Imperial Valley press., 1923-03-14
Ell CENTRIC IS
HON ORED BY
MR.. W. F. HOLT
Pioneer of the Valley
Speaks at Chamber
Lunch
INDUCES in Happy Re-
miniscences to Delight
of Business Men

OF Business Men
One of TIE most interesting Cham
Der of Commerce luncheons of the
year was held today at the Barbara
Worth hotel and was attended by
over~30 of the representative citi-
zens of the city who came in honor
of its distinguished guest and the
principal speaker, W. +. Holt,
known as the founder of Imper.
ial Valley and Tor whom the city
of Holtville was named.
After being introduced, by Presi-
dent c. X. Cooper, Mr.. Holt began
in reminiscent manner to relate
some of the experiences in the early
days of the valley. He stated that
one Of the things that struck him
most as to the changes that had
taken place was the evidence of so
many new faces that he did not rec
ognize but said there were still
few around that We're here in the
early days and proceeded to tell a
few stories on how they came into
the valley and how they figured in
its history.
First WAGER
The place where the first water
was obtained for the construction
camps was in a large swale near
where the town of Imperial now
stands. Water gathered in here
during the rainy season and usually
lasted throughout the year. They
hauled it from here in large tanks
drawn by fourhorse teams and emp
tied into storage tanks at the cen
trail camp. On several instances it
was necessary to fish the carcasses
of animals that had slipped in and
become drowned but the necessity
of water drove away any thought
of being finicky about it.
This water was used until the
first little temporary canal brought
water into the valley and no sight
will ever look as good to him again
as this first little stream of water
that wound its way over the desert.
The first crop grown was sorghum
and consisted of about 5000 acres
and to show how things grew he
stated that 80 days after it was
planted they had picture taken of
it and most Of it came up over their
shoulders.
Going OH he related how he was
made the first justice of peace in
the valley. A supervisor by the
name of Jasper came over from San
Diego one day and told them that
it was time they had some kind of
civil government established and
that they wanted him to be justice
Of peace. He said he had no knowl-
edge whatever of the demands of
the job he accepted and continued
in this capacity for about eight
On one occasion the deputy
sheriff phoned him and asked him
if he could arrest a man without a
warrant and after studying min
ute he told him to bring him over.
When the principals in the case
came, after delving a little into the
facts of the case he told them that
they had better shake hands and
make up. This they did and this is
the manner in which most all the |
cases were handled.
He said that the outside world |
would never know what the brave
women did in the founding of the |,
valley who came with their hus-
bands bringing their children along
with them. In many cases they /
'ame from fine homes in the east I
md were not used to any of the
iardships they met. They deserve
wen more credit than the men, for
t was they who. made life worth |
ife worth while and kept the men
It their tasks.
Today's dust storm he said made |
Tim think of old times when one
vent from place TO place by team !
md had to stop when these storms |
anne bringing danger of getting lost,
letting down to the present day he /,
thought that only two real prob
ems, confronted the valley at this
ime and everyone would do well !
o disregard any OF the other PEI
y thing. There are the control /
# the Colorado river and tax
ng care of the spread of water
ogging. These We're paramount and
should occupy first place in the
mind of every citizen who had the
Welfare and the future of the val
ey at heart.
In closing he stated that the
people should be careful in choos-
ng the men who would direct the
irrigation affairs of the valley and
ret only thise men into office who
duty above all else and
lid not have any selfish end in
REV. His remarks were received
With applause and every one eX
'ressed the opinion that they had
ad the privilege of listening to the
ne man who understood the prob
ems of the valley better than any
ne else.