The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-10-13
BECOMES AN inter-
NATIONAL PROBLEM
3ALroN SEA CREATES TROUBLE
FOR MEXICO AND UNITED
STATES.
DIPLOMATS TRY TO
FIX RESPONSIBILITY
Big bitches, One In Mexico and One
In Arizona, Cut for irrigatlng Pur-
poses, Result in Diverting the Wa
tiers Of the Colorado River.

tiers Of the Colorado River.
Washington, Oct. 1O.-Who is re-
sponsible for the creation of the Salt
on sea, in southern California, 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 devised? This question is per.
picking Mexico and American diplo.
matists, but for the time being diplo.
matte representations have been sus.
pended 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 south
ern California.
The Colorado Twice Tapped.
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
wrought by diverting the Colorado
from it's old channel. The California
Development company originally tap
ped the river below Yuma, Ariz.,
and carried water from Arizona
through canal into northern Mex
leo and back into a great valley in
southern California. In 1904 it was
found that this canal was inadequate
to supply water required for the ir.
rigation project and Mexican cor.
poration, controlled by the California
Development company, was author
ICED by Mexico to take water from
the Colorado. in Mexico, a short dis.
lance south of Yuma. The irrigation
canal was only one-fourth of mile
from the river at this point in Mexico.
where a ditch was cut through the
sandy bank of the Colorado connect.
ing with the great irrigation canal.
No gates were provided, and with
the high water of 1905 the Colorado
river was diverted from it's channel,
cut away its bank, and went raging
into the lowlands in California far
below the sea level. Repeated at.
tempts have been made to turn the
river. back into its old channel, but
without success.
Again and again the Southern Pa.
cific railroad has been compelled to
move its tracks, which ran through
the Salton sink. and have been forced
to the foothills surrounding the great
basin, which is being converted into
sea.
Small Towns Swallowed Up.
Several small towns are now be.
meath the waters which the Colorado
has poured into the basin, and in
many places only the tops of the rail.
way telegraph poles indicate where
the roadbed formerly was. In the
lowest part of the sink the water is
now 70 feet deep. For time the
water from the Colorado raised the
sea at the rate of six inches day,
and it has been estimated that, grant.
ing 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 wa.
ter. A part of this basin is in Mex.
leo, 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, ex.
cept Salt lake and Lake Michigan.
The Mexican company to which per.
mission was granted to take water
out of the Colorado in Mexico was
merely created in Mexico to assist the
California Development company in
making a success of an irrigation pro-
ject which was a partial failure when
water was taken from the Colorado in
Arizona. Most of the land to be ir.
rigated was in the United States, and
the Mexican government had compar.
atively little to gain from the conces.
sion granted to the irrigation com.
pany.
To Coin Mexican Silver.
San Francisco. Oct. photographic