The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1908-02-17
Mew Salton Sea
Is Interesting
From the Pacific Miner.

FROM the Pacl1c Miner.
Wonderful as is the Illumination OF
the Ancient Sink, which less than
two years ago was comparatively dry
a few hard, hot and cold, geological
facts concerning its present status ana
extent are of considerable interest.
No small lake or pond of salt water
is the new sea. 1t is a real inland
salt body of water forty five miles
long. as far as from San Francisco to
San lose and from ten to fifteen miles
in width. at the various places.
ssImagine all these things said
Professor Edgar L.. Larkin in 1.-The
Open Court for September, that vast
geological and a%lluvial changes in the
southwest nave taken place, turning
aside the Colorado river into the an
cient Salton Sink.
"Once a very high and massive tow
err of stone whose base rested upon
the solid rock of the rrimordal Palae-
zoic sea. lifted its too far above the
waves Then new wastes began
to appear by centuries, and after cons
rolled away, by years. Finally all
Colorado emerged from the Western
Sea. ..... and in no part of the
world have these artists-wild and
vane wrought more exquisite work
than in that vast region drained by
the Colorado river. The canyon
is three hundred miles long and from
5000 to 5000 feet deep, a total of SIX
hundred miles of giant walls. The
entire abyss has been eroded by run
ming water since the lands was raised
above the sea in the Jurassic age.
Upon stepping over the information
al line one enters the Mexican town
of Mexicala. 1T was then. on June
a, a thriving business town. Four
ifths of it together with the bodies
from the local cemetery are now at the
bottom of the new Salton Sea, washed
awey by the diverted Colorado river.
The hastilv put up levy was washed
awey and everv business house was
tumbled into the flood, twenty feet
lower than the streets of the town.
Trees. grain, gardens. grass. fences
and improvements of all kinds around
about the town of Mexicala. and a
few outside BUILDINGS in Calexico.
plunged into the flood. and Travelled
with treat speed to the depths of the
Salton Sea, running railroad tracks
and salt works.
"Tho wonderful depression, in re
mote times, of the Gulf of California
extended to the %northward, or to the
end of the sunken area, just to include
the cite of Indio, on the Southern Pa
cifc railway. But the head of the
gulf is 140 miles from Indio The
Colorado river once entered the gulf
through a mountain pass So miles west
of Indio, 1t poured, it slit, it cut a
a path across the barrier Of the Gulf
cut off an expanse of salt water, and
then moved to the site of Yuma, Ari-
IONA, 3 miles further to the east and
then entered the Gulf 13 miles above
where Yuma now stands The isolat-
ed expans of salt water evoporated,
which left a thick layer of salt, and
then, after a few million years, the
Southern Pacific railroad same through
the prehistoric sea. Ties were placed
on the salt bed, rails were laid, and
entire trains were loaded with pure
salt and sent to New York and then
to Chicago.
uTapping the Colorado river and
forming new land and irrigation com
panies was a log processehrdlnnuiuu
panies was a long process. A large
network of canals, sluice gates, con
duits, bitches and waterways were con
strueted Throughout the rich "desert.'
At last all of the details were com
pleted and everything was in readi-
ness to cut the west bank of the Colo
RADIO, eight miles below Yuma and let
in the precious water. TIL cut was
made in the autumn of 1900. But
rich soil deposited and choked up this
intake. Another cut was made lowed
down. This was soon closed with the
sediment. These cuts were made in
California.
and into Old Mexico and make anoth
err intake. The hope was to secure 8
greater incline and increase the speed
of the water, so that the slit would not
deposit. But there came a disaster
that was not thought possible. The
ella river suddenly poured a flood into
the Colorado at Yuma, and the new
cut was soon filled with water. Alarm
soon spread, and attempts were made
to control the Colorado.
The first, second and third engineer
ing attempts were made, but these
were swept away as the grass, for nov
the regular floods of the Colorado ha(
come. A large island near the Mex
lean intake was washed away. and il
went into the valley. The so roo
channel soon widened to one of a hun
dred, 500, 1000, 5000, and the flood,
rushed through with increasing speed
The entire system of canals were over
flowed. and the bed of the mighty
Colorado below was dry, all of thu
water going into the Salton Sea.
"Vast plans are being drawn up by
engineers to throw a dam across the
break, and the work of controlling the
food is progressing as rapidly as pos
sible l. the plans of the dam are {
success, then the rays of the sun will
again evaporate the water and the sei
win vanish, leaving a deep layer OF
salt over the layer of salt already
there