The Inundation of the Salton Basin by the Colorado River and How It Was Caused

If the Colorado River continues to flow through the channel which it has been occupying during the last six months, the geography of the Southwest must be radically changed, for at the present time but little water from the river reaches the Gulf of California, which until recently has formed its main estuary. Except when the river is in flood, the bulk of the water flows into what is known as the Salton Sink in southern California-a distance of fully 160 miles from the gulf.  The new channel of the Colorado takes a northwesterly course, while the channeI it formerly occupied is nearly south. It is perhaps needless to say that this watercourse is not only one of the most important in the Southwest, but is notable for the immense volume of water which it carries, especially during the flood seasons. But the quantity of detritus which it holds in solution is enormous, and is nearly equal to that carried down by the Mississippi at certain seasons of the year, owing to the topography of the region which drains into it. An idea of the quantity of water carried by the Colorado at different times of the year can be gained, when it is stated that actual measurements indicate a flow ranging as high as 30,000 cubic feet per second. It is estimated that if the silt and other material brought down the river in the course of a year were spread evenly over a given ‘surface, it would cover no less than 35,000 acres to a minimum depth of one foot. Consequently, the Colorado is almost as much of a “land maker” as the Mississippi, acting like a gigantic suction dredge in carrying away the material in its vicinity and depositing it upon the lowlands near its mouth and in the Gulf of California.