The Dolores star., 1921-10-07

asISI Ivy changing 10 Colorado the name
CASl OF the Grand river from its
l~TH near Rocky Mountain National park
in northern Colorado 10 its junction
with the Green river in soutEeaster Utah. The
Grand and Green rivers together make the Colo
RADIO river
The Grand is 423 miles long from its source to
lis junction with the Green Eighty miles Of this
streams length is in Utah. The Green rises just
south of Nellnws stone National park in northwest.
cru wyoming and is 100 miles long to its junction
with the Grand, The Colorado, from Utah to the
Gulf Of California is 1000 miles long.
Though the Green is nearly twice long as
the Grand. the Grand carries the greater volume
al water. Moreover, the Green % miles
through the northwestern corner of Colorado and
receives much of its volume from Colorado. 1t is.
therefore, c"atcnded by Colorado that the Grand
is the real upper Colorado and that the Green is
tributary
II is the people of Colorado who are behind the
'pint resolution for the change of name. With
ZEN it appears to be nnttcr of deep sentiment.
representative f. T. Taylor of Colorado. speaking
the Joint resolution. said:
Mr.. Speaker, for The past 30 years my home
ias been and is now in the beautiful little city
of Glenwood Springs. Colo. the banks of what
has heretofore been called the Grand river, the
principal tributary and, in fact, the main stream
of the Colorado river, and during all those years
have always hoped and believed that sometime
the state pride of the and daughters of our
beloved commonwealth would bring about the
change of the of that stream its rightful
name, the and principal part of thar
wonderful river. and permit citizens fondly
md proudly welcome the greatest river IN our
STATE our great states stream under the name
that is dearest 10 every Colofadan heart. And
with the passage Of this resolution that hope of
many years only of my own but thousands Of
other ColOradans, will be consummaed."
At its last session the Colorado legislature
passed u bill officially changing the name of the
Grand from Grand to Colorado within the stat"
boundaries 4 bill introduced in the Utah
legislature at the last session to change the name
of the Grand from Grand to Colorado within the
boundaries of Utah. The Utah legislature did not
the bill and will not meet again for two
years.
In the meantime, inasmuch as the Colorado
is interstate and international stream and is
Classed navigable, it has been decided that the
change in name should be brought about by act
Of congress rather than by action of the states.
Moreover. the Colorado bulks large in the public
"Fe just national river of tremendous
Importance. Already water power and irrigation
projects of great importance-the Imperial valley
in California for example-mark the course of
the river. Projects under discussion appar-
entity of still greater importance-the proposed
BOULDER dam across the Colorado just below the
Grand canyon. for instance. This project may be
undertaken by the federal government. 1t would
he the most spectacular work of its kind in the
world and would cost anywhere between forty and
seventy five millions.
The Colorado is mighty river beyond doubt.
Many rivers unite to form 1t. The principal
branches of the Green the Uinta. Price, Yam
pa and White; of the Grand, the Eagle, Roaring
Fork Gunnison and Dolores: of the Colorado. the
Fremont. Escalante Para, Kanab and Virgin on
the right and the San Juan. Little Colorado, Bill
Williams and ella the left. The Grand canyon
IS on the main river in Arizona and extends from
the mouth of the Little Colorado to the Grand
Wash. The Grand Canyon National park encloses
PIT miles of the river, which in places is 5000
feet below the rim of the canyon The lower
Colorado thrtAigh low desert country At
Yuma. the Mexican line. is an immense irriga-
tion project which consists of diversion dam
nearly n mile long, 400 miles of canals and 10
miles of dikes and cost about S5OOO,OOO The
water is carried to Arizona lands by thousand
foot tunnel, which passes under the river.
Below Yuma the river, when in flood mandates
large areas lying below sea level. In 1905 the
floods enlarged the 5O-foot intake of the Imperial
valley (California) irrigation canal in Mexican
territory to 1900 feet. 1t poured all its waters
through this break and its regular channel to the
Gulf of California went dry. This break was not
successfully closed until 19O6-O7. Floods again
threatened to drown out the Imperial valley and
in 19O9-1O congressional appropriation Of 81 OOO,-
900 applied to the construction of levees and
dtkes. The waters of the Colorado here run in
a huge aqueduct which the river has built up for
itself from silt. This aqueduct cut the part to
the north off from the Gulf Of California. Evapo-
ration has left only the Salton sea, which is salt
and below level.