contents

A HISTORY OF IMPERIAL VALLEY 9
Company of San Diego, for excellent service.
And especially do we wish to add a word of appreciation
for the splendid, thoughtful and courteous
co-operation of Mr. Phinnie S. Packard, of
the Arts & Crafts Press, San Diego, where the "First
Thirty Years" was mechanically produced. There
never was a gentleman of finer quality in the printing
business.
NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS
From the files of the Valley's newspapers and periodicals
have come most of the facts that go into this history.
The publisher is deeply indebted to the newspaper men for
invaluable assistance and cooperation. While individual
histories of each existing publication appears in the town
histories through this volume a brief resume of the list
here will acquaint the reader with the names of the papers
and the men who have dOlH; ,heir best to portray to the
world the development of the desert throughout the years.
Imperial Press. Imperial. Est. April, 1901. Moved to El
Centro and named Imperial Valley Press in 1906. Managing
editors: H. C. Reed, Edgar F. Howe, F. G. Havens,
Denver Pellett, Allen Kelly, Lewis Havermale, Edgar F.
Howe & Sons, Edgar Johnson, R. W. Weeks, Merrill D.
Davis, and W. C. Costello.
Imperial Valley News. Brawley. Est. September, 1903.
Name changed to Brawley Net/iS in 1905. Willard Beebee,
F. H. Stanley, Myron D. Witter, Allan Witter.
Imperial Valley Herald. Imperial. Est. July, 1904. J. G.
Overshiner. Plant moved to Calexico after one month.
Calexico Chronicle. Calexico. Est. August, 1904. J. G.
Overshiner, C. A. Gardner, John B. Baker, O. B. Tout,
Bert Perrin, Myron Watson, Ray Oliver, Randall Henderson.
Imperial Standard. Est. 1906. David de Witt Lawrence,
Edgar F. Howe & Sons. Discontinued 1911.
Holtville Tribune. Holtville. Est. 1905. John B. Baker,
O. B. Tout, Norman Parks, Bennitt Bros.
Daily Real Estate. El Centro. Est. 1909. Changed to
Daily Free Lance. A. D. Medhurst. Discontinued 1911.
Desert Farmer. E1 Centro. Est. 1908. Agricultural monthly.
J. B. Baker, C. W. Collins. Discontinued 1910. Republished
a few months in 1916.
Imperia! V,tiley Magazine. El Centro. Est. 1909. Pic,
torial monthly. T. J. Boyd. Discontinued 1909.
EI Centro Advatlce. El Centro. Est. 1910. A. W. Atherton.
Discontinued 1910.
Imperia! Valley Outlook. EI Centro. Est. 1910. H. W.
Moorehouse. Discontinued 1911.
Moming Star. EI Centro. Est. 1911. Kelly & Havermale.
Discontinued 1911.
El Centro Progress. El Centro. Est. 1912. O. B. Tout.
Merged with Imperial Valley Press 1922.
Allen Kelly's Report. El Centro. Est. 1911. Allen Kelly.
Merged with El Centro Progress and later with Zanjero.
Discontinued 1913.
Imperial Enterprise. Imperial. Est. 1909. Alexander &
Kennedy, Victor Sterling, S. E. De Rackin, Harry N. Dyke,
Wm. Burtcher, L. M. Thompson, Mrs. L. M. Thompson
and Earl Waugh.
Imperial Valley Republican. Imperial. Est. 1909. J. V.
Alexander. Discontinued 1909.
Holtvittl? Leader. Holtville. Est. 1913. Richard Mc­
Gregor. Discontinued 1914.
Heber Times. Heber. Est. 1913. Geo. Hullinger. Dis·
continued 1913.
Seeley Sentinel. Seeley. Est. 1913. Oscar Sweeney, Edwin
J. Parke, W. R. Snow, Wiley MaGruder. Merged with
Imperial Valley Parmer 1920.
Niland Review. Niland. Est. 1914. Everett King. Discontinued
191 5.
Date City SUI1. Date City. Est. 1914. Changed to Calipatria
Herald 1915. T. Win Wilson.
Calipatda H emit!. Calipatria. Est. 1915. C. J. Pfaffenberger,
S. E. De R:lckin, Norman Parks, S. C. Sorensen.
Morning Telegram. El Centro. Est. 1914. E. F. Howe
& Sons. Discontinued 1914.
WestmOfland Tribul1e. Westmorland. R. F. Cheesbro.
Discontinued.
Wes/mot·land Mail. Westmorland. Est. 1926. T. M.
Hancock.
Calexico Plaindealer. Calexico. Est. 1919 Frank Roach.
Discontinued 1919.
Brawley Star. Brawley. Est. 1914. L. J. Kintz. Combined
with Calipatria Herald in 1917.
Imperial Valley Farmer. El Centro. Est. 1920, combining
Seeley Sefltil1el, The Zanjero and FarJn Bureau Bulletill.
W. A. Magruder, W. R. Snow, John McKinney, Arthur
Burke, Claire Burke, Carleton T. Joy and Geo. Bennitt.
The Zanjero. El Centro. Est. 1919. Edgar F. Howe. Discontinued
1919.
Fartlz Bureau Monthly. El Centro. Supplied by the State.
Local Editor, Scott B. Foulds.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Imperial Valley, because of its romantic development from
desert to garden, has been the subject of many fiction
stories. Then, because of the ditlicult engineering problems
connected with the Colorado River and the recent
eight-year period of consideration by the Congress of the
[J nited States of the bills that culminated in the passage of
the Boulder Canyon Project Act, the Valley and the Colorado
River have been the subject of more exhaustive investigations,
government reports and the like than any other
similar area. There are ninety-six different Congressional
reports in the reference files on the Bureau of Reclamation
in Washington. Scientific journals have dealt in detail with
all phases of the irrigation project for the past thirty years.
In the offices of the Imperial Irrigation District, in addition
to the volumes of fiction and government reports, are
more than one hundred scrap books filled with clippings
from newspapers that have given Imperial Valley nationwide
publicity during the last twenty years. Much of this
writing was done because of the appeal to the imagination
made by the undertaking to harness the Colorado, the
greatest engineering feat ever attempted by man.
If the reader is interested in more detailed information
than is presented within the limited confines of this history
he will find in the following list of publications and
articles enough to keep him busy reading for a long time.
From such sources the facts for "The First Thirty Years"
were gathered and to each writer and author the publisher
herewith acknowledges a deep debt of sincere gratitude
for his help.
FICTION
Wright, Harold Bell. The Winning of Barbara Worth.
1911.
Aiken, Ednah. The River. 1914.
Tout, Otis B. Silt-Paula Helps Build Boulder Dam. 1928.
DESCRIPTIVE
Copp, G. G. The American Nile. Harper's, April, 1906.
Deltmhaugh, F. S. The Romance of the Colorado River.
Putnam, New York. 1902.
Freeman, Lewis 1