Arizona republican., 1906-10-09
THE SALTON SEA
 BEING CONQUERED
The Reclamation Forces Gradually
 Getting Control of the Colorado.

ne spent a week IL is the opinion of the surveyor general that the end of the great Salton Sea is at hand Hei thinks that in the course of month me intake will be stopped. and that the rebelliOuS Colorado will again bai lowing in it's old channel.
 surveyor General IngaHs visited all the E. cIks in progress for the savfngi O. the ricr Imperial country from the erc:Uaching sea The work is being carried or against an unusually unfav-i or&bie cCuCItiOn a stage of twenty feet m the Colorado at this time of thei year when there ought not to be morei than fifteen feet. but headway is being rapidly made in spite of this unfortu- nate circumstance.
 he opening at the i,take. which vas at one time a mile in width is now not more than 45O or 800 feet The dam mas been constructed from each side or the opening and rock and brush mating have been thrown in betvve n : 2iiu streng thened by piling until now tne water is three feet higher on the river side than on the Salton Sea side When this work is raised about eight cen inches higher the water will again | begin: to now down the old charneL
 But Jt tcTe that eighteen inches is ! built there will have to be a relief o- ]
 
 come through a Redwood gate. which | his been Evilt a short distance above tue intake The water IS high enough | to lew through that now and a short l tli2e ago the r.ser was turned through ! It. The gate was so narrow that the volume e: water passing flowed around and ihreatacSd tc wash around and un- der the cote. he work of strength ! eninS that si-u-tUre is now going on.
 BCi there WiE have ta be more re- ! lief thin tho Redwood gaze would af- ford. aS the cam at the intake increas-| es m height. and for that purpose the big gate is being p4t ir near Pilot Knob IL is set hack from the river about d quarter cf @ lniia and a cham nel has Even cut through st by means of horses and sCTapers. The opening between the gate and tfls river will be completed lsy IT cans .-f q Jredger which Is now at Yuma. When that is done. JheTe will E- TC.hnE ic prevent the conclusion of operations at the intake.
 Tie following official report of the progress of operations at the intake and the Redwood gate was yesterday re re,v"1 by Engineer -FiIi from L. B. Eran7lri, acting d5StTict engineer. Yuma. Ariz.. Oct | 1906 Mr. Louis C. Hill. Supervising Engi- ueer. Phoenix. Arizona.
 Sir In reply to your wire. inquiring ! as to the condition of the Imperial In | take. I wired you this morning as fol- ! lows
 ! Feterson's report sixth says mor= ] encOura ging than few days previous. ! Tanks gate will hold Letter -onight-'- Mir Peterson has been making daily : reports to me since October 8, of which i the following is a summary
 
 ! the wooden gate rose about five inches ] aIfF increased to six inches by noon : of the following day They immediate | ly tegan dumping earth on and inJe . the gate over that point and since then . no further rise has taken place I'm ] u.e diss,el. in front of this 2oint Soun- i.igs -howed the depth of water to be : ta enty-seEeu feet. and the apron was : f0unl ic be tearing loose. Barge loads . of rock were dumped into the district oC SCOUT as rapidly as poss bIe. which by Ocs-ter was filled ua ti.= level of -he gate floor.
 GveT half of the upYe- aEIur has -vue cut but it is though shlre can be no water passing under the gate The wings are being carefully guarded and are in good shape. The channel above Jhe gate has been blasted out so that the main current strikes nearly the center of the gate and not on the east end as was the condition at the time of my last report
 A spur track is being laid on the upper side of and parallel to the levee joining the west end of the gate with the railroad embankmenJ- This is 10 cross the bypass about fifty feet above the gate. with the idea of dumping rock into the bypass and closing it, . -E,z--aT-z- --aTfaz-ir,c- cate is aw- pected that this spur track will be finished on the 18th. so if the gate holds out for ten days more the turning Oi the river should be assured
 Work on the dam is going steadily ! forward Its condition is excellent un- der a head of 5.2 feet The gap has been narrowed to 450 feet Considerable drift has collected against the trestle f and with the willows and rock that have been dumped in above, forms a screen through which the water spills in little streams. none of them being large enough to do any damage what ever.
 I made a trip down there today and was TavorabIy impressed. the outlook being very encouraging Of course il , is impossible to tell what is going or under the gate. but the fact that it is . there is sufficient evidence to me that P there is no water passing under ft r for there is head of 3S feet on the gate due largely to collected drif which it is extremely difficult to dis , lodge.
 The river has been discharging 15-oo' - second feet ever since my last report but has now started to fall here. ana reports from Needles show it to b' : foIIing there So it would seem tha the crisis is past
 Very respectfully.
 L. B. BARNARD.
 Acting District Engineer.