1 9 o 3 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



191 



Courtesy Bureau of Soils, U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 DUNES ON THE WIND-SWEPT DESERT. 



8,000,000 acres, and it is estimated 

 that not more than 3,000,000 acres are 

 so situated as to be available for irri- 

 gation by the usual gravity method of 

 canal. The Imperial area is that part 

 of the Colorado desert lying about 60 

 miles west of Yuma, Arizona, 115 miles 

 east of San Diego, California, and lying 

 wholly within San Diego county. Ever 

 since the first surveys of the desert in 

 1854 it has been thought feasible to 

 bring the water of the Colorado to the 

 desert lands, and in 1891 actual work 

 was begun on a system to irrigate lands 

 in Mexico; but the project failed, owing 

 to the financial crisis of 1893. In 1900 

 the California Development Company 

 was incorporated in the State of New 

 Jersey, and under the system of Impe- 

 rial Canal Companies is now carrying 

 on development operations. This is 

 done by the sale of water to the irri- 



gation companies at the national bound- 

 ary line, these companies being made 

 up of land-owners who have purchased 

 stock from the California Development 

 Company. 



The heading for the main canal, where 

 the water is taken from the Colorado, is 

 7^ miles below Yuma, on the Califor- 

 nia side of the river. The water is car- 

 ried from this point to the dry bed of 

 the Salton River (renamed "Carter 1 

 by the company), a distance of 8 miles. 

 This river flowed away from the sea to 

 the Salton sink, and the natural channel 

 is used for 60 miles through a 100,000- 

 acre tract in Mexico owned by the Cali- 

 fornia Development Company. Near 

 the international line the water is di- 

 verted into a 6o-foot-bottom canal, with 

 a capacity of 25,000 inches, or 5,000 

 second feet, and this in turn is divided 

 into two parallel 3o-foot canals, one to 





