The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1906-10-14

San Francisco. Cal. Oct. AN engi-
neering task Of more than ordinary inter-
est and difficulty is that Of attempting to
restore the course Of the Colorado River.
which no longer empties into the Pacific
Ocean, but has leaped its banks and is
building an inland sea of its own in the
Salton Sink Of Southern California
Great photographic engineers, backed
by unlimited resources, are straining
every fiber in a heroic effort to turn the
river back into the natural bed of the
waterway, but they have only a lighting
chance for success. Failure will drive
from one Of the most fertile valleys Of the
world 5000 prosperous farmers. whose
crops and homes viii be submerged under
a sheet of water that will have no outlet
and rival the great salt Lake of Utah.
This new inland sea already stretches
over $50 square miles of territory, and is
advancing toward the higher levels at the
rate OF a foot a day In every direction.
The Colorado River, one of the longest
in the world. measuring 1.630 miles. jump
ed its banks few miles south OF the in
ternational boundary line between Cali
fOrnia and Mexico at dam that had been
built by commercial enterprises in order
! to harness the river for irrigation pur-
poses. Several million dollars were spent
on the canal by private individuals. II
follows the line Of the Alamo River west
/ erly. across the silt uplands Of the Next
can province known as Lower California,
and then turned noTthward toward ImPe-
rial Valley which occupies the wedge
shaped depression between the main
| range Of the Sierras and the Chocolate
Mountain spur OF the San Bernardino
range.
Formerly an Inland Sea.
Oddly enough. the Salton Sink phenom-
ena demonstrate. too. that nature, like
history, frequently travels IN circles Of re-
petition. Government biologists tell US
that Imperial Valley. which Is now threat
ened with extinction by submersion, was
once before. IN the dim past. the bed OF a
great inland sea. That was centuries ago;
but the fact is indelibly recorded in the
stratifcauOn. which reads Ike an open
book 10 the scientist. That original sea
extended from the little town Of Indio.
som miles north of what in recent years
has been designated as the SaItOn Sink.
all the way down 10 the present Gulf of
California. An idea OF the depth Of the
valley may be had from the fact that
half of il Is even to-day lower than the
level Of the Pacific Ocean.
Millions OF tons Of silt were carried
down during the centuries and deposited
by the Colorado Ia the southern portion OF
the original Saiion Sea. The river after
a while formed q delta Ike that os the
Nile and built barrier which separated
a portion Of the Inland sea from the
Z ~ rr ra.fr al a
gradually elevated the bed of the Colora-
DO River higher than the sea level, and
as the silt spread out over the surrounding
country q lakeland was formed in that
part Of the Lower California peninsula
known as the overflow lands" The
river cut a channel for itself down
through these lands toward the Gulf Of
| California, and the OLD inland sea. sepa-
rated from the ocean by the newly formed
overflow lands. was left without an out
let TO shrink by evaporation.
Rich and Prosperous Valley.
The sea became smaller and smaller. IN
til, in our own time, nothing remained
Of it but the salt lake known as Salton
Sink. The sink was fed by this Alamo
River. flowing northward from the over
flow lands. and by C1risO and San Felipe
creeks. which rise I'm the Sierras. The
sink had no outlet. and, although water
was constantly entering from the river
and creeks, the sink remained stationary
/ In size because the intense heat took Just
as much water out of il by the process
Of evaporation as the entering streams
brought every day.
Until few years ago Imperial Valley.
south Of Salton Sink, was for the most part
a sage brush desert. 1t had once been
l q h Of g old fvTn
the water left the region became arid.
Ike millions Of other acres in the sultry
Southwest. Civilizations advance across
the Rockies brought about the application
of the art of irrigation to the arid valley.
and roses soon bIoomed where there had
been q desert waste
In 1905 more than $1,000 acres were under
| irrigation IN Imperial Valley, and there
are now 5000 inhabitants living there on
ground that is below the level of the sea.
SO much had been accomplished through
the irrigation ditch that u company was
organized for undertaking the building of
a canal TO recover many more thousand
acres on the Mexican side Of the bound
airy. This company spent several million
dollars on the Imperial canal which har-
messed the Colorado and led its waters
through a dam and waterway so as to
| connect with the Alamo River.
Colorado Bursts Its Banks.
This irrigation canal had been COM
pleted and prospects were brightest when,
suddenly. the Colorado, then at Its food
height, about a year ago, smashed
through the food-gate dam of the canal
and rushed toward the Alamo. Before
such a torrent. with its million tons Of
silt every twenty-four hours, the engi-
neers were helpless, and the turbulent wa
ters opened the mouth Of the canal a half
mile, tearing great gaps out all olOng
I the artificial waterway. At CaleXiCO the
food cut a new channel a half nile wide,
and then turned northWard toward SaltOn
Sink, into which the Colorado River has
since been emptying its contents, instead
of following its own bed to the sea.
All Of a sudden the SaltOn Sink-the
shrunken remnant Of a once wonderful
inland sea-took on signs of new life and
began to flood the neighboring country
That was before the Frisco earthquake,
and it was some time before the natives
understood the real cause. Tourists on the
/ Transcontinental Railroad were told mys-
FERROUS tales at the stations about the rea-
son for the encroachment of the waters
upon the railroad tracks. Over 100 miles
Of the Southern Pacific were submerged,
and the tracks have been twice moved
toward higher levels. but the water is
| still enCT0achinS, Unless the food is
stopped the Southern Pacific viii have 20
spend millions building a new line through
the San Bernard no Mountains That as
why the Southern Pacific is spending
whatever the engineers may require in an
( almost hopeless effort to throw the Colo
RADIO back into her channel.
Great Damage Wrought.
The spreading of SaItOn Sink at the
I d. zoe q. 5a~- I'll moro fbar, ana