Arizona republican., 1922-01-17
TELLS Of ARIZONA
AND PROBLEMS OF
COLORADO RIVER

UULUnHUU lIILH
W. s. NorYiel. state water commits
sioner. will leave Friday for Wash
ington d. c., to attend the meeting
of the Colorado river commission.
The meeting will be presided over by
Herbert Hoover. the governments
representative. and will be attended
by members of the commission from
the seven basin states, Arizona, Cali
fornia. Colorado, Nevada, New Mex
leo, Wyoming and Utah.
Mr.. NorveiI has written series of
articles for The Republican on the
Colorado river problems, the initial
Of which follows:
"The Colorado river flows through
Arizona approximately 240 miles. all
the way through R deep gorge or
canyon, from practically no point OF
which will it be economically pos
sible to divert the water for irriga-
tion. Within that distance, however.
there is q drop in the river Of ap-
proximately $500 feet and many good
damsites where it's waters could be
utilized for the production of electric
power. The river, as il comes down
to us now, carries approximately
the boundary line between Arizona
and Nevada for l20 miles and be-
tween Arizona and California for
200 miles. 1t energies from the deep
canyon at Eldorado Canyon between
Arizona and Nevada and flows
thence to the Gulf through a broad
river bed for the most part. There
are places where the banks are flat
for several miles back from the
thread of the stream.
This land. comprising some ESQ.,
600 acres af what might be called the
river bottom lands of very rich, fer
tile soil. The river is so erratic. the
extremes of high and low water so
great, that il has been impracticable
TO cultivate much of this land in the
past. Not until the Laguna dam was
constructed above Yuma was farm
ing made successful to any great eX-
tent on the low lands along the river,
the annual floods being destructive
OF diversion works and crops. In
1900 there was but very little farm
ing along the lower part of the river
BY 1902 there was approximately
$4,000 acres in Arizona and Califor-
MIA being cultivated and irrigated.
Then came the construction of the
Laguna dam and the Yuma valley
was put into cultivation in our state.
In the meantime the Imperial valley
in California was being rapidly re-
claimed. Reclamation of the lands
in Mexico had also received an i'm
petus and large acreages were being
reclaimed.
''The great deposits OF silt IN the
river. causing the bed of the stream
to be raised from q few inches to as
much as one foot a year, has made
it necessary to build up the banks
OF the stream to hold it from flooding
the cultivated areas. Several miles
of these dikes or bank have been
built on each side of the river below
Yuma and must be raised higher and
higher each year and the danger from
floods is becoming greater each year.
The irrigated acreage from the lower
river has now reached about 100000
acres on the American side and 200.-
600 on the Mexican side of the line.
ITO receive from the river the BEN
efits the state should receive in the
utilization of the water for irriga-
tion, the floods OF the river must be
controlled and stored for the dry sea-
son of the year when the water is
short, for there Is even now a short
age OF water in the dry season with
the comparative small acreage now
cultivated and there would be very
great shortage when the river is low
if all the land were cultivated and ir-
rigated that could be reclaimed with
the river in it's present condition,
and yet there would be an abun-
dance of water If the river was con-
trolled and regulated. Arizona may
be able to increase her cultivated
acreage by half a million acres by
pumping to higher lands than can
be reached by gravity water, Per-
haps the greatest benefit Arizona
may derive from her interest in the
Colorado will be resultant from the
production Of electric power.
THE cost of the full development
In this respect will run into the hun
dreds of millions of dollars. accord
ingly increasing our taxable wealth
in this alone and the development
Of industry Of every kind in the use
of the power in the state would un-
doubtedly create other hundreds of
millions Of wealth in the state. So
the work before us In solving the
problems of the Colorado river in
Arizona involves a great deal Of ac-
tive energy expended in the right
direction. diplomacy and business
Judgment, for capital must be in
duced to come in from the outside
The work must be done under proper
but not oppressive regulations. Ari-
zona's interests in the whole matter
must be kept in mind constantly. It
Is admitted by all that the govern
ment of the United States should
construct large storage dam some
where near the foot of the gorge in
G no raf =
to control and regulate the flow Of
the river for the greater use Of the
water for the reclamation Of arid
lands; that a power plant should
also be constructed in connection
and the greatest use Of the water in
that respect be made.
But eventually there viii be q
very heavy draft for irrigation water
from such a dam during the summer
months in excess of that required for
perhaps nine months of the year and
in excess of the average flow Of the
river, requiring a considerable stor-
ing up of water to be released during
that part of the season. thus turn
ing out OF the reservoir several thou
sand cubic feet of water per second
during the summer months that
could not be used for the production
u power. ulleSS Il market COulu ne
found for the excess of electric power
during that period. Private capital,
therefore. could not afford such
draft or apparent waste without
very liberal agreement. The minds
Of men are Kaleidoscope, but few
taking the same viewpoint at the
same time and we are all prone to
criticise. Just criticism IS always
helpful but should be Thoughtful and
be given for the purpose of helping
rather than 10 hinder. 1t is easier
to destroy than to construct so let us
all get together and boost along the
big work
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