Evening star., 1941-03-08
Nv RANDOLPH LEIGH


breaking work and vistas of unusual
beauty along with scenes of devasta-
ton.
Thanks to the Boulder Dam, the
Colorado has practically ended as
one of the worlds great outlets of
fresh water But the death of the
freSh-Water river has served to in
crease the majestic striking power
of the tidal river that remains, a
river perpetuating the ancient
grudge of the Gulf of California
over the vast area cut off from it
to the north by the silt deposits of
the fresh-Water stream, or the Colo
rado proper.
River Is Gigantic Turmoil.
OF the river as now constituted, it
is difficult to speak with accuracy
as to its width or depth, or mouth
or boundaries. 1t is now one gigan-
tic turmoil, a kind of cracker at the
end of the long whip which the
Gulf of California swings over a
space of 700 miles. Technically, I
believe, the mouth of the river is
between Sargents Point on the Baja
California side and Shoal Point on
the Sonora side, 27 miles apart.
Having been for weeks in the upper
200 miles of the gulf between
Tiburon Island and the accepted
mouth of the Colorado, would be
inclined to say that the mouth of
the river is at least so miles south
of the point now so designated. That
is to say, the force and fury of the
stream is unmiStakable at that dis
tance and even that far away 1t
colors the water, tears at or builds
up shores and endangers men and
ships-if any venture there, as rarely
happens.
We dropped anchor off the &C
cepted mouth of the river under a
full moon. The wind was from the
south helping the moon to further
pile up the waters. We were in
81 fathoms, and only an occasional
patch of land was visible. A few
hours later we we're looking up at
high mud banks and the lead
showed less than fathoms. In
fact, the level had fallen Sc feet 9
inches!
Anchors Strength Tested.
AS we watched the waters rush
away and felt the vessel respond to
their violence, we began to wonder
as to the staying power of our
anchors, and as to whether or not
we had erred in allowing what
seemed to be an immense margin of
safety for the tidal variation. Then
came a pause. circular movement
of the waters, and after a very
short interval the current began
going upstream.
At that moment three of us
stepped into the 17-foot skiff which
we had made for this purpose and,
trusting to a tiny compass and our
plan of hanging always to the right
bank lest we go out to sea, showed
off 1t was shortly before midnight,
and far from ideal time to begin
q journey into totally strange ter
ritory, but we had no choice, since
ne had to go with the tide or not
at all.
Our skiff, Forty Knots" so
named for the number Of knots in
II boards of which she was built,
could not be called a fast boat. We
had an outboard motor of only
horsepower. Nevertheless, we covered
the % miles to La BOmba, one of
the few fixed spots in that region,
in 2 hours 6 minutes, which will
give some idea of the rush of the
tide. We missed the actual crash
Of the tidal bore, which rises like
a breaker across the stream and
carries tremendous striking power.
The bore does not form at the wider
part of the mouth but slightly up
stream, and we, fortunately, fol-
lowed it, instead of having it follow
us.
Breakfast Is Lost.
Just above La Bomba the river.
that is the old river, had sprawIed
across its delta in four uncertain
channels. Rushing up one of these
with the food tide, we were soon
hopelessly lost, and the moon was
going behind a cloud. After crash
ing around amid unrOoted trees and
other debris for some time, we gave
1t up, anchored, and took a short
nap. At the first hint of dawn we
went ashore in the mud, and started
breakfast over a fire.
In
landing and the lighting of the
fire, the river had receded so rap
idly that our boat was 10 feet from
the water in soft mud. With great
difficulty we skidded it to water,
nearly begging ourselves, and. leav-
ing breakfast and its equipment,
hurried Forty Knots" to deep water.
Once in deep water, however, we
found we could not progress, but
were going down stream. 1t took
a hard fight, with oars and the mo-
tor, to get to bank where we could
hold our own and still avoid being
stranded. Finally, polling, showing
and towing all at the same time, we
made some slight progress up
stream, for we were afraid that even
though the next tide would carry
us along, it would not go far enough
before turning against us again.
River Causes Wide Havoc.
Fortunately, with the daylight we
had found the main channel of the
river, and when the opportunity
came, we were able to use the tide
effectively. In the daylight we saw
the wide havoc which the river is
making as its tidal bore cuts north
ward against the lessening opposi-
ton of the silt-bearing fresh water
current.
DR.. Godfrey Sykes of the Car
negie Institutions desert laboratory
in Arizona estimates that more
than 1000 square miles of the
lower delta of the Colorado have
been turned from tree-covered and
graSs-ca1peted lowland to parched
desert since the Boulder Dam went
into operation.
We were looking at that desola-
ton for mile after mile. To the
north, across the border, the great
river WAS bringing into fertility tens