Imperial Valley press., 1930-03-31
DISTRICT BOARD
INSPECTS ROUTE
OF CANAL SURVEY
Dowd Says Ultimate Cost
Will Be Less Than An
ticipated

DellHl location OF lne All-Am
erican Canal route is virtually com
plete by the United States Reclaim
alton Service engineers, who will
turn their attention within the next
few weeks to computing the esti'
mates of actual costs of construc-
ton.
Accompanied by three reclama
ton service field representatives,
who are handling the present sur
vey, directors and officers of the
Imperial Irrigation District and of
the CoachellO Valley District, made
a complete inspection tour of the
canal route yesterday from the Sand
Hills north along the eastern edge
of the valley into Coachella Val
ley.
The party made the trip in three
station wagons and light car,
leaving the road at Peg Legs serv-
ice station on the state highway at
the Sand Hills.
Breaking their own trail across
the uneven desert floor, plowing
through sand dunes that appeared
to be impossible, climbing rock-cov-
cred lodges at the edge of the Cho-
colate mountains, bouncing up and
down over deep-rutted washes, the
party pursued the seemingly unend-
ing line of location stakes that
mark the final route laid down by
i the reclamation engineers.
During that journey, which lasted
from sun-up unit. pitch dark, the
members of the party discussed the
picture of the 100000 acre develop
ment that is to be the fruit Of this
All-American Canal. They dug into
the sands of the desert at frequent
intervals to study the soil textures
and to visualize the type of agricul-
ture that is to follow the flow of
Colorado River water through the
canal.
There was an added significance
to the conjectures and plannings of
the party members in the fact that
at least four of the irrigationdistrict
directors had been participants in
similar reclamation of the desert
back in the early years of the TWEEN
tieth century, when the Colorado
desert was first responding to the
application of irrigation through the
then scattering and short canals
that were dug.
Route Outlined
The AllAmerican Canal, accord
ing to NJ. j. Dowd, chief engineer
for the district, who was mem
Der of the party yesterday, will
come through the Sand Hills at an
elevation something like 100 feet
above sea level. 1t will be dropped
west of the hills IA feet and at the
junction where the north extension
will strike out for Coachella Valley,
has an approximate elevation of 140
feet. Carrying 1000 second feet at
the outset, the line will drop at an
average of six inches to the mile As
it proceeds through the fertile East
Side Mesa region. Laterals will de-
plete the flow of the main canal as
its nears Coachella Valley so that
there will be approximately 1000
second feet capacity in the canal as
it leaves Imperial county to serve
the COachella area.
At one point in the route the can
al swings away a short distance
from the western edge of the Sand
Hills around natural depression in
the desert floor, which reclamation
service engineers say will make a
wonderful inland lake, having a
length of about two miles.
AT the lower end of the valley the
canal route swings back close to the
Chocolate mountains and is carried
along their lower slopes above the
desert floor.
Engineers pointed out yesterday
that there will be power drops along
the main canal that aggregate 17O
feet including the Pilot Knob drop
of 80 feet. The five other proposed
power sites have varying drops
ranging from 80 to IA feet.
Regarding the estimated cost of
the canal project, engineers appear
to be agreed that it will be consid
erably under the estimate given by
the so-called All-American Canal
board II years ago, for the reason
that mahy improved methods of
construction have been adopted.
While Dowd would not indicate
what the cost estimates may aggre-
gate in the new compilation, he was
certain that there would be an inn
portant reduction.