The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1921-12-22

mud, while streams and sulphurous
gases escape in kissing jets, leaving
orange-yellow crystals around the
vents and scattering golden dust over
the slopes of the mounds. Similar vol
canic activity occurs few miles north
of the United States line. One theory
is that the tremendous pressure gen.
Grated on the underlying strata by the
| deposits thousands of feet thick which
the Colorado has laid down through
the ages has caused the heat which
shows itself in the development of the
mud vents.
The Colorado has been a destroyer
well Of strange geographic regions
and forms. But one of its most sig
nal achievements has been in the eco
homie sphere-the addition Of hun
dreds of millions of dollars of value
to the country. In this accomplish
numbered centuries must needs be
supplemented by brief, but all-impor-
tant labors of man.
Ages ago the Gulf of California
thrust a long narrow arm more than
$50 miles into the interior of North
present United States border. Into
the side of this deep gulf the Colorado
emptied near the present site of Yuma
Blindly the river carried the sands
torn from the Grand Canyon and the
upper reaches of its streams and
dropped them into the gulf. Cubic
miles were thrown into the depression
and steadily a bar was built out into
the salt water. Eventually the bar
was built above sea level entirely
across the gulf and became a mighty
| dyke, damming IL. At first a fresh
of this dyke, while the Colorado al
ternately fed it and discharged south
ward into the shortened gulf. But
eventually the river took a more or
less permanent course to the south /;
and the lake, no longer fed, and
bathed by the intense sunshine and
dry air of the southwest, evaporated
When this country was first explored
| by the Spanish pathfinders, half
century after Columbus discovered
| America. this old lake bed with its
| deepest point more than 260 feet below
sea level, was one of the hottest, dry
est, most desolate regions of the
North American continent--the Colo
RADIO desert.
Retaining Fertile Desert.
And so it continued during the ex-
ploration and settlement Of the West
by Americans. Many of the pioneers
bound for the California gold fields in
the rush OF 40 passed this way,
and found the great depression Of the
/ Colorado desert the most forbiddlng
stretch of their journey. Where any
thing grew it was typical desert vege-
tation-cacti, grease-wood. an occa-
sional desert palm. But much of 1t
was dry, powdery soil devoid Of all
vegetation. The temperature was one
Of the highest on the globe. sometimes
reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
But though the region was a desert
soil was a wonderful rich silt, washed
down by the Colorado, as potentially
productive as the soil Of the famous
delta Of the Nile. few engineers
recognized this and saw that since the
region lay below the level Of the
Colorado river It's irrigation would be
a relatively simple matter. Water
was first taken by canal to the desert
in 1901, and wherever 1t was led the
desert character disappeared. Al
falfa and other crops quickly covered
the one-time dead, scared soil with
sheet of green, while trees sprang up
beside the water courses.
The one-time Colorado desert has
disappeared TO be replaced by the
Imperial valley, one of the most re-
lnarkable agricultural regions Of the
United States. Where a score Of years
ago the Colorado desert did not pro-
duce single dollars worth OF crops,
the produce OF the transformed I'm
perial valley now represents interest
on approximately half billion dol.
lars. And the muddy Colorado can
be given, fundamentally, all the credit.
The Imperial valley might, in truth,
be termed a "by-product" of that great
scenic wonder. the Grand Canyon.
The river is doubly the valleys crea-
tor. II built up the rich soil from
the materials II gouged out in making
the canyon, and II brings throughout
the year the llfe-giving water that on
the canvas of the Southwest has
erased a desert and drawn In an agri-
cultural wonderland.