Imperial County CA Archives History - Books .....History Of Imperial County 1918 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 14, 2006, 3:25 am Book Title: History Of Imperial County California CHAPTER I HISTORY OF IMPERIAL COUNTY THE name California seems to have been derived from a Spanish romance published in 1510. The author there speaks of the "Great Island of California, where a great abundance of gold and precious stones are found." This story attained considerable popularity about the time when the Cortez exploring expedition reached that undiscovered country. It is thought that some of the officers of that party who had read this romance were especially pleased with this name. It was euphonious and descriptive, as they had expected to find an Eldorado in that new region any way, because the early Spanish discoverers had so promised. But at that time this name was applied only to the lower Pacific coast and the adjacent territory. And it is interesting to note here that this San Diego section was on the border line of Mexico, being then a part of that nation. It was not until some years later that the name California was applied to the upper part of that country, and it gradually extended northward, with no very definite limits. These Spanish Americans divided the whole territory into upper and lower California, as it has since been known. The lower coast was first discovered in 1534 by an expedition sent out by Cortez, who later found the Gulf of California. It was not until some six years later that the mouth of the Colorado River was discovered there. And it was not until 1602 that the Bay of San Diego was located. As a matter of fact the physical geography of a very large portion of this great country was very imperfectly known. Few of the residents were even qualified to make any scientific study of its topography and very little attention was given to the subject, especially that portion lying on the immediate coast between San Diego on the south and Fort Ross on the north, a narrow strip of land forty or fifty miles in width. In fact the entire California region was a very indefinite quantity for many years, and the eastern boundary was not fully located or determined. And this condition remained until 1850 when it passed into the ownership of the United States and became one of the states of the Union. But this work is devoted to the southernmost point of the state known as Imperial County, which is the youngest and newest county of the great Pacific Commonwealth, having been formed in 1907 from the eastern portion of San Diego County. This Imperial Valley lies between the coast range of mountains and the Colorado River, a section long known as the Colorado Desert, and for ages considered worthless and irreclaimable. North of this great desert is the eastern extension of the San Bernardino mountain range, dry, barren and worthless. On the west the Coast range rises to a height of from 3000 to 5000 feet, which, on the desert side, is also dry and barren. Through the eastern part of this desert is a range of sand-dunes which extends down across the international boundary line, terminating just below. Between these sand-dunes on the east and the Coast range on the west, there is a vast, level plain which, before its reclamation, was as dry and barren as the hills and sand-dunes themselves. Most of this plain is below sea level, and was originally an extension of the California Gulf. Some sixty miles south of this Mexican boundary line the great Colorado River tumbles finally into the gulf. It is a very muddy stream which has poured into this gulf for untold ages. When the gulf reached the present site of Indio Station, the river poured into it about 150 miles southeast of that place. This gulf was then some 50 miles wide opposite the ancient mouth of the river. Gradually the Colorado formed a bar across the gulf. After a time this bar was raised several feet above high-water mark, and this cut off the upper portion of the gulf from the main body of water and formed an inland sea some 40 miles in width by 125 miles in length. It will be seen, therefore, that the flow of this river for ages has been in both directions, into the gulf and into this inland sea. In this way large masses of sediment were deposited in both places not only, but a separating bar was raised 35 to 80 feet above sea level, an increase of about 60 miles in width from south to north. Sometime after this the Colorado began to pour its regular flow into the gulf, and only in times of flood, during June and July, was the surplus water sent into the inland sea. Then finally, when the permanent flow northward ceased, this inland sea gradually dried up, leaving what is known as the "Salton Basin," a tract 100 miles long and from 20 to 50 miles wide. And this vast area wras all below the level of the sea. The bottom was a salt marsh 5 x 25 miles in extent, and 265 feet below the sea, while the surrounding land sloped gradually toward this depression. Here in this sink the Salton Sea was formed in 1891 as a result of the long continued flood of the Colorado stream. It began with heavy rains in February and was afterward augmented by the regular annual flood in June and July, because of the melting snows at the headwaters of the stream in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. About 150 square miles of this Salton Sea was so level that the water did not exceed 10 feet in depth at any point. All around this sea were a million acres of land below sea level, half of which is arable, irrigable, and especially fertile. In addition to this, there is a vast expanse of country south of the international boundary line which extends to the Gulf of California on the east. Most of this is the most fertile and productive land in the world, and it covers about 800,000 acres. Of this vast tract, 300,000 acres are irrigable. A similar acreage is subject to the annual flood overflow and some 100,000 acres are of little value from other causes. Additional Comments: Extracted from: THE HISTORY OF IMPERIAL COUNTY CALIFORNIA EDITED BY F. C. FARR IN ONE VOLUME ILLUSTRATED Published by ELMS AND FRANKS BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 1918 Printed by Taylor & Taylor, San Francisco File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/imperial/history/1918/historyo/historyo199nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 6.7 Kb