About this time the Imperial Land Company, the
colonizing agency, was incorporated, of which Mr. Ferguson was made
manager, holding one-fifth of the stock of that company. After
beginning the work, however, he was not entirely satisfied with his
share of the bargain and sought a power of attorney from Mr. Holt that
he might vote his one-fifth share of the stock of the company and thus
gain control of the corporation, which he regarded necessary in order to
make his work effective. With this stock of Mr. Holt he expected to
secure enough more to give him the control he desired. But Mr. Holt
declined this request, and then Mr. Ferguson sought to retaliate by
forcing him out of the company. In order to avoid any conflict at this
stage of the enterprise, Mr. Holt finally exchanged his stock in the
Imperial Land Company for that of the California Development Company. A
few months later Mr. Ferguson's management became so undesirable that he
was asked to resign. On his refusal to do this he was removed soon
afterward, and all his interests in the company passed into other hands.
MORE PRELIMINARY TROUBLES
Up to this time President Heber of the
California Company had not seemed to take any active interest in its
affairs. But now this new turn of
affairs brought him to the front, and he took the
position of manager to fill the vacancy.
Thus in February, 1902, Mr. Heber and his
associates purchased the stock of Mr. Chaffey, who thereupon retired
from the company. Mr. Heber then became president and general
manager of the California Company, and also of the Imperial Land
Company, of which he made E. C. Paulin general manager.
Here is, therefore, a pretty full sketch of the
men, capital, and various corporations that formed this combination
for the reclamation and colonization of this desert land. And it is
believed to be the most extensive project of the kind ever made in
in arid America up to this time. It involved so many problems which
could only be solved by the expenditure of a vast sum of money under
the direction of the most eminent and competent engineers in the
country. And today it is claimed that there is no other place in
America where these works can be duplicated, covering such a vast
area to be reclaimed and so large a population to be served. The
national government is now spending more money on smaller
enterprises for the reclamation of much smaller areas, and for the
benefit of a much smaller population. It is further claimed that no
other place under the Stars and Stripes today has a single
irrigation system that will irrigate so large an area and furnish
homes for so many people. It is also believed that no other large
area in the land can be reclaimed at such small cost per acre, or
where the water can be perpetually furnished to settlers at so small
a cost per acre-foot, as is now being done by this Imperial Canal
system in this wonderful Imperial Valley over the portion of this
worthless Colorado Desert which has been rescued by the hand of man
from the vast sand-waste which the great Creator seems to have
forgotten to finish.
It is now very apparent, however, that He has
called in the assistance of men in the reclamation and development
of this vast territory, and that they have succeeded beyond all
precedent, and under a smiling providence, this great valley is
blossoming with an unparalleled degree of fertility and
productiveness.
Back of all this, of course, is the subject of
irrigation, an indespensable prerequisite to the reclamation of arid
lands. But for this, nearly half the area of this republic would be
of small agricultural value today.
In Imperial Valley the system of irrigation in
use is the most complete number under the existing law of
California. For over 25 years the whole question received most
careful study by enterprising men in Southern California. As a
result the mutual company plan was finally adopted for the ownership
and management of the Imperial Canal system as far as that plan
could be utilized. The first obstacle that arose was the magnitude
of the enterprise. Five hundred thousand acres of land for 100,00
people under one company did not seem entirely feasible. It was
therefore decided to restrict the area to 100,000 acres for a single
irrigation system. And even this has since been thought too large.
With 100 voters to elect a board of directors of a water company,
there is much greater feeling of individual personal responsibility
than would be possible if 1000 voters shared in the control. And if
this tract was sub-divided into 40-acre holdings, there would be
2500 voters, which might not secure the best results.
In this Imperial Valley there are 538,000 acres
now under the Imperial Canal system, while still barren land will
raise the total to nearly a million. It was therefore decided to
divide the Valley into districts, no one to exceed 100,000 irrigable
acres; such districts, as far as possible, to have natural boundary
lines. Then it was thought best to have a separate company for each
of these districts, all such companies to be organized on a similar
basis, in order that the landowner in one company should have the
same rights and responsibilities as the owner in each of the other
companies. All these companies should have the same name and be
designated only by number.
Under this plan, Imperial Water Company No. 1
was formed with 100,00 shares of stock to furnish water for 100,000
acres of land in a territory bounded on the west by New River, on
the east by the Alamo River, on the south by the Mexican boundary
line, and on the north by an arbitrary line running between two rows
of sections. While this tract exceeded the limit by some 50,000
acres, only 100,000 were regarded available for successful
irrigation. And yet since then the actual irrigable area is found
to be much larger, and the disposition of this extra land has since
been a problem with the company. Since then other companies of this
kind have been formed and now reach 15 in number.
The next obstacle to present itself was the
impossibility of all these going to the Colorado River, 60 miles
away, to get their water supply. But this was finally overcome by
the construction of a canal through foreign territory, which, of
course, added greatly to the cost, and made it almost prohibitory
for a small company. But here the California Development Company,
which financed the plan for the construction of the canal system,
and owned most of the canals through Lower California, agreed to
such contracts as were necessary to deliver water to each of these
several mutual companies. Under this agreement this parent company
was to keep these main canals in repair and deliver the water in
bulk, charging a uniform price of 50 cents an acre-foot. That is,
50 cents for enough water to cover an acre of land one foot in
depth. This is practically two cents an inch for a 24 hours' flow.
This parent company would thus construct a distributing system of
canals for the mutual company and receive in payment the entire
capital stock of such company. This stock would in turn be sold to
settlers and the parent company would get its pay for the
construction works and the mutual company would get its distributing
system built and paid for in a way that would leave no
indebtedness. The landowners would thus own and operate their own
distributing system through each of these mutual companies. The
water rates would be collected from the settlers in January and
July, paying the development company for all the water received
during the preceeding six months. such contracts were made for the
permanent delivery of water at a fixed price to sell out at a
handsome margin without improving the land at all. This wise
provision has proven very popular. But for this requirement
settlers might have found themselves surrounded with dry, desert
lands with no neighbors.
Such was the plan at the beginning of
development of the Valley, and it ran on for a series of years, but,
as stated in a separate article herein, the time came when the
people threw aside the private corporation owning the irrigation
system and acquired it for themselves through the organization of
the Imperial Irrigation District, under the laws of the state.
It will be of interest to record here what has
really been done under this great reclamation project in Imperial
County thus far. Actual work upon the system was begun in April,
1900, and the first water was delivered to the fields in June,
1901. In the following July there were about 6000 acres of land put
into crops in order to feed the hundreds of teams working on the
canal system. In 1902 this acreage of tillage was increased to
25,000, and the next year this was doubled. In 1904, this
cultivated area was increased to 150,000 acres. And now something
over 250,000 acres of government land has been filed upon and water
rights secured for the same. In 1903 the California Development
Company built about 600 miles of canals, some of which are 70 feet
in depth at the bottom and carry water ten feet deep.
The permanent population of the Valley is now
about 50,000, and other settlers are coming in rapidly. Of course,
as the wonderful possibilities for agricultural development became
apparent railway construction was promptly begun, and the iron horse
of commercial progress soon appeared upon the scene. The Southern
Pacific Company built a branch line of 28 miles from Old Beach to
Imperial, soon after extended to Calexico, another 16 miles, and
thence on Mexican soil to Yuma, Arizona. On this branch are the
thriving towns of Niland, Calipatria, Brawley, Imperial, El Centro,
Heber, and Calexico. A 12-mile cross line was built from El Centro
to Holtville, which is being extended westwardly to San Diego, now
reaching the towns of Seeley and Dixieland. Another cross line has
recently been constructed westwardly from Clipatria to Westmoreland.
This shows that the original projectors of this
great reclamation enterprise were not idle dreamers, as many
short-sighted people in that region even had openly declared.
This great Colorado River has often been called
the Nile of America because of the rich and fertile sediment carried
down by its waters, and also because of similarity of climate and
water supply.
The agricultural development has run in well
marked stages, beginning on the new land as each section was
developed, with barley, alfalfa following, and then coming by
degrees more intensive operations. Barley ranks first among the
grains, milo following, with comparatively small production of
wheat. But in late years cotton has become the chief crop of the
Valley in acreage and value. Fat cattle, sheep and hogs are shipped
in great numbers, and the dairy industry has taken second place
among California counties. Imperial County leads the world in
acreage of cantaloupes, while grapes and asparagus are important
early products. But for the slow progress of propagation, dates
would long before this have become a most important product. The
annual productiveness of Imperial Valley has reached a range of from
twenty to forty million dollars a year.
