The Arizona sentinel., 1905-03-22
TIE GREAT COLORADO RIVER

HE UhEHi UULUhhUU hiHEn
 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. It is formed by the june ton of the Greer and Grand riVerS rising in Colorado and Wyoming respectively, in re- gions of great precipitation, mainly In the form of SHOW. 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 it's course this river and its tributaries flow at the bottom of profound canyons, from which it Is impossible to divert them upon irrigable lands. The river cmergeS from its canyon d short distance above the NeedieS-the cross ing of the Santa Fe Pacific railrOad-and has d series of valleys which between tllls point and the Mexican line aggregate about 5O0,EE acres. In this region the waters are heavily laden with sediment, which is d serious ob- stacle to their diversion The grade of the river is so fiat that diversion canal taken out at the rivers bed must have SO slight a a fall and so low 3 velocity that it would quickly fill with sediment from the river. For the same reason canal must he very long in order 10 command any considerable area of land in the river valley.
 TWO AND 4 QUARTER BILJI0S GALLONS 4
 MINUTE
 Measurements of the flow near Yuma show that the river sometimes discharges a mini mum of about 5000 cubic feet per second It's
 
 bIy exceeds one-half million cubic feet per second. As the river is supplied mainly by melting Snows, it's season Of high 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 rom US mouth to the Needles by fat-bottom, steTn- wheel boats, which sometimes even ascend to the mouth of Virgin river It's navigation, however is SO difficult and prccarOuS as 10 make it almost useless. At low water the channel is so broad, shallow and changeable mi 1 sometimes being nearly a week in advancing ten or fifteen miles. In times of high wate T the swift current greatly iTnpairS 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 fluctuation in discharge; second, the paucity of land that can be reached by them; thlrd, the large quantity of sediment, making inn practicable any diversion on a small scale X comprehensive project is here presented, wbich, 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, pcred by the great cost of power and the lack Of transportation, both important requisites for the mining industry. Thc 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- .ng a semi-tropical climate, where the grow ing season for most products continues the year round-the req ItircmentS for water, how ever being greater in the summer season than in the winter. It is here assumed that the maximum use in July will be twicc as great as the minimum requirements in January; and that a stream with the maximum flow of two cubic feet per second in July, furnishing about 1000 acre-feet per annu1n, will supply 2CO acres of land.
 It is probable that with proper regulation the Colorado river will be able to furnish q continuous stream of water for industrial uses, varying from l0,W0 cubic feet per second in winter to 10000 cubic feet per second in summer, in years of smallest discharge, al lowing tEe great floods of wet years to sweep to the as at present. This will be sufll- cient to irrigate 2,000,000 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.
 X considerable portion of the valleys of the lower Colorado consists of sandy flood plains subject to occasional inundatiOEs, and rough, gravely foothills with soil unsuitable for cul- tivation. There are also considerable areas Of sand dunes, and some tracts rendered bar ren by alka!i. All these it is proposed to re- claim by impending 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 rado river by the construction of high dams
 
 fa Iorable and where the possible storage is large. All of these dams will be provided with large SluicewayS through the base, Tn order that the stored waters may be entirely drawn of, together with their load of silt, whenever it 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 irrigablc lands by such canals and of giving them velocity sufficient to carry a large amount Of sediment Ifd the fields The decliVity given to the canals will deDend largely upon the character ofthe soil, and will be the highest permissible with out involving destructive erosion. The fall oi | the Colorado river is so slight that reSer voirS of enormous capacity may be construct ed without involving dams of impracticable height. At any time, by opening the sluice- ways of the reservoir, the current Of the rlNel will quickly cut 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 will in all cases form an important part of this storage capacity, and to this eX i tent every reservoir can be permanently kcpl clear Of sediment without expense With | this exception. each reservoir is expected tC gradually fill; when this occurs it is proposed to draw down the surface of the reservoir permanently 20 10 10 feet, and to convert al 1 of the reservoir site except the river channe | into irrigated farming land, and, if necessary construct another reservoir for storage pur poses higher up on the stream. This policy wlll greatly increase the araDle area. It VII then be practicable, whenever desired, tC close the siuces and inundate all of the agri cultural land in each filled reservoir and thu! ! fertiiiZe it, as is naturally done by the rivel Nile for the valley. This is done artiticially i in some parts of Europe and Africa. Witl 1 the deep, alluvial soil, semi-tropical climate i arid atmosphere, abundant water supply and the possibility Of fertiiizng the heldi 1 every year without expense. it is believed that such regions can be farmed the yea round, and several crops taken off annually an acreage production being thus attained entirely without precedent in history.