After the summer floods subsided, construction started on another dam to prevent flood waters from reaching the Salton Sea and Imperial Valley.
A new site was chosen just north of the Lower Mexican Heading in the Colorado River at a point where a small island, later named ‘Disaster Island’ split the river into two channels. The plan was to construct several jetties across the western channel in the hopes that the large amounts of silt in carried by the river would build up into a sand bar which would then turn the river into the channel to the east of the island. This would leave the western channel and heading dry, thus ending the flooding and saving the valley.
The two main jetties were built simultaneously, with one starting on the west bank of the river and the other at the tip of Disaster Island. It was planned they would meet in the middle of the channel, but as the jetties extended into the river and the gap between them narrowed, the speed of the water increased to the point where it became impossible to work in the swiftly moving currents and the project was abandon.
A View of the Lower Mexican Heading Looking West from a Small Island in the Colorado River
Notice the unused construction material and sand bags destined for the jetty at the far right of the image close to the water.
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