The products of this reclaimed land have
already been increased in number. One of these new crops is the
Egyptian long staple cotton, which gives very profitable crops of
fibre and which is most valuable in the textile markets, bringing
over 22 cents a pound previous to the recent advance in all
varieties of cotton because of the war.
Of course, the climate of this Imperial Valley
is very warm in summer, from April to October, often reaching 100 in
the shade. And yet the air is so exceptionally dry as to permit
work even during the hottest days without great discomfort. The wet
and dry bulb thermometers show a greater variation than in a humid
country, being about five degrees in the latter during the summer
and about 31 degrees in this valley.
SOME EARLY IRRIGATION HISTORY
This having been the supreme creative factor in
the reclamation of this great desert waste makes it imperative that
some specific mention should be made here. But the reader will find
this subject treated with scientific detail in subsequent chapters
of this work by the most competent authority in the land. And this
man once dreamed of writing a romantic history of this wonderful
valley. And if space were at command in this volume a thrilling and
racy thread of romance could be interwoven in this story-fabric of
detail that begins with the discovery of this sandy-sink of the
Colorado Desert, and follows down the years of its development and
reclamation until the glowing results of today were reached.
But for irrigation there could, of course, have
been no Imperial Valley nor any Imperial County to write about.
Without entering deeply into the ancient
history of irrigation and the date of its origin, it may be said
that modern scientists seem to agree that it was in use in very
ancient times, and was used in this hemisphere at the dawn of
civilization. Early explorers found extensive and successful
systems in Mexico, Central America and Peru. Even in our own land
are traces of early irrigation projects that had been carried out
along the Colorado, Rio Grande and Gila rivers. In India some of
the most costly and magnificent engineering enterprises of this kind
are found today. And most of the foreign countries are operating
extensive systems of this kind.
Modern reclamation in America in 1890 had
nearly four million arid acres to its credit. But these systems
were in no way comparable with those used in this Imperial Valley in
extent. The reclaimed area in this valley at this time is far
greater than was the total in the southern third of California in
1890. In India there are twenty-five million acres of such land, in
Egypt about six millions, Italy about three millions, France
400,000, and in the United States about four millions of arid
acres. Thus some forty millions of arid acres have been brought
under successful cultivation by irrigation. Not, however, until
1902 was the construction of irrigation systems under the control of
the Secretary of the Interior begun. This plan has been
successfully carried out since then by the Reclamation service, the
sole purpose being the transformation of desert lands into
attractive and productive farm property.
The Colorado Desert was visited at least by
military parties in 1846, and geological investigations were made in
1853. It was surveyed by government contractors in 1855 and 1856,
and the overland stations were established there in 1858. It was
resurveyed in 1880, and finally crossed by the railway soon after.
The reclamation project was proposed in 1892, and again in 1902,
which finally resulted in the adoption of the irrigation scheme.
Since that time the enterprise has been duly exploited in the public
press.
This tract in 1846, being still a part of the
Mexican territory, was frequently visited by Mexican desperadoes,
and General Phil Kearney's famous expedition by the Santa Fe Trail
to the coast crossed the valley. With this expedition was a corps
of government engineers who were to make observations and report as
to the topography, natural history and geography of the region. The
date of this report was November, 1855. It stated that at the ford
of the Colorado, where the engineers crossed, the river was 1500
feet wide and flowed at the rate of 1 1/2 miles per hour, the
greatest depth there being four feet. The banks were not over four
feet high, and evidences of overflow were found. The water was
torpid and hence immense drifts of sand were encountered. A few
days later a basin or lake was reached (probably Badger Lake, now
dry) and this was then about 3/4 x 1/2 mile in extent and too salt
for the use of man or beast. Their report of this desert contained
this: "Ninety miles from water to water is an immense triangular
plain bounded on one side by the Colorado River, on the west by the
Cordilleras of California, on the northeast by a chain of mountains
running southeast and northwest." This report has a record of many
hardships endured by the men under Lieutenant W. H.Morey, who was in
charge. They had a sharp engagement with the Mexicans at Los
Angeles, where he planted the American Flag to stay, however.
Another military expedition was sent out in 1853
under Lieutenant Williamson, with Professor William P. Blake as
naturalist, who afterward wrote a graphic description of the desert
and the result of his geological studies there. He concluded that
the physical aspects of the desert were due to flood erosion upon
rocks near palm Springs. He also predicted that potable water could
be obtained from artesian wells in that region, which proved true 35
years later, and again by the engineers of the Southern Pacific
railway.
In 1858 the first overland mail route between
St. Louis and San Francisco was established, it being known as the
Butterfield Stage Line. This trip took 22 days and was made every
two weeks. There were three stage stations on the desert. That
same year, however, America had a much more important event to
record in that region. This was the discovery of the possibility of
reclaiming this Colorado Desert. Dr. Oliver M. Wozencraft, a native
of Ohio, who had been educated in Kentucky, was the first man who
seriously proposed to bring the waters of the Colorado River into
this sink for the purpose of agriculture by irrigation. Like many
other men who have conceived great ideas ahead of their time, Dr,
Wozencraft was laughed at as an airy dreamer at the time. But he
had this project so thoroughly mapped out in his mind that it had
not been for the breaking out of the Civil war in 1860, the full
consummation of his plans would probably have been carried out, or
at least begun at that very time. And it is interesting to note
here that his original ideas were very similar to those embodied in
the final project which was carried out so many years later. But he
joined the great gold rush in 1849, being the Indian agent at the
time. He was also instrumental in securing the railway line from
the east to cross this desert. In his diary of that time he
describes most graphically his first excursion to that region in
May, 1849, which might well be quoted here in full if space
permitted. It was on this trip when he first conceived the idea of
reclaiming this great desert. He presented his scheme to the
California Legislature, which promptly ceded him all state rights in
the construction of his proposed reclamation plan of this desert
waste. He next took the matter to Congress, where he received a
favorable report from the committee in charge. But then the crash
of arms at Fort Sumter prevented any further action at the time. At
the close of the war he lost no time in the prosecution of his one
absorbing purpose. But during the troubles attendant upon the
reconstruction period after the war it was crowded aside from time
to time in the maze of national affairs. Thus on the eve of the
session in 1887, when another hearing had been promised him, he was
suddenly stricken ill and died. In writing of her father's pet
project afterward, his daughter said he had lost a fortune and had
finally given up his life in the effort to achieve success. And yet
some think he was ahead of his time, the precise period for the
consummation of his project, even if successfully carried out at
that time, might not have proved for the best interests of the
region. The railway was not built until 20 years later. And yet
Dr. Wozencraft is still credited as being the "father of the
Imperial Valley."
THE COLORADO ASSERTS ITSELF
Among the first travelers on the new railway
line was Mr. H. S. Worthington of Kentucky. He, too, saw the great
latent possibilities that presented themselves in this valley and he
enlisted the interest of financial friends in the matter, and tried
to induce eastern capitalists to join in the project. But nothing
came of it. Then in 1883 the New Liverpool Salt Company viewed the
matter from a wholly different side. They filed on some of this
salt land, leased a portion of the railway and went to work scraping
the salt in vast layers from many square miles of these salt
bottoms, using steam plows and then purifying the product. It was
the economic and business end of the proposition as it then
presented itself which appealed to this company. And their profits
were large until the great Colorado River came down as of yore and
protested to such a mercenary perversion of its natural advantages.
This flood came in 1905, 1906 and 1907, and the salt company's plant
was wiped out completely for all time. Then the great river had its
way and left a great lake sleeping in the sun, which finally
absorbed the water and left other great waste.
But now the great transformation was close at
hand. The Colorado was here flowing nearly fifty feet above the
sea, while the floor of the valley, in some places, was 150 feet
below the sea. It was thus easy for the engineer to see the
possibilities for irrigation of this great sunken valley. The
railway crossing this desert made a ready market for all products of
the soil. And yet at that time little was known of the marvelous
fertility of this salt sediment. But the early settlers were
impressed with the combination of favoring conditions. Careful
observers and writers of that period began, even in January, 1901,
to predict wonderous things for the Valley under proper irrigation.
It was seen that the territory was distinctly
an agricultural section, and must depend upon that feature alone for
success after its reclamation. Government students found five kinds
of soil in this basin: dune sand, sand, sandy loam, loam and clay.
This material had blown into the desert from the beaches on the west
and northwest, and would eventually, in combination with the other
soils, form good arable land, they thought. The underlying subsoil
had much organic matter, including nitrogen and potash. And yet it
was said that less than one per cent of all the land in this basin
would prove worthless for high cultivation. But the result was far
better than any had hoped for.
