Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-10
LARGE LAKE FORMED
LoWiands in Southern aClif0rnia
Inundated.
RIVERS COURSE DIVERTED
The Colorado Escaped Control of the
Engineers.
INTERNATIONAL COMPLICATIONS
Efforts to Restore the Stream to It's
Original CONSIDERATIONS
Already Expended.
INTERNATIONAL COMPLICATIONS

Who is responsible for the creation of the
Salton sea in southern California, which
already covers an area of 400 square miles
and threatens to spread over 1900 square
miles If some means of diverting the Col
orado river cannot be devised?
This question is perplexing Mexican and
American diploma lists but for the time
being diplomatic representations have been
suspended and both the United States and
Mexico are bending every effort to check
the river which has been accidentally turned
from its course through the efforts of the
California Development Company to irrigate
lands in northern Mexico and southern CAL
ifornia. Interesting complica tons of an in
ternational nature are threatened when the
two governments attempt to settle their diff
ferences and maze good the damage which
has been wrought by diverting the Colorado
from its old channel.
Tapped the River.
The California Development Company
originally tapped the river below Yuma.
Arizona. and carried water from Arizona
through canal into northern Mexico and
back into great valley in southern Cali
fornia. In 1904 1t was found that this canal
was inadequate to supply water required
FOR the irrigation project and a Mexican
corporation, controlled by the California
Development Company, was authorized by
Mexico to take water from the Colorado in
Mexico. short distance south of Yuma
The irrigation canal was only one fourth Of
a mile from river at the point in Mexico
where a ditch was cut through the sandy
bank of the river connecting with the great
irrigation canal. No gates were provided
and with the high water of 1905 the Col
Or3dO
cut away its bank, and went raging into
the iowlands in California far below sea
Lever. Repeated attempts have been made
to turn the river back into it's old chan
mel, but without success.
Again and again the Southern Pacific
railroad has been compelled to move it's
tracks, which ran through the Salton sink,
and have been forced on to the foothills
surrounding the great basin which is being
converted into a sea. Several small towns
are now beneath the waters which the
Colorado has poured into the basin and in
many places only the tops of the railways
telegraph poles indicate where the roadbed
formerly was. In the lowest part of the
sink the water is now seventy feet deep.
For time the water from the Colorado
raised the at the rate of six inches a
day, and 1t has been estimated that grant
ing the failure of engineers to check the
river in forty years all the basin located
beneath the main course of the Colorado
will be covered with wa ter. a part of
this basin is in Mexico and the failure to
control the river would give this country
and Mexico lake comparable to the great
lakes separating the United States and
Canada. At present the lake Is greater
than any body of water wholly within the
United States except Salt lake and Lake
Michigan.
The Mexican company to which permits
sion was granted to take water out of the
Colorado in Mexico was merely created in
Mexico to assist the California Develop
ment Company in making a success of an
irrigation project which partial fall
when water was taken from the Colo
RADIO in Mexico. Most of the land to be
irrigated was in the United States and
the Mexican government had comparative
ly little to gain from the concession grant
ed to the irrigation company.
Requirements of Treaties
Treaties between the United States and
Mexico provide that the Colorado is to be
maintained a navigable stream from
the Gulf of California through lower Cali
fornia to American territory. These trea-
ties were drawn long before railroad trans
portation made the use of the Colorado I'M
profitable, and under present conditions the
navigation features of the treaties are re-
garded almost dead letter because
there are few boats on the Colorado, and
these are used chiefly by sightseers
At present the Colorado has been diverted
entirely from the Gulf of California and
pours all of its water into the salton Sink
It is believed that in the time Of high water
some Of the flood water might reach the
Gulf of California, but until engineers con-
troll the river where 1t has broken through
its bank below Yuma there will be no
stream of any consequence flowing into
the gulf. Because Of its large property In
terests threatened by the flood the Southern
Pacific is co-operationg with the Mexican
and American governments In attempts to
control the river, and the company Is re-
ported to have spent millions OF dollars al
ha or A
dam is being built above the break, and
large canal, with flood gates In it, Is also
being constructed. through which the river
is to be diverted temporarily. When the
dam becomes sufficiently high to throw the
waters back into the old course the engi-
neers expect to close the flood gates in
the canal. and thus divert the Colorado to
its old channel. There Is some doubt as to