The Arizona sentinel., 1909-12-02
POSSIBILITIES 0F YUMA
 REGION UNEMPLOYED The Soil Simply Marvellous in Its
 Pr0duCtiyeHeSS And the Climate is IntOxiCatingly
 SdIHbriogS
BY GEORGE N. BURTON, In los Angeles Times.

sprang, so to speak like Pallas Athene from tho brain of love, a completely armed ad- dition 70 the family of nations. It is but little ever half a century since California be- came part of these United States Of America, and less than generation since the settle ment of the Great South west began.
 In all the l25 years since the Republic was founded also in the half century since Cali fornia became one of the States Of the Union. and dCring every year of the last thirty, a re- aliZation Of the vast riches of the American continent, Of the territory Of the United States and of this Great Southwest has been more and more astonishing to the minds of men. One would suppose that by today we knew pretty thoroughly what the undevelop- ed resources of the Great Southwest might reasonably be expected to become. We have not reached the depths Of this great ocean of wealth with our plummet line yet.
 fin Q residence Of forty years on the Coast the writer thought he knew a little about what there Is on the Coast, and as most of these years have been spent in and around Los Angeles, he naturally had a little con- oeit that he was pretty well acquainted with the Great Southwest. Last week a trip to the Colorado River bottoms. below Yuma made him feel as a tendcrfoot who had come in on the last train. New to him, this wonderful region and its possibilities are pretty well known to a great many readers of The Times by the stories published, if not by the demon ssrntiosr of their own eyes.
 Yuma lies on the map just twelve miles from where the government Is putting in the great Laguna dam, at the confluence of the Gila and Colorado Rivers. It Is twelve miles from Yuma down the river to the Mexican boundry line on the Arizona side Of the river At one point. just below Yuma. the interna- Nonal boundry line runs up along the river which there takes a westerly trend and from Yuma to Mexico is only a few lntles.
 ONCE A MIGHTY STREAM.
 Ages ago when the mountain ranges of Arizona and California lowered toward tho stars, at least twice as high as they do now, rains were very rrcduent and came down in torrcntial volumes all along these mountain ridges. The Colorado River in these past ages was a mighty stream, sweeping down debris in tons every second Of its flow. The Cobra do sink was at that time great inland sea, which spread over the country on both sides Of rwhere the river now runs. AS the erosion Of winds and storms, landslides and glaciers wore down the mountain ridges year by year, the great river carried down a vast amount of silt, erosion from the racks full of phos. phates, times and disintergrated granites, as well as the vegetation along its banks; and this was all deposited ina what are now the sinks of the. CoiorsEssA
 As the r,euntain tops were woBr down. the naahs- BeeaGne lss& faseuent and less sn volume Sut 5lls'erOsson Of rocks sad river banifsl sae trees and vegetable mould torIs frozar the banks still came down and settled into tfe bottom Of the great inland lake. This geogicai process went on from age to age to our time, Teavlng the Colorado at Yuma a stream a bout half mile wi6s and being at the present umc about twenty feet deep ia the deepest portion. P
 It is not necessary to remind Calffornians that the Spanish missionaries and explorers called this river the Colorado because Of the reddish color of it's waters. 1t Is the Colorado Rp in the Grand Canyon in Arizona and down past The Needles. But at this time of the year. after passing the mouth Of the Gila, instead of the red river 1t becomes the brown river. It actually looks today as If ten Der cent Of its flow was silt and only ninety per cent water.
 RICHES OF SOIL WONDERFUL
 But the object Of this story is to call atten- ton once more, and for perhaps the thou sandth time, to the riches Of the soil along the Colorado on both sides, incident to the depositidg of this mass of debris during all the past ages. Going through the country on the Arizona side of the river, for several miles below Yuma one encounters the same type of country and soil that is found in the Imperial Valley country around Brawley, CalexIco and other points west of the river The fertility of the black prairie soils of Illi- nois has Stonished people engaged in agri- culture for nearly ono hundred years. The fertility of the valleys Of the Nile has been a matter of history for at least 5000 years. Those who are familinr with Illinois prairie soil, and those who know what the valley Of the Nile is for agriculture. khow that this lower Colorado River region surpasses both Of them.
 IT you ask a farmer along this stretch Of eountry if the soil is six feet, his eyes will open with astonishment al your ignorance. He will tell you no one knows whether it is 60 feet 800 or 5000 feet deep. It is practically without bottom. It is SO thoroughly well mixed with sand, disintegrated granite and other rocks that it never breaks. It Is as easily worked as a heap Of ashes, and TO- spends to cultivation in a way that is mar vicious.
 CUT SEVEN CROPS YEARLY.
 Arizona hos established an experiment station in the heart of this big valley, which is some twcnty-four miles long, and in spots ten 10 twelve miles wide, down on the lower level. The results are wonderful. Last week they were cutting crop Of alfalfa on this ex- perimental farm. and for seven consecutive months they will cut succeeding crops. The only months when the crop is not cut here are December and January
 Cotton and tobacco grow with the greatest JuxuriaDce. and this rich anuvial soil will be noted in a very few years as the ideal spot in the whole country for dairying. hog raising. the production of poultry and vegetables. which one hestates to call early or late. as they will be perennial. New potatoes will be produced in the middle of January, tomatoes will be ripe by the first of March. ripe grapes will be gathered in the early days of May. and apri- cots by the middle of the same month. Chic kers and turkeys flourish there in the winter time beyond all experience anywhere else.
 The rainfall is exceedingly light and comes only three or four times in whole winter. With an abundance of green alfalfa and veget- able the dry and not overloaded climate prevailing in the winter months. chickens are free from the disease that make their raising difficult elsewhere There is no spot in South ern Illinois or Missouri so adapted to the pro ducsion of corn as this valley along the Cobra do River. With alfalfa and corn, the butter, cheese. eggs. poultry and pork to be raised on twenty acre farm will amaze those who have