5 2 



The National Geographic Magazine 



JUST BEFORE THE ASCENT KITE WITH MAN ABOARD, FEYING AT A 



HEIGHT OE 1 68 EEET 



The kite remained in the air for about seven minutes, and then began to come down on 

 account of a decrease in the velocity of the wind. Its descent was so gentle and even that 

 Lieutenant Selfridge, whose view of the water in front was intercepted, did not know it was 

 dropping until it actually touched the water. Photos by Mr John Davidson. 



MORE CHANGES OF THE 

 COLORADO RIVER 



THE completion of the works at the 

 intake below Yuma early in Feb- 

 ruary, 1907, sent the main current of the 

 Colorado River down the old channel, 

 which it had left empty during" the 

 greater part of the previous year. This 

 channel lies near the eastern margin of 

 the delta, and actually cuts into the gravel 

 bluffs of the Sonoran mesa at three places 

 below the international boundary. 



The lowest point at which the river 

 finally left this mesa, at about 32 11' 

 North, is the center of interest of the 



present note, for it marks the head of 

 tidal action, and also the location of a 

 depression in the eastern bank from 

 which a shallow trough extended south- 

 eastwardly to the shores of the Gulf east 

 of Montague Island. Ordinarily a series 

 of salt pools extend from within two 

 miles of the river down the depression to 

 the Gulf, being known as the Santa Clara 

 Slough. 



During a visit to this region in March,. 

 1905, a great volume of flood water was 

 seen to be leaving the main channel and 

 making its wav to the Gulf through the 

 Santa Clara Slough, and the prediction 

 was hazarded that a shift of the cutting" 



