The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-12-14
RIVER. TANNING
is TOLD ABOUT

HDOo
came Immediately and most practical
ly to my attention on a trip made in
the late spring to the lower valley
OF the Colorado river. On the Arizo-
ma side OF this river the government
Is retaining thed esert. That low
land Will grow almost anything, from
ddtes TO alfalfa. Its most helpful
friend, and Its unrelnting enemy, too,
Is the river itself. for without the
river II would return to cactus and
sage. Yet the river Is so Jealous OF
IT'S freedom that 1t yearly attempts
with violence. and by insidious meth
DDS as well. TO reclaim for itself each
FOOT OF the land taken from 1t.
On the opposite side of the river,
the California side. the river Is held
in by mountains until II has reached
the Mexican line. There. by capric-
Gus turn. 1t deserts its d-occustom-
ed channel and flows westward into
what was once lake. but is now lit
tie more than a morass, and SO slowly
finds Its way to the Gulf OF Califor-
MIA. Immediately northward OF this
westward ben In the river is the I'M
pcrial valley, which has lately been
used by several novelists to illustrate
the heroic struggle of man with ma
ture. For this valley was once a
sea itself. and has indeed left a sort
oil rudtmentary sea in lake known
as the Salton sea. The fruitful soil
of this valley. hundreds of feet deep.
is the silt Of the Colorado. the de-
posted wash IA thousand miles OF
mountain channel. Each June. when
the SHOWS Of the Rockies melt, the
Colorado river, resentlng the limita-
'ions which man has set up for It,.
presses with two strong shoulders
against both sides Of its prescribed
banks. like Porthos under the slow
caNing OF the earth. And as long as
that flood comes. the people on both
sides must watch the work as the
Hollanders hove done.
! Two District Schools.
| There are two district and agrees
siNe schools OF thought on this mat
ter of keeping the Colorado river in
its place. One is for sending the
river willy-nilly down the old chan
mel. The other is for letting the river
live its own life, but keeping II off the
preserves. One may be termed the
absolutist therory and the other the
democratic theory. Congress has thus
far committed itself to the latter.
And this year. when danger threat ten
ed, Congress joined in raising fund
to keep the river from forcing its
way north into the Imperial valley,
and this work was successfully exc
cuted under this department by the
former chief OF engineers of the
United States army. General w. l..
Marshall. No one. however, believes
that the work Is at an end or that we
have done more than put a good
patch upon 1t.
Now. far above this point of dam
ger there are thousands of square
miles OF land that need but the water
of the Colorado river to make them
as fruitful as the land of the San
Joaquin or the Salt River valley. We
need to catch that water when II is
young. soon after 1t has been born
from the SHOWS. There. in mountain
valleys. 1t should be kept for time
and. as needed. led into the peaceful
paths OF usefulness. And on that
problem the Reclamation Service is
working. The difficulty is to find
large reservoir areas.
This instance is cited to show how
intimately the matter OF flood control
and OF reclamation are bound to.
gether. The problem extends from
sea to sea. When we come eastward
to tho Missouri and the Mississippi
rivers for example. we find that in
their pper reaches the lands need the
waters. while in their lower reaches
the lands must be saved from the
waters.
No one can take the yearly toll OF
lives lost and property destroyed by
the furious and unrestrained swee,
OF the rivers without realizing that
the people of this country cannot re-
gard themselves as owning this land
really possessing 1t. until they have
brought these waters under subjec.
ton. And in doing this they will lit.
orally create new land by the millions
OF acres. lands that will support mil.
lions Of people as against the thous.
ands which live upon 1t today. And
in saying this am not speaking with.
out authority. for year ago we en-.
ioyed the value of visit from tn,
renown builder OF the Assuan dam
Sir William Willcocks. who has spent
his life in India, Mesopotamia ant
Egypt as a river tanner. And after ht
had seen our problems he sighed with
regret that 1t might not be his for
tune to see the day that he said woult
surely come, when the valley OF tn,
Mississippi would be another vale,
of the Nile, only greater in area aut
more perfectly adapted to the whit,
mans life.
Why the Wnoe Burden Today.
How these great works can be car
rled on calls for constructive thought
not merely on the engineering sid,
but more Immediately upo nthe finan.
cial side as to those ways andsmean,
by which the lands reclaimed shall
be made 10 bear in some degree the