Major Engineering Problems: Colorado River Development

The Colorado River is one of our great national resources. It drains an area of two hundred and forty-four thousand square miles, one-thirteenth of the area of the United States south of the Canadian boundary. It comprises within its basin parts of seven states and of the Republic of Mexico. Its development is, therefore, a matter not only of interstate but of international concern. The navigability of the stream, while of little practical value at present, has been recognized by treaty, and the large areas of desert public land which can be irrigated from its surplus waters add features of national interest. Taken singly or together, such are the magnitude and scope of the problems involved that they challenge the best efforts of the engineer and the states-