Imperial Valley press., 1936-06-14


the early Spaniards, erratic,
in times of flood. somnolent and
calm in times of drought. has at
last conceded defeat and hence
forth will yield to a scheduled flow
according to the dictates of en-
gineers who wrought this great
change.
Born in one of Natures major
convulsionS, when the area en-
braced in several western states
was raised from the depths to an
elevation of from 10000 to 10000
feet and then dropped back to
the present level of its head
waters, the mighty western stream,
in time, carved the great canyons
of it's upper reaches and with the
debris brought down by its silt
laden waters built a delta land
that not only changed the geogra-
ply of this section but also sup
piled an environment making pos
sible the homes and communities
of today.
It was in May, 1910, less than so
years after the discovery of Amer
lea by Columbus. that the Colorado
had it's first contact with modern
civilization. On that early date,
even before the original colonists on
the eastern coast were firmly es-
tablished in their new world homes,
an intrepid party of Spanish ad-
venturers, led by fernando de Alar-
con, pushed its way up the mouth
of the unknown stream from the
Gulf of California. They assembled
in small boats to a point several
days journey above the mouth OF
what is now known as the Gila
river.
At the same time two land eX-
peditions, under the leadership OF
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, ap-
preached the lower Colorado river
from the east. One expedition, un-
der command of Melchior Diez,
marched up the eastern bank OF
the Colorado camping where Alar-
con and his marine expedition had
previously camped on the present
site of the city of Yuma.
Reaches Bleak Desert
After crossing the Gila, Diez, con-
tinued up the river several leagues,
where he crossed the Colorado and
proceeded to explore the country to
the west and south. His course took
him through the then bleak desert
which we now know as Imperial
Valley. In the meantime the ex-
pedition headed by Coronado pro
ceeded eastward across the un-
known deserts of Arizona in search
of the legendary Seven Cities of
Cibola".
Later. in 1912, the Grand Canyon
of the Colorado was discovered by
Don Lopez de CardenaS, who had
heard many fantastic reports of the
great chasm from the Pueblo In
dians with whom he had previous
lv been in contact. Much later, in
1904. Don Juan de Ornate. the
Spanish governor of New Mexico,
which at that time covered prac-
tically all the inter-mountain area
travelled down the main stream OF
the Colorado and discovered the Lit
tie Colorado to which he gave the
name Colorado. He also recorded
the fact that he had passed the
Gila river, which was then un-
named, and upon his return by the
same route made some exploration
of this stream.
Descended To Colorado
In 1768, Padre Francisco Garces
a Franciscan friar, descended the
Gila to it's confluence with the Col
orado. Later he made another trip
in company with Captain de ANA
On this trip the expedition forded
the Colorado river near its mouth
and continued on through Imper-
ial Valley to the mission of San Cab
riel in California.
In 1775-6. these same two adven-
turers brought a party to the banks
of the Colorado near the present site
of Yuma and continued on down the
river to the gulf 1t was on this
trip that plans were made for the
establishment of two missions on the
west bank of the Colorado near the
mouth of the Gila.
In 1925, James o. PATHS, trap
per, descended the Gila to the Col
orado and then followed the Col
orado north to what is now known
as Black Canyon, and the site OF
Boulder dam. From that early date
on many trapperS and explorers, in
cluding, Kit Carson, Jedediah
Smith, Captain Bonneville and
Thomas Farnham. visited the lower
reaches of the river and also GOV
cred much of the Colorado desert
including Imperial Valley.
Continued on Page 6; Col. %