At Yuma this Colorado water was analyzed and
found to carry silt having a fertilizing value of $1.65 to each
three-acre foot. Climate, soil and air therefore here formed a
combination of necessary factors for productive success in this
Imperial Valley. The Secretary of Agriculture at Washington in 1910
said; "We must look to the west, especially the reclaimed west, to
add sufficiently to our productive area, and to care for the
increased demand which the next few years will show."
Here was the Southern Pacific railway, with
enormous capital and every facility, controlled by men keenly alive
to the importance of the business of this Valley, who knew that the
company's interests were closely connected with the development of
the Valley. Of course, the early settlers were confronted with the
high cost of transportation and living expenses generally. But
this was materially offset by cheap poultry, eggs, dairy products,
honey and some vegetables. Water for domestic use in the midst of a
desert with streams of alkali deposits was, of course, a serious
problem at first. And yet it was found that during eight months of
the year, after proper filtration, this water was potable and even
healthful.
Such, then, were some of the economic
conditions that prevailed in this Imperial Valley in the summer of
1902 when the district had already become a recognized factor in the
scheme of reclamation. The towns of Calexico and Imperial were well
organized and the population was increasing. And yet it must be
said there was some anxiety regarding the narrow stream of water
flowing from the Colorado to the distributing canals of the mutual
water companies. Anything that might interfere with the even flow
of this water would, of course, endanger the whole enterprise. But
the commercial progress of the region during 1902 and 1903 continued
rapid and was greatly accelerated by the construction of the branch
railway from the Southern Pacific at old beach, though only grading
had been begun on this contract at first. The company soon took up
the work in earnest and the road was completed early in 1903. This
gave the Valley a great boom. In April of that year the total
acreage in crops was about 25,000, 6220 in wheat, 14,423 in barley
and smaller areas in other grains and alfalfa. Then there were
large areas devoted to fruit, melons and other vegetables. These
crops would have been much larger in fact but for the inadequate
supply of canals owing to financial difficulties. But in the
following year this acreage had been increased to 100,000 and the
population to about 7000. In 1904 the steam railway line had been
extended to Calexico, which was already a thriving trade center.
The towns of Brawley and Silsbee were next reached by the canal
system, and water companies Nos. 4, 5 and 7 began operations. The
town of Imperial grew with marvelous rapidity, a fine hotel and
various other business houses being built. About that time the
Imperial Land Company became an important factor in the progress and
development of this place. But at this stage some defect was
discovered in construction at the Hanlon headgate. It was found too
small, and the money needed to remedy the evil could not be had at
that time. In addition to this, the Department of Agriculture at
Washington made an attack upon the soil and they also claimed,
through the Reclamation Service officials, that Imperial Valley had
really no right to use this Colorado water. But as usual, these
matters were temporarily adjusted and overcome for the time,
however. But there were various other obstacles of a kindred nature
that were encountered afterward, due, in part, to an excessive
amount of silt that was being thrown into the canal by the Colorado
River. There were then about 9000 people in that valley and their
crops covered some 150,000 acres. They all wanted water and must
have it. But even this was soon remedied, and the clouds that hung
over the years of 1905, 1906 and 1907 all vanished. But it was the
beginning of the end of the California Development Company.
According to a report made in 1913, there were
then about 250,000 reclaimed acres under cultivation in this
Imperial Valley. The soil seemed well adapted to the growth of
practically every crop that was grown in the United States, with
very few exceptions, such as some of the deciduous fruits, which
required a period of frost and snow which are never known in this
valley. A leading crop of late has been the alfalfa plant, which
can be cut from six to nine times each year with an average of one
ton to each cutting. It can also be used for forage for part of the
year and cut later for fodder. It remains green all through the
year, although in December and January the cool nights retards the
growth. And yet alfalfa is still considered one of the greatest
wealth producers in the valley. As a producer of beef, pork and
mutton, it is without an equal. Farmers are reaping enormous
profits from their alfalfa fields. In three years a plot of ground
rented for some $500 attained a value of $16,000. Good alfalfa land
is now worth about $175 per acre and rents for about $15 an acre per
year.
Among the newer crops, however, in this region
is cotton, which is being very successfully grown, and yields a bale
per acre. Already there are many cotton gins in operation, and at
El Centro and Calexico there are cottonseed-oil mills, which, after
extracting the oil, grind the seed into meal. The different
varieties of corn do well here, and often two crops are secured in a
season, except from the Indian corn. The first crop can be cut down
and another crop grown without replanting. Barley is also a sure
crop and yields from 18 to 35 sacks per acre. Used as hay for
fodder, it yields from two to four tons an acre.
Livestock of all kinds is extensively raised
throughout the entire Valley. And it is said that here the
yearlings attain the size and growth of the two-year-old in any part
of the stock-growing sections of the country. This is attributed to
the continuous feed of green fodder and the escape of the rigors of
winter. Many large cattle companies are already established here.
Another most attractive and profitable product
in this Valley is the cantaloupe. A leading center of this growing
industry is Brawley. Nearly 3000 carloads of this delicious table
dessert are annually shipped from this point, and the returns are
from $100 to $300 per acre. This product is now being rapidly
increased, a larger acreage being devoted to its culture. Oranges
and lemons have not been a commercial success but grapefruit is
grown most successfully. The apricot is another very valuable fruit
product here, yielding from $500 to $750 per acre in favorable
seasons under proper culture. Large returns from the growth
of asparagus are also reported. It is shipped in carload lots to
New York and Chicago in February and March. One rancher cleared
$10,000 from this vegetable alone in 1912, from 45 acres of land.
After the shipping season closes it is canned for market. Dates are
also a very profitable crop, often yielding 300 pounds per tree,
worth from fifty cents to one dollar a pound. Table grapes are also
doing well in the Valley, and there are several large vineyards.
Muscats, Malagas, Thompson's Seedless and a few Persian sorts are
usually grown . They ripen late in June and are thus off the market
when other sections begin to ship, thus securing the top price.
Such is merely a brief summary of a few of the
products of this marvelous Valley where the land valuations have
increased from nothing in 1900 to $14,000,000 in 1912, and
$20,000,000 to $40,000,000 now. Since 1912, however, the
construction of the new High Line Canal east of the Alamo River has
added some 125,000 acres for cultivation. This extends from the
Mexican boundary to the Southern Pacific main line tracks. Much of
this was part of the government grant to this company.
It is therefore apparent that the water supply
in this vast area is inexhaustible, and it is furnished to the
farmers at very low cost. It further appears that the soil of this
Valley is the richest and most fertile to be found in the American
Union today.
In the east it is very common to denounce the
prevalent practice in financial circles of "watering stocks," -
watering stocks of companies, corporations and securities of every
name and nature. The practice has resulted in loss or ruin to
millions of victims all over the land. All manner of legal
restrictions have been resorted to by legislatures to prevent such
frauds. But on the whole success has been very scant and
indifferent at best.
But here in this great Imperial Valley of
California water has really done the whole trick and proved the
salvation of thousands. We call it "irrigation" here, as it might
also be termed in the east. But in this Valley it has completely
transformed a vast desert waste of only a few years ago into a
glorious garden of fertility and production where thousands of
people are now dwelling in comfort and prosperity. And the end is
not yet in sight.IMPERIAL
COUNTY
This being among the latest productions of this
wonderful Valley, reference to it in this record has been deferred
to this later chapter. It is, of course, very evident that no such
civil division could have been created here until there was a place
to put it, or even something to make it from. Then, too, there was
no necessity for it, and the settlers were too busy with other
things of more importance to their present existence, and did not
feel the need of any such local government. It was even doubtful
whether there were any political aspirants in the region as yet.
The class of idle diplomats is rarely found among the pioneers of
undeveloped lands. They come in later after the way of progress has
been duly blazed.
All this territory had been included in San
Diego County from a much earlier period. This great desert region
had always been regarded as the most worthless part of that old
county. Nobody ever expected that anything good could come out of
this vast salt marsh and sandy waste. But in July, 1907, a petition
having been received from some of the leading residents of that
Valley for a division of the old county and creation of a new county
in this Valley, a resolution was finally passed by the San Diego
Board of Supervisors calling for an election to pass on this
question. The proposed line of division was the section line
between ranges eight and nine of the San Bernardino Mountains. The
territory embraced in this new county approximated 4000 square miles
in extent and then had a population of 20,320.
