D. T. MacDougal—The Salton Sea. 235 



cites opinions of old settlers who allege that water came into 

 the Salton in 1840, 1842, 1852, 1859, 1862 and 1867. _ The 

 mail stage service between Yuma and San Diego was inter- 

 rupted by the flood of 1862 and a tlatboat was used for cross- 

 ing New River for several weeks in the summer of that year.* 



In 1900, a company having been formed for the purpose, 

 work was begun upon the task of connecting and clearing the 

 various channels which formed the natural waterway between 

 the river and the basin ; and by the middle of 1901 water was 

 flowing upon the irrigable lands of what has since become 

 known as the Imperial Valley. It had been deemed advisable 

 by the promoters of the scheme to take the water from the 

 river in the United States territory, and so the upper section 

 of the canal was cut almost parallel to the river for several 

 miles and with a very low gradient. This circumstance, 

 together with the general unsuitability of the site selected for 

 the head works, caused considerable trouble for two or three 

 years, as more and more water was required to fulfill the 

 demands of the growing communities in the desert ; and so 

 various openings were made between the river and the canal 

 in order to furnish a more adequate supply. 



Then in the winter of 1901^05, one of the infrequent winter 

 floods in the Colorado, coincident with a tremendous rush of 

 storm waters from the Gila, found before itself the unprotected 

 head and comparatively steep downward grade of the canal, 

 and at once began to cut and enlarge the channel. The 

 ordinary summer flood of 1905 also poured its water through 

 the opening, and it was soon realized that the outpour had got 

 beyond control. 



Practically the whole of the Colorado was now flowing into 

 the Salton Basin and another flood in the following November 

 (1905) made the task of closing the breach seem almost hope- 

 less, although the most strenuous efforts were being made by 

 the engineers ; and it was not until February 1907 that the 

 Colorado was finally returned into its former channel. Here, 

 again, however, the vigorous vegetation of the Delta had 

 played its part, for the river bed had in the meantime become 

 so choked by plant growth and the deposition of silt that the 

 water has since made repeated attempts to escape, first towards 

 the southeast through the Santa Clara Slough, directly towards 

 the head of the Gulf, and since — in spite of some rather 

 hastily planned and inadequate efforts to control it in that 

 direction — into the head of Bee River and the Pescadero and 

 so by various ways into the Hardy, which is now, in its lower 

 reaches, carrying virtually the whole volume of the Colorado. 

 This surcharging of the Hardy Channel has had the further 



*Proc. Amer. Soc. Civil Engineers, vol. xxxviii, p. 1371, 1912. 



