Imperial Valley press and the Imperial press., 1906-03-31


 doubtless prepared for it. Sharps heading Is reported safe and in no dan ger of giving way So with the farmers all at work on the levee and with sev- eral days start of the water there Is no doubt of the water being kept out of Number One except south of the main canal and west of the Elder lateral The river will doubtless begin rising at Calexico this (Frlday) afternoon as it| is reported to have ceased falling.
 A telephone message from Yuma just received states that the Colorado has declined to 26 feet, 3 inches, fall of feet, 6 inches from its highest stage and the flood is regarded as past there, for the river will now decline rapidly. The course of the water in reaching Imperial Valley from the Mexican intake is such that the water will neither rise as rapidly or fall so quickly here as it does at Yuma. From the Mexican intake the channel is quite deep and the current very strong for about fifteen miles or until the point is reached where the attempt was made to turn the water south through the Padrones river by way of Volcano Lake and into the Gulf of California. At this point the country seems to be very flat and is densely overgrown with large mesquite trees. arrow weeds and undergrowth for a number of miles. Here the river seems to lose itself in the woods and spreads out over the country in an immense swamp with no well defined channel and with very sluggish current. From this swamp or marshy lake a number of sloughs lead off to the south and west and doubtless through these quite a volume of water is carried, some of il to Padrones river and away to the Gulf. while some of it flows into New River. Most of the water however gathers together in the Alamo channel at a point some fifteen or twenty miles above Sharps Heading and flows on to this Valley. The slackening of the waters speed in that swampy lake is all that prevents the flood rises of the Colorado river from reaching our Val ley direct and with unabated violence.
 It is reported that the New River channelis eroding rapidly in the coun- try northwest from Sisbee and it is hoped that this will soon provide an ex- it for the flood waters in that part of the Valley. The Alamo river eroded during the last year so that it now pro- ydes adequate drainage for Imperial Water companies and 7 and also a channel that will carry all the flood waters that are liable to come their way. The same work of channel mak- ing went on in New river during the past year but owing to the greater dis tance and lesser fall in that stream 1t did not complete its work as the Alamo has done, New river having practically no channel for much of the way from a point west of Stlsbee to Calexlco. The. present flood waters however will doubtless do much. to correct this and when this is done and a channel such as the Alamo has, completed to Calex- leo the Colorado river will be poWerless to overflow any part of the Valley
 The levee that is now being built to protect Number One from the coming rise IS certain to only be necessary for a short time The New river has eroded a channel for more than a mile during the past month and will cut much faster with the larger volume of