Imperial Valley press., 1928-02-11
PART 5
The Mexican Situation

When the Federal Government g
engineers and the Department OF
the Interior in 1922 made their re
port to Congress urging a definite
construction program to control and
utilize the flood waters of the Colo
RADIO River, their first recommended
ion was that an All-American canal
be constructed to irrigate the fertile
acres of Imperial and Coachella Val
ltvs in Southern California.
1t was his action by a Depart
ment of the national government,
in fact, which first brought to
nation wide attention the peculiar
and difficult situation surrounding
some 10000 American citizens liv-
ing in California and yet depending
upon a foreign country for that all
important necessity of life11water.
AS its name implies the AllSAmeri-
can canal, as recommended by the
Government s engineers, would be
an irrigation project entirely with.
in the confines of the United States.
Its purpose would be to replace I'M
I,erial Valleys existing main canal
which extends for a distance of GO
miles through the Republic of Mex
leo.
DR.. Elwood Mead, head of the
United States Reclamation Service
recently outlined the development,
agricultural Importance and COM
plicated water problem of Imperial
Valley, as follows:
"In the Southwest corner of the
United States, below sea level, and
lO0 to 200 feet below the river
which supplies water for irrigation,
is the largest irrigation district IT.
this country. The yearly value of its
products is somewhere between $40,
100000 and $50,000,O00. On is farms
and in its cities some 10000 people
row live.
SON its farms citrus and date
palm orchards are found alongside
of barley and long-staple cotton.
1t shipped $4,000 carloads of fresh
fruits and vegetables to outside
markets last year. From that val
ley, New York gets its earliest and
best cantaloupes, and $4,000 car
loads of lettuce were shipped last
winter, mainly to eastern cities. The
forts and attractions of its farm
homes, the intense cultivation of its
fields, combine to make this valley
4 great factor in the prosperity of
the Southwest.
"Three decades ago this erea
was a desert solitude. The summer
Leaf which then beat down on its
miles of sand and cactus desolation
was so intense that travellers sought
safety and comfort by making their
journey across it by night Those
who saw it then had no inkling OF
the agricultural opulence latent i'll
its arid but fertile soil or The grave
international complications that
would come with its cultivation. -
Mexico Holds Ace
DR.. Mead then proceeds to explain
how American citizens first began
to appreciate and develop the vast
agricultural possibilities of Imper-
i"i dity OlliI dDuuJ - years dSo'
lie tells how the early ranchers, with
limited financial resources, found
it would be less costly to build
their canal system by way of Mex
leo instead of bringing the big
ditch directly westward into the
valley.
Water from the Colorado River is
diverted into this canal a short dis
tance above the international bor-
der. From its intake the canal eX-
tends southwark into Mexico and,
following natural grade along an
old river bed, swings about in a
semi-circular fashion, finally re-
crossing the boundary line and en-
plying into the irrigation laterals of
the Imperial Irrigation District.
The Mexican government, DIR.
Mead points out, permitted the
American ranchers to build their
main canal across Mexican soil only
on condition that Yam