OCR Text |
Show PROBLEMS OF IMPERIAL, VALLEY AND VICINITY. 97 ated that there were about 9,000 acres of land under cultivation during the .season of 1920. Alfalfa, maize, cotton, small grains, vegetables, and a small but steadily increasing acreage of dates and grapes are the principal crops. The soils consist largely of alluvial sediments deposited by streams draining toward Salton Sea. Along the margins of the Valley they are predominantly coarse textured and often gravelly. Throughout the central portion of the valley the soils are predominantly silt loams underlain by fine sandy subsoils. Wind-blown sands occupy a considerable acreage in the upper end of the valley, and where the topography is not too broken they may be brought under cultivation. Throughout a large part of the central portion of the valley the soils are heavily alkaline. Under present economic conditions these lands are practically worthless but they are not impossible of reclamation, and may be handled at some future time. Land classification, Coachella Valley. Acres. Gross agricultural land................................ .............. 137, 994 Land with an excess of alkali............................................ 39, 515 Net agricultural land........................___'........................ 98, 479 Nonagricultural land.........,............................___r......... 49, 029 Total area.....................................T................... 187, 023 West rnssa unit.-The west mesa unit includes all of the desert region lying west of Salton Sea and the Imperial irrigation district and extending to the bases of the mountains or to adjacent areas of rough, broken lands. From San Felipe Creek northward and along the eastern side of the Superstition Mountains the su'rface is a series of sloping alluvial fans that are traversed by hundreds of small intermittent drainage channels. South of San Felipe Creek the surface is more of a uniform, mesa-like plain that extends southerly to the international boundary. South of the Superstition Mountains this plain is limited on the east by an irregular area of rough, broken land, below which the surface is gently undulating, and is the western extent of the Imperial Valley region. The Superstition Mountains are a low uplift of eroded clays and sandstones in the east-central f)ortion of the unit. This unit ranges from about 249 feet below sea evel to about 400 feet above. Two branches of the State highway between this region and western California points cross the unit, and a number of roads and trails afford access to various districts and to settlements to the east and west of the unit. The San Diego & Arizona Railroad crosses the southern portion of the unit. The soils are largely recent alluvial materials derived from the mountain slopes west of the area and range from sands to clay loams in texture. They "are prevailingly light in texture, light brown in color, and often carry considerable quantities of water-worn gravel. Very old alluvial materials, now in the form of compacted, indurated, and alkaline clays, form the larger part of the rough, broken lands in the unit and underlie considerable areas of recent alluvial materials. iEolian materials are widely scattered over the surface of the other soils, but usually occur as small, isolated dunes. The very much larger part of this unit is subject to occasional.overflows, |
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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] : |