As progress progressed and politicians began "controlling" the flow of water "for the good of the people" the river no longer had water in it except for occasional spurts.  Some of those spurts were twenty feet deep but most of them were only eight feet deep or less. 

All that water, going to waste.  Politicians couldn't have that.  They advocated building Painted Rock Dam and said it would back water all the way back to Gila Bend.  Nobody believed that would happen until after the dam was built and one of those occasional spurts spurted down upon the dam.  The dam held and water backed all the way back to Gila Bend.  In fact, water backed up past the bend in the river at Gila Bend.

For almost a whole month anybody with a speed boat had to speed down the river.  Eventually the water level dropped so low the boats were wreaking havoc with the tops of power lines.  A couple of divers had already been telling the speed boat owners that some of those power lines were still live but until some of those speed boats hit live wires nobody believed the silly divers. 

Consequently, these days when speed boats go speeding down the Gila River at Gila Bend there's a man at each corner holding it up off the hot rocks.  They have races at it.  The first team to find enough water to float their boat wins the race.

Okay, let's get down to brass tacks and water soluble toe sacks.  Gila Bend is only 735 feet above sea level, and there is a drop of 50 feet from Gila Bend to the Gila River bed at that point. Painted Rock dam has been proven to hold enough water (when there is any to hold) to back water all the way to the shores of Gila Bend.

If water were allowed to run freely a gallon of water thrown into the river at Gila Bend would trickle down to Yuma where the elevation is only 240 feet.  The reason this is important is that water will only flow downhill when it is allowed to follow its own inclination.  Therefore, even a politician can see that if we stay IN the river bed we will not find ANY POINT on the rive between Gila Bend and Yuma that is higher than 735 feet.  From Yuma to Isla Montague that same bucket of water will fall another 240 feet.  In other words, we have hit sea level.  Sea level anywhere means there is an inexhaustible supply of sea water to be had.  That stuff just runs together from one side of the globe to the other.

Here's a clue where I'm heading next...

Sea water is what Great White Sharks live in.  They love the stuff.  Most of them can't be coaxed out of sea water if you bait your hook with an earthworm.  "Give me Sea Water!"

Here we go, getting that sea water to the Shores of Gila Bend so the Great White Sharks can thumb noses at earthworms.  From Gila Bend to Yuma is only 143 miles, as the eel turns.  From Yuma to Isla Montague is only 97 miles, but really we only have to go 50.  So, let's do our calculations here.  All we need is about 200 miles of pipe and a turbine pump and we can have the moon making waves on the Shores of Gila Bend. 

If there is a politician in your family you might be scratching your head to figure out how big a turbine you'll need to raise sea water 200 miles.  But that's the beauty of this plan; you don't have to raise that water 200 miles.  All you have to raise it is 800 FEET and it will tumble downhill through that pipe all the way IF you lay it in the river bed.  You can put the turbine at either end and it will push, or pull, the water all the way through. 

Since water ALWAYS runs downhill, by making our pipeline follow the river bed from Gila Bend to the ocean there won't be any mountains to cross and only one pumping station will be required. That makes this plan far more than economically feasible; it becomes politically desirable. Right now irrigation turbines are being built that can easily pull water up from 1,500 feet.  Once that 200 miles of air is pumped out our turbine can be set at half power because it will only be lifting water from 800 feet deep.

The way I have chalked it out, over 200 miles of water front real estate will be created in the Gila Bend Recreation Area with log prices shooting through the stratosphere.  We'd be offering SUN and FUN.  I admit we'll have to haul our first Great White Sharks in using a semi.  Do you remember that great adage of advertising that says, "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door?"  Well if we build a better salt water resort at Gila Bend some truck driver will bust a gear shift to throw in the first Great White Shark!

Tourists would be dragging their boats here all the way from Buckeye, and even Phoenix.  Gila Bend will be offering salt water fishing, Great White Sharks, eels, giant turtles, scuba diving for buried Indian artifacts and on top of all that we will be boosting the air with rapid evaporation due to the intense heat.  That will have RAIN falling regularly in the region, instead of only twice a year..

How MUCH rain? Well, Tucson has an evaporation rate of 100 inches per year. Gila Bend can give as good a rate, or better. Therefore, by pumping this inland sea up only to 30 square miles will feed 112,000 acre feet of water into the atmosphere. Where all that moisture goes after leaving Gila Bend mattereth not. Tucson needs more water too.

I must stress that this will be GOOD rain water,
parched pure by the ultraviolet rays of the broiling summer sun.

Problems and Setbacks

Pipe is notoriously easy to lay when the bed is already laid.  This bed doesn't even have any covers to get in our way.  But, there are drawbacks to every venture and we may have to hire illegal aliens from Mexicali to lay the line for us, since everyone knows Americans won't work unless you pay them a decent wage.

I admit that funding from Congress will be next to impossible if we admit this project would help Republicans.  A reader from New Mexico has suggested our stated purpose be to produce a safe habitat for endangered bull bats.  I prefer saving horned toads myself, but I've been wondering if we can't declare the Great White Sharks of Gila Bend an endangered species too

The End