As you watch the beautiful water flow into the desert, please accept my apologies for having been silent since November. I had some major distractions, though I think about this newsletter every day. This is quite unfair to those of you who are paid subscribers — I will be happy to move you to a free subscription if you would prefer. Send me a message.
The southeastern edge of California meets the western edge of Arizona in a desert that’s filled with water. Generally, I’m captivated by any flowing water. I always want to swim. I had to restrain myself here. I came across this canal in a verdant desert after leaving Calexico, California, a small border town marked by a collection of suburban homes with views of the border wall, and Mexicali beyond. All sand, everywhere. From the edge of Calexico, the canal seemed like a mirage in the distance. But then I got close and smelled it, pungent and layered, like moss on bark. This water began as Rocky Mountain snowmelt before flowing into the Colorado River, then through the Hoover Dam and, finally, into the Gila Gravity Main Canal system, in Yuma, Arizona, a few miles from where this photo was taken. I followed it into a nearby date farm (above), hoping I would encounter a date shake. Alas, the shake shack was closed.
These canals are unfenced, not at all fancy, purely utilitarian, and quite beautiful because of it. The constant movement of nearby trains is a plus. These are all tributes to American engineering, and it would be nice to see modern projects of all types that were made with these principals of simplicity and longevity. That doesn’t mean I believe this water should be funneled into the desert to irrigate lettuce, cotton, alfalfa and grasses. And that is where it is going. It’s kind of like watering your desert home garden with bottled imported spring water.
