Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 70.djvu/13

Rh shown in a relief map, it is in the shape of an acute triangle, with its base resting upon the Colorado River, on the east side, and extending northwest and up the Coachella Valley toward Mt. San Jacinto. The land slopes gradually from the river northwest to the Salton Sink, which at the lowest point is 280 feet below sea level. Yuma, Arizona, lies at the northeast corner of this triangle, and.is 137 feet above sea level, which, therefore, gives the feed canal, created for irrigating, a fall of 417 feet.

Indio, at the extreme northwest point of the triangle, is 22 feet below sea level, while Volcano Lake, Mexico, is found to be very close to sea level. The town of Indio is the end of a division of the Southern Pacific Railroad, where the company has machine shops and maintains a large force of men. It is also a health resort, and has a fine hotel and sanitarium. The other towns of this sunken area, which would be submerged by such a lake, are: Salton, 265 feet below sea level; Walters, 189; Thermal, 121; Imperial, 65; Alamo Bonito, 186; Coachella, 65; Mortmier, 248; Volcano Spring, 265; Fish Spring, 230, and Mecca, 18.

The town of Imperial, located near the center of the Imperial Valley irrigation colony, is fast becoming a very important little city. Four years ago it was unknown. Its site was only a part of the bare Colorado Desert. An examination of the soil of this vicinity, however, revealed the fact that the only thing necessary to make it productive was water, and in consequence a company was organized to install a system of irrigation. A canal was dug that intersected the Colorado River near Yuma, and by the water thus supplied the region was awakened into life and fertility. As a result, in the past four years, the town of Imperial has come into being, and about 110,000 acres of the surrounding land have been converted into a prospering farming community, with a total population of over 10,000 persons. And the limit has by no means yet been reached, for there is much more of the region in a reclaimable condition.

Up to the time that this irrigation system placed Imperial upon the map, the most important industry on the Colorado Desert was the salt works at Salton. Salton Sink was a vast dry lake of solid salt, and thousands upon thousands of tons of it were mined by simply scraping it up into piles. This industry furnished employment to a large corps of men, and the town of Salton came into being as the result of its being made the headquarters of the New Liverpool Salt Company.

But Salton at present is dead. The town and the works are buried in a grave of water. The person who journeys thither to-day looks upon a vast lake. The homes are deserted, the salt works are abandoned, and Salton Sink, once a dry lake of pure salt, lies transformed