Holbrook argus., 1911-12-19
THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN
A Region of Vast Economic and Inter
 national Importance

There is no more interesting river in the world than the Colorado. Industri- ally, sCeniCa1ly, and geoiogiCa1ly it presents more divers conditions than any ott CT stream in the United States. From the crest of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming it sweeps a cross the intervening country, traver- sing parts of Utah, New Mexico, Ari- zona and Nevada. to the head of the Gulf of California, the area drained being about 3oO,OOO square miles. In the | Rocky Mountain region it flows through a country covered by eternal snows and waters some of the most fertile and va luable agricultural lands in the world in western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, and eastern Utah. It traverses the famous Grand Canyon of the Colo rado in the northern part of Arizona and finally passes over the broad, flat l plains above the head of the Gulf of 1 California. In this lowermost portion the river strongly resembles the Nile, having annual floods which distribute 1 silt over the adjoining lands and render them as fertile as those in the historic valley of North Africa. The Colorado and it5 tributaries have other values than that of irrigation, for, descending in steep channels, they present abun- dant opportunities for the development of water power. Power has been de- veioped at a few points, but the re- this respect yet practically untouched. C1n q basin so literally provided with natural resources it is a fundamental necessity, in planning for the utilization of the river, to ascertain the amount of water available in the main stream and its principal tributaries, so that the future developments, as well as those now under construction, can be suitably designed in type and capacity. For long period of years the United States Geolog ica1 Survey has been ma king observations and measurements at many important points in the Colorado ! OdSID, slllO llIO 1dlCSl nation on the subject is contained in Water-Supply Paper 269 of the Survey, which is 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 rado; Green River and tributaries in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming; the San Juan basin in northwestern New Mexico; the Little Colorado River basin in Colorado; the Gi1a River basin in 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 information al significance 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 and its diversion into the Salton Sea are matters of recent history, and the coll tequences of a diversion of this kind, which promised 10 inundate some of the most fertile country ln southern Cali fornia, have been discussed in the public press.
 The control of the Colorado for the prevention of further out breaks must involve thorough knowledge of the tri- butary flow, even in the high regions of it's headwaters, in Colorado, and the ul- innate steps taken to prevent disastrous inundation will Ill all probability in volve the control of these upland tri- butaries
 The size of Colorado River is indi- cated by it's total discharge in the year 1909. which was 26,OO0,0OO acre-f feet. or enough water to cover that mum Der of acres toa depth of foot. Such an amount of water, if poured upon Man hatten Borough of the city of New York and confined by retaining walls. would bury the city 1857 feet deep, or it would make a lake 66 feet deep ovLe the State of Delaware.