US Presidency
1910

It seems to me sufficient to say that the man who owns and controls the land along the stream from which the power is to be converted and transmitted owns land which is indispensable to the conversion and use of that power. I can not conceive how the power in streams flowing through public lands can be made available at all except by using the land itself as the site for the construction of the plant by which the power is generated and converted and securing a right of way thereover for transmission lines. Under these conditions, if the Government owns the adjacent land indeed, if the Government is the riparian owner it may control the use of the water power by imposing proper conditions on the disposition of land necessary in the creation and utilization of the water power.