AZ vs. CA:24 California Exhibits, Vol. XXIV; Miscellaneous

page 71

PROBLEMS OF IMPERIAL VALIiEY AND VICINrTY. Tl At Calexico the canal will be located 1 mile to the northward of the boundary line. It can be held at an elevation sufficient to reach the west side canal at a point about one-half mile northward from the international boundary. A few thousand acres of ground along the boundary line on the west side will be too high to be commanded by fravity now. For the irrigation of these lands a pumping plant will e required. IMPERIAL IRRIGATION DISTRICT, ^CALIFORNIA, AND IMPERIAL TALLEY, MEXICO. Location and description.--The Imperial irrigation district is located in Imperial County, California, in townships 9 to 17 south, ranges 12, to 16 east. The district comprises the bottom of the south portion of what is known as Salton Basin, the district extending from the center of the east side of Salton Sea on the north to the Mexican border 04 the south, a distance of about 48 miles, and with a maximum width of 30 miles. _ The Imperial Valley of Mexico lies south of and adjacent to tlifc Imperial district in California, extending a maximum distance south of the boundary line of about 20 miles and having a length parallel to the boundary of about 50 miles. The Imperial Valley, both of California and Mexico, comprises th6 north slope of the Colorado River delta, which has been built across the north end of the Gulf of California during past ages. The crest of the delta is in Mexico, about 20 miles south of the border in the vicinity of Volcano Lake and along the line of Bee River, which is the present channel of the Colorado River. The valley ranges in elevation from about 100 feet above sea. level in the eastern portion of the Mexican lands to about sea level on the California-Mexican border and to 250 feet below sea level at Salton Sea. The principal towns of the project in California are Calexico, near the boundary; El Centro, in the south-center; BraWley, in the north-center; and Niland, near the north end. The principal Mexican town is Mexicali, near the west end of the Mexican tract and just south of the border, and other important railroad stations are Hechicera, near thecenter, and Paradones, near the east end. The railroads of thfe project are the main line of the Southern Pacific, touching the north end of the Imperial district in California; a branch of the Southern Pacific extending south from Niland through the* center of the district to Calexico on the border line, and the Sari Diego & Arizona (in Mexico called the Inter-California) Railway, running west from Yuma through the Mexican lands and north into the Imperial district at Calexico and to El Centro and west to San Diego. HISTORICAL. * * * Dr. O. M. Wozencraft, as principal promoter, with Ebenezer Hadley, the county surveyor of San Diego County, as his engineer, worked out a project some 60 years ago for the colonization and development of lands in California under irrigation with Colorado River water. Their proposition involved a diversion of water from the river toward the west into the region drained by the Alamo River, which would then carry it, substantially as under the later scheme, to the points in California from which it could be distributed by a canal system.