Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-25
IMPERIAL LANDS
GIVEN new LIFE
HANLON HEADING SUPPLIES
VALLEY WITH WATER
GREAT ENGINEERING FEAT is
ACCOMPLISHED
Trainloads of Farmers Inspect Enter
prise Which Means Millions OF
Dollars to Property Owners
and Ranehers

W sre water is king-where mllllohs
of dollars worth of property and thou
sands Of persons would be ruined If it
were withdrawn, two trainloads Oh
farmers and others went, last week, to
see the water turned into the canals
that are helping to make them rich
It was a unique excursion the farm
e,s Of the Imperial valley made last
week TO Hanlon Heading near the Ari-
zona line. on the Colorado river Han
Ion heading is the name applied to Inc
concrete structure through which the
wafer is taken from the Colorado river
10 the main canal of the California De-
velonment company. to be conducted
thence to the Imperial valley farms.
n has been the scene of one OF the
greatest engineering fights IN the ms
forv of mechanics and is thus lhaue
doubly interesting
Eighteen years ago. pfaNe l,an
named lockwood conceived the plan
of taking water from the Colorado by
a devious route into the great desert
nlain known as the Salton sink. Many
laughed at him but he was cohNhiceu
~ fbe feasibility of the scheme ana
he convinced others After many Vlcls-
sftudes the water was turned hlto
canal and the beginning of history Ior
the valley was made.
There were many distractions, nat
,,ral and artificial placed in the way
of the completion of the plan, and
when the first system was hnlshea,
the troubles of it's promoters had ohly
bepun. They weathered all or them
until in endeavoring to take INTO the
canals more watere than was noWhis'
because of difficulties with SIT ue-
posits, the river. then belhg nooueu,
became unmanageable. 1t broke It's
banks and for six months ran without
interruption into the Salton sea, rum
ms the canal system of the valley ana
causing losses to the property OF farm
ers estimated in value at tens OF thou-
sands of dollars.
Much Money Is Expended
To close the gap the river had made
An it's own banks. the California De
velopment company spent all the
money it had i'm its treasury.
When engineers were at the END OF
thei, resources. the Southern Pacific
Railroad company took hand and at
length, after two millions OF dollars
had been expended, succeeded IN curp
ing the flow of the runaway river anu anu
turning 1t back into its proper course
down the bed to the Gulf of California.
The work was difficult and dangerous
ard when il was done, engineers from
all parts of the world came TO look
at it. "a
The soil in the vicinity of the head
ing is an alluvial deposit and dissoives
in water as does sugar. No hat way
measures suffice with it. Consequently
inc engineers found it necessary to
build a levee along the whole line
where there was the remotest possl-
hility of an overflow or break IN the
mud banks of the river This leVee IS
fifteen miles long, twelve feet high and
thirty feet wide on top. A double
track railroad line runs the length or
this Ievee, so that relief trains can be
instantly put on it in case of an emer-
gencv. The permanent structures on
the canals and at the heading are or
concrete and so built that 1t is con-
sidered an impossibility by engineers
that the river should ever break the
leash again.
This year the railroad, that has now
practically taken over the old can
fornia Development company, mas con-
structed a levee in Mexico several
miles west of the end of the main le-
wee. referred to in a foregoing state
ment, and this will restrain the wat
ers of Volcano lake and tributary riv-
ers from entering the valley. There is
as vet unprotected strip about fifteen
miles long, but this is to be filled with
in few months by railroad embank-
ment. when the whole Imperial valley
will have a levee across its entire
southern (the exposed) border
Main Levee Inspected
II is the main levee and the great
Hanlon intake that the farmers of the
valley went to inspect last week. There
were two trainloads of them and they
viewed the works with keen interest,
since they are at the basis of the canal
system of the whole section. There
were cantaloupe growers, asparagus
raisers, cattle men and hog men,
orange men, merchants and rich land
owners, and they mingled on COM
mon footing. The excursion did much
10 reassure the timorous and inform
the ignorant The consensus of opin-
ion was that the valley is well pro-
tected, and confidence was revived in
many hearts, some of them that had
gone through the period three years
gone when it looked for many weeks
as though everything had been lost.
AT present the valley is just coming
again into its own, after that fearful
experience