Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-02
Our New Inland Sea

Occasionally attention has been directed
of late to the breaking of the Colorado
river into the Salton basin In southern
California, the consequent troubles of the
Southern Pacific railway and the threatened
destruction of the settlements in the so.
called Imperial valley.
Probably few persons outside OF the ter
ritory Immediately affected have realized
how great a change in the face Of the
country is thus taking place. The facts and
their causes are clearly stated by Edmund
Mitchell in the current North American
Review
In order to understnd this change 1t must
be realized that in the far back ages the
head of the Gulf of California was about
200 miles northwest of where It Is now,
and that much OF what is now San Diego
and Riverside counties was under water.
Into this long arm of the sea the Colo
RADIO river flowed on the east side. probably
not far from the present site of Yuma.
The mud brought down by the river grad
ually formed a huge dam across the gulf.
cutting off its northern end. Through this
dam the river cut its channel on to the sen,
leaving the cutoff lake to evaporate. Thus
in historic times, when man began to med
die with the situation, the Colorado was
flowing along the edge of this great hollow
which was once the northwest extremity
of the gulf
The lowest point of this old sea bed at
Salton is 263 feet below the present sea
level. At Calexico, on the Mexican border,
II is Just at sea level. This southern end
| Of the basin, having emerged from the
ancient lake before its waters were con-
centrated by evaporation, is fertile land,
needing only water to make It productive
Here is the Imperial valley. To get water
| to 1t a canal was cut from the Colorado
! down near the Mexican line, entering tho
basin from the south.
| Unfortunately this canal had no head
gates. It was merely an open ditch. The
| winter OF 1904-5 was a season of abnormal
rainfall throughout the southwest The
| floods OF the Colorado found an easier
way through the canal into the Salton
| basin than down the old chanel to the
| gulf. In fact. the river got back into its
prehistoric course. Since December last all
its waters have gone into the basin. and at
| Saiton, where three years ago salt was
shoveled from the parched earth into rail-
way cars, the water is now nearly sixty
| feet deep.
The new lake thus created is already
more than 400 square miles in area, and
except Lake Michigan and Great Salt Lake
is the largest body OF water wholly within
the United States. All efforts to stop the
new channel and turn the river back into
its southwark course have failed. The
greater part of the Imperial valley, with
its half dozen thriving villages and humid
reds Of fertile farms, seems destined to
disappear beneath the rising lake.
At the time Mr.. Mitchell first wrote there
were hopes that the Colorado might be
finally controlled by the great dam which
the national government is building at
Laguna, ARR, at the lower end of the
rivers rock canyon. and the head of its
delta. But he is compelled in footnote.
written on July /. to admit that this hope
may be vain. The river is now cutting a
receding waterfall in its own bed at the
rate of nearly a mile a day.-Chicago Inter-
Ocean.