Imperial Valley press., 1914-02-19

1t thus appears that there are 477,-
900 acres under canals (but not all
under present cultivation), and a total
capable of irrigation of 1,355,000
acres, not including the areas close to
the line in Sonora, Mexico. These are
placed by some authorities as high as
100000 acres.
There is no doubt, therefore, that
million acres capable of producing
two or three crops year and not
now under irrigation, and therefore
entirely unproductive, in the Colorado
river basin, may be brought under
high productive cultivation by prop
er system Of reservoir conservation of
the flood waters of the Colorado.
The reason why system of great
reservoirs is necessary is that at the
lowest stage of the naural flow of the
Colorado river the present appropri-
alton and use of water for irrigation
leaves little if any margin for in
crease.
At the same time the amount of
food water in the river at it's higher
stages, if conserved in great reser-
voirs, would be more than ample to
irrigate every available acre of land
along the Colorado in the United
States, and also in that small portion
of Mexico between the international
boundary and the mouth of the river,
within which our treaty obligations
and international equity require some
consideration upon our part.
How Conditions May Be Met
Here are two great public benefits
to be accomplished, of sufficient mag
nitude to justify national considera-
tion and action:
First-The protection of the Colo =.
RADIO river basin of Arizona and Cali
fornia from destruction by seasonal
floods coming from the state of Colo
RADIO, Wyoming and Utah.
Second-The reclamation of mil
lion or more acres of land, now des-
ert, but capable by irrigation, of
remarkable productivity of early and
high value horticultural and agricul-
tural crops, capables of sustaining
population of half million people.
The addition of so large an area
to productive agriculture, whereby the
food products of the nation may be
largely increased, is proper and i'm
pressive national consideration.
One Remedy for Both Conditions
There is really only one method by
which both of these great objects can
be accomplished; that is, by conserv-
ing, controlling and regulating the
flood waters of the Colorado.
This may be done by the construc-
tion of great dams at points which
have already been chosen by the u. S. |
reclamation service, above the mouth
of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado,
within which may be impounded large
lakes of the flood waters which come
from the melting snow and heavy
rainfalls in the Rocky Mountains.
Such impounding would not confine all
the flood waters, but it would hold
back sufficient quantity to take off
the "peak load" at the period of high
est water, thus easing the pressure
upon the levees in the Lower Colo
RADIO and greatly diminishing, if not
entirely eliminating, the danger of
damage and destruction by overflow.
The second and not less important
result would be that at the annual
lowest stages of the Colorado, when
the flow is hardly sufficient to fur
nish the necessary amount of water
to lands already under irrigation sys-
TENS depending upon the river for
their supply, the water impounded in
the great artificial lakes could be re-