East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-10-20
International Phases of
the Salton Sea

\ Washington correspondent dis
cusses the international phases of the
break in ihe Colorado river and tho
formation of the Salton sea, as fol-
lows:
Who is responsible for the creation
of Ihe SaIton sea in southern Callfor-
mia, which already covers an area of
400 SQUARE miles, and threatens to
spread over 1000 square miles, if some
means Of diverting the Colorado river
cannot be devisedP
This question Is perpleXing Mexican
and American diplOmatists, but for the
ime being diplomatic representations
have been susl ended. and borh the
United States ard Mexico are bending
every effort to check the river, which
has been accidentally turned from its
course through the efforts of the Cal
ifornia Development company to ir-
rigdte land in northern Mexico and
southern California.
Interesting complications of an in
ternational nature are Threatened
when the two governments attempt
to settle their differences and make
good the damage which has been
brought by diverting the Colorado
from its old channel, The California
Development company originally tap
ped the river below Yuma, Ariz., and
carried water from Arizona back into
a great valley in southern California,
In 1904 it was found that this canal
was ira adequate TO supply the water
required for the irrigation project, and
Mexican corporation controlled by
the California Development company
was authorized by Mexico to take
water from the Colorado in Mexico.
Tho irrigation canal was only one,
fourth of mile from the river at the
point iii Mexico wher n ditch was cut
through the sandy bank of the river
connecting with the great irrigation
canal. No gates were provided, and
when the Colorado river was diverted
from its chaunel, it cut away its bank
and went raging into the lowlands in
California far below sea level.
Repeated attempts have been made
to turn the river back into the old
channel, but without success. Again
and again the southern Pacific rail-
road has been compelled to move its
tracks, which ran through the Salton
sink, and have been forced onto the
foothills surrounding the great basin,
which is being converted into sea.
Several small towns are now bereath
the waters which the Colorado has
poured into the basin. and in many
places only the tops of the Telegraph
poles indicate where the roadbed for
merly was. In the lowest part of the
sink the water is now 20 feet deep.
Fo- time the water from the Colora-
do raised the sea at the rate of six
inches a day, and it has been esti-
mated that. granting the failure of
engineers to check the river in 40
years, all the basin located beneath
the main course of the Colorado will
be covered with water.
a part of the basin is in Mexico
and a failure to control the river
would give this country and Mexico
lake comparable to the great lakes
separating the United States and Can
ada. At present the lake is greater
in the United States except Sale Lake
and Lake Michigan. The Mexican |
company, to which permission was
granted to take water out of the Col |
orado in Mexico was merely created |
in Mexico to assist the California De-
velopment company in making a sue !
cess of an irrigation project, which |
was a partial failure when water was
taken from the Colorado in Arizona. |
Most of the land to be irrigated was
IN the United States, and the Mexican
government had comparatively little
to gain from the concession granted |
to the irrigation company.
International complications have
followed, growing out of the fact that
the Colorado shall be maintained az
navigable stream, which Is not now
the case because 1t has been COM
pletely diverted from the Gulf of Cali
ifornia into the great sink. Expert
engineers are struggling to control the
flow of waters, and the Southern Pa
cific railroad, whose property is suf-
fering greatly is cooperating with the
Mexican and American governmnet
engineers in an effort to construct an
other channel with flood gates, into
which the Colorado can be diverted
long enough to repair the Salton
break.
The Mexican government commits
sion is headed by Brigadier-GeneralI
Angel Garcia Pena and the American
government by the reclamation serv-
ice engineers.