Norwich bulletin., 1920-03-26
s@f s1 DESCRIBES HIS TRIP
 TO IMPERIAL VALLEY

Dr. orrin A. Gorton. of New York state, who frequently visits his sis ter in this city, but spends the win ter in Pasadena, has written the fol- lowing interesting letter to her de- scribing a trip to the Imperial Valley in California. He writes as follows:
 l returned last evening from the
 Imperial Valley, having. spent two nights and most of two days there. Vastness is what impresses me as much as anything.
 On either side the mountain bound aries of the valley are in the hazy distance when one sees them from the better part of it. Imagination comes from the Colorado riveri the. best of l,the valley being below sea level The water is the color of a johnny cake crust when seen in the irrigation ditches. The soil is adobe and a few shades darker in color than the water. The rocks on the mountain sides have been shaped and worn by sea- shore turmoil, and the valley has later been an inland set. The sedi- | ment of the sea made soil and the depth of the soil is great Less than 1 a generation ago the Colorado river overf1owed it's banks and poured into | the valley The Southern Pacific railroad was interested and helped to restore the river to it's proper chan nel, and it has been flowing where ii should for about twenty years. and | the lake formed by its overflow, known
 as the Salton Sea. is~-drying up. and l lowering it's surface about three feet each year. The lake is about thirty
 miles long and more. than five miles l wide and it waS-not there before the l time the river overfiowed, within civ | ilized records l The water is very salt in the, sea | and of a beautiful blue There 1.
 only few inches of rainfall in ths I valley each year and the people who
 live there would like it better if .ther.
 was no rain at all. II They have many miles of concrete road, but other roads in that soil ars Ii requiring much care.2 Most of then are built with a ridge in the middle
 wide enough to drive on and compos-
 ed of gravel if- they can get 1t. Or
 each side of this ist road-of widtf
 enough for three cars or twoss wid'
 trucks and outside of the side roat
 Is a ridge dam so that one of the sid, roads may be flooded with .irrigatio water to a depth of nearly a foot
 and this is allowed to stand and set tie and dry up and when 1t gets dr. it is hard and makes good aroa, for a month, or more, and when \ gets dusty and worn, the other sid road has then become dry and har
 after being flooded and this side, roa
 will: last until the other Is served tn same trick. ,; I When rain vets down the wi1ol
 thing the mess is awful and41 gues that ranchmen want to ship crops a just those times.
 There are some things Sand condi
 tions on earth that, are as bad a i snow drifts and ice.
 When they sow grain wild duck | and geese eat much of 1t and they ar glad to have the hunters shoot then did not see any wild fowl ther, Melons and squashes with vines < size for first blossoms. Locust tree
 in bloom. Tomator plants about
 foot and half high. The season.
 about six weeks ahead of. Pasadena We ventured by way of Coachell
 Palm Springs and Cotton. This le through Banning l, and, Beaumon Westmoreland from Brawley. Son
 Of the way there was new concfet
 road made or in the making. The, was probably sixty miles. of no roa just ruts through the desert, an
 rough and ridged high so that Il pan often hit. In the vicinity of II dio the date industry has great prom
 ise and their product excells. s,
 Livestock in the valley are sleek ar fine. s.5-7 ss.
 The best kinds Of farm. inplsnen Cotton is extensively produce, Fi Wheat is nearly readgs s4- .i--s.~ .-