OCR Text |
Show Report of the Regional Director Description of the Area $• The Dixie Project area is in the Virgin River Basin in Washington County in southwestern Utah. The Virgin River Basin forms a part of the Lower Colorado River Basin as defined by the Colorado River Compact, The Virgin River is an interstate stream which heads in the high plateau and mountains of western Kane and southeastern Iron Counties, Utah and flows in a southwesterly direction through Yfashington County, Utah, crosses the northwestern corner of Mohave County, Arizona, and discharges into Lake Mead in Clark County, Nevada, It drains an area of 6,000 square miles, of which 2,900 square miles is in ttah, 1,100 square miles is in Nevada, and 2,000 square miles is in Arizona. 6. The project area is divided into two separate but related units: the Hurricane Division and the Santa Clara Division, The Hurricane Division extends along the Virgin River from near the southwest corner of Zion National Park to near the Utah-Arizona state line. The Santa Clara Division extends along the Santa Clara River, a tributary of the Virgin River, from Gunlock, Utah to its mouth near St. George, The project is named for the region, which is known as the "Dixie" of Utah because of its mild climate and because cotton was once grown there. 7. The climate in the project area is arid and is characterized by scant precipitation, abundant sunshine, short mild winters, long hot summers, and wide extremes in daily temperature. Average annual precipitation is less than nine inches, over five inches of which occurs during the growing season. The mean annual temperature at St. George, which is representative of the project area, is 60#? degrees with a January average of 38»U degrees and a July average of 82.9 degrees. Because of the dryness of the climate irrigation is essential for the successful production of crops. 8. The general area was first settled by Mormon pioneers and missionaries who migrated from northern Utah. New Harmony, the first settlement in Yfeshington County, v/as established in 185>2, and St# George, the largest town and new the county scat, v/as established in 186*1, The early settlers grazed cattle, sheep# and horses on the surrounding desert range, and irrigated small areas along the stream banks. Their history is one of hardship, privation, and desperate struggle to irrigate their land. By cooperative effort diversion structures and irrigation ditches were constructed. The early crude diversion dams were destroyed by nearly every flood and freshet of the silt-laden Virgin and Santa Clara Rivers. Stream bank erosion |
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Original book: Utah exhibits [of the] State of Arizona, complainant, v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, City of San Diego, and County of San Diego, defendants, United States of America and State of Nevada, interveners, State of New Mexico and State of Utah, parties |