342 THE COLORADO DESERT 



states throu'^li Texas and New Mexico along the Gila Iliver trail into 

 southern California, and these parties, pushing from the Colorado 

 across the awful desert that separated them from the fertile lands of 

 the coast, when midwa}' on their course unexpectedly found them- 

 selves on the Ijanks of a strong, turgid stream, which was not flowing 

 toward the sea, but sweei)ing strangel}' northward into the interior. 

 It was the sudden and dramatic resumption of the old Colorado in- 

 undations. They called it the " New River." Lieutenant Wilkinson, 

 writing soon afterward in the Pacific Railroad Reports, sa3's of this 

 phenomenon of 1849: 



" In that year tlie Colorado River was very high, an<l Ijroke over a part of its 

 l;anks between the mouth of the Gila and the head of the gulf. The waters 

 flowed inlan(b ninning l)ackward through the desert toward the center of the 

 ancient lake. . . . The api)earance of tlie stream was a sul)ject of general 

 surprise and wonder, and was an unexpected relief to the manj' emigrant parties 

 crossing the desert that year. It is the general belief that this overflow was the 

 first recent instance of the kind, but it liad evidently often taken i)lace long 

 before, and there are many reasons for believing that it once flowed in a larger 

 and stronger stream tiian it lias since its existence became known." * 



Since 1840 the overflow of the Colorado River has been frequent, 

 and since 1890 uninterrupted every summer. B}' most dwellers in 

 southern California this overflow is well understood, but verv few are 

 aware of the circuitous and remarkable route b}"" which the water of 

 the Colorado, through New River, reaches Salton Sea. High water 

 in the Colorado comes in the months of May and June, and thebreak 

 in the U[)l>uilt banks of the river occurs 10 or 12 miles below the 

 Mexican boundar}- line, near Algodones. an old Yuma Indian village, 

 where now is a Mexican handet and a station for several customs 

 officers. From near the i)oint where tlie break occurs a comjiaratively 

 small current, the East or Alamo River, cuts its channel westward for 

 about yO miles, and then turns northwesterly into the United States, 

 and on its wa}' to the Salton Sea fills a large de])ression known as 

 Mesquite Lake. Tlie greater part of the overflow, however, takes 

 another direction, and swee{)S southwesterly almost entirel}' across 

 the lower i>art of the desert until it meets the slo))e of the Cocopah 

 Mountains. Here it creates a long, shallow body of water, called 

 Volcano Lake. 



This point is the divide, where the desert slo])es northward into 

 the United States and southward to the gulf, and from this lake the 



*Pac-ifie Railroad Reports, vol. v ; " Geological Report," by Wm. P. Blake, Washington, 1857, 

 lOCJ. 



