Show the colorado desert the project of reclaiming the col coi colorado orado desert by irrigation was brought to the public attention fifteen years ago but the tho land commissioners and congress have treated it with shameful neglect A region of three thousand square miles containing a fertile soil and a climate of almost torrid heat can with little expense be covered either with a fresh or salt water lake or converted by irrigation into a great garden admirably fitted for the cultivation of the african sugar cane indigo cotton cutton and a multitude of other plants that thrive in a tropical clime the canal should be constructed by the ther federal government we object strenuously to the scheme of turning the seawater into the low desert this would make a salt lake destroy the land and do little good its advocates imagine that it would make the summers of the san joaquin valley cooler the winters wetter wetten r and give more morr rains to arizona but these are suppositions not supported by sei sel scientific antido knowledge the summer winds of the san joaquin valley do not come from the direction of the colorado desert nor would the evaporation from a lake covering that desert be precipitated in arizona the salt water lake project has two recommendations first it would be the cheapest method of making a change in the desert and second a change there is de desirable if our government were semi barbarous in its character had poor financial credit and could not control any engineering ability then we might be satisfied with a salt lake A fresh lake would be preferable because it would leach the salt out of the higher portions of the tho low desert and could at any time be allowed to dry up without ilij injury ury to the land but better than any lake would be a canal from the colorado river carrying enough water to irrigate all the acres in the low desert which would then be conver converted ted anto into a garden and into the tho richest and most populous region an n tho trans continental railroad between san bernar bernardino dino and the texas coast if a lake would improve the climate either to the northward or eastward irrl gation gallon and cultivation over the sam same area would do nearly as much good in lii that respect and more in others alfa alia california almanac |