This election was accordingly held on August 6,
1907. Then, on August 12, the vote having been almost unanimous for
the erection of the new county, its birth was promptly, though not
very loudly, announced. There is no special record of any public
proclamation or celebration of the event. In fact, these settlers
were not given to demonstrations of this character. Meanwhile,
however, there had been an active contest for the location of the
county seat, especially between the friends of Imperial and El
Centro. The result was that the latter, though much younger than
Imperial, won the victory by a very small margin of votes. This led
to a close contest which for a time came near being taken to the
courts for decision. But better counsel prevailed in the end and a
board of supervisors was duly elected for the new county. The
first session of this local legislature was held in the Valley
State Bank building when Mr. F. S. Webster, of the third district,
was chosen chairman. And in this place it is significant to record
that the very first measure which was adopted by these pioneer
officials and settlers here assembled as local lawmakers, was an
ordinance prohibiting the sale or distribution of malt or spirituous
liquors anywhere in the county except under the most rigorous
restrictions. The third ordinance, passed at a subsequent meeting,
was a measure prohibiting gambling or betting. This will give some
idea of the general character and personal motives of these early
settlers from a moral standpoint at least. They were determined to
begin right, and they did, for these laws were duly enforced.
The first sheriff was Mr. Mobley Meadows, and
he secured a temporary courthouse in a part of an old furniture
warehouse and real estate office. Two of these rooms were set apart
for a jail in which to confine malefactors. It seems that the
parent county of San Diego had refused to divide up a proper share
of the public moneys to the new county. But these pioneers were not
contentious, and after a time a satisfactory settlement of the whole
matter was made in an amicable manner.
Near the close of 1907 a fine new jail
structure had been completed and the county offices were removed to
the new building. Two years later a site for a permanent courthouse
building was selected west of the Date Canal. But sometime before
this the first newspaper in the town was established. The
importance and value of a newspaper in the progress and development
of any new country, and especially in this Valley county, cannot be
overestimated, and this well-edited sheet was fully recognized by
these intelligent and enterprising people, who have given it proper
support.
EL CENTRO. - The town of El
Centro, now the capital of the new county, had antedated the county
itself by some two years in its organization. The townsite belonged
to Mr. W. F. Holt, and a flag station named Cabarker had been
established there by the Southern Pacific Railway. Mr. Holt sold
this site to a Redlands syndicate which exploited it under the name
of El Centro, which has been retained ever since. There was a hotel
which had been moved over from Imperial, and a small real estate
office on Main Street. Water was received from a lateral ditch
leading from the canal west of the town. The construction of the
present El Centro hotel was soon begun and also the Holt Opera
House. And yet, it must be said, that this shire town of the county
then contained only about a dozen permanent settlers. But the
abounding faith in the rapid development of that region, which had
animated these people from the beginning, actuated them still. And
today El Centro has a population of 7500 and a total of building
operations in a year of nearly one million dollars. In 1912 the
various industrial structures there were valued at $241,900;
commercial buildings, $83,300; educational structures, $65,000;
residences, churches and hospitals, $16,400; hotels, restaurants,
etc., $15,700; a total of over half a million dollars. There were
81 new residences built that year at an average cost of $2000. And
the total assessment of the land has increased $10,000,000. All
this was accomplished in six years.
The Town of IMPERIAL. - This
was staked out by the Imperial Land Company in the geographical
center of the irrigable area in the fall of 1900. Dr. W. T.
Heffernan was the pioneer merchant, who built a store there and
stocked it with general merchandise. A tent hotel was opened by
Millard F. Hudson about the same time, and a house for religious
worship for the Christian Church was built in 1901. And here again
the printing press took its place in the front rank of public
endeavor. It was the Imperial Press, edited by Mr. Henry C. Reid,
whose daughter Ruth was the first baby born in the town. The pastor
of this first church was the Rev. John C. Hay, whose initial
congregation numbered just six persons, Mr. W. F. Holt and Le Roy
Holt and his wife were of this number. But the town now began to
grow rapidly in size and importance. The Imperial Land Company
opened a new hotel in the summer of 1904. Mr. Reid guided the
destinies of the Imperial Press from May until October in 1901, when
he was succeeded by Edgar F. Howe. During Mr. Reid's control he
published a graphic sketch of the new town as he first saw it in
March, 1901. Material had arrived for the erection of the Press
building, together with living apartments for the editor and his
family. This structure was soon a reality through the efforts of a
jolly bunch of friends under the command of W. F. Holt. The
printing machinery was in place while the walls and roof were being
built around it and even while the first edition of the paper was
being put in type. When it is stated that the fixed population of
the desert city that first summer was less than a dozen, it will be
seen that the editor's neighbors were not very numerous. How he
obtained his news, his subscriptions, or his money to pay his office
staff does not appear.
CALEXICO. - On the border line
of the new county, and its sister town of Mexicali, is one of the
most prominent towns in the Valley, being tributary to a vast
extent of territory in Mexico that is very fertile, having large
ranches producing wheat, barley, cotton and similar crops. It owns
its water and sewer system, has well-lighted streets, miles of
concrete sidewalks, avenues of fine shade trees, splendid schools
and churches. The California Development Company has its offices
here. The United States Custom House is here, and there is a large
industrial district for handling cotton, gins, oil mills, compress,
etc., warehouses and many fine blocks of buildings.
HEBER is four miles from this
point northward and has become one of the largest shipping stations
for stock, hay and grain in the valley. It also ships many carloads
of cantaloupes in the season and it has a good hotel.
BRAWLEY, nine miles north of
Imperial, is the great cantaloupe center of the Valley, some 3000
carloads of this luscious fruit being shipped from here annually.
And it is claimed that this place produces more vegetable products
than all the other towns in the Valley combined. It is a very
progressive town, owns its own water and sewer systems, has a fine
public park, several social clubs and churches, cotton gins and a
creamery. Among the leading vegetable products are dates, apricots,
grapes, peppers, beans and peas. It has the largest cantaloupe
packing shed in the west.
HOLTVILLE, also an incorporated city, is rated as the
gem of the East Side section. It is the only one in the Valley
having artesian water. Much public spirit has been shown here,
and there are many public improvements with others in prospect.
The adjacent territory is mainly devoted to alfalfa, cotton,
grain, and stock raising, although an extensive acreage is now
being planted with the cantaloupe melon. It is claimed that
this is the only place in the United States where one can eat
breakfast below sea level and sleep above it. The Holton Power
Company here supplies the entire Valley with electricity, and
the great plant is operated by water power.
In addition to the towns briefly
mentioned there are Calipatria, Silsby, Dixieland, and many
other smaller settlements all through the valley which are ready
to blossom into business activity. Vacant houses are unknown in
any of these towns today.
Such is the record of the men who came
into this Valley knowing it was a forbidden desert without a
redeeming feature. It must be apparent to anyone that it took a
vast amount of courage and persistence to start the development
of a ranch of any kind here in those old pioneer days. They had
to brave the storms miles from any supplies, and away from all
the comforts and advantages of civilization. Even ten years ago
there was only a single telephone line to Flowing Wells, forty
miles to the railway. Now there are all manner of modern
facilities all through the Valley, and the newcomers may go and
come at will. But it always takes men of this class, full of
courage and determination, to blaze the way of civilization and
progress in any new country like that. Those who are made of
milder stuff are always ready to follow where they see that
success has been already achieved, and in this they are quite
willing to share liberally.
This is a subject susceptible of a great
variety of definitions. It covers many aspects and features not
readily embraced in few words. Of these, temperature is only
one, though most important perhaps in the average range
throughout the year. We often read of this or that place being
endowed by Nature with the "finest climate in the world." But
she rarely distributes her favor so lavishly in one spot. And
such an expression really means very little in the abstract
anyway. It gives the average person only a partial notion of
the general meteorological conditions that prevail. There are
so many elements that enter into the finest estimate of climate
in any particular place that personal investigation extending
over a considerable period of time seems almost imperative.
Then, in addition to all this, there is also a wide diversity of
opinion in regard to just what constitutes the best climate.
Perhaps no two persons would precisely agree upon this
fundamental point. And this is as it should be, or the various
latitudes of the earth would not all be inhabited. People
become adapted to the climatic conditions which prevail in the
region where they live.
The tern "equable" is usually applied in
speaking of the most desirable climate enjoyed by human beings.
Old geographic writers designated it in this rather indefinite
manner when they meant neither too hot nor too cold, too dry nor
too wet, but just pleasant most of the time, without any
extremes of temperature or any violent atmospheric
disturbances. And this is perhaps an ideal condition of the air
that most nearly agrees with the average human mind. And yet
some people are not entirely satisfied with such uniform
conditions. They find it monotonous and prefer changes, though
very apt to rebel sharply when these changes become very sudden
and drastic.
