REPORT ON IRRIGATION PROBLEMS IN THE SALINAS VALLEY. 



By Charles D. Marx, 



Professor of Civil Engineering in Lekuul Stanford Junior University. 



IRRIGATION PROBLEMS IN THE SALINAS VALLEY. 



Irrigation was practiced in the Salinas Vallej* Vjj' the mission fathers as early as 

 1791, and traces of an old irrigation ditch belonging to the Mission Soledad exist 

 to this day. 



This earl)^ beginning of irrigation, however, led to no development. With the 

 secularization of the missions in 1833 and their subsequent decaj', the disappearance 

 of most of the irrigation works went hand in hand. This was due in a lai'ge measure 

 to the fact that California was a grazing and not an agricultural country. The 

 discovery of gold checked for a time the natural transition from the range to the 

 grain farm, and from the latter to diversified farming. In the Salinas Valley the 

 change has certainly been a slow one, and the irrigation development hai been cor- 

 respondingly slow. This is fortunate for the inhabitants of this fertile valley, 

 because they will be able to profit by the mistakes made by the irrigators in other 

 parts of California; that is, if the recommendations made by the engineers who have 

 studied California irrigation conditions are carried out. 



The Salinas Valley lies largely in Monterey Countj', though some of the tribu- 

 taries of the Salinas River pass through portions of San Luis Obispo and San Benito 

 counties. More than 100 miles in length and from 3 to 15 miles wide, the Salinas 

 Valley slopes slightly from the Gabilan Mountains on the east and the Santa Lucia 

 Mountains on the west to the Salinas River. The river, with its tributaries, has a 

 total drainage area of 4,940 square miles, divided as follows: 



Drainage area of the Salinas River and its tributaries.^ 



Square miles. 



Salinas River direct 1, 956 



San Lorenzo River 282 



Arroyo Seco River 291 



San Antonio River 342 



Naeimiento River 394 



Estrella River 1 , 675 



Total area 4, 940 



' These areas are the actual areas tributary to the Salinas River. In part of it the run off does 

 not reach the river. 



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