The Arizona sentinel., 1905-09-27

: casual spectator it seems abou
, as extraordinary as to have
farms in western New Yorl
State flooded by the Hudson
, These two tracts-the faro
sunken desert and the delt;
bordering the main river-art
the lands now being reclaimed
by the Colorado. The first pro
ject was undertaken by a private
organization, the latter is being
put through by the government
Nominally, they have nothing il
common, but, because of then
common source Of water supply,
we shall here consider them to.
gether.
The governments work is in
the neighborhood of Yuma, the
principal town on the river be-
tween the canyon and the Gulf,
and the natural centre and dis.
tributing point for great area
of level and very fertile land.
Yuma is the place where the
overland traveller, on his first
trip to California, looks out OF
his Pullman at night, and sees a
lot of lanterns twinkling inter
estingly in the darkness, light
ing up gaudy blankets and the
wrinkled, painted faces of In
dams squatted behind them,
selling beads aud baskets, feels
that he really beholds the West
The new canals are to reclaim
the lands in the Yuma Indian re-
servation, just across the river
in California, the alluvial flats
bordering the river and the high
mesa to the south of the town
stretching as far as one can see
toward Mexico in all some 100,
900 acres. There are now under
cultivation about Yuma some
what over 10000 acres. The
climate is so hot that when water
is put on the soil things spring
up riotously-probably the ear
lest vegetables in the country
can be matured here; figs and
the citrus fruits grow cheerfully,
and with good luck the alfalfa
farmers can cut seven or eight
crops a year-from ten to twelve
tons to the acre. The first work
of the engineers will be to pump
water to the high mesa south
east of town and turn into or
chards some $4,000 acres now
uselessly in the sun.
The dam will be built at Pot
Holes, near Laguna, about ten
miles above town. The Colorado
being at all seasons of the year
an able bodied stream, there is
no necessity of impounding a
vast lake of water to last through
5he summer; indeed, the charac-
Ter of the river-bed here would
lot permit the building of a mar
'ow lofty structure of a monoli-
jhic character. The problem is
similar to that met by British
engineers in India on rivers with
Ioft beds and it will be similarly :
solved. A low diversion dam
will be built 10 feet high and !
,780 feet-over seven-eighths of
|, mile wide. The low weir-226
eet wide, up and down stream
will be made of heavy boulders,
enforced at either end and in {
he middle by cement partitions S
II ''cores" extending transver-
ely across the stream, the whole :
down from - feet in
eight at the upstream end to S
he river bed at the down stream {
nd, somewhat after the manner Y
f natural sandbar. t
The dam will make a settling {
asin ten miles long and with a t
maximum width Of 2-3-4 miles. {
\ delta builder such as the Col f
RADIO is, of course, a dangerous {
hing to turn into comparatively |
mall canals. and the first prob t
en- to be met in diverting the V
liver was the handling of the V
ediment At each end of the +
am wide sideways will be cut |
trough solid rock. Down such t
athS the bulk of the silt will |
aturally flow. The irrigation
ana1s proper will only skim off
he upper foot of water from the C