The Imperial press., 1905-08-19


 occurred ill the past, onr faith i'll Im- perial, and in our final triumph has remained undimmed.
 We hoped the California Develop ment Company could cope with the undertaking, and when the water shortage came on and it seemed i'm possible for them to meet the require ments, we urged government ownership. During those days 1t seemed that pro- gress was tied ina thousand knots. Cnsolved problems and bristling in- terrogation points met us on every hand. We dare say there were enough puzzling questions and enigmatical situations connected with the matter of getting water from the Colorado river for irrigation in the Imperial Valley to have kept the diplomats of both nations and the courts of both countries busy for twenty years. However, when matters had apparently reached a stage of entanglement that was interesting, to say the least, the Colorado river be- gan to "sit mp and take notice'. And when the Colorado took hand in the matter and began to work on the problem herself there was speedily Something doing'' The lower Mex lcan intake was opened October 6, 1904. At first the water refused to run through 1t, and it sited mp. However, some more work with the dredger, and rise in the river encouraged it, and by the first of January 1905, a good head of water was coming through, and the lower intake was voted a success.
 The floods from the Gila and the unusual rains followed during January February and March and the Colorado river "sawed wood'' or rather it sawed the alluvial banks of the Mexican in- take. The high waters of the June rise were upon us before the Gila floods and exceptional rains had subsided and the Colorado river still "done business. And so while men have wrangled and schemed, planned and conspired, the Colorado river has taken up and solved the whole question. This stream has, by it's powers of destruction, brought about harmonious combination of all the interested parties.
 The California Development Com ,1o nu vrh;ob o lo,,a ,,.or ,><,+ .,lIo 4<> 1,.,5 with the river, is now supplemented by the Southern Pacific Company and the Colorado River Land Company, and the river WILL be controlled. The power of the Colorado to fill Salton Sink and flood the tracks of the South ern Pacific i3 the key t0 the solution of the problem. And with this solution. thus so luckily brought about, what of the future of this Imperial Valley?
 With all possibility of damage by food or Overfows eliminated and constant supply of irrigating water assured, with the certainty to the husbandnlan that if he sows, he shall reap, and if he plants the seeds, he shall produce a crop; what country on earth offers a surer reward for his labor or a more certain return for his tnil than this Imperial Valley. Tie abundant crops of alfalfa already growing on lands of every character i'll this Valley proclaim it to be the alfalfa country, par excel- lence. The Colorado r.yer, the giver of life to all this desert region, the maker and fructifier of our soil and the power which has brought about the solution of our difficulties, will roll it's turgid flood against our headgates with abundant water and to spare. Out of this abundance our ditches can De re- plenished for all time.
 The development of our Valley, which despite untoward conditions, has been un paralleled in the annals of irrigation will now take on renewed life and the phenomenal progress of the past will be but an earnest and measure of the great work of desert and home building which the near future shall witness in this. our Imperial Valley. In no other place in Arid America can be found so large an area of land of such high fertility, lying so naturally adapted to irrigation, with so abundant and inexhaustible supply of water as is found in this Valley. Nor is it possible to find a country of proven worth as this is, where land and water is to be had so cheaply or on such favorable terms.