Imperial County CA Archives History - Books .....Some Of The Results 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, 3:26 am Book Title: History Of Imperial County California SOME OF THE RESULTS 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 Calipatria 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. 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/someofre202nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 4.5 Kb