Imperial Valley press., 1920-03-20


resort for the people of the Imperial
Valley.
And then the curtain arose on the
battle ground Of Carriso Gorge. We
were in the bacl, area, the ground al |
ready fought over in that titantic
struggle. Overturned dump ears,
abandoned narrow gauge engines, !
twisted rails, and thousands of empty
powder cans made the battle field
most realistic, while burned areas,
adobe ruins and the trench scars of
the steam shovells gave added touch
es, and 1T was not hard to liken the
gangs of laborers, working the road
! bed, unto q service battalion.
CARRISO GORGE ENTERED
With the pungent smell Of hot
brakes, we entered the upper end of
Carriso Gorge. Clihging to the side
of one mountain, driving straight
through the next, we were in the
midst of conquered nature,-and what
fight it must have been. Every
where were construction paths, roads,
. trails, magazine dugouts, and ab4nd-
oned villages of the fighters. Not a
level spot,-nature was at an angle,
except where man had compelled her
20. yield a Ioadbad to the railway.
Driving through scliI rock tun-
mel, without trnbcEed support, we
mace a sM eeplng curve I'D looked |
oack up the gorge. The sky was shut
cut by mountains of granite boulders.
1t was as If great theatre curtain
mad been dropped down,-a curtain I
painted in the widest imaginary of |
crowns and reds, while the setting sun
threw upon 1t spotlight OF lavendar
and purple. &c
WESTBOUND FLYER PASSES
We took a siding tor the tIans-con-
tinental tram trum the east, and
watched it thread it's way like
mighty glow-worm crawling along
the face of the mountains, disappear
lng and appearing again, eating its
way and leaving scar.
All! friend OF mine, if San Diego |
has men VINO have cared to dream
railway as that of Carriso Gorge,
and to make that dream an accom-
piished fact, she has no need to fear |
lor the future,-her destiny is bound |
to be great.
And what a Valley We never real
lied the real value of water until we
passed, in a few hundred yards, from
sand dunes to green alfalfa fields. On
one side of the irrigation canal were
cacti, sage brush and the sharp, un-
friendly spines of the ocotillo,-on
the other all manner of field crops
and produce growing in the healthy
abandon of soil that has waited
| long thirsty centuries.
HUMTN VALLEY DICTIONARY
Arriving at Ell Centro, we met l.
T. Sparks, Southern Pacific railway
representative, and man who can
make figures and dry statistics COM
prehendible. After an hour spent
with Mr.. Sparks it was not at all
hard to realize that we had come to
a wonderland, a land of great achieve
ment and of wonderful possibilities.
Here are few broadsides from our
notebook:
The Imperial irrigation district
comprises approximately 603,000
acres, of which 412,00O were under
cultivation during 1919, and further
acreage will be put under crop this
year.
Alfalfa. 125,OOO acres; barley, 49,
292 acres; cotton, 61,217 acres; can
taloupes. 1880 acres; milo, 67,816
acres; wheat, 37,288 acres; spinach,
1000 acres; lettuce, 10000 acres;
peas, 1000 acres; melons, ,2S0 acres;
table grapes, 1876 acres.
Cattle. 1868 head; hogs, 29,127
head; sheep, 1O7, 1856 head; poultry,
10,572 dozen; mules, 4,S43 head;
horses, II, ,903 head.
MARVELLOUS CROPS
There were shipped out of the Val
ley 1908 cars of cantaloupes; 247 cars
of table grapes; 1852 cars of water
melons; and ia cars of tomatoes.
The estimated paintings for 1920
are 10000 acres of cantaloupes, cot
ton. 100000 acres (including the
paintings below the international
boundry line).
The total imports for the district of
Southern California, which includes
the ports of Los Angeles, San Diego,
Calexico, Tia Juana, Campo, and An
drade. were $16,166,628. Of this
amount $12,491 ,551 came through the
narrow gate in the international
fence at Calexico, and was largely
represented by cotton grown below
the line.