Los Angeles herald., 1905-09-04
ONE END FRESH,
THE OTHER SALT.
1T is BELIEVED LAKE WILL BE
PERMANENT
WATERS CEASE TO ADVANCE
Superintendent Ingram of Southern
Pacific Says River Will Return to
Old Channel and the New
Tracks Are Safe
WATERS CEASE TO ADVANCE
Snecial to The Herald.

opeCldl TO Ine
RIvEDSIDE, Sept. 3.-"The waters
of the Colorado river will be turned
back into the old channel of the river
within sixty days"
This is the statement of General
Superintendent Ingram of the Southern
Pacific railroad to a Herald reporter,
after study of the conditions which
have made the Salton Sea and which
have cost the railroad thousands of
dollars In new track and in efforts to
stop the errant flow of the big river.
Nearly all the old track around Sal
ton Sea has now been abandoned, and
the abandoned sections of track are
being torn up and the rails and ties
used in Strengthening the "shoo-fy."
The entire new track, according to Mr..
Ingram, has been raised eight feet
above the present level Of the sea, and
there is little likelihood that there will
be occasion for further efforts to go
beyond the encroaching waters.
The new track circles around both
Salton and Fink, and these stations
no longer belong on the Southern Pa
cif1c map.
Minimum Flow
The Colorado river has now reached
it's minimum flow, the latest measure
ment showing 1000 cubic feet of water
per second. When at flood tide the
river was flowing 1000 cubic second
feet. OF this total flow of 1000 feet
but 600 or 700 cubic second feet are
flowing down the Colorado into Mex
lean territory, all the remainder COM
ing into the Salton basin through the
New river and the Alamo.
No other body of water on the earth's
surface. so far as known, has a pecul-
iarity that marks Salton Sea. The
waters of the Colorado river when they
are discharged into the great basin
down below sea level are fresh and
are nearly as muddy as the waters of
'the Big Muddy" itself. For ten miles
from the point where the rivers empty
into the new-made sea the waters are
fresh, and the fresh water fish that
come in from the Colorado find con-
genial habitat thereabouts. Prospec-
tors and desert teamsters find the
waters of the lake a great boon. Ten
miles west from the inlet the waters
begin to get brackish, increasing in
clarity and saltiness as the river
mouths are left behind and the south
east shore approached. When Salton
is reached the water is as clear as old
ocean itself and even more salty. Ow-
ing to the fact that the lake for the
greater part is shallow the temperature
of the water is high, being somewhat
over 80 degrees. Every night the hair
thousand Cholos and Indians employed
nv the Southern Pacific in building the
"shoo-dy" track bathe in the waters
of the great inland lake at Salton, and
1t has been a rather diverting spec
tacle for the east-bound passengers
TO watch their aquatic antics from the
car windows as they passed that way.
Lake Will Be Permanent
Tt is believed that Salton Sea will
never entirely evaporate even after the
waters of the Colorado have been con-
fined again within their ancient boun-
daries. Long before the break was
made in the bank of the river the basin
beean to fill with the waste water from
the canals of the Imperial Water COM
pany, and the New Liverpool Salt COM
pany of Salton began suit for damages
and for a permanent injunction against
the Imperial people. Their salt beds
were covered by the insidiously ap-
rroaching water and the company was
forced to move part of it's equipment
to higher ground. When the waters
of the Colorado were added to the seep-
age and overflow from the Imperial
colonies the ruin of the salt works was
complete. The largest building of the
plant stands 200 feet out in the sea,
looking like blockhouse of early
times. Other buildings have disin-
teerated and their debris is being
washed ashore about the lake. A
couple of rusty engines run as high
as possible above the encroaching
waters, are all that is left of a COM
nlete system of railroad that gathered
I'D and delivered to the central build
ings the salt from the seemingly mex
hnustible beds in that desert region
nearly 300 feet below the level of the
sea. A great industry has been wiped
out. and the question of who is re-
sponsible may yet have to be settled
by the courts.