The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1909-05-06
SATELLITES OF YUMA
REGION ljHFkTHOMED
} Soil Simply Marvellous in Its
Pr0duCtiyeneSS
the Climate is lntOxiCatingiy
S6IabriOuS
BY GEORGE n. BURTON,
In los Angeles Times.

BY GEOkNE n. 81 hlONs
In los Angeles Times.
lis very far from a scmi-Inillenium since
-c little open boats under the nag OF Spain
4 touched the waters of the western heD't-
re and revealed the new world TO the
Of Europeans. 1t is only a little over
ury since the United States of America
|ng, so 10 speak, like Pallas Athene from
brain OF Jove, completely armed al
| bn to the family CT nations. 1t rs but
= .ver half a century since California be-
o n part OF these United States Of America,
less than a generation since the settle
] { of the Great Southwest began.
all the I25 years since the Republic was
hdcd, also i'm the half century since Cali
! in became one of the States of the Union.
during every year of the last thirty, a re-
I,;ion of the vast riches OF the American
Iinent, of the territory OF the United |
rs and ofthis Great Southwest has been |
he and more astonishing to the minds Of
One would suppose that by today we |
W pretty thoroughly what the undevelop- |
|esources of the Great Southwest might |
Ionably I've expected TO become. We have
reached the depths OF this great ocean OF
lth with our plummet line yet.
= residence OF forty years on the Coast
writer thought he knew little about
1t there is on the Coast, and as most of
&c wears have been spent in and around
Angeles. he naturally had little con-
that he was pretty well acquainted with
Great Southwest Last week trip TO the
|brado River bottoms. below Wanna made
feel rs a tenderroot who had come in on
last train. New to him. this wonderful
ION aud its possibilities are pretty we'll
gn 10 a great MANY readers 81 The Times
lac stories published, IT not 10y The demon
ton of their own eyes.
NINA lies on the map just twelve miles
n " he1r the government is putting in the
hi Iaguna dam, at the confluence OF the
u and Colorado Rivers. 1t is twelve miles
ID Yuma down the river to the Mexican
<ndry line on the Arizona side of the river
Dne point, just below Yuma. the intema-
Ial boundry line runs up along the river
ch there takes a westerly trend and from
ma to Mexico is only few miles.
ONCE y MIGHTY STREAM.
ICES ago when the mountain ranges of
IONA and California lowered toward the
Is. at least twice as high as they do now,
Is were very freduent and Came down in
Ecntial volumes all along these mountain
es. The Colorado River in these past ages
a mighty stream, sweeping down debris
Ions every second OF its flow. The Coiora-
sink was at that time great inland sea,
ch spread over the country on both sides
.here the river now runs. AS the erosion
binds and storms, landslides and glaciers
e down the mountain ridges year by year,
great river carried down a vast amount
lit, erosion from the rocks full of phos-
ties, lines and dIsintergrated GRANTEES, as
as the vegetation along Its banks; and
was all deposited in what are now the
Ks of the Colorado.
IS The mountain tops were worn down, the
hs became less frequent and less in volume
the erosion OF rocks and river banks, the
5 and vegetable mould tom from the
ks still came down and settled into the
tom Of the great inland lake. This gcogics.l
cess went on from age TO aye TO our time,
Ting the Colorado at Yuma a stream ab"ut
a mile wide and being at the present
about twenty feet deep il the deepest
ton.
is not necessary to remind Californians
1 the Spanish missionaries and explorers
ed this river the Colorado because Of the
dish color of its waters. IL is the Colorado
m the Grand Canyon in Arizona and
En past The Needles. Bat at this time of
year, after passing the mouth Of the ella,
lead of the red river it becomes the brown
er. 1t actually looks today as if ten per
of its flow was silt and only ninety per
{ water.
RICHES OF SOIL WONDERFUL
Mt the object of this story is to cali atten-
once more, and for perhaps the thou
9TH time, to the riches of the soil along
Colorado on both sides, incident to the
bositidg Of this mass of debris during all
past ages. Going through the country
the Arizona side Of the river, for several
es below Yuma, one encounters the same
c of country and soil that is found in the
perial Valley country around Brawicy
exico and other points west of the river
fertility of the black prairie soils of Hi
: has astonished people engaged in agri
ture for nearly one hundred years. The
ility of the valleys CT the Nile has been {
tier of history for at least 5000 years. Thos'
o are famiIinr with Illinois prairie soil
those vs. no know what the valley of The
Q is for agriculture. know that this lowe,
orado River region suTpasses both OF them
YOU ask a farmer along this stretch o
Lntry if the soil is six feet, his eyes vii
Ia with establishment al your Ignorance
will tell you no one knows whether it j
Get. Go or 6.Ge1 feet deep. II is practicall.
hout bottom. 1t is SO thoroughly wei
xcd with sand, disintegrated granite an'
er rocks that it never breaks. 1t is a
ity worked xs "A heap OF ashes, and IL
ness to cultivation in way that is MAJ
ots.
CUT SEVEN CROPS WEAKLY.
rizesaa has established an cxperimen
ton in the heart Of this big valley, whic
onae tweuty-four miles long, and in spot
10 twelve miles wide, down on the lowe
cI. The results are wonderful. Last wee
Y were cutting a crop of alfalfa on this eA
irssBtal farm and for seven coafSscutiv
lttl, lalfsf Will NAl NlLhItbll-- AtbtiH- , II
< months when tho crop IS not cut here Al
,cmber and January
otton and tobacco grow with the -rcgte'
uriancc ANA this ricl, alluyial soil viii L
ed in q very few years ~ the ideal S7,et
whole country for clarifying, hog raising
production OF poultry and vegetables whic
hesitates to call early or late, as they wi
perennial New potatoes VIII he produce
he middle OF January, tomatoes viii
biz the first of March. ripe grapes will
hercd in the early DAYS of May, ana app
by the middle OF the same month. Chi
Is and turkeys flourish there in the wiEt'
hc beyond all experience anywhere else
he rainfall Is exceedingly light and com'
three or four times in whole winte
tn an abundance of green alfalfa and vere
the dry and not overheated china
evai1ing in the winter months chickens a