Show STUDENT LIFE ALUMNI 99 Walters Cal 3 — 2 1903 We have completed the work in and around Imperial and have been here about a week We are now about 70 miles north-eaof Imperial and are working in the same direction but expect to finish the work in about three weeks We are still below sea level — about 200 feet — and I believe the whole area we are to examine here is lower than the ocean surface Here is a lake Salton Sink very salty though not as concentrated nor as large as Great Salt Lake A great deal of salt is collected around the shore where some salt works are located All around is desert surrounded in turn by the great ranges of San Bernadino San Jacinto and Cocapa with peaks 8000 to 9000 feet in height I should guess The whole country is very new We drove for 60 miles along the railroad and did not see a person or a house nothing but alkali desert There is no irrigation system in this part of the area but artesian wells are sunk here and there st We are greatly indebted to Mr Christian Larson ’90 for the following extracts from letters of Charles A Jensen ’97 and ’99: Imperial Cal Dec 10 1902 I left Billings Montana July 1st and came to Grand Forks N D where I worked till the latter part of Sept Since then I have been working in Imperial Imperial is a little place in the Colorado desert about 30 miles from the railroad It is a desert in very deed It was opened last year and is being settled comparatively rapidly but it is uphill work owing to the large amount of alkali in the soil and the scanty supply of irrigation water Imperial is about 85 feet below sea level and much of the surrounding country It was undoubtedly an earlier lake and it is supposed to have been cut off from the ocean or Gulf of California The Colorado River now sometimes overflows its banks and forms lakes in here We shall not be in Imperial long We are merely waiting for teams When they come we shall go out into the desert camp out and begin our work of soil investigation All our work is done in this way and we shall stay here until April 1st There are four of us now and two more will be assigned from Washingis 250 feet below ton about January 1st The weather is very pleasant though sometimes a little warm in the day The nights are deliciously cool the thermometer going down to 50 or 55 deg F It ranges from 95 to 110 deg in the daytime It is often 130 deg during the months of July and August To the unaided eye the country appears absolutely level It is surrounded by a range of mountains and is so dry that practically nothing not even native vegetation grows until the land is irrigated We are about 15 miles from the Mexican boundary line and our work will extend south to that line We have a few Mexican Indians here who are very good workers for Indians and appear to be pcacably EXCHANGES Three may keep a secret — if two of them are dead— Franklin In a restaurant He — Will you havealobster? She: — Oh John this is so sudden! The March 3rd issue of the University of Utah “Chronicle” is hardly as good as usual The “Spectator” for February contains some excellent and well written articles one of which is a “Sketch of Edgar Allen Foe ” Prosperity may spoil me And my troubles all enhance But Lord send it down once I think I’ll take the chance The maiden sorrowfully milked the goat And pensively turned to mutter: “I wish you would turn to milk you brute” And the animal turned to butt-e- r |