Sierra County advocate. [volume] (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960, 1897-05-21
ELEPHANT BUTTE DAM :
CHIEF ENGINEER CAMP
BELLS STATEMENT.

/ w nave no olHclhl ihlOf UHtioI
of the action of the attorney gen
eral, but are informed through the
press that proceedings viii be in
situated to prevent the eonstruc
ton Of said dam on the grounds
that il will obstruct navigable
river; that the secl etary of the in
terror had no right to confirm the
dam and reservoir rights Of the
company on the Rio Grande. the
latter being a navigable stream
and under control of the war de-
partment; and that the work was
being done by foreign corpora
ton ip violation of the alien law.
1T is not necessary to offer 10
the people Of the valley proof that
the Rio Grande is not navigable
stream. Such proof beyond the
caviI of doubt will be presented
to the proper authorities at Wash
ington. With the non navigability
of the river established, the action
of the secretary of the interior is
sustained by act of congress, ap-
proved March 3, 1891.
1T il not true that the alien law
is being violated. The Rio
Grande Dam & Irrigation Co, a
domestic corporation organized un.
der the laws of New Mexico, re-
ceived aud holds the rights grant.
ed, and is destinct from the En-
glish company that has UNDER
taken to provide the required capl
tai.
"Such action as is credited to
the attorney general does not rest
on the facts iu the case and capnot
stand We consider the matter
one Of annoyance only.
Prom ,nent among the other OBJ
jsctions raised 10y the promoters of
the International Dam, is the
claim that there is not sufficient
water to fill both reservoirs.
10 any one honestly in search
of the fact it may readily be shown
that there is more than sufficient.
1t is not matter of guess work.
Since 1889 the flow of the river
has been regularly gauged by the
photographed division of the
u S. geological survey. / know
what | am talking about
"rhe average annual flow of the
Rio Grande is more than one mil
lion acre feet, volume sufficient
10 I'll the Elephant Butte reservoir
four times each season. There Is
water enough to irtigate 100000
acres. There are but 100000 in
the entire valley from Elephant
Butte to Fort Qatmnn, Texas
"We are aware that it has been
estimated to require two years to
fill the international Reservoir.
We are also familiar with the
premises on which the estimate
was made. 1t was first assumed
CONTRARY to facD that the. river
ran at an average rate Of 365 days
in the year, at which rste, seven
months were required to fill the
reservoir.
"Three factors were then intro
due ed, viz; the water that must
pass TO maintain the channel aud
lrrigste lands below (thls extend
ing the time OF filling to twelve
montbs); aud the evaporation
from the surface and pereoIatIon
into the bottom of the reservoir
these last two factors extending
the time to two years. The calcu
lations were all right but the prem
lses were all wrong aud led to
utterly erroneous results.
" Eight per cent. of the annual
flow rusEes past El Paso in the
ninety days from April 4 to July
This eliminates the important Gle