Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-11-19
NEW FOREST CHIEF FACED
BY DIFFICULT PROBLEMS
Structure of Lumber Code Brings Service
Into Delicate Situation i'm Relation
to Lumber Industry.

be as fertile as the fabulous banks of
the Nile-if it only had water Water
was plentiful in the deep valley of the
Colorado, some 80 miles to the east,
and in 1900 the California Develop
ment Co. began work on the Imperial
Canal System. Since then the valley
has developed into one of the most ex-
otically productive regions of the coun-
try; it produces dates, figs, pecans,
grapes and grapefruit, as well as other
more staple crops, and it supplies
Eastern markets with early shipments
of lettuce, cantaloupes, melons, toma-
toes and peas.
Where Is the Hitch?
There Is. then, plenty of water avail
able, sun every day in the year, a long
growing season, high temperatures and
naturally rich. deep soils. What can be
the hitch? Everywhere there is the
same lament: silt" The source Is
fairly simple. In order to be useful the
waters of the Colorado must run
through the irrigation canals at rate
which is too high to allow the yellow
| flood to deposit its mud in any one
place. 1t is carried throughout the en-
tire system, therefore, and is finally
spread over the fields. Between 1912
and 1925 the average annual deposit
was 17,70o acre feet; that is, enough
mud to cover 17,700 acres one foot deem
In certain localities farmers found their
fields raised a foot in year? They
are spending an average of So on every
acre every year disposing of this un-
welcome addition to their fields. And
every year it costs the Imperial irri-
cation district about $1,000, 900 more
THESE are pretty high figures. The
total value of the Imperial croup in
1892 Appropriated 100000 900.
Farmer, local engineers and adj
illustrators all wanted the proposed
aH-American canal, found. for il
would carry the irrigation water
through Californian rather than a
Mexican ditch; but they were all equally
confident that the solution of the silt
problem really lay in impounding the
river behind a high dam. where its
suspended matter would settle to the
bottom and where the river could then
proceed without its burden of silt. "The
Boulder Dam will do this" they said.
''You must go up the valley and Welt
it." '-'
And so did go up the Colorado tn
Boulder Dam. The Site itself is mag
nificent. The huge figures thew fell
you there roll upon your ears and make
little impression; but what really meant
something to me was that the 900 WORK
men sWarming over the base of the dam
tou Ieet below me appeared like ants.
ana tnat gravel pits, cement mixers, a
network OF construction railways, over
neao aerial derr1ckS. cooling plant to
bring down the temperature of the vast
masses of concrete, newborn town
miles away-that all of these are ar
tua1y co-ordinated into one function
ing, purposeful machine.
The Bottom of the Lake.
Behind the T30-foot dam there will
De lake capable of holding 90. SOC, 600
acre-feet of water-a two-year flow of
tne river! But at the bottom of the
lake there viii annually be deposited
a certain amount of silt. The enpi-
neers estimates vary, but $4,000 acre
1eet year would seem to be the most
common. Even with this figure, which
Goes not take into account the pro-
greSslve action of erosion, the storage
capacity OF the dam would, In a number
oL years, ranging from IS to 100, be
seriously affected. And already they
are experiencing this very difficulty in
the Elephant Butte Dam, across the
lower Rio Grande.
The solution proposed by the engi- |
neers is to build another dam. That |
seemed to me rather hopeless sort of !,
attitude. We Americans have never |
sympathized with Tantalus problem |
We have always felt that to repair a |
fault again and again was wastefuI !
Wnen surely some permanent solution |
must be possible. So the engineers |
loea OF one dam on top of another. or |
one dam upstream above another, did |
not seem very sensible.
Silt Is pF0dpd Cnfl (x1I =.
SIT is soil from its high headwater |
plateauS and those of its tributaries
Before the advent of the European.
erosion wB matter of minor irnpor- |
lance: AT that time it took centuries |
TO build up foot of the Imperial VAL |
ley which today is done in a wear. for
at that time, there was an excellent |
grass and forest carpet over most of |
the drainage region which retarded |
run-oh and prevented erosion. To find |
out how this had all changed and how |
lt might be corrected I went farther |
up the river.
High Into the Headwaters.
Conditions had indeed changed. !
Cattle, sheep and unfortunate attempts |
at agricultural cultivation have exuosed |
thousands of square miles of hillside |
and valley. The fierce Spring and
summer rains fall upon defenSeless
earth. They cannot be absorbed by |,
litter or plants; and they have only one |
direction to take-doWnhill. DoWnhill |
tney run and carry with them particles
OF soil. Their course becomes faster.
they gather more earth, and these par
ticles cut into the soil with geometri- |
caiy increasing force. Streaks appear
In the bare hillsides, which become
gullles, which boone steep valleys, which |
are the beginnings of canyons
Passing along just such terrain. I |
came to Zion National Park. Though /
It's magnificent gorge there flows one Of
the rivers which Contributes tn the
problem. But the management of the I
park is interested in the preservation !,
and Identification of the terrain. which |
happens to be in its charge. It was a |
constant source Of dissatisfaction to |
have a. muddy river flowing between
the colored cliffs. They wanted a clear /
stream and one which did not become |
periodically unmanageable from sudden
floods.
In pursuit of these aims, somewhat
irrelevant to those had in mind, they |
had, however, begun a kind of work |
which will prove 1 think to be the |
Only sufficient solution for the prob
lens of erosion and silt deposit. They
went high up into the headwaters of |
this river-eight, nine thousand feet |
and there they saw the erosion begin !
ming in tiny scars and trickles. At the !
very headWaters, where the run-off he
gins, they have been working this wear
to cover the watershed with protective
cover. Already run-of has been reduced
and absorption increased 1t is conceiv-
able that the entire watershed might |
be treated in this way. With new
planting, with innumerable inexpensive
check-damS, and with reduced grazing.
the silt problem would be solved at its
source. Furthermore, the land would |
be saved for future generations and ex-
penditure for great dams and food
control works farther down the river
could be made unnecessary.
(Copyright, 1O33)