Letters to the Editor: Stop saying the Salton Sea is a man-made accident. The history is much more complex

To the editor: Anyone who says the Salton Sea is just a man-made lake that exists only because of an accident more than 100 years ago shows a glaring ignorance of the natural history of the area.

The basin containing the Salton Sea has been filled by a vastly larger lake many times over several millenniums. The whole Colorado River would change course and flow into the basin for years at a time. This lake was three times as long, twice as wide, and seven times as deep as the current Salton Sea. The old shoreline is still visible in a few places.

Before the current dams were built, the Colorado River carried a huge sediment load, and when it filled its channel, it would jump left or right into a new one. If it jumped right, it flowed into the Salton Trough; if it jumped left, it flowed to the Gulf of California.

Rather than an artificial lake, we’ve really created an artificial desert. Given its own freedom, the river would’ve flooded the entire Imperial Valley, as it has many times before.

Ted Caragozian, Ranchita, Calif.