Imperial Valley press., 1909-04-03
Chamber of Commerce Sends Another Big Excursion to
 Imperial Valley,
Visitors and Valley Residents go to Yuma to Celebrate Completion of Laguna Dam and Opening of Large Tract in Imperial County to RecIa- nation.

Having resumed it's glad hand" eX- cursions, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce sent a special train, carrying about 150 passengers, into Imperial Valley this week. The train went through to Calexico on Monday night, and after looking over the bor- der town on Monday morning 1t came to Fl Centro and went over the h. ter Urban line to Holtville, returning to El Centro shortly after noon. [ The stop at El Centro was long enough to give the visitors an op- 1 portunity to see the city and the immediate neighborhood. No formal reception was given, but committees of. civic bodies met the visitors and placed vehicles at their disposal 1 The excursion party was composed of men representing the business in terests of Los Angeles. who were much interested in the development of | this section and desirous of estab- fishing closer relations between the valley and their city. Many of the excursionists had been in the valley with other visiting parties, and they noted with interest the growth of the valley towns and the rapid inn provement of the region as whole. Secretary Frank Wiggins was in charge of the expedition
 The train stopped at Imperial and the visitors were taken through the city and shown what has been done there since the last glad hand trip, and at Brawley a public reception was given to the party in the evening. At [ 10 D. III. the train left for Yuma
 All of these railway excursions in to the valley are made on schedules which do not enable visitors to see much of the work that is being done i by settlers to reclaim the desert and develope the productive possibilities of the country. The eXcursionists see | the towns superficially and meet some | of the business men, but many of them would like to visit the farms and see what is grown and how the settlers are turning a desert into the most ! fertile and productive of farming re- gions. An excursionist who is whisked 1 in and out in less than day does not see Imperial Valley.
 ! Laguna Dam is now dedicated- baptized would be more literal for with the coming of the excursionists to Potholes from all parts of Ari- zona and Southern California, came also an unexpected rise in the Colo rado River, and dam and intakes, spill ways and diversion canals had their i fill of water.
 IL is estimated that at least six thousand people gathered at Potholes on Wednesday to inspect the dam and participate in the barbecue and pub lie functions which were to dedicaCe the biggest project of the Reclama- tion Service.
 It was the intention of the Yuma people to take their visitors across the top of the dam on the railroad laid there, running cars from the Cal ifornia side to the Arizona side, bat by the time the trains arrived the flood waters were pouring over the tracks and nearly every section of the mile wide dam was submerged.
 The diversion canals were opened and ;he huge steel gates were lifted. so that the waters boiled down and created fine spectacle. Unfortun ately the flood found one section of the lower wing in the spillway on the California side unprotected, an l a soft spot back of the cement wing was eaten away until thirty feet or more of the wall tumbled into the rapid current.
 All night Tuesday every available man on the '0b ard two trains wore at work dumping rock and gravel and bags of sand into the banks where the food waters were cutting in. and this was continued while the cele- bration was in progress, the visitors obtaining a slight Insight into the problems which face those who have to contend against the swift cur rent of the Colorado at high water.
 Features) of the day were the visit of the LoA Angeles Chamber of Com