| OCR Text |
Show THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN There Is no more interesting river In the world than tho Colorado. In- dustrally, sccnlcally and geologically It presents moro diverse condltons than any other stream in the United i States. From the crest of the Rocky mountains in Colorado and Wyoming it sweeps across the intervening coun- ' try, traversing parts of Utah, Uow r Mexico, Arizona and Nevada, to the ' head of tho Gulf of California, the I area drained bclnjj about 300,000 square miles. In tho Rocky moun- ' tain region it flows through n coun- , try covered by eternal snows and wat- Iers some of tho most fertile and valu-ablo valu-ablo agricultural lands In the world In estorn Colorado, northwestern New Mexico and eastern Utah. Tt traversos 1 ' the famous Grand ennyon of tho Colorado Col-orado In the northern part of Arizona, and finally passes ovor the Gulf of California, in this lower-most portion por-tion tho river strongly resembles the Nile, having annual floods which distribute dis-tribute silt over the adjoining lands and render them as fertile as those in tho historic valley of North Af-I Af-I rlca Tho Colorado and its tributaries tribu-taries Tiavo other values than that of Irrigation, for descending in steep channels , they present abundant opportunities op-portunities for the development of water power. Power has been developed devel-oped at a few points, but the resources re-sources of tho Colorado basin are in this respect yot practically untouched. In a basin so liberally provided with natural resources It is a fundamental fundamen-tal necessity, in planning for the utilization util-ization of the river, to ascertain the , amount of water available In the main etieam and its principal tributaries, so that future developments!! as well as those now under construction, can be suitably designed In type and capacity ca-pacity For a long period of years the United States Geological Survey has been making important observations observa-tions nnd measurements at many Important Im-portant points In the Colorado basin, nnd the latest published Information on tho subject is contained in Water Supply Paper 209 of the survey, which is a progress report of .river flow measurements In this basin for the year 1909. In this report are recorded record-ed observations at 1"9 stations, cov-orlng cov-orlng the Grand river and tributaries in Colorado; Green rivor and tributaries tribu-taries in Utah. Colorado and Wyoming; Wyom-ing; the San Juan basin in northwestern northwest-ern New Mexico; tho Little Colorado Color-ado river basin In Colorado; the Gila rivor basin in Arizona; and finally the discharge near the mouth of the main stream at Yuma, Ariz These records are not only of local valuo for guiding economic development, but they have an international significance signi-ficance In connection with the difficulties diffi-culties that have been encountered In tho control of tho Colorado near its mouth in Mexican territory. Tho escape of tho river from Its regular channel and Its diversion into the Salton sea aro matters of recent ris-tory, ris-tory, and the consequences of a diversion di-version of this kind, which promised to Inundate some of the most fertile fer-tile country iu Southern California, have been discussed in the public press. The control of the Colorado for the prevention of further outbreaks must Involve thorough knowledge of the tributary flow, even in tho high regions re-gions of Its headwaters In Colorado, and the ultimate steps taken to prevent pre-vent disastrous inundation will, In all probability, involve the control of these upland tiibutarles. Tho size of the Colorado river Is indicated in-dicated by Its total discharge in the year 1909, which was 26,000,000 acre-feet, acre-feet, or enough water to cover that number of acres to a depth of one foot Such an amount of water, if poured upon Manhattan Borough of the city of New York and confined by retaining walls would bury tho city 1857 feet deep, or it would make a lake sixty-six feet deop ovor the state of Delaware. Geological Survey Sur-vey Press Bulletin. |
