156 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



April, 



SCENE IN THE VALLEY OF THE LOWER COLORADO RIVER. 



zona side, i ^2 miles above Parker, and 

 favorable for a diversion, there is a 

 tunnel located so as to divert irrigation 

 water for the agency, as noted above. 

 On the right bank, at this diversion 

 point, the land is low for a quarter of a 

 mile, the distance not being definitely de- 

 termined. A wooden framework weir, 

 such as is used on Kern River, Cali- 

 fornia, lifting the low water 10 to 15 

 feet, would command a good tunnel- 

 diversion site, and such a canal would 

 cover the entire flat between Parker and 

 Ehrenberg. 



Twentj^-seven miles below Riverside 

 Mountain, on the right bank, there is a 

 point of black rocks where the valley, 

 on the Arizona side, is four miles wide. 

 Below the sides of the valley recede on 

 the California side, offering a good site 

 for a diversion headworks, though the 

 bottoms on the left bank are low and 

 wide. Below, on the Arizona side, the 

 valley continues 12 miles wide to a place 

 where the low gravel mesa-like hills ap- 

 proach to the river above Ehrenberg. 

 This valley, between Parker and Ehren- 

 berg, is 45 miles long and 6 miles wide 

 in Arizona, containing 270 square miles, 

 or 170,000 acres, all of which could be 

 put under an irrigation canal, diverting 

 water from above Parker, as noted above. 



There is enough more bottom land in 

 California in the reservation to bring 

 the total area of bottom land to 200,000 

 acres. The valle}' on the California 

 side, beginning at the point of black 

 rocks 12 miles north of Ehrenberg^ 

 quickly attains a width of five miles, 

 and at Ehrenberg is from 10 to 12 miles 

 broad. The Blythe estate has obtained 

 title to 42,000 acres of the north end of 

 this California valle\', and is using it 

 for a stock ranch. Surveys are now be- 

 ing made for the reclamation of some 

 of this land. 



This great valley, called b}' Lieu- 

 tenant Ives the ' ' Great Colorado Val- 

 ley," is undeveloped and is little used, 

 even for stock-raising. Ehrenberg, con- 

 taining half a dozen adobe houses, is 

 the only settlement between the Needles 

 and Picacho, a distance of 241 miles by 

 river. Six miles south of Ehrenberg, 

 where a gravel hill 200 feet high pro- 

 jects into the left bank of the river, ob- 

 serv^ations were made and a number of 

 photographs taken. 



The valley on the California side is 

 10 miles wide and extends from the 

 point of black rocks 12 miles above 

 Ehrenberg to the south as far as the 

 big bend of the river near Picacho, 

 California. On the Arizona side, below^ 



