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Show 18 THE ALL-AMERICAN CANAL. is very rarely enough run-off to reach the bottom of the great depression. This vras dry except for the periodical inflow of flood waters from the Colorado River, as in 1S40, 1852, 1S59, 1S62, 1891, and no doubt in other years. The occasional inflow from Colorado River was more or less concentrated in depressions and channels, of which the most prominent within California was New River, whose h ad was in the Volcano Lake region, some 20 or 25 miles south of the international boundary line. Much of what is now called Imperial Valley was at one time generally known as the New River country. The delta ridge already referred to was built up by the river to a height of about 36 to 37 feet above sea level at Volcano Lake and at this height was an effective barrier between the Salton Basin and the Gulf of California. Colorado River, in the process of building up this barrier, would for some centuries discharge inland into the basin and then again for other centuries southward into the gull. During the long maintenance of an interior lake at the outflow elevation of about 36 feet above sea level a beach was formed which, although no water has been standing at it for more than 400 years, is distinctly traceable-The bed of Salton Basin was naturally smooth surfaced and dipped gradually to a lowest central point some 280 or more feet below sea leveL At the present time about 300 square miles of the bed of the basin are covered with water, the remnant of the flood accumulation in 1905 and 1906 when the entire river for a time discharged inland. This topographic situation on the lower Colorado has long been understood. At an early day in the history of California it gave rise to a scheme for the irrigation of a large area in what is now known as Imperial Valley. 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. This project involved a grant of Government land to California amounting to about 3,000,000 acres. It was approved by the Legislature of California, but the necessary bill failed to pass Congress. Subsequently an examination was made under Government direction to determine whether or not it would be feasible to reach the Imperial Valley without following a route through Mexico. This examination was made in 1876 by Lieut. Eric Bergland, Corps of Engineers, United States Army, who acted under the direction of Lieut. |
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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] : California exhibits. |