The California Development Company was formed in 1896 as a replacement for the defunct Colorado River Irrigation Company, which had been started a few years earlier for the purpose of planning an

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

system for the lower Colorado Desert in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The rich, silty soil of the area was found to be suitable for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, but wells tapping

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

brought up an inadequate supply of water for such a hot, arid region. The California Development Company took over the project of diverting

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

water into the

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

and

Imperial Valley The Imperial Valley ( or ''Valle Imperial'') of Southern California lies in Imperial and Riverside counties, with an urban area centered on the city of El Centro. The Valley is bordered by the Colorado River to the east and, in part, the S ...

s in the Salton Sink, a dry lake bed which today contains the

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly salinity, saline endorheic lake in Riverside County, California, Riverside and Imperial County, California, Imperial counties in Southern California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the S ...

, hoping to turn the desert green with agricultural fields. The first canals were being constructed by 1900 under the guidance of chief engineer George Chaffey. The Imperial Canal was completed within two years. It received water from the Colorado River, which, by the time it had flowed to the Imperial Valley, contained massive amounts of

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

. The Imperial Canal filled with silt at an alarming pace. While attempts were made to create a diversion around the silt blockages, winter flooding in 1905 tumbled the diversion canal. The whole of the Colorado River poured into the Salton Sink, forming the

. The area was a scene of flood for two years until the canal breach was mended. As the waters dried up the Salton Sea was reduced in size, but it is still the largest lake in California. The California Development Company was financially strained by this point, and in fact relied upon a financial loan and physical assistance from

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

to mend the broken canal. Ultimately, this "financial assistance" resulted in the Southern Pacific Company obtaining a legal judgment against the California Development Company entered in the Superior Court of California in and for the County of Los Angeles on December 30, 1909, in the amount of $1,279,865.77, an enormous sum at the time equivalent to $ today. A legal judgment had already been entered against the California Development Company in favor of the New Liverpool Salt Company on January 10, 1908, in the amount of $458,246.23 (equivalent to $ today) with interest to accrue from that date, to compensate the salt company for the value of its destroyed property, basing its claim upon the alleged negligent action of the California Development Company in cutting the bank of the Colorado River and thus permitting the flow of water into the former Salton Sink destroying its lands. The costs of the broken structure, as well as from

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

s over the disaster, made the California Development Company a lost cause. The project of irrigating the valley was assumed by the new

Imperial Irrigation District The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) is an irrigation district that serves the Imperial Valley and a large portion of the eastern and southern Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert region of Southern California. Established under the Stat ...

in 1911. An expansive recounting of the rise and fall of the California Development Company appears in a lengthy legal decision issued by the Supreme Court of California on October 9, 1915, entitled ''Title Insurance and Trust Company v. California Development Company, Southern Pacific Company, New Liverpool Salt Company, Boaz Duncan, W. H. Holabird'', 171 Cal. 173, 173-222, 152 P. 542, 542-563 (1915). There are no less than eight judicial decisions involving this case that were published by the California Supreme Court between March 13, 1911, and February 13, 1919.Laflin, P., 1995. The Salton Sea: California's overlooked treasure. The Periscope, Coachella Valley Historical Society, Indio, California. 61 pp. (Reprinted in 1999), pp.13-30

References

{{reflist
Coachella Valley Historical Society, ''The Periscope'' — "The Salton Sea: California's overlooked treasure"
by Laflin, P., 1995; 61 pp; Indio, California (Reprinted in 1999). Imperial Valley Companies based in San Diego County, California Companies based in Imperial County, California Defunct companies based in California Irrigation in the United States Lower Colorado River Valley Geography of the Colorado Desert History of Imperial County, California 1900s in California Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1896 Companies disestablished in 1911 1896 establishments in California 1911 disestablishments in California Irrigation companies

See also

References