AZ vs. CA:18 California Exhibits, Vol. XVIII; Nos. 3500A-3550

page 29

[29] For 5.5 miles canal, excavation would balance the required fill. The remainder of the canal, some 19.7 miles, would be constructed on land composed of typical Colorado River flood deposits of silt and loam alluvium. Because of the 13 miles of great depth of cut, it would be very difficult to enlarge this canal from the initial capacity of 1,000 second-feet to the ultimate capacity of 1,500 second-feet, by means of normal cleaning operations over a long period. It would also be very costly at a future date to excavate the 3,900,000 cubic yards necessary in order to enlarge the canal to ultimate capacity. To construct the canal to ultimate capacity, at the beginning could not be justified because of the uncertainty of the rate and extent of future growth of the Palo Verde Valley and the Palo Verde Mesa. About one-half of the canal would be adjacent to U. S. Highway 95 between Blythe and Needles, California. The Santa Fe Railroad passes through Earp, California, about \y2 miles from the headworks of the canal and Vidal, California, which is about 5 miles from the canal. A spur line into Blythe, California, is 12 miles from the District headworks. Approximately 21 miles of the canal would be within the Colorado River Reservation, about 4 miles on private lands and the remaining 9.5 miles on Government lands. A survey was made of an alternate route for the canal through the mesa west of the oxbow, as shown on the general map. There is a possibility that further investigation may show that it would be unsafe to construct the canal through the bottom land and abandoned river channel at the mouth of the oxbow and in that event the alternate route might be used.