The Arizona sentinel., 1905-04-05
The GREAT COLORADO RIVER

! sHE Gnral UULGnAUU n.YEn
! 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 icy 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 tie basin of the colorado
has rs yet been utilized for irrigation, and
practically nOnc for any other purposes. The
obstacles ere many. Through most OF its
course this river and its tributaries flow at
the bottom of profound canyons, from which
| II Is impossible to divert them upon iTTigable
lands The river cInerges from its canyon a
short distance above the NeedleS-thp cross
ing of the Santa Fc Pacific railroac-and has
a series Of valleys which between this point
and the Mexican line aggregate about 1D,ON
acres. In this region the waters arc heavily
laden with sediment, which IS q serious OBJ
StScla to their diversion The grade of the
river is so fiat that diversion canal taken
out ~ the rivers bed must have so slight
a fall and so low velocity that 1t would
quickly fill with sediment from the river.
For the same reason q canal must be very
long i'll 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 mini
Eium Of about 5000 cubic feet per second Its
ma ximum discharge is unknown, but Droba
bly, exceeds One-haf million cubic feet per
second. AS the river is supplied mainly by
EIelting SHOWS, its season of high water Gull
inmates in June, and the low water season Is
i'll the winter. when It's sources are frozen.
The river is navigated more or less from its
mouth to the Needles by flat-bOttom, stern
wheel boats, which sometimes even ascend to
the mouth Of Virgin river Its navigation,
however, is so difficult and preca1oGS as 10
make il almost useless. AT low water the
channel is so broad shallow and changeabe
that boats are continually running aground,
4 Ie-rN nIIy
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 arc: First, the great
fiuctuation III discharge; second, the paucity
of land that can be reached by them; third,
the large quantity of sediment making I'M
practicable shy diversion ON a small scale.
4 comprehensive project is here presented,
which, II 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, 10th important requisites
for the mining industry. The proposed plan
Nill completely solve both problems.
SUBTRoPICAL CLIMATE.
All OF the land that can be irrigated from
the lower Colorado may be regarded as hav-
ING q semi-tropical climate, where the grow
year rOund-the rec uirelncnts for water, how
ever, being greater in the summer season than
in the winter. II is here assumed that the
maximum use in July will be :wice as great
as the minimum requirements in january;
and that stream with the maximum flow OF
tw-u cubic feet per second III July, furnishing
about 1903 acre-teCt per annum, VIII supply
200 acres of land.
1t is probable that with proper regulation
the Colorado river viii be able to furnish a
continuous stream of water for industrial
uses, VARYING from l0NW cubic feet per second
in winter TO 10000 cnOic feet per second liz
summer, in years OF smallest discharge, al
lowing the great floods Of wet years 10 sweep
to the seq as at present This Will be suf1i- !
Client to irrigate 0C0 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.
4 considerable portion of the valleys Of the
lower Colorado consists of sandy flood plains
subject to occasional foundations, and rough, |
gravely foothills with soil unsuitable for cEl-
tivati0n. There are also considerable areas
of sand dunes and some tracts rendered bar
rem by alkali All these it is proposed to re-
claim by impounding upon them the silt
which annually passes down the Colorado
river.
SERIES or 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 Typography is |
favorable and where the possible storage is
large All OF these dams will be provided
with large Suiceways through the base, in
order that the stored waters may be entirely |
drawn off, together with their load of silt, |
whenever il is found desirable to do so. The
reservoirs will serve as settling basins for Scd-
iment. The dams will also be utilized to
raise the waters into canals, for the double |
purpose of enclosing more irrigabe lands by |
such canals and of giving them n velocity |
sufficient to carry a large amount of sediment
in suspension until 1t can be deposited upon
the fields. The declivity given to the canals |
will depend largely upon the character Ofthe |
soil, and will he the highest permissible with
out involving destructive erosion. The fall OF
the Colorado river is so slight that reScr- |
voirs OF enormous capacity may he construct
ed without involving dams of impracticablc
height. At any time by opening the siuice-
ways OF the reservoir the current of the river
wifi quickly cut Il channel through the de-
posted sediment from the upper end OF the
reservoir 10 the Sluice gates; this being the
longest dimension and deepest part OF the
reservoir will 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 40 feet, and to convert all
of the reservoir site except the river channel
into irrigated farming land, and, if necessary,
construct another reservoir for storage pur-
poses higher UP on the' stream. This policy
will greatly Increase the arabic area. 1t Will
tlfen be practicable, whenever desired, To
close he siuices and inundat all of the agri-
cultural land in each filed reservoir and thus
fertiliZe II, rs is naturally done by the river
Nile for the valley. This is done arliticialy
in some parts OF Europe and Africa. With
the deep alluViei soil, ScmttrOpfcal climate,
arid atmosphere. abundant water supply.
and the possibility Of fertiiiZfng the fields
every year without expense. it is believed
that such regions can be farmeG the year
round, and several crops taken eff annually,
an acreage production being thus attained
entirely without precedent in history.