The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-07-25
,MExIC0S BOUNDARY.
Tho Mexicans Claim the United
States Is Trespassin0.
Heavy Damages Are Claimed There
fer - The Circumstances Upon
Which the Claim Il
Based.

Along No 1rcOn2defable portion ..
Its course the Rio Grande constitute.
the international boundary between
the United States and Mexico. Until
within few years the Rio Grandt
served the purposes Of boundary line
very creditably and satisfactorily, but
recently the settlers in Colorado and
New Mexico AWAY up streaIn) have
taken SO much water out of the river
for the purposes of irrigation that the
old boundary line becomes obliterated
during the dry season, cad this has
made so much trouble for the Me1icans
that their government claims of the
United States SEE, Gee, 900 damages.
The circumstances upon which they
base this heavy claim for damages may
be briefly summed up as follows:
From the neighDorhood Of Ell Paso, ex-
tending about 80 miles down the river.
there is a valley about Is miles wide,
and since the river has got into the
habit Of going dry every summer it has
cut many different and widely diverg-
ing channels with the advent Of food
water. In this way the international
boundary has been practically oblit.
Grated as far as this valley, IS miles
wide and 80 miles long, is concerned.
This has led to endless complications ae
TO national jurisdiction, and finally to
a condition of utter lawlessne@s. In
addition to this, the Mexicans claim that
for some 200 years they have been cul-
tiveting the lands Of this valley On their
side Of the boundary which were made
very fertile and productive by irriga-
ton from the waters of the Rio Grande,
but since the river has been systemat-
ically and continuously robbed of its
waters by the American settlers Of Col.
orado and New Mexico Just at the sea-
son when the water was needed for
irrigation, this valley below FL Paso
hos become sterile desert, absolutely
worthless for agricultural purposes.
They claim that the Mexicans have a
prior claim to the water Of the Rio
Grande, as they were using 1t for pur-
poses of irrigation 200 years ego. but
now they have been robbed not only
of the water, but of the international
boundary line, ar<d, indirectly, Of law
and order in the valley referred to.
In view OF all this they set up claim
for s22, 600 900 damages, but they also
propose the terms of q compromise.
The proposal Is that the United States
should build what has lately figured in
the news Of the day as the Information
al dam" This dam will (if built be
located about two and one-half miles
above Ell Paso, where the heights which
inclose the canyon-like valley Of the
Rio Grande just above Ell Paso converge
SO nearly that dam 800 feet long will
connect them. This dam, to serve the
purpose for which it has been designed.
should be 600 feet long and about 70
feet high, and will, when completed.
cost about 81 ,o00, 900. Such a dam will.
it Is estimated, create an Immense
IL miles long by four miles
wide, or about four times as large as
nny artificial reservoir now in the ex
istence. This will hold all tho sur
plus water Of the Rio Grande At food
time, and this accumulation will not
only be ample for irrigation OF the aric
lands in the valley below it on both
sides of the boundary, but furnish
supply of water sufficient to hold the
channel of the river by moderate but
continuous Cow all through the dry
season In this way the demands Of the
Mexicans for damages can be satisfied,
the international boundary maintained,
law and order restored in that valley
below Ell Paso, and the lands on the
American as well as tho Mexican side
Of the valley furnished with an ample
supply of water for purposes Of irriga-
finn -Ry1ffalo EYnreS,S