Imperial Valley press., 1919-11-15

L
growers in this favored valley are very
| money-except the undertaken. Alfalfa
can be cut five or six times a year
and such cuttings. Longstaple Egyp-
! tian cotton of the finest quality yields
more than 500 pounds to the acre.
| Some one has called the Imperial
| valley. potentially the richest agricul-
tural district in the United States" and
! yet. comparatively few people know
/; er heard Of il.
| Until 1900 chow recent that isA this
! Valley had not a single civilized inhab-
itant. II was merely the desolate sunk
en- bed OF an ancient sea basin. and not
one of its desert acres had ever been
cultivated There was no water, no veg
| citation.
| Now. only nineteen years later, the
Valley has population of more than
| 10000 thriving people. There are
| churches. banks. good schools. pros
porous towns and its 100000 acres Of
! cultivated lands have produced in the
last few years more than $50.000. 900
worth OF crops. And yet the greater
part OF the land lies far below the level
| Of the sea,
A Freak Of Nature
Get out your map and look at the
Gulf OF California. Thousands of
years ago this gulf extended about 100
miles north of its present head. The
Colorado river. flowing into it below.
gradually deposited sediment and in
| time formed wide fiat bar or dam of
mud that cut the gulf in two, leaveing
the upper part a vast saltwater lake.
This lake. evapOrating under hot sun,
in the course of years left a saltincrust-
ed desert basin called the Saltin Sink
a forbidding depression about thirty
FIVE miles wide. 100 miles long. and tat
that timel almost 1000 feet deep.
For centuries the great sink remain
cd in that condition. till one day the
Colorado river went on the rampage.
changed it's course, and filled the Sal.
ton Sink with fresh water and millions
Of tons Of rich silt deposit Then the
river changed again and cut itself a
| new channel to the lower gulf. side
| tracking the sink. which soon dried up
again and became a mud-lined basin.
| Many times after. this capricious
river filled and abandoned the sink,
each time depositing millions of tons of
| sediment. And SO. in time, the bottom
Of sink became filled to a depth Of
| many hundred feet with rich soil.
\ I'D 1ike a farm like that" exclaim.
ed AIilly.
4 "Sure thing" said I. Alfalfa roots
could go down nearly an eighth OF a
mile. and find something good to eat
all the ways'
4 Then Mere Man Butted In
II Thereafter, for several centuries
N from about 1910 to 1902-the Saltor
Sink was one awful desert, ana severa
livery early travellers report crossing it
Ihot, barren wastes. In 1849 thousand
OF gold seekers crossed il in stage
coaches or on horseback, never dream
ing that beneath their feet were great
er riches than gold.
Shortly before 1902 some far-seeein.
men financed an irrigation canal. tap
| ped the waters OF the Colorado river
and renamed the Sink Imperial valley
Settlers were attracted. farms were
bought and started, a railroad was bull
and towns were laid out.
\ So the Valley was soon booming
/ Thousands Of ranchers everything is .
ranch" out here in California. from
one acre up) were getting rich on the
sale of their products. and land values
N were jumping Skyward.
n Some Of the settlers didn't exactly
like the heat but they were so busy
n making money that a mere 10 or 12O
degrees in the shade in summer at
l times didn't seem worth bothering
about. Besides, the nights were al
! ways cool.
1 T-n;tad S&ota. rx,1o tl,a, .ono,ts .a,,.
4 "On few occasion a temperature OF
| 125 degrees has been reached in the
VALLEY. but the. average yearly maxi
mum is between lis and 120 degrees.
Winters are mild and fine. the mini
! mum temperature rarely falling below
the freezing point. Sand or dust storms
are often disagreeable in spring and
early summer The rainfall is only
two or three inches Il year"
| A truthful rancher told US that it
gets SO hot at times that chickens fly
from one shady spot to another. be-
cause the soil often becomes so heat
ed that 1t would blister biddie's feet IL
she stepped on it, Also. tools on trac-
tors and mowing-machines get so hot,
~ exposed 70 the sun. that they can
not be handled. To Offset these heat
stories 1t Is claimed, with truth. that
dry temperature of 110 degrees in the
shade is no more uncomfortable than
S5 degrees i'm the humid sections of the
eastern states
King kendle, well-known and in
fluential alfalfa grower near Brawley
In the Imperial valley. informed me,
however, that as irrigation increases.
climate changes-becomes more humid
and heat more felt. 1t Is his belief
that the Valley climate is not quite 50
dry as il used to be. But he still
lives there and says there's no place
oh earth he likes SO well.
A Great Danger Barely Escaped
In 1906. like bolt from: the blue, the
Colorado river awoke from long
peaceful sleep, went on the rampage
again, and came mighty near wiping
out the whole works. Floods poured
into the prosperous, unsuspecting
Valley. many farms were inundated.
two towns were partly destroyed and
the Southern Pacific .tracks--Harri-