NOVEMBBK 10, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



525. 



fow for a tiane into Saltou Sea tloing some 

 damage but it Avould be turned back again 

 toward the Gulf long before it could make any 

 great headway toward filling the basin. 



The interesting fact is that flie levees which 

 j»revent the river from thus turning to the 

 north and the great undertakings in 1906 and 

 1907 of turning the river from an erratic 

 course back into its old bed, bad to be done in 

 foreign territory, and, moreovei', Avithout per- 

 mission or sanction to do the Avork bj' any 

 treaty arrangement. This will be explained by 

 going back a little. When the Colorado River 

 Land and Water Company (after reorganiza- 

 tion the California Development Company) 

 determined to put Colorado River water upon 

 California lands it acquired a large tract of 

 ISud in Lower California just south of and 

 paralleling the boundar5' line. It organized in 

 Mexico a subsidiary company, the ''Compania 

 de Terrenos y Riegos" and tlirough the agency 

 of this company constructed a few miles of 

 canal from the boundary line, near the river, ■ 

 southerly and southwesterlj^, to a connection 

 with a flood water slough known as Carters, 

 or Salton or Alamo River. Meanwhile a di- 

 verting canal was constructed in California 

 tapijing Colorado River a few liundred yards 

 north of the boundary line and leading into 

 the upper end of the Mexican Canal. When 

 water was turned into the canal in California 

 it flowed to the Mexican Canal and thence to 

 the Alamo channel and thence hack into Cali- 

 ■fornia. This became the nucleus of the Im- 

 perial Canal system. However, after a few 

 years there was trouble at the head 'of the 

 canal. Its upper section was too flat to pass 

 all the. silt entering from the river. And so 

 in 1904 the Mexican Corporation made appli- 

 cation to the Mexican Government for a water 

 concession and the right to construct and main- 

 fain canals in Mexico. This was granted and 

 provides that water may be diverted from the 

 Colorado River in Mexico or may be brought 

 into Mexico from California and conveyed 

 across Mexican territory back into California, 

 subject, however, to the condition that, to the 

 extent of one half of the water in the canal, 

 the landowners of Mexico shall have the right 

 to Gse this water for irrigation. 



AVhen Imperial Irrigation District was or- 

 ganized and acquired the canal system of the 

 California Development Company, it accepted 

 the same subject to the conditions of the Mexi- 

 can concession and for the purpose of doing- 

 work in Mexico it operates through its sub- 

 sidiary, the Mexican Corjioration. 



It will 'be recalled that in 1909' when the 

 Colorado 'broke from its channel into Bee River 

 the Congress of the United States appropriated 

 $1,000,000 to be used in protecting the Salton 

 Basin against ultimate submersion. The Colo- 

 rado River was to be turned back into its old 

 bed and held there. As there was no treaty 

 for the contemplated operations in Mexico, the 

 President designated Mr. J. A. Ockerson to 

 undertake the work. He in turn made the 

 Mexican Corporation his agent and the work 

 went on. It included not only the turning of 

 the river but also the enlargement and exten- 

 sion of the levee north of Volcano Lake Avhich 

 has since become an increasingly important 

 line of defense for the Imperial Valley. 



When it is now considered that the control 

 of the floods of the Lower Colorado will benefit 

 about 800,000 acres of delta lands in Mexico- 

 and a somewhat larger area in California, — 

 much of this, however, still in wild unimproved 

 condition — the fact will be realized that there 

 should be friendly consultation and coopera- 

 tion between the United States and Mexico in 

 order that the control of the lower river which 

 must be put in a direct course to the Gulf and 

 which must be kept there, may be placed in the 

 hands of a competent agency, preferably the 

 United States, and that arrangements may be 

 made for reducing the flood menace 'by storing 

 the waters of the Colorado at some point such 

 as Boulder Canyon. 



And then there is needed, too, some under- 

 standing between the two countries as to the 

 quantity of water which will be allowed to flow 

 into Mexico. It is probable that under regula- 

 tion of stream flow by storage there will be 

 enough water for all the lauds in the two coun- 

 tries which may reasona'bly expect it. But 

 practically all of the water which flows in the 

 Colorado River originates in the United States 

 and if the United States should choose to da 

 so and physical conditions permitted, all of 



