Bisbee daily review., 1906-07-26
BOATS RUN REGULARLY OvERWHAT WASONCE
 BARREN DESERT
Strange Custom That Prevails Where Once Alkalai Sands
 Parched ProspectorS.

 zona. where he has beeA in charge Of a number of contract laborers who were Icing transported through from Mexico to Lower California, where they will be put to work on the Colorado river in an attempt to turn it back into Its former bed. and stop its prog ress into the Salton Sea. says the Ei PSso He-ald.
 .Tt was one of the most remarkable sights ever saw" said Mir. Bryan this morning in speaking of the matter. T had read and heard great deal about it. but never did understand it, until I looked it over.
 At the present moment every drop of water in the Colorado river is flow ing into the Salton sea and, while may be a poor judge of the situation, having spent only one day there. do rot believe they will ever turn the river back into the old bed.
 ''As nearly as I can learn, it was ctrsed this way One season, not long ago, the canal which irrigates the farms in the Imperial valley. went dry because the water in the river became so low that the bed of the canal was higher than the bed of the river. Then the farmers dredged the canal deeper, to get what little water there was in the river. Shortly after the canal was deepened th gre came a big freshet. It naturally followed the lowest channel, which. of course. took in into the ca nal. thence into Imperial valley and Salton basin. As the soil there is all alluvial, it was but a short time until the channel had been deepened and widened until it carried the entire vol tune of water in the river into the Sal ton basin, which is below sea level.
 "This has now been going on for months and all attempts to stop it have proved of no avail. They are and have been for some time attempting to build a headgate to the canal which they can shut and thus turn the river back into it's old channel and let the waters flow into the Gulf of California, but so far they have been unsuccessful. Piles 50 feet long have been driven into the sand here, but as soon as the pressure is removed from the top. they immediately work cut again. the com bination of quicksand and water being so unstable that no hold can be ob- tained in it. Just to see if it is pos s'ble to strike solid earth. three 50 fcot piles were driven flush with the ground. the pile driver was stopped, to await res its. In a short time the piles commenced coming to the sur face. and in Q day or two all three had been forced upward and out into the biggest dred geS ever built and it will be used 10 6redge out the old channel of the river in an attempt to turn the water into u c gulf, but do not believe it can be dore.
 'fUp to this time no great damage has been done except to the salt works and the Southern Pacific which has had to build shoofiies around the va. ter. as their main line is now covered. hut now Calcxico. on the border be- tween California and Lower California is in danger of being washed away The water is also beginning to encroach up, on the cultivated fields and in a short time many acres will be under water thus running many prosperous farms and doing untold damage. Almost all this valley is below sea level, and it will all be inundated before the water will commence to flow to the. gulf again.
 As the Colorado river is said to Je the fourth river in the United States in the amount of water discharged. you can readily imagine what a great col umn of water is pouring into the Sal ton sea. The river is now about 15C yards wide and about 20 feet deep and this is almost low water. During its freshet stages it gets much bigger A regular fleet of steamehs now ply be tween Yuma and the Imperial valley and all transportation is carried on ir this manner.
 Tt is said that unless this flood o. waters is stopped soon. the Southern Pacific will have to build entirely around che base at a cost of seyera million dollars. Shoof1ies will no long CT be possible and an entirely new route through mountainous countrI will have to he built
 "Tbe efforts to turn the river bacl into is old channel are being mad. by the California Development compa ny, which,is employing all the meen can get. They had contracted with tn bunch l took out there. in Mexico an' as contract laborers they were not al lowed to enter the United States hence they had 10 be taken through in bond Some may think this work is in tn, United States. but it is not. The Sal ton basin is in the United States. bu the head of the canal where they ar trying to build the headgate to stol the water from going into the Saltol sea and the Imperial valley, is in Low CT California. Mexico.
 There is a high ridge of sandhiIl all along the west bank of the Cobra do river in the United States. but a ca nal through these would have been a most impossible, or at least on accoun of the nature Of the soil and the es pepse. but doubt if it would ever b built But farther down the river. Ihes sand hills are not to be found O the west bank and canal was easil dug from the river bed back to tn Lorth and west again. where it fir gated farms in southern California. O