OCR Text |
Show 94 PROBLEMS OF IMPERIAL VALLEY AND VICINITY. section (Dos Palmos unit) only 7,550 are classed as agriculturally possible, and these are of questionable value. The west side area, comprising all the lands west of the Imperial irrigation district and the Salton Sea, has a widely divergent topography, ranging from uniform alluvial slopes or smooth mesas of considerable extent to areas of typical bad lands, eroded ridges, and low mountains. A large area 01 good land lies west and southwest of the Superstition Mountains, in a broad belt extending from the El Centro-San Diego highway north to San Felipe Creek. These soils consist of sands and sandy loams, with some small occurrences of heavier-textured soils. This area occupies sloping alluvial plains and smooth to gently-undulating low mesas, and a total of over 55,000 acres is of good quality and well s\iited to agriculture if water can be supplied. Probably much of it lies at such elevation that it will prove impracticable to pump water to irrigate it. A considerable area of land of agricultural value lies just above the present irrigated lands of the Imperial Valley in a belt from 1 to 4 miles wide, extending from the international boundary north to the Superstition Mountains.* This belt of soil is more or less broken by areas of sand dunes and in a minor way has a rather irregular topography, but includes over 20,000 acres that can be classed as agricultural land of fair to good quality. There are other areas of agricultural land on v the west side, usually of small extent and more or less isolated in bodies of poor lands.. A total of about 120,000 acres of the west side lands were classed as agricultural. Much of the land classed as nonagricultural (totaling over 250,000 acres) is of low value, because of either irregular to rough topography, unfavorable soil texture and subsoil conditions, or the presence of alkali. Large areas of land with favorable. topography and good surface appearance have a subsoil composed of old, partially-indurated, stratified clays, usually containing considerable alkali. If irrigated, these soils would develop alkali in the surface and would soon become worthless. There are also broad areas of alluvial soils on the delta of San Felipe Creek which are strongly impregnated with alkali and which are of little or no agricultural value. The development of the west side will depend largely on the possibilities of lifting water high .enough to cover a sufficient area of the good land lying west of the Superstition Mountains. The Coachella Valley, comprising a unit of considerable extent and importance, lies to the northwest of the Salton Sea, in the lower portion, of a long, desert valley. The soils of the valley consist mainly of the sediments deposited by the flood waters of the Whitewater River and range from ligfyt sandy soils to silt loams and clay loams. A considerable portion of the heavier soils has heavy accumulations of alkali and is of little or no present value, although its ultimate reclamation by drainage and leaching is quite possible. About 39,000 acres of this valley are strongly impregnated by alkali. There are nearly 7,200 acres of agricultural land, lying below the line of the canal survey in this valley, of fair to excellent quality suited to the production of any of the crops adapted to the climate of the region. The extension of irrigation from gravity canals may cause a rising water table and an extension of the area injured by alkali, but if the utilization of the ground water keeps the water level down, the area of good soil can slowly be increased. |
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Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : |