The Periscope 2005 - Water Stories

This year our Periscope is about the influence of water on the history and development of the Coachella Valley. Our publication is divided into four sections. The first deals with uncontrolled water, a problem that had to be solved or the floor of the valley could never have been developed.The second section is a brief history of the formation of our largest body of water - the Salton Sea. In the 1930's, the big "water story" was the construction of the Metropolitan Aqueduct through the Coachella Valley. Although the water was destined for the coastal plain of Southern California, the hard-rock mining activity in our eastern mountains was the big news in the Coachella Valley in those depression days. It is our third "water story." Finally, section four deals with the successful quest for supplementary water, culminating in the delivery of Colorado River water to the Coachella Valley in 1948. Reclamation was a relatively new idea in the early 1900's and its merits had to be sold to a Congress made up of Easterners and Midwesterners. The story is told in abbreviated form here, mentioning especially the local efforts in support of the Boulder Canyon Project and the All-American Canal.

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