Climate therefore depends primarily upon
temperature, of course, but also upon the relative humidity of
the atmosphere. And all these things depend upon the location
of the place with reference to the equator, not only, but the
altitude above the sea. The terms climate and weather, however,
should not be used indiscriminately, as there is a distinction
between them. Climate is a condition of a place with relation
to certain meteorological phenomena, and the term weather has
reference to these phenomena themselves.
As to the climate of this Imperial
Valley, nine months of the year are considered perfect, and
without any rival. It is extremely rare that the region is
visited by frost. There are no violent storms, and rains are
seldom known. But the remaining three months of every year are
methodically and admittedly hot. But it is at this very time
that the green things growing are improving every shining hour,
and making the farmer's heart glad. And yet settlers soon
become inured to this heat, and both men and teams work without
much discomfort. It is cool in the shade and the nights are
always cool, affording restful sleep, while the sleeper dreams
of his readily ripening fruit and their early arrival in the
markets to catch the top prices ahead of other competitors in
less favorable regions.
There is so much of interest in the
Valley Year Book of 1902 as indicated by Jose Huddleston in her
contribution to the history of the following year that the
writer takes the liberty of quoting copious excerpts therefrom
in this chapter. It shows the contrasting conditions between
then and now in this great Valley in a vivid manner.
She arrived at Flowing Wells in October,
1901, and she called that the "jumping off place," or the end of
civilization. Nothing was visible then but glistening sand, a
little sagebrush and mesquite. Her little party spent the night
under a tent in the desert and without sleep. Next morning at
six she took the stage for Imperial, 33 miles away. They
finally reached there at four in the afternoon and again stopped
under a tent, kept this time by a Chinaman in payment of the
rent, wood and water being furnished him by the owners. The
land company had a very small office in the town, and Le Roy
Holt, now a banker, kept a small grocery store. The Imperial
Valley Press was issued from this building every week over a
miniature printing office where the printer's family lived.
There was also a Christian Church building through the influence
of W. F. Holt, and a school building, and these few small
structures comprised the town of Imperial at that time. A
little patch of sorghum was the only green spot in sight. This
had been planted as an experiment by Mr. Patton and was the only
touch of color in that great sand waste. Mr. Huddleston opened
the first barber shop in October, 1901. Then for the first
time, it seems, the men of that Valley began to cut their hair
and clip their beards. Soon after this two more tents were
struck, and in one of these Me. Huddleston baked bread with a
gasoline stove, three loaves at a time, and 21 loaves a day. As
room in this oven could be found he slipped in a pie. Of
course, all were delighted with this homemade innovation. Then
the writer relates in the following December the Valley was
treated to a violent storm of snow, rain and sleet.
When the first cow was brought in, tied
behind a wagon, a great sensation was created. Mrs. Huddleston
was keeping a restaurant, and the owner of the cow stopped there
and told her she could have some fresh milk if she would milk
the cow. It was the first milk she had seen in seven months.
The main canal was then under construction and she received
water through a small branch ditch when it was not choked with
sand. In August, 1902, the ice factory began operations there.
But in the May previous she had gone to Calexico, which was
separated from Mexico by a small ditch ten feet wide. A hotel,
blacksmith shop, custom house office and half a dozen tents
comprised this first town in the Valley at that time. Then this
picturesque writer describes the beauties of the mirages seen in
that region in this way, and says that those who have never
lived where these wonderful aerial phenomena occur can have no
conception of such beauties. "On looking south we have often
beheld the mountains turned upside down, one above the other.
At other times a full-rigged battleship was seen so plainly that
even the port holes were visible. Again we have seen the ocean
and watched the breakers sweeping over the sands, and could see
the spray from the rolling waves. Toward the east there was an
immense castle with beautiful turrets with iron bars at the
windows. A little farther north there appeared to be a hole
through the mountain which seemed about four feet in diameter,
showing beautiful green on the other side. Another time, toward
the east, an immense bird seemed to be feeding, a crane perhaps,
with a bill about a foot and a half long."
"And so, where the winds have met, and
the seas were swept aside, We have builded our homes, we have
tilled the soil, and we view it all with pride."
It must be assumed that long before
Columbus turned his Spanish prow toward this western hemisphere
it was inhabited by a swarthy race of human beings whom we have
been pleased to call Indians. Whence they came or how they
originated are questions which have never yet been
satisfactorily answered, nor ever will be. Ethnologists and
other scientific investigators are still wrestling with these
fundamental questions. And they arrive at different
conclusions, just as they do as to the precise origin of the
Negro race. But when this new western continent was discovered
the Indian was found in possession of the lands under widely
varying conditions and aspects, depending upon their location
and mode of life. These people we have been content to
designate as the native Americn race or aborigines. The Jesuit
missionaries in this California peninsula divided
them into three classes or tribes, the Pericues, Monquis and
Cachimies. These tribes were subdivided into various branches,
and again into families and rancherias. They were all tall,
erect, robust and well formed, as a result of their nomadic life
in the open air, together with their wildwood habits. Though
not disagreeable in features, they seemed to delight in
disfiguring themselves in various ways. Their complexions were
somewhat darker than those found in Mexico, and became almost
black as they grew older. Their hair was black and straight,
but they had no beards. Their teeth were large, regular, and
very white. This native population has been estimated as high
as fifty thousand. But it is thought it did not really exceed
half that number. A census of fifteen missions taken in 1767
found only about 12,000. In fact it is said that one might
travel for days and not see a single Indian. No records have
been found to show that they were in any way connected with any
other tribe or people. As already remarked, no effort seems to
have been made to trace their origin. That they were inhabiting
such a desolate country of their own volition is hardly
possible, and it has therefore been surmised that they were
driven out of some more favored region by more powerful tribes,
and then sought refuge among the vast wastes of this peninsula.
They seemed devoid of all knowledge or even native intuition.
They thought California was the entire world, visited no other
people and had no visitors, cared mainly for filling their
stomachs and toasting their shins in idleness. Even the native
hunting instinct, so common with other Indians, seemed to be
dormant in their minds if they had any minds at all. They
wandered from place to place aimlessly, sleeping on the bare
ground, rarely spending over one night in any one place. They
rambled about in search of water, fruit and food of some kind.
Only when ill did any of them get any sheltering hut. After
their lessons at the mission they would squat on the floor. The
men were entirely naked, and the women often wore belts around
their waists if they wore anything. When giving clothing they
would discard it as soon as they got outside. They made sandals
of deer skin, and sometimes wore strings of shells and berries
in their hair and around their necks. They were armed with bows
and arrows and had a few rude stone implements for digging
roots. Baskets and cradles were made of tortoise shells. The
men carried burdens upon their heads, the women upon their
backs. They knew nothing about cooking and each cooked for
himself. They ate anything and everything - roots, fruits,
buds, seeds, and flesh of all kinds of animals, deer, wild-cats,
mice, rats, bats, lizards, locusts, caterpillars, and even
snakes, old bones and carrion, so disgusting and filthy were
their habits. And yet we are told they were healthy and rarely
got sick, but remained strong and vigorous. They could endure
hunger longer than the white man, but they were also gluttons
and could gorge fuller. Seventeen watermelons and six pounds of
unrefined sugar at a sitting was reported. But they made no
intoxicating liquors, though on festive occasions they became
drunk smoking wild tobacco. They practiced a crude form of
polygamy, and their social customs were full of interest to the
white man, though disgusting in the extreme. They had no form
of religion or government of any kind until the missions were
established. They had neither Gods nor idols, nor any conception
or dread of hell before the missions were founded. When asked
who made the sun, moon, stars, etc., they would answer "aipekeriri,"
who knows that? There seemed to be no language of their own and
very few words for anything they could not see, hear, touch,
taste or smell, nor any words to express abstract ideas. In
fact their native vocabulary was of the most meager
description. Their language and culture went together.
In short here was a nomadic race which
seemed to be regarded as the lowest scale of humanity. And if
the chief end of life is to eat, drink, sleep and pass a
painless existence, the Jesuit father was right in saying they
were happy. They perhaps slept more soundly on the ground,
under the open sky, than many European potentates under their
gorgeous canopies on their downy beds. There were no troubles
of any kind, nor any envy, jealousy, slander, or evils common to
civilization. "Where ignorance is bliss it's folly to be wise"
is the much abused adage that seems to apply here.
Perhaps the general characteristics of
this native race in Lower California have been referred to in
this general article more in detail than was absolutely
necessary, although the briefest possible summary only has been
presented from the earliest writers on the subject.
