Imperial Valley press and the Imperial press., 1906-11-17
TIT IMPERIAL VALLEY As Sesa aad Studied By Dr. t. A. lee. Who Sees For It a BriSht
 and Great Future

best to supply some such desired ihior- nation bv addressing the following to vour paper aud by this means reach a ,nucb greater number than is possible by private correspondence.
 The hitherto vexed water question be- ;,,, ,ou settled for all time by again re- turning the Colorado river to it's former cbanoel carrying the water to the Gu'f of California has added renewed interest to this very interesting subject. The location of the Valley may be described Inv saving it is situated just outside the Coost Papae of mountains in San Diego countv. Calif., and distant from the city of San Diego about one hundred and twenty-five miles due east.
 If lies west of the Colorado river, from which it derives an unlimited and con stant supply of irrigating water lat all .oosons of the year. In area the Valley ;s r,ore than 40 miles long by 30 miles ,v;de and contains about fifteen hundred souare miles of irrigable land which is ;r ,be main quite level, but having an ;-o,;Dotion to the north and west of t-o,, tour to ten feet fall to the mile.
 The whole Valley has been formed by tue filling in of the deposit of the Colo rodo river and thus leveling upl in a -oosuret this large einter-mountain basin. rh;s deposit has consisted mainly of a fine silt and very fine sand and reaching to Q known depth of several hundred toot The entire Valley is susceptible af;rr;Oation or in other words can be covered by water and irrigated, yet re-
 ,;r;no more or less leveling for this purpose.
 The elevation ranges from two hun ,.od and eighty-seven feet below ..sea ,ouol In about forty feet above. On be- ;ng told that the general level is below 4t,e soa one would veryEnaturally in- ar;re if there was not danger of it's be- ;no inundated to whichit may be replied .ho. there is an intervening coast range ot tnountains nearly five thousand feet ;n height through which the Colorado hoe cnt it's way to the Gulf of California ond ia now flowing with a moderate arode from the Valley to the sea.
 Aa stated the soil consists of silt and .ord combined in somewhat variable nroportions aud the landsare designated as sil, and soft lands depending on the ,,ro,,o,tjon of sand. the former being comn nosed almost exclusively of fine silt will almost entire absence of sand and nartaking quite little of the qualities of adnhe vet never getting so hard and unyielding when dry nor so gummy or st;ckv when wet. It does not irrigate 90 easily nor does it hold moisture so wall as the softer lands. The soft land is composed of silt and sand combined. The presence of the sand in ali cases makes it more soft and foiable, while that containing most sand is frequently so soft that when driven over by ve- bicle the wheels often sink into the un- cultivated soil several inches. The soft land is usually much preferred sfor the reason it is 80 much more easily. worked seldom gets very muddy when wet, is warmer r soil and is considered far better for fruits, gardens, cantaloupes and al- falfa. AS before stated the whole Val ley has been formed by she sediment de- posted by the Colorado river and at all times there is sufficient silt in the water to make it very dark and muddy, not unlike that seen in the ditches and gut ters after a summer shower. This sedi- ment is said to represent from two to five per cent. of the water and when used for irrigation purposes it greatly enriches the land.
 This filling in of the Valley has been a slow and long continued process Of land building, which we have been per- mitted to see duplicated in a measure during the last two years during which the water has been flowing directly from the river into the Salton sea through an unprotected cut thoughtlessly made in the river bank for diverting the wat CTS for irrigating purposes.
 This sea gradually filled in with water and silt until it now has a dimension of