VIDEO SCRIPT: the Early History of Water in the Imperial Valley By
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VIDEO SCRIPT: The Early History of Water in the Imperial Valley By Brian McNeece Today, Imperial Valley is home to some of the most productive land in the world, where farmers grow 80% of America's winter vegetables--and enough lettuce to serve a salad to one third of the world's population. Yet, in 1900 the Imperial Valley was an empty, dry desert. Before the water came, the Imperial Valley was known as the Devil's Pass. Forty-Niners on their way to the Gold Rush took their chances through the barren terrain. Many left their possessions on the trail when the water ran out between wells. They and their animals sometimes died of thirst But a few visionaries saw that the Colorado River could be diverted into the desert and on to fertile land to grow food for millions. Starting 1400 miles north in Wyoming and Colorado, the River had carved out the Grand Canyon, carrying with it millions of tons of silt, or fine dirt. As the River meandered, it left that dirt in what would be known as the Imperial Valley, depositing earth from the Grand Canyon layer upon layer. Wherever the river touched the rich earth, dense plant growth sprang to life. In 1849, one prospector, a doctor named Oliver Wozencraft, saw that this dry, empty desert had once been filled with a massive lake. Wozencraft envisioned that the swirling waters of the Colorado River could be returned to their ancient home to transform this desert into a garden oasis. For 38 years, Wozencraft worked tirelessly to get the government's permission to bring water to the desert, but the Civil War and its aftermath demanded Congress's attention. Wozencraft and his dream both withered away. He died broke in 1887. Just as Wozencraft was beginning his quest, a geologist named William Blake joined an expedition to survey the West for a possible railroad route. Blake confirmed that the wandering Colorado River had spilled over into Imperial Valley and formed a mammoth lake that he named Lake Cahuilla--for the native people he met there. Blake's report helped bring the railroad from Los Angeles to Yuma in 1877and the quest to bring water to the desert began again in 1893 when Charles Rockwood, an engineer and surveyor from Michigan, took up the cause. He met William T. Heffernan, an army doctor in Yuma, Arizona who invested money to keep the project alive. In that time, to get the right to take water from a river, you simply had to post your claim at the spot on the riverbank where you would divert the water, stating how much water you would use. Heffernan himself posted the claim and took trains to Riverside and San Diego to record it at the courthouse. You then had 60 days to "prove" your claim--that is actually use the water--or the claim expired. So while Rockwood tried to raise money for the project, Heffernan and others went back to that riverbank over and over again. The Imperial Valley's rights to the most water on the Colorado River started with those postings on the river bank. But channeling the River water back into the desert would not be easy. They would need lots of money. Rockwood met a businessman from Chicago named Anthony Heber. Together, Rockwood, Heffernan and Heber formed the California Development Company in New Jersey in 1896. They needed about $40 million in today's money to build a canal across the River's delta and the desert to Imperial Valley farmland. Because high sand dunes blocked the route in California, Rockwood planned to channel water into Mexico for 42 miles and then back into the Imperial Valley near Calexico, California, a total distance of 60 miles. But who would invest their money in such a scheme? To carry water many miles through a foreign country into a dry desert, hot as a furnace? Rockwood took trains to Chicago, New York, and Mexico City trying to raise money... ....And he took steamships to London and Scotland three times with no luck. The worldwide financial panic of 1893, the death of potential investors, and the War of 1898 ruined their hopes again and again. Oliver Wozencraft had failed. Charles Rockwood and Anthony Heber were about to give up. And then came George Chaffey. Chaffey was a self-taught engineer from Ontario, Canada. When he was just 14 years old, he captained a ship across Lake Michigan in a blizzard. In 1880, at age 32, he followed his parents west to Riverside. He proved himself as a land developer and master of irrigation by building the communities of Etiwanda and Ontario, California. He built the first hydroelectric plant west of the Mississippi and became wealthy and respected. When Chaffey first