Here in this Imperial Valley the tribal
name of these nomadic denizens of the forest was Cucupah,
closely related to the Yumas, though more industrious than the
latter. They apparently lived then, as now, in the mountains of
Mexico and only came to the desert valley at time of tribal
wars. Here they left many large water and food jars, in
preparation for a siege. All of them lived in his
happy-go-lucky way among their savage instincts.
Then, after succeeding generations,
when Columbus had brought the white men over, it was rumored
that this whole country was to be dominated by the white race,
that would eventually crowd the Indians into the sea. Thus when
the boats of these whites were reported in the Colorado River,
upon which the Indians had depended for food and drink, a
general massacre was planned by this whole tribe. This was
about the year 1800, when Lieutenant Hardy of the British Navy
led two expeditions well into this great western part of the
continent in search of some river up which he could sail. He
ascended the Gulf of California, making his way past many
islands, shallows and sandbars with great difficulty and danger,
and finally reached the mouth of the sluggish Colorado River.
He pushed on to a small lake in which he anchored, and then went
further for investigation. But as far as he could see there was
nothing but a vast desert of sand, bare and desolate. Further
progress being impossible here, he turned back and reported to
his superior officers that the Colorado River was not navigable.
It should be added here that there has
been some question whether or not this English officer was ever
really in this river at all, although he called it the Colorado
in his report and maps at the time. For a hundred years
geographers thought he was mistaken, and yet he may have been
right, as the main course of this erratic stream has changed
many times since then. But upon this question however depends
the fact whether or not he was the first Englishman to look upon
this vast Colorado desert. And the point is not a vital one
after all; in any event the great river was well worthy of his
best efforts.
This is one of the longest rivers of the
world when its tributaries are included. It begins at the
junction of the Grand and Green rivers in the southeastern part
of Utah, the whole river being really a continuation of the
Colorado in its upper part. Its mileage is about 2000, and the
drainage about 800 miles long, varying in width from 300 to 500
miles, with a total of something like 300,000 square miles. It
flows through Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, California,
Nevada, New Mexico, and Mexico. The lower basin of the river is
only slightly below sea level, with some mountain ranges rising
2000 to 6000 feet in the air. The upper part of this basin is
from 4000 to 8000 feet above sea level, and it is bordered on
the east, west, and north by snow-clad mountains. Through this
plateau there are deep gorges, transverse valleys and canons
which are dry most of the year. Among these and other
tributaries in this district flow the waters that go to make up
this sluggish and erratic river, which for untold centuries has
carried down the silt and atoms of earth that were destined to
transform this great valley and make it blossom like the rose.
Sluggish streams with shallow settling
basins, are required to produce this cargo of maturing debris.
And here the story of the formation of the Colorado, now
reclaimed, and the great Imperial Valley, its daughter, begins.
In 1853 government experts made
exhaustive investigations of this region. After describing the
bordering mountains, their report turns to the desert section,
and says that it belongs to the type which physiographers
describe as constructional, an area which has been depressed as
a result of a crustal movement, as contrasted with valleys due
to erosion. Its rock-floor or bottom is below tide even in
those parts north of the Gulf where the actual surface is well
below the sea. This indicates a subsidence of the earth's
crust. A marked fault-line in the mountains show that the
Valley simply dropped away at some time or other, either slowly
or suddenly. There are therefore topographic characteristics of
a faulted-block tilted toward the northeast and plunging into
the desert toward the southeast. As the entire basin is
occupied by lake silts and alluvium of most recent origin, it is
evident that these fault-movements were of a very late period.
Everything strongly points therefore to the fact that this
desert valley is associated with structures in which faults are
prominent. When this valley-floor subsided there must have been
a great inrush of the Gulf waters. Scientists agree that at a
comparatively recent geological period this section was covered
by the waters of the Pacific. It was here that the Colorado
found its way in past ages and tumbled its load of silt year
after year, forming at last a delta near its mouth which spread
in time and buried the original floor of the Gulf under hundreds
of feet of mud and alluvium, and finally cut the Gulf in two by
building up the delta dam which separates this Gulf depression
from that known as the Salton Sink.
The conclusions arrived at therefore by
these government geologists are that this Colorado desert was
not a desert at all at first, and only became so when the floor
of the basin settled probably 1000 feet, became inundated by the
gulf, received the salt-laden waters of the Colorado and Gila
rivers, with their numerous tributaries, thus forming a delta
and lake was into which the water poured for centuries until the
surface of the lake was about forty feet above the sea and
extended over an area of more than 2100 square miles, and
finally receded gradually year after year, shrinking away
entirely, leaving a great solid bed of soil, rich alluvium and
detritus from 250 to 1000 feet deep.
GOVERNMENT ANTAGONISTIC
It is strange to record here that
apparently from the very inception of this great reclamation
enterprise the attitude of the national government seemed
antagonistic. At times the work was much retarded from this
cause, the operators becoming discouraged, and in some cases
fell into discredit in the community. This opposition came, not
only from the reclamation service department, but also from
other branches of the government from which every assistance had
been expected. This was mainly attributed to the dilatory
tactics of the officials in sending inexperienced men to
undertake work of such large importance. For instance, the soil
survey made by the Agricultural Department in 1901 and 1902
resulted in such an unfavorable report that for a time
operations were entirely stopped, and the faith in the
enterprise became much impaired. The substance of this report
was that the alkalis would rise to the surface and destroy all
plant life. But the wisdom of that cruel prediction has been
amply refuted from that time to this by the marvelous crops
produced in the very parts of the Valley where the trouble was
expected. And yet at the time the blow was a sad one for the
projectors. There was also trouble from the Government Land
Department. And this made it necessary that a resurvey of the
lands in the Valley should be made. This was authorized by
Congress in 1902, and it took seven years to complete it. But
even this snarl of red tape was finally untangled.
But meanwhile the projectors were
confronted with an empty treasury once more. Then resource was
had to the Southern Pacific Railway Company, which was of course
deeply interested in the development of the Valley. At the
instigation of Mr. E. H. Harriman, after careful investigation,
a loan of $200,000 was secured on certain conditions. But then
came a break in the Colorado River in June, 1905, which had been
preceded by some water-sewage the past two years, due to some
defects in the construction system. But again all these
troubles, and many others which followed from periodical floods
unprecedented, were successfully met and surmounted, as all
others had been.
On the far eastern side of Imperial
County are 17,000 acres of the finest land in the world which
are now watered by the diversion of the Colorado River under the
Laguna Dam system. This great dam is nearly a mile long by 240
feet wide, and it raises the water in the river about ten feet.
It stands as a monument to the engineering skill of the
government. It will eventually reclaim about 130,000 acres of
land. And to this will be added some 100,000 acres from the
Imperial Mesa land.
This new county, therefore, seems like
an empire in itself, being 84 miles long from east to west and
54 miles from north to south, covering about 2,600,000 acres.
About one-sixth of this, now known as Imperial Valley, lies in
the middle of the county, extending toward the Mexican line
toward the north some 40 miles. The Salton Sea is in the
western part of the county, the probable remains of the
California Gulf.
And this leads to some special mention of
the women in this Valley. Too much honor cannot be awarded them for
their most effective services here. A volume might well be devoted
to these women for their share in the work of development in this
new country. They endured many of the hardships described in this
work of achievement and struggle. They followed their husbands and
sweethearts into this barren country even before the success of the
reclamation operations was assured. They lent not only
encouragement but actual and most effective assistance to the men
from the very first. And it has been well said that but for these
devoted women the reclamation of this Colorado Desert might have
been possible, but it would not have been a fact.
Among these early pioneers was Mrs. Le Roy
Holt. Mr. Holt, who later became president of several banks in the
Valley, came to Imperial in 1901. In June of that year Mrs. Holt
followed her husband. She arrived at Flowing Wells Station on the
Southern Pacific, expecting to settle in the Valley. Being the only
woman in the stage-coach, she was accorded a seat beside the driver,
some ten feet in the air. Reaching the Salton Sea, they found
barrels of water left by the freighters, there being not a drop on
the entire road between the station and Imperial. A lone mesquite
tree, called the "15-mile tree," was there used as a mail-peg upon
which to hang the mail sack for the Bothwell Camp on the east side.
And yet there is no record showing that this mail was ever robbed.
