Arizona republican., 1922-03-16

Report of the All-American Canal
BOARD. A canal located entirely WITH
In the United states from the Colo
RADIO River at Laguna Dam into the
Imperial Valley. California" Refer
ence is made TO that report for the
details of such a plan, and its unit
estimates OF cost are accepted Tor the
purpose of this report. 1t is neces-
sary. however. to modify acreages
and other details in view OF the In
formation recently collected The
agricultural lands that il would serve
in addition TO Imperial irrigation dis
trict are given in the following table
Irrigable Doubtful Total
lands lands (Acres)
(Acres) (Acres)
East Mesa 10000 10000 10000
T tract .,... 5000 1000 1000
Coachella
West Mesa $4,000 $1,000 10000
100000 $4,000 4S2. 900
The above table includes only lands
which require the construction OF the
High Line canal to reach them. In
addition to this the Imperial irrlga-
ton district is heavily interested IN
having a high line built for the reas-
ons stated in the board report above
referred TO. The construction OF a
high line canal is provided for in
contract with the United states dated
october %, 1918. In addition TO this
the district is pledged TO connection
with the Laguna dam by contract
with the Yuma County Water Users
association in order to terminate the
dangerous practice of maintaining
diversion dam at Hanlon heading
This connection should be made at
the earliest possible date in accord
ance with the existing understandings
and contracts.
Power Development
The development OF power at the
Boulder canyon reservoir is a by
product, which does not in all re-
spects conform TO the requirements OF
irrigation but can be made to conform
thereto with some adjustments. The
extremely arid and mi-tropic char
acter OF the lands in the Lower Colo
rado basin makes it necessary TO irri-
gate throughout the year and the irri-
cation requirements therefor conform
more nearly TO the requirements for
power than do those in northern lati-
tudes.
It is estimated that the feasible ir
rigation projects in the lower basin,
which would divert water from the
main stream, comprises 10000 600
acres. OF which about so per cent is
in the United states and 40 per cent
in Mexico. The full development of
the proposed projects in the Upper
Basin will subtract substantially from
the total water supply but there viii
still be left ample water TO irrigate all
the lands OF the lower basin if il lis
conserved and regulated in A storage
reservoir of ample capacity. The
water can be used for power as drawn
from the reservoir and the amount Of
power that can be developed with diff
ferent amounts OF storage capacity
and with different assumptions Of ir-
rigated land below is shown by the
diagram in figure ?. lt shows that
with 1,505,00 acres of land in the
lower basin irrigated and with a total
storage capacity of SL400000 acre
feet OF which the lower 100000 is
reserved for silt storage and the up
per 5000. 900 is reserved for flood con-
troll. IL is possible to develop over
700, 900 firm horsepower. With the
entire 100000 acres Of irrigable land
developed in the lower basin the pos
sibilities are still 100000 firm horse
power. and besides this there is a
large amount of secondary power
which is not constant but viii be OF
considerable value
All this is on the assumption thar
the total area OF irrisable land .1 ,a-