heard about irrigating Imperial Valley, he thought the desert would be too hot for people to work in. But after bringing water to the blistering deserts of Australia, he decided to take on the Imperial Valley project. With a Native American guide, Chaffey spent three weeks walking the route the water would take through Mexico. Satisfied that the idea would work, Chaffey signed a contract in April of 1900 to take over Rockwood and Heber's California Development Company. Based on his reputation alone, Chaffey found funding, bought a dredger, and cut a canal from the Colorado River into a natural overflow channel known as the Alamo River. With these few resources, and a little dynamite...., the Imperial Valley was born. What Rockwood couldn't do in 7 years, Chaffey accomplished in a few months? Water came to Imperial Valley in June of 1901. And Chaffey did it for $100,000. He built a temporary wooden control gate--and the water began to flow. Farmers grew crops where no crops had ever been grown before. And townsfolk came too--merchants, bankers, teachers, newspapermen. And mule-drawn wagons with supplies. The California Development Company was in full swing from its headquarters in Calexico Imperial Valley made news across the nation. And George Chaffey held a tour for reporters to see how the desert was blooming. Chaffey, along with the thousands of settlers, had accomplished so much. But Rockwood resented Chaffey's control over his dream and wanted his company back. Chaffey didn't protect his shares in the California Development Company. Rockwood made allies and took the company over again. He invited Heber back. Chaffey was out. Farmers keep clearing land and building canals. But as good as times were, things soon went wrong. Out of all the rivers in the world, the Colorado was one of the wildest. It would rage flush and full until late summer. Then when Wyoming and Colorado froze, there would be little flow during the late fall and winter. Farmers were terrified. Their livelihood--and even their lives--depended on water. Crops were dying. Because Chaffey gate was set above river's winter level, Rockwood cut a ditch from the River into the intake canal, first in the United States, and the second year in Mexico. Then in the spring, just before the snow melt floods came, the cut would be filled in the water would again come through Chaffey's Gate. That worked for two winters. Then everything went terribly wrong for the California Development Company, and Charley Rockwood ran into another spell of very bad luck. In the fall of 1904 Rockwood cut another ditch, thinking that like before, he could close the cut with an earthen dam before the high water of spring snow melt. Rockwood didn't count on Mother Nature having a temper tantrum. In the spring of 1905, torrential rains in Arizona swelled the river to many times its normal flow. The River overflowed its bed into Rockwood's small ditch, pushing its way downhill to the west and widening the gap like a hungry earth-devouring giant. In a few months, the Colorado River had abandoned its normal course and poured into the Imperial Valley--as it had done many times in ages past. Attempting to fill the widening breach, The California Development Company drove piles through bundles of arrow weed or "cachanilla" woven by hundreds of Pima, Papago, Cucapah, Maricopa, and Yuma Indians, followed by 10,000 sandbags. But the currents just carried them away. Some settlers lost their houses, or found themselves surrounded by water. Others' houses just crumbled into the New River flood channel. Rockwood tried again in June, but by then the River was running at 8 times its average flow, and the engineers and Native American workers were no match for this insistent force of nature. Their makeshift dam was swept away. As spring turned into summer the California Development Company had to give up. They had barely enough money to keep water flowing to the farmers, so Edward Harriman, owner of the Southern Pacific Railroad, invested $200,000 to make the repairs. Engineers came from all over the world to marvel at this massive engineering disaster. In 1901, what we call the Salton Sea was empty. It was last filled in the 1700's. When water for agriculture first arrived, there was actually a business harvesting salt from the empty Salton Sink. As the water rushed into the lowest part of the Valley, it recreated the ancient Lake Cahuilla, now called the Salton Sea, the largest inland sea in California, a massive lake 36 miles long and 16 miles wide. In so doing, it inundated the New Liverpool Salt Company. The Southern Pacific Railroad had to move many miles of railroad tracks three times to higher ground.