The Winslow mail., 1911-12-16
THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN
\ Region of Vast Economic and Inter.
national Iinr ortance

There is no more interesting river in
he world than the Colorado. Industri-
lily, scenically, and geologiCally it
.resents more divers conditions than
my ott er stream III the United States.
from the crest of the Rocky Mountains
n Colorado and Wyoming il sweeps a
ross the intervening country, traver-
ing parts of Utah, New Mexico, Ar
l)na and Nevada. to the head of the
ruff of California, the area drained
Being about 100000 square miles. IN the
iocky Mountain region it flows through
country covered by eternal SHOWS and
waters some of the most fertile and va
luab1e agricultural lands in the world
n western Colorado, northwestern New
Mexico, and eastern Utah. 1t traverses
the famous Grand Canyon of the Colo
ado in the northern part of Arizona
md finally passes over the broad, flat
llains above the head of the Gulf of
alifOrna. In this 1owermost portion
he river strongly resembles the Nile,
aving annual foods which distribute
'ilt over the adjoining lands and render
hem as fertile as those in the historic
ALLEY of North Africa. The Colorado
md itG tributaries have other values
han that OF irrigation, for, descending
n steep channels, they present abun-
t1t Ia ont
If water power. Power has been de-
7eioped al a few points, but the re-
sources Of the Colorado basin are in
his respect yet practically untouched
= In a basin 50 literally provided with
natural resources it is a ndament al
necessity, in planning for the utilization
IF the river to ascertain the amount of
water available in the main stream
and its principal tributaries, so that
The future developments, as we'll as
those now under construction, can be
suitably designed in type and capacity.
For long period of years the United
States Geo1og ical Survey has been rfsi-
king observations and measurements at
many important points in the Colorado
basin, and the latest published infor-
nation on the subject is contained in
Water Supply Paper 269 of the Survey
hich is a progress report of river-flow
measurements in this basin for the
year 1909. In this report are recorded
observations at 179 stations, covering
Grand River and tributaries in Colo
RADIO; Green River and tributaries in
Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming; The San
Juan basin in northwestern New
Mexico; the Little Colorado River basin
Arizona; and finally the discharge
near the mouth of the main stream at
Yuma Ariz, These records are not only
of local value for guiding economic de-
velopment, but they have an internation-
al signific cance in connection with the
difficulties that have been encountered
in the control of the Colorado near its
mouth in Mexican territory. The escape
Of the river from it's regular channel
aud its diversion into the S alton Sea are
matters of recent history, and the con-
iequeuces of d diversion of this kind,
which promised to inundate some of the
most fertile country IN southern Cali
fornia, have been discussed in the public
press.
The control of the Colorado for the
prevention of further outbreaks must
involve thorough knowledge of the tri-
butary flow, even in the high regions of
its headwaters, in Colorado, and the ul-
innate steps taken to prevent disastrous
lnundation will III all probability in
volve the control of these upland tri-
butaries
The size of Colorado River is indi-
Gated by it's total discharge in the year
1909, which was 26,OOO,00O acre,feet,
or enough water to cover that mum Der
of acres toa depth of foot. Such an
amount of water, if poured upon Nm
hatten Borough of the city of New
York and confined by retaining walls.
would bury the city 1857 feet deep, or
it would make lake 66 feet deep OWE
the State of Delaware.