Imperial Valley press., 1914-01-10
Calexico, Gateway to the Peninsula
And to the Gulf Of California,
Developing Trade and Business

is destined to become an important
port of entry, a railroad center and
the meeting place for the commerce
of two nations. And this is not the
most intangible dream to which mems
minds lend themselves.
Calexico is one of the four towns,
a score of miles from there to the
farthest, that claims the proud dis
tinction of being the center of I'M
perial valley, and the people of this
border town rest THAR claim upon the
fact that the agricultural develo pment
has jumped across the border and is
rapidly spreading out to cover that
broad delta which reaches to the head
of the Gulf of California.
Before one can get full comprehen-
sion of the town, one must get the
local viewpoint, and there is no de-
nying that the vista is to be admired.
AS affairs are viewed here, based
somewhat on conjecture and good
deal on known plans, the railroad
which now crosses the border line here
and leads out in crescent form to
Yuma will in time throw out spur to
reach the head of navigation on the
gulf, thence reaching down the west
coast of Mexico to tap the South
ern Pacific line to Guaymas. By this
process it is expected to afford short
all-rail communication between the
Mexican and the American west
coasts. This is more than dream. 1t
is the known intent of the big railroad
builders.
Then there is the further known
intent to send from this point to the
southwest a line of steel which will
cleave the peninsula of Lower Califor-
MIA and find it's further terminus at
Ensenada on the Pacific coast of the
peninsula. That there are to be fur
Their ramifications to develop the en-
tire peninsula to its southern tip is
implied.
Added to this is the connection with
the San Diego & Arizona and the
present Southern Pacific line to Los
Angeles, and it is seen that there is
reason for the dreams of CaleXico that
run grandly into the far years.
Below the Line.
No man knows where the boun-
diaries of Imperial valley lie. Before
colonization was begun all that mighty
stretch from the river to the coast
range and the Chuckawalla mountains
to the Cucupas was called the Colo
RADIO desert. In sheer desperation for
a name for the reclaimed region, a
dozen years ago, the present writer
applied to it the designation of I'M
perial valley, and the label stuck, but
the limitations were never marked by
man or by nature.
The term Imperial valley" now is
construed to be elastic enough to
stretch out and envelop the delta lands
below the international line. Surely
those lands are but a continuation of
the American lands of the valley, and
in productiveness they parallel the
acres north of the line. Onto that
land Americans have gone, and this
year have produced 5000 acres of cot
ton, while the acreage Of the COM
ing season is expected to reach from
10000 to $4,000.
That this cotton is all shipped to
Calexico to be ginned illustrates we'll
the great Importance of the cotton
industry in the border town, where
large force Of men must henceforth
be employed.
Judging by cotton alone, there is a
vast field in that section for agri-
cultural extension, but it may easily
prove to lead to other lines of agri-
cultural development, with alfalfa and
fat cattle to also seek for suprem-
racy. .,.-.
The unsettled condition of affairs
in Mexico in these revolutionary days