The Pensacola journal., 1907-05-04
DUEL BETWEEN ENGINEERS
AND COLORADO RIVER
Break Has Been Stopped, But 5000 Cubic Yards Day
are Being Poured Into Tremendous Dam
Fact About w onderful Feat

enough of it TO send 10 Congress
special message on the subject.
This valley will some day be the
home of above 100000 persons on
hundreds OF thousands of acres Of
truly garden farm lands if intelligent
methods are employed. With d pOPu-
lation OF something like 10000 prop
erty there is estimated to be worth
in the neiGhborhoCd of S5.0O0.000 to-
day and some day il is thought II
worth the mentioning 1t had deposit
ed the silt over it all, and the very
act had raised its bed higher and
higher each succeeding century Unul
it was above the level of the land
about it. All that was needed there
fore was to tap the river intelligenJ-
ly, locate the canals and the things
would be done.
Tapping the Colorado.
The first tap was made in 1891 and
the result was as expected. That
part of the country affected began 10
blossom. Settlers began 10 come Two
years later a company was organized
to take charge of the project
Without taking thought of the NOR
row, they put in fimsy dams, strung 4
lew canals over the surface and sold
In the spring of 1904, The demand for
irrigation was so great that another
tap was made just south of the first
one. The second one had scarcely
been completed when both taps were
filled up by silt washed in by the
river.
To relieve the situation. in July.
1904, 4 third tap was made farther
down the river. abOut four miles IN
side OF the Mexican border. The iOca-
tion was chosen because il would give
a greater drop to the canal and it was
believed that the increased velocity Of
flow would keep the channel clear
This tap caused the trouble, They
had simply opened a hole in aluviaI
soil forming the bany Of the river.
Floods in the fall of 1904 caused tho
mouth of this third opening TO wash
considerably, ana at each succeeding
flood the conditions became more Sc
riCus. The channel to the irrigation
canal Kept growing larger until in
June, 1905, almost the entire DISCHARGE
Of the river flowed into the SaltOn Sink
where a lake was formed which had
an area of about 400 square miles
Slowly it began to back up and flow
back towards the Imperial Valley.
Farmers were compelled to leave,
farms were inundated, miles and
miles of railroad track and develop
ment went under water.
Heroic efforts were made 10 stop
the food The railroads equipment
and facilities were used and consider
able progress made. but the fall foods
washed out part of the work, only to
have il rebuilt
On November 4, 1906, the break. |
which had been l 800 feet wide, was
closed, and on November 18th all
leakage of water through the dam
had been stopped. II seemed as if
the battle had been won, but another
flood followed. and on December Sth
water worked its way under the levees
south of the dam. BY noon on the
following day nearly the entire Colo
RADIO river was emptying into the Sal
ton Sink The president of the
United States took a hand. He and
Mr.. Hartman exchanged numerous
telegrams in a discussion as to the
best course TO be pursued. 1t was
a rather delicate task for the govern /
ment to undertake because an inter
national question was involved While /
the damage was being done in the |
United States, the break was in Mexi- /
CO. The upshOt of il was that the /
Southern Pacific was pledged TO do !
the work.
The question as to what sum shall /
be paid to the railroad will be settled /
in the future" said the president in /
his message of January, and with that /
understanding the work is being done /.
The railroad took hold of things /
at once. 1t seemed to the engineers /
as if the entire river bank was rotten
The entire bank Of the river would .
have 10 be leveed and strengthened .
They built a railroad and called for .
more engineers and more WOrIlmen
They organized a corps of Ievee .
builders of men to build drain and .
muck bitches, and above all, they per
fected the flying squadron Of break
clOsers, as has been pointed out
high-pressure, fully equipped fighting
men, ready for all emergencies.
They went at the breaks with fever
ish haste, and there was. neithr night
nor day for them, just 2f-hoIr periods
They studied the situation until thev ,
had every trick of the old river, every
whim and every artifce at their
fingers end. The bottom OF every
break was soft, as Mr.. Hartman has
said, soft and fine.
How the Work Was Done.
Epes Randolph, in charge of the
work, utilized system OF brush mat
treSs work. as the base for all his
dams, and into this he threw his rock
fill. First they would run a railroad
trestling across A break, then they
would put down their mattress, after
which trainlOad after trainiOad OF
heavy stone would come along and
splash into the water
Upon the big breaks they used two I
trestles, just as in that break OF /
January 20 The second track would
go against the thrush OF water in the
form of a crescent, and this would
form first an outlying bulwark Of
stone, after which they would fill IN
the intervening space. There isn't
much chance for any river when they
begin 10 fight it with Notifications
ike that.
As rapidly as the closure work has