Imperial Valley press., 1929-06-03
THREE BREAKS IN
LEYEES ON EAST
SIDE OF RIVER
Pressure On Districts
Levees Released By
River s Action.

Racing in full fury OF it's spring
Flood, the Colorado river broke loose
last night in a rampage that left
three gaping breaches in the levees
of the Baia California Canal com
pany, on the east bank of the stream
near the Pescadero cut. Today
several thousands acres of land in
the project which G. J. Allison is
attempting to put under cultivation
between. the east bank of the river
and the Sonora mesa, are under wat
er.
The river, which runs into a
" bottle neck' in the vicinity of
the breaks, had been constantly ris-
ing for several days and in spit; of
break more than a week ago, in
which Allison's company lost two
or three dragline dredges and two
automobiles, the registers along the
irrigation district levees on the west
bank of the river. showed that in
some places the water had reached
within two feet of the top of the
hanks.
Reports from the irrigation dis
trict headquarters at Andrade today
! show that the water has fallen off
approximately one foot since the
three breaks yesterday, showing
that the new outlets are carrying
large volume of the flow of the
river.
One of the breaks is reported to
have occurred at a point about D
miles above Pescadero dam, but or
the opposite side of the river. The
two others are a similar distance
south of the Pescadero dam, and are
also on the east side of the river.
One of the three breaks is said to
be nearly a half mile in length.
The Baja California Canal COM
pany, one of the Chandler proper
ties in Lower California, is attempt
/ ing to reclaim about 100000 acres
/ of land in the area east of the
stream and adjoining the Sonora
mesa. The levee, which was partial
I " destroyed this week, was to have
been the road bed for the Mexicali
and Gulf railway.
Irrigation district engineers have
stated for some time that the build
ing of these new levees east OF
those now maintained by the irriga
ton district add TO the strain of the
levees generally because, in periods
( of flood the water pours into the
/ delta region in Mexico and is con
fined by the high banks near the
PeScadero dam so that it rises to
/ dangerous levels before it can pass
( through the bottle neck and on to
/ the gulf.
| The fact that the levees on the
I cast broke rather than those on the
west bank will probably save the
district from having to do emergency
/ levee building this season, engineers
declared today. At mile post % of
the district levees. the river had
reached a point less than two feet
from the top of the levee. The
breaks yesterday released enough
water to reduce the elevation so
that the levees at that point are
again able to handle the flood wat
ers, district engineers say.
The exact area inundated by the
breaks yesterday has not been
learned as. yet, but it is generally
conceded that there are at least
three or four thousand acres under
water.
1t is expected that during the
present week there will be a slight
increase in the flow of the river
Today the discharge is nearly
l77.O00 second feet, not as large
as floods on the lower river go, but
sufficiently high to put strain on
the levees and require constant
patrolling.