greater in the summer season than
in the winter. 1t 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 cuhic feet per second III July, furnishing
about 1900 acTc-fect per annunl, viii supply
200 acres of land.
1t is probable that with proper regulation
the Colorado river will be able to furnish Il
continuous stream Of water for industrial
uses, varying from 10000 cubic feet per second
in winter TO 10000 cubic feet per second in
summer, i'll years OF smallest discharge, al
lowing the great floods Of wet years 40 sweep
to the sea rs at present. This will lie s;sifi-
cicnt to rTigate $50 coo acres OF land, and is
so far in excess OF the requirements below the
Grand Canyon that 10 restriction need 10 tie
put upon storage and diversion OF waters
from the tributaries of the Colorado.
A considerable portion Of the valleys Of the
lower Colorado consists OF sandy flood plains
subject to occasional inundationS, and rough,
gravelly foothills with soil unsuitable for Gull
tivation. There are also considerable areas
OF sand dunes, and some tracts rendered bar
rem by alka!i. All these 1t IS proposed 10 re-
claim by impnunding 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
RADIO river by the construction of high dams
at numerous points where the topography IS
ia vorable and where the possible storage is
large. All of these dams will be provided
with large sideways through the base, in
order that the stored waters may be entirely
drawn of, together with their load Of silt,
whenever IL is found desirable to do so. The
reservoirs will serve as settling basins for Sed-
inent. The dams will also be utilized to
raise the waters into canals, for the double
purpose of enclosing more irrlgable lands by
such canals and of giving them velocity
sufficient to carry large amount of sediment
In suspension until it can be deposited upon
the fields. The decHvity 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 rcSer-
VOirS of enormous capacity may be construct
ed without involving dams of impractic;:ble
height. AT any time, by opening the SlufCe-
ways of he reservoir, the current OF the river
will quickly eat channel through the de-
posted sediment from Ire upper end of tho
reservoir to the Slafce gates; this being the
longest dimension and deepest part of the
reservoir viii in all eases 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
tlriS exception. each reservoir is expected to
gradually fill; when this occuFS IL 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
iasto irrigated farming fand- and if necessary,
construct another reservoir for storage pur-
poses higher UP OH the stream. This policy
will greatly Increase the arabic area. IL WIFE
then be practicable, whenever desired, TO
cultural land in each Alled reservoir and thus
fertiiiZe ii, rs is naturally done by the river
Nile for the valley. This is done artifici2lly
in some parts of Europe and Africa. With
the deep, alluviaf soil, Senli-tfOpical climate
Grid atmosphere, abundant water supply,
and the possibility Of fertiiiZing the fields
every year without expense. 1t IS believed
hal such regions can be faTmed the year
round, and several crops taken of annually,
an acreage production being thus attained
entirely without precedent in history.