Imperial Valley press., 1920-04-24
GOODYEAR HEAD
BOOSTS STORAGE

4 At the recent Los Angeles conven-
| tion of the League of the Southwest.
an organization for the DEVELOPMENT
of the great southwestern part of the
United States, particularly the recla-
nation of the deserts of the Colorado
Basin, F. A. Seiberling, president of
the Goodyear Tire G. Rubber Co., of
| California, was one of the chief
speakers, dwelling chiefly on the i'm
portance of the trade and commerce
of the Southwest. The Goodyear
president enthusiastically endorsed
the Leagues project of building a
system of large storage reservoirs
/ throughout the Colorado river basin
to store up the flood waters of the
Colorado and it's tributaries, to meet
the water demands of great irriga-
tion plan, which has for it's object
the reclamation of millions of acres
of land.
AS striking example of the posi-
,bilities of Transforming this vast arid
region now producing no other crops
than greasewood, creosote bush,
mesquite, cactus etc, to a great pro-
ducing area capable of furnishing
millions of dollars worth of food
products an dalmost unlimited horse
power, Mr.. Seiberling called atten-
| tion to the wonderful development of
the Salt River Valley in Arizona,
where the extensive cotton planta-
! tions of his company are located. -.
"The wonderful development of
the Salt River Valley, he said, "since
the building of the Roosevelt Dam, is
| indicative of what can be done on a
much greater scale with the Colorado
river country. The Roosevelt dam
was finished by the United States
$12,0O0,000.
"Before this great project was
built the people of that valley were
struggling along on the products of
few thousand unwilling acres. The
application of this great system of
irrigation to the valley produced i'm
mediate results. Today the valley
has 100000 acres under irrigation,
cultivated by more than 5000 indi-
vidual farmers, who last year raised
crops valued lnseXcess of $45, ,00O, 900,
of which about one half was cotton.
At present values the 100000 acres
of the Salt River Valley are worth
approximately $125,000, more than
ten times the cost of the Roosevelt
Dam which made their reclamation
possible.
"In 1916 Goodyea racquired ap-
proxlmately 10000 acre sof desert
land outside Of this project on which
we have since developed our own ir-
rigation system. w e., financed
growers, erected gins, established oil
mills and purchased the cotton crop
from the growers. From a production
of 24O bales in 1912 the growing of
cotton has advanced to a production
of 10000 bales IN 1919, with an out
look for 100000 bales for 1920.
-"The possibilities Of the entire
Colorado river basin are, Of course,
many times greater than those of the
Salt River Valley. It is estimated
that the project now. being consider
ed will cost approximately $100,0O0,-
600. But have been assured by en-
inent engineers, that the scheme is
entirely feasible, No matter what it
costs, the returns will yield millions
of profit to the great Southwest and
to the nation. And beyond the esti-
mate Of monetary value will be the
social and political welfare of
thousands of orwkers who will estab-
lish themselves in the sections that
irrigation will open up. .,.s
"ln all my life l have had before
me no creative work that so appealed
to my Imagination as this wonderful
reclamation of land and control of
the Colorado. The cost is prodigious
and the energy an dco-operative
spirit required are great, but the
results to be achieved are greater
than all-greater than can be put in
words today. And it can be DONE"