Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-08-10
ANNUAL RAINFALL
 AND SALT0N SEA
Took Arizonans that Long to Deter mine that They Were not Congenial -"old Rustler,'' former Newspaper Man, Still in Need of Housekeeper.


 letin, issued from the Phoenix office monthly, Professor Alfred J. Henry gives the following data regarding the Salton sea and the effect on the rainfall in the southwest:
 As early as October, 1904, there was some seepage water in the depression now known as the Salton sea, but no overflow water. In November, 1904, the Development company completed a third intake on the Colorado river three miles below the first and second intakes in order to increase the supply of wa ter for irrigation purposes.
 Soon thereafter flood wave in the Colorado river secured out the third intake so that it admitted more water than was needed. The surplus, which at times was very large, naturally sought the lowest part of the depression known as Salton sink, and in the course of time Salton sea was formed.
 It appears, however, that the increase in size of the so-called Salton sea was gradual and that it was not until Oc. tober, 1905, that the total flow of the Colorado river was carried by various channels, mainly the Alamo and New rivers, into Salton sink.
 The rainfall of October, November and December, 1904, in southern Cali fornia and Arizona was not out of the ordinary, but beginning in January, 1905, and continuing throughout Feb ruary, March and April, an extraordin- ary amount of rain fell over belt of country stretching from Florida to southern California, and the region of heavy rainfall also extended into east ern Colorado, eastern Wyoming, western South Dakota, western Nebraska and western Kansas.
 With the coming of summer the locus of heavy rains shifted to the states of Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota and Oklahoma and Indian territories. Sep tember and October were generally dry months, but in November heavy rains fell in Texas and thence westwardd to Arizona. December was dry.
 In 1906 practically the whole of that great region west of the ninety-ffth meridian received more than the normal the regions of greatest excess being central and western Kansas, cen tral and western Nebraska, all of South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and central and southern California. The excess in Arizona and New Mexico was not strikingly large.
 Considering these facts in proper se- quenee it will be observed, first, that Salton sea was not formed until after the heavy rains of January, February and March, 1905, so that to ascribe the increased rainfall to Salton sea would be to place the effect before the cause
 Admitting, for the sake of argument, that body of water of the dimensions of the present Salton sea existed before January, 1905, let us examine its prob able effect on the rainfall of the south west. Its present dimensions are ap- sixty miles long, eight miles broad and say twenty feet deep in the average. These are rough estimates, but they will serve for the purpose. The cubic contents would therefore be 60 | by by 0.0047 equals 2.2 cubic miles 1f water
 The normal annual rainfall of Ari- zona as determined by Section Director Jesunofsky is 1l.75 inches. The rain fall for several years previous to 1905 was as follows: