Imperial Valley press., 1924-09-06

ioN.NaS eQmNiteS%4oy secretary VI AI
QokAe of nc local chamber Of com
merce to- be used IN answering the
MANY ;Hquifics Ne 'feceives from peo,
pie In other places who desire tc
know all about Imperial Valley. ,Lo
cal people may be interested in
learning Of the many viccisitudes OF
their chosen home land.
oThe actual date Of the begin
ming Of things as far as the present
day development of Imperial Valley
is concerned, was 1898. That was
the year that Charles Robinson Rock
wood, engaged on a, survey for
John c. Beatty, a Denver promoter
of the Sonora lands on the east. side
of the Colorado river, made trip
by mule team and blackboard down
the Alamo channel into what is now
the development portion of the
desert M
Mr.. lockwood declined 40 recon
mend the Sonora scheme TO his EN-.
pfoyers but reported at the same
time that some half d million acres
Of good alluvial land could be wat.
tered by gravity by following the
channel of the Alamo river. This
report was the basis for a survey
and that was the beginning of I'm
perial Valleys history. s.fE
ITO make long story short the
hard times of 1898 put the company
into Mr.. Rockwood's debt and he
had to seize the data and field in
struments TO save anything for him.
self. With this data he commenced
a round Of visits to capitalists in the
endeayor. to. finance the great pro-
.iect he. had in mind. These visits
took him all over the United States
and across the Atlantic. Failure
followed failure. He engaged in
private work at times in order to
make a livelihood, always, however,
with the big idea in his mind. In
1898 he succeeded in interesting
various, men with money, one of
the first being DR.. w. T. Heffeman,
now. practicing sphysician of Ca
lecico. DR.. Heffernan put up the
first $4,000 which had to be paid
to Hall Hanlon for possession of the
only, rocky point, on the lower ColoA
RADIO available for diversion pur-
poses. The Chaffey family Of Los
Angeles finally decided to undertake
the construction Of the heading at
Sharps and at the. river, the only
two structures necessary at first to
bring the water to the boundary line.
Water, arrived at the boundary
line IN. 1900 and to the settlement of
Imperial in 1901.
In the meantime the fame of the
Imperial project had spread far and
vide. Men, associated with the
Imperial land company wrote glow
ing descriptions Of the future of
Imperial Valley-and let it be said
that not one of them exaggerated
according to the records that have
been, made. The first rush of pio-
neers Game in 1901 and for three
years there was a wild scramble for
big, tracts which commanded bonus
es in water stock.
The pioneers organized them
selves into mutual water companies
making their boundaries. Company
after company was formed until IL
were organized. The mutuals pur-
chased the water from the Califor-
MIA, Development company and sold
it to the stockholders. Water stock
was ,$25 per share and All acre OF
land was thrown in with each share
at the beginning.
Z Lacked Capital
1.-THE, insufficiency of capital was
an ever present menace to- the Cali
fornia Development company. The
project was SO big and the plans so
broad that development work con-
tinually called for more money.
Then the problems of the river com
menced to show themselves, Silt
closed the intake in 1906 and the
danger Of a water shortage loomed
certain. A council of leaders was
held and it was decided to make a
new cut from the canal to the river
in. order to get water. Then came
the biggest river of many years. The
June flood poured its mighty volume
into the newly made canal and wild
ened it. The controlling gate went
out and that was an event OF serl-
Gus IMPORTANCE to make men pale.
Mr.. lockwood gave directions that
he asserted were not followed. The
flood raced through the valley,
scooping two great channels in the
silt. New river and the Alamo. The
water threatened the towns and fill