It was an all-day trip, the horses were well-nigh exhausted, and the
destination was not reached until five o'clock. The only men in
sight were Mr. Holt and Mr. Reid, the editor of the Imperial Press,
which was the first newspaper issued in the Valley. Of course the
newspaper man is always among the pioneers in every bold undertaking
or project of this nature. He never gets left. And this was the
inspiration which animated his local paper. Water was king and here
was its kingdom. Three months later Mrs. Holt paid her second visit
to Imperial. This time she came to stay and has been there ever
since. The only hotel was of canvas, and there was a little church,
a printing-office building, one store-room, and a little 10x12
office for the Imperial Land Company. A Chinaman at the hotel was
the manager, and there was no landlord. The only other woman in
sight had just arrived by the stage. She took up some land and
moved out at once. Thus the only woman in Imperial and for miles
around were the wife of the editor, Mrs. Frost and Mrs. Holt. There
was then no wire communication with the outside world, and the mail
was often many hours behind time. The people occasionally became
hungry and found difficulty in keeping warm, as the stovepipe would
blow away, when a neighbor would give chase on the Holt pony,
fearing it might land in the canal and be lost forever. Mrs. Holt
recalls one Sunday when they got no meal at all all day, the dust
being so thick they could not eat in the tent-house. The children
were kept in bed in case the tent was blown over.
On being asked why they stayed in a place
like that she answered with much enthusiasm, "Because we loved the
days that were not windy and dusty, and we loved also the bigness of
our surroundings. We never felt lonely nor homesick here; even the
stars seemed nearer to us."
The Rev. John C. Hay was the pastor of the
little Imperial church, which had only six persons in its
congregation at this first service and three scholars in the Sunday
school. In the evening the hotel Chinaman took part and sang "Onwald,
Chlistian Sojers" with great effect. Ruth Reid, the editor's baby,
was the first child born there, and Jesse and Tom Holt were the
first children who lived in Imperial. Many other eloquent hardships
endured by this noble pioneer woman might be cited if space
permitted.
Editor Reid, who guided the destinies of the
Press from May until October, 1901, gave a graphic picture of the
Imperial city in the preceding March before the little printing shop
was built, during the progress of which the paper was being put in
type and made ready for the press. A roster of the place at that
time showed a population of one dozen.
In those days the people depended entirely
upon the "freighter," with his long string of mules, for everything
which had to be brought in from the outside. And this freighter was
a picturesque character, affording much amusement to the residents.
But of course the method of transportation was excessively slow,
costly and unsatisfactory. And yet the people were glad to get even
this service. They were not then in any position to contrast it
with better things. And the fact is, after all, that we enjoy
almost everything in this world by contrast.
The irrigation water only began to enter
the Valley in the summer of 1901, and then by a very small stream.
And yet the editor of the Press, which had just begun its career,
became so enthusiastic over the event that he used all the big type
in stock, and then concluded with this paragraph: "Imagine how
pleasant to the eye the green fields, surrounded by a barren waste,
will be to the eye." But everybody was ready to overlook his faulty
construction in view of his unbounded enthusiasm. Several crops of
sorghum, maze, wheat and barley were raised that very summer,
however, in the region of Cameron and Blue Lake. Experiments were
also made with cantaloupes and Egyptian cotton, with such surprising
results that the government began to doubt the reports of their own
officials. It was apparent that the only requisite was water.
The Imperial Postoffice was opened in May,
and the first public school, under Prof. Carr, from Nevada City, was
started. The next day after this school opened there were fifty
pupils enrolled. Some of these walked five miles every day to reach
it.
The following spring the Southern California
Editorial Association took a trip through this district under the
auspices of the Imperial Land Company. This gave a new impetus to
the whole section which never died out. Landholders were then
assured that the irrigation system under construction would be
completed early in 1902. Thus extensive preparations of the soil
were made for tillage.
But now came the adverse report from the
government soil expert, which, though technical and almost
unintelligible to the average reader, claimed in effect that because
of the large percentage of alkali much of the land would prove
worthless for most crops, except on some of the bottom lands below
Yuma, where the conditions were different.
This, as before remarked in an earlier
chapter, was a great setback for the region. Even some of the
newspapers made "stories" about the hopeless doom of the much-lauded
irrigation project in the Valley. But a few of the more intelligent
and conservative editors took a more thoughtful view. One of these
called the report an "alka-lie" document. One sententious farmer,
when asked about the "white spots" upon his productive acres, said:
"Yes, it looks like alkali and tastes like alkali, in fact it is
alkali. But on land that has raised a large family, lifted a big
mortgage and paid the taxes, it is only frosting on the cake of
plenty." He denounced the alkali expert, and said he would be in
better employ prying pumpkins off these "alkali" plot.
Thus the faith of these settlers never
flagged; they kept on planting and raising marvelous crops from
their irrigated acres where they had them. Commercial prosperity
had come to stay, only awaiting more water. And it was this
personal confidence in ultimate success that animated every
landholder in the Valley, and this enthusiasm spilled over to the
surrounding country. The construction of additional canals went
bravely on, and the people began to pour into the Valley as never
before. It was, therefore, apparent that in the summer of 1902 this
Imperial Valley was no longer a desert. Water was in the ditches,
seeds were in the ground, and the entire region was dotted over with
homes of industrious and happy people. The old desert was now
crossed by an important railway line which skirted the Valley on the
northeast with its rails.
But up to this time little was really known
as to the great fertility of this unfailing land-enriching silt.
The Orange Judd Farmer, however, predicted even then that this land
in ten years would sell for $600 an acre. The Valley being strictly
agricultural territory, in addition to favorable climatic
conditions, must have the other requisites of soil fertility and
irrigation. The government "soil report" gave five kinds of soil -
dune-sand, sand, sandy-loam, and clay. This sand, they said, had
blown into the desert from the old beaches on the west and
northwest, and was caught upon obstructions of various kinds, and
held there, gradually accumulating into sand drifts, dunes, and
hummocks, and this, mixed with the former soil, made a good arable
combination. The sandy loam was formed by the coarser sediment of
the Colorado River deposits. Underlying this sediment is a clay
strata or subsoil which carries considerable organic matter with an
abundance of nitrogen and potash. This clay subsoil is found all
through the Valley. And this, too, is a product of the Colorado
River deposits, though of a finer grade, being heavy, sticky and
plastic like that of the Mississippi River delta. As a matter of
fact less than one percent of all the land in this basin has really
proven worthless for high cultivation. On the contrary, its
fertility exceeds what the most sanguine had hoped for, and it
continues to improve in productive capacity year after year,
bringing crops of great luxuriance. There is excellent drainage
because of the uniform slope of the land. The fountain heads of the
Colorado being in the Rocky Mountains, causes a stronger flow in
summer from the melting snow, and the Gila and Salt rivers are at
flood during January and February, when the Colorado is low.
The next important factor in the productive
value of this or any other land is a good market. This has been
found mainly at Los Angeles, 2oo miles away, with its population of
600,000. Here for the past fifteen years the demand has exceeded
the supply. In addition to this the completion of the Panama Canal
opens up another branch of the market. In the transportation of
these Valley products the important railway line, with its vast
capital and large facilities, having every interest in the rapid
development of the region, is of course an all-important factor in
itself. The cost of living, which for the first few years was
large, has now been greatly lessened, the heavy freight rates having
been offset by the cheap dairy products, eggs, poultry, and
increased vegetable supplies.
The completion of the Southern Pacific
branch from Imperial to Calexico in 1904 proved of great advantage.
During part of this time, however, progress continued to be impeded
by an insufficient supply of water, although as an association of
settlers the supply was freely given, except the annual assessment
on water-stock. But of course this did not help out the inadequate
supply furnished, which seems to have been due, as usual, to the
lack of money on the part of the irrigating contractors to cure
certain defects in construction of the Hanlon headgate, but
primarily perhaps to the adverse report of the government department
of agriculture as to the quality of the soil. The reclamation
service of the government had also raised the question whether there
was any right to use this Colorado water. All these things had an
adverse influence upon capitalists at the time, who again began to
lose confidence in the project. But large destinies that are
decreed for success are rarely turned aside by small obstacles.
New discoveries were made at the Chaffey
gate, and some other improvements effected which remedied the
trouble for a time. An opening was finally made in the mud-banks of
the river four miles below the Hanlon gate into Mexican territory,
and this connected the river directly with the Alamo tunnel. This
was done in October, 1904, and the clouds of trouble which had
threatened so long dispersed at once. This Colorado River flowed
along the rim of the Valley, and from 25 to 200 feet above it. And
when the irrigation cut was made it was through 1600 feet of
mud-flats such as the river had been forming for centuries. Thus to
carry this depression below sea level was in defiance of natural
conditions, and there was some question whether the stream would
take kindly to the change, or perhaps make a new channel for itself.
The opposition to the diversion of this river
water for irrigation purposes was bitterly fought by Mr. A. H. Heber
through influential friends in Congress at that time. He sought to
convince that body of legislators that the Colorado was more useful
for irrigation than for navigation purposes. But Congress would not
agree to that proposition then. Then he went promptly to President
Diaz of Mexico and entered into a contract with him in June, 1904,
for the development of an irrigation project on the basis of the use
of one-half of the water of the canal, if so much was needed, being
used on Mexican soil. Engineer Rockwood was placed in charge of
this new project. But in February, 1905, before this could be
completed, the Colorado got on the rampage with successive floods,
the mud-dam at intake No. 3 was swept away, and the dike was carried
in the channel down into the Valley. Then various devices were
planned and resorted to, but the old stream refused to be
conciliated during that whole summer, and there was no available
funds in the treasury of the development company. Meanwhile the
great river, roaring with wrath, cut deeper and deeper into the soft
mud-wall between it and the men who were making frantic efforts to
curb it. Piles were sucked out, the island became flooded, and the
water lapped the base of the government levees on the Arizona banks
while the engineers looked calmly on. Finally, on August 9 of that
year, the stream turned its bed and began pouring into the Valley
toward the old lake, from which it had been shut off for ages.
About this time, however, the Southern
Pacific Company secured control of the California Development
Company, and took charge, placing the matter under the direction of
Engineer Rockwood, who then introduced his gate plan, which, was
subsequently greatly changed. But then another great flood in this
erratic and defiant river came down in November of that year. And
now the settlers began to despair of the human agencies employed to
control these vast forces of Nature, as well as they might.
Rockwood's gate-plan was again resorted to and finally completed in
April, 1906, at a cost of $130, 000. The mad river had risen from
6000 to 102,000 second feet in three days, and the impotency of man
was again apparent. But something had to be done.
Then the big railway corporation got busy
and ordered this break closed at once at whatever cost. Various
gates were built and performed wonders. It is, however, manifestly
impossible to follow in detail all these successive floods and the
methods used to control them from this time forward. But, strange
to say, in spite of all these troubles there was still much
industrial prosperity in this Valley. And yet there was much
misgiving and some, becoming desperate, sold out and moved away.
But a large majority of these indomitable settlers stuck to the
enterprise through everything, feeling sure that the great river
would be fully controlled ultimately. Meanwhile, however,
exaggerated and absurd reports were being published in outside
papers and magazines. Even the Los Angeles Examiner contained a
report that an underground fissure had opened , allowing the waters
of the ocean to pour in by a subterranean passage into the Salton
Sea, and that the Valley might be engulfed. But these met strong
refutation very soon, and the various Valley industries went
steadily on as usual, with many new homes building.
The Southern Pacific was now in control and
the slogan was, "Stop that water." And it was stopped.
Just previous to this the great San
Francisco earthquake and fire had occurred. President E. H.
Harriman, of the railway corporation, had authorized a large
appropriation for the entire work of closing this break, although he
had just arrived by special train while the ruins of San Francisco
were still smoking. He placed Mr. H. T. Cory in charge of the work,
and he proved the right man in the place at that time. Without
following in detail all methods used, it is sufficient to say that
on November 4 all the waters of the yellow dragon were again
confined to their old-time channel on their way to the Gulf of
California, and the work had taken only one day over three weeks.
But now, in spite of the hurry to complete
the dam across the break, another distressing flood broke on
December 7, and in 36 hours the entire river was again pouring into
the Salton Sea. Two weeks later, at the request of President
Roosevelt, Mr. Harriman gave orders to again make the closure, and
this was completed in February, 1907. Now once more the old river
went peacefully on its way to the ocean.
Meanwhile the career of the California
Development Company had failed to keep its promises in extending the
water-system territory, not supplying the people's needs, and had
been extravagant in its use of money. Its patrons had become
dissatisfied, and there was some merit in their complaints. This
finally culminated in an appeal to the government reclamation
service to buy out the company. A proposition was made to organize
a "water-users' association," with a fund of $12,000,000, agreeing
with the government to purchase the property of the development
company, place the whole matter under the management of the
reclamation service, and then carry on the business of serving water
in this Valley. But the plan did not work smoothly at the outset,
owing to difference in opinion to valuation. But President Heber
finally offered to sell out for $3,000,000, and this offer was
promptly accepted by the settlers, and congress was wired to that
effect. But that body turned down the plan. Then there was more
worry all through the Valley, and the development company became an
object of distrust from that time forward. In the meantime Mr.
Heber died at Goldfield, Nevada. But soon after this a deal was
made with the railway company to close the river break for $200,000,
which was given as a loan, the company being assigned a majority of
the stock of the development company as security.
Up to this time the men who had really done
things, and made the reclamation of the desert possible, like
Engineer Rockwood, who had sacrificed himself and his professional
success; Mr. Chaffey, one of California's great builders; Dr.
Heffernan, who lost his fortune, and President Heber, who had
devoted all his heroic energies to the cause, struggling through one
financial crisis after another, had merged all their interests in
this great railway company.
Finally in the spring of 1910 Judge Lovett,
the new president of the Pacific Board of Directors, decided that
the California Development Company must be disposed of at once, so
far as the railway corporation was concerned. This meant, of
course, that it should be sold at auction to the highest bidder. Up
to 1903 these promoters had very little to do with the national
government in a direct way, except filing on public land. As a
matter of fact, incredible as it may seem, very little was
officially known in Washington concerning this glorious enterprise.
Government engineers who had visited the Valley reported that the
irrigation proposed would cost $10,000,000. Thus no further action
was taken at the time. But in 1903 there seemed to be new interest
shown in the reclamation of public lands in the West. This resulted
from the work of Theodore Roosevelt, Senator Newlands, of Nevada,
and Congressman Mendell, of Wyoming. But, as before stated, as a
result of the opposing influence of the reclamation service, the
plan was defeated. Various reasons for this antagonistic attitude
were imputed. Engineer Rockwood, advanced the theory that no canal
from the Colorado River could be a permanent success unless a
diversion dam was constructed across the river which would raise the
water in order that the water might wash out the silt from the
canal. This he thought was the contention of the government
engineers at the time. But back of all this there seemed to be a
hostile feeling among the officials of the Reclamation Service.
Many attacks had been made upon the integrity of the promoters of
the development company. It had been predicted that within twenty
years dire calamity would befall these settlers in the Valley and
that they would be drowned out, their homes and fields forming the
bottom of a vast inland sea. Another consulting engineer in the
service wrote in a similar vein, warning the people of the ruin
impending. In this way the reclamation service showed their
animosity toward this project. It was even hinted that the whole
survey of 1854 had really been made in a back room of a Yuma
saloon. But the discovery of some old sticks of that survey would
seem to refute this implication. But that as it may, however,
congress authorized a resurvey of the district in 1902, but this was
not completed until six years later for reasons unknown. Then there
were still further complications and delay in getting the matter
through the general land office, as well as many technical
irregularities. And yet it is believed that while in other parts of
the west much government land has been stolen, it is thought that
none of this land in the Imperial Valley was dishonestly acquired by
those now engaged in the attempt to reclaim it from the desert.
Dishonesty rarely thrives in a desert waste. But as this began to
grow into a fertile garden men of more technical nature than ethical
sensibilities saw rich prizes here. Through some blunders of the
land office officials they found many ranches where technical errors
had been made. Thus they began many contests to titles held by
rightful owners. But few of these were finally sustained, though in
some cases they were boldly operated by professional contestors,
acting for an organization. But the courts have decided that an
innocent purchaser must be protected. Concerning the relations
between the United States government and the Imperial Valley, the
main point pertains to the full control of this headstrong
Colorado. President Roosevelt, in a special message to Congress,
January, 1907, said that absolute and permanent relief should be
afforded these land owners in this Valley in such a way as to
prevent all further trouble from this river. He said that much of
this land would be worth $500 to $1500 per acre, with a total
reaching perhaps $700,000,000, if this could be done. He asked
Congress not only to return to the Southern Pacific Company the
amount that would be required to close the second crevasse in the
dikes at the heading, but also to appropriate sufficient money that
the great river might be forever restrained from its erratic
wanderings. And he claimed that this could not be done by any mere
private enterprise. An international commission was thereupon
appointed to study the necessities of the situation. This
commission was composed of one member from the United States and
the other from Mexico. Subsequently President Taft also asked an
appropriation from Congress to control the Colorado, with the right
to carry the work into Mexico. This bill, authorizing the President
to use one million dollars for that purpose, was promptly rushed
through both houses. The claim of the railway corporation for
$1,500,000 for this work, after hanging fire for three years, was
finally allowed in 1910, though in reduced form.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta
(CHAPTER ONE CONTINUED)