Imperial County CA Archives History - Books .....The Women 1918
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Book Title: History Of Imperial County California

THE WOMEN

   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 early 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 on their arrival 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 women 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" plots.

   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 per cent 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, 200 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 en
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 head-gate, 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 were 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,
however, 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 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 the 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.


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


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