AZ vs. CA:04 California Exhibits, Vol. IV; Nos. 151-192

page 13

-13- from the Colorado River into the canal, the Imperial Irrigation District of California has annually, for the several years last past, found it expedient to construct at very great expense, during the period of low water, a temporary diversion dam, or wier, across the river, which to prevent disaster by flooding the Yuma water users, must be annually removed before the high-water period. But it is the opinion or reclamation engineers that the existence at any time of the wier dam imperils the safety of the Yuma project and property thereon; also the safety of the Laguna dam, constructed by the Government, on account of the possibility of a sudden rise in the river, resulting in the flooding of the Yuma project and the backing of the water up the river against the dam. It is contemplated that the solution of the problem is the building of an ail-American canal, with the route through Mexico entirely abandoned, and surveys by competent engineers make that appear to be feasible. Your committee is convinced of the great productivity of the soil in Imperial Valley and its exceptional merits as an agricultural proposition, with water properly applied to the planted and growing crops. On the irrigated lands in the Imperial irrigation district, comprising about 430,000 acres, there was realized last year from the sale of their surplus productions over the local demand and home consumption, about $60,000,000. According to reliable estimates there remains in the Imperial Valley, irrigable lands not yet provided with water, 250,000 acres owned by the Government, and an equal amount in the hands of private owners, so that with all of the irrigable lands in the valley reclaimed, the area would amount to nearly a million acres.