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Show -15- The Colorado was formerly navigated by light draft vessels from points from above Yuma to its mouth where it flows into the Gulf of California. Today it is navigated by only two or three very small vessels which ply either between Yuma and points above, or exclusively above Yuma. While I was in Yuma, there was but one boat making what might be called regular trips. This vessel is the "St. Vallier," Captain A. R. Conradt, and is about seventy-five feet long and draws about sixteen or eighteen inches. Its regular run is to Picacho, a distance of twenty-eight miles above Yuma. Its principal buisness at present is the transportation of machinery and other freight to Pacacho, where a large cyaniding plant is being installed at some mines there. This machinery is loaded on a flat-bottomed barge, or scow, of very light draft and towed by the steamer. The trip from Yuma to Picacho, which is, as stated, twenty-eight miles up stream, occupies two days. The return trip takes one day. The current of the River is swift, but this is not alone responsible for the length of time taken for the up-stream trip. It is due, rather, to the fact that at night-fall the steamer is obliged to tie up to the bank until the following morning, as the River cannot be navigated in the dark. This, in turn, is due to one of the peculiarities of the Colorado River, namely, its shifting channel. As stated above, the water carries with it immense quantities of earth or silt, and where the banks of the River widen to an extent sufficient to cause a less swift current, this silt is deposited and forms bars. A vessel may pass a certain point in the River in four or five feet of water, and returning on the following day, find at that identical point a sand bar with but three or four inches of water covering it. The above information was given me by Captain Conradt, of the St. Vallier, who was the only active river- |
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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. |