AZ vs. CA:02 California Exhibits, Vol II; Nos. 58-113A

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Mts. on the West to hills of drifting sands, and the San Bernardino Mts. on the East. At one time, this basin formed part of the Gulf of California, and today it lies below the level of the sea, sloping gradually from the old beach line down to the Salton Sink, 280 feet below. Whether volcanic action, in the how Formed narrow strait between Purdy Mt. and Alamo Mocho, raised that portion of the country sufficiently high to shut out the tide waters of the ocean, or whether the process was more gradual, and accomplished by the deposit of sediment which finally filled up that portion of the old Gulf which lies between the Cocopah Mts. and Yuma, is immaterial; I am inclined to think it was a combination of both causes; but the fact remains, that the day came when the basin was closed against the sea, but not against the Colorado River. Year after year its muddy waters ran into the imprisoned sea, but the deposit of sediment was raised higher and higher in the Delta between the Cocopah Mts. and Yuma. In the tendency to straighten its course, the river channel was forced further to the east, and finally the day came when only the flood waters of the river overflowed the Delta and entered the Basin. Then the imprisoned salt water rapidly evaporated, and the time arrived when the ground in the major portion of the basin was exposed, and dry, except during floods in the river, but for many years after, the floods poured in, carrying their enormous