THE POSSIBILITIES OF SALTON SEA 



13 



S. P. Track near Walton, looking West. October 19, 1905. 



The result of this surplus flow, due to the loss of control over the 

 irrigation system, has been the creation of a lake averaging about 

 forty miles in length by ten miles in width, and therefore covering an 

 area of about 400 square miles. The Southern Pacific Railroad has 

 been compelled to build many miles of new road to skirt this embryo 

 lake, and the salt works of the New Liverpool Salt Company are 

 immersed in more than twenty feet of water. This was the condition 

 at the close of the vear 1905, and the size of the lake is still increasing. 



The first attempt to control this rebellious system of irrigation was 

 made in March, 1905. It was a very frail effort, however, and the 

 construction was washed away before it was entirely finished. Four 

 other attempts followed in almost monthly succession, and each in turn 

 met the same fate as the first. Then came the sixth. It, unlike the 

 former ones, was undertaken on a larger scale and with a fuller 

 realization that the problem to be confronted was a grave one. A 

 large force of men was employed, and the attempt was prosecuted 

 with vigor. Two hundred men, twenty teams, two pile-drivers and 

 two stern-wheel river steamers were employed, and the work was carried 

 on night and day. The intention was to construct a 600-foot dam 

 across the west branch of the river, and thereby control the canal service 

 by diverting the water into the east branch — except at such times 

 and in such quantities as were necessary for irrigation. The dam was 

 made of brush woven into mats and reinforced by several rows of 

 piles. The flood of November 29, however, came before it was finished, 

 entirely covering the work with water and washing it away, and thus 

 destroying the sixth attempt. 



But the effect of this failure was only to more thoroughly convince 

 the Southern Pacific Railway Company, which had assumed charge of 

 the work in June, that the canal system must be controlled. The com- 

 pany almost immediately, or in December, 1905, awarded a contract for 

 the seventh attempt, and in January of 1906 work was again com- 

 menced. 



