The Arizona sentinel., 1905-01-11
THE GREAT COLORADO RIVER

stream, both in drainage area and discharge
that lies wholly within the arid portion of
the United States. IT is formed by the juno
ton of the Greer and Grand rivers, rising in
Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re-
giOnS of great precipitation, mainly In 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 for any other purposes. The
obstacles are many. Through most Of its
course this river and its tributaries flow at
the bottom of profound canyons, from which
it Is impossible to divert them upon irTigable
lands. The river emergeS from its canyon
short distance above the NeedleS-the cross
ing of the Santa Fe Pacific ralrOad-and has
a series Of valleys which between tins point
and the Mexican line aggregate about J0G.0N
acres. In this region the waters are heavily
laden with sediment, which is seriOus OBJ
stace TO their diversion The grade Of the
river is 80 flat that a diversion canal taken
out ut the rivers bed must have so slight
Il fall and so low velocity that ii would
quickly fill with sediment from the river.
long in order 10 command any considerable
area of land i'll the river valley.
TWO AND QUARTER BILLION GALLONS A
MINUTE.
Measurements of the flow near Yuma show
that the river sometimes discharges Il mini
mum Of about 5000 cubic feet per second. Its
maximum discharge is unknown, but prOba-
bly, exceeds one-half million cubic feet per
second. As the river is supplied mainly by
melting SHOWS its season of high water cul-
inmates III June, anu blIt low W stLcI StdSOn IL
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 it almost useless. At low water the
channel is so broad, shallow and changeable
that boats are continually running aground,
sometimes being nearly q 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
fiuctuation 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 n 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
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
.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. il Is here assumed that the
maximum use in July will be twice as great
as the minimum requirements in January;
and that Il stream with the maximum flow of
two cubic feet per second i'll July, furnishing
about lo01 acre-feet per annum, VIII supply
200 acres OF land.
is probable that with proper regulation
the Colorado river VIII be able 20 furnish
continuous stream Of water for industrial
uses, varying from l0c00 cubic feet per second
in winter TO 10000 cubic feet per second in
summer, in years of smallest discharge, al
lowing the great floods OF wet years 10 sweep
to the sea as at present. This will be Suffi-
cent to irrigatc 2,G0O0 600 acres OF land, and is
50 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 of the
lower Colorado consists of sandy flood plains
subject to occasional foundations, and rough,
graVelly foothills with soil unsuitable for cul-
tiTatiOn. There are also considerable areas
of sand dunes, and some tracts rendered bar
rcn by alka!i. All these it 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 Cole
RADIO river 10y the construction Of high dams
at numerous points where the topography is
favorable and where the possible storage is
large. All of these dams Will be provided
with large sideways through the base, in
u
drawn of, together with their load Of silt,
whenever ii is found desirable to do SO. The
reservoirs will serve as settling basins for sed-
iment. The dams will also be utilized 10
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 it can be deposited upon
the fields. The declivity 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
tho Colorado river is so slight that TeSer-
vOirs of enormous capacity may be construct
ed without involving dams of impracticable
height. at any time, by opening the sluice-
ways of he reservoir, the current of the river
will quickly cut Il 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
| reservoir viii 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
gradually fill; when this occurs II is proposed
! to draw down the surface of the reservoir
permanently 20 to 80 feet, and TO convert all
/ of the reservoir site exceptthe river channel
! into irrigated farming land, and, if necessary.
| construct another reservoir for storage pur-
| poses higher mp OH the stream. This policy
will greatly increase the arabic area. 1t will
! then be practicable, whenever desired, TO
| close the SluiceS and inundate all Of the aEri-
cultural land in each filed reservoir and thus
! fcrtilize it, az is naturally done by the river
! Nile for the valley. This is done artiieially
| in some parts OF Europe and Africa. With
/ the deep, alluvial soil, semi-tropical climate,
arid atmosphere, abundant water supply,
| and the possibility of fertiiZing the fields
every year without expense it is believed
| that such regions can be farmed the year
! round, and several crops taken off annually,
| an acreage production being thus attained
entirely without precedent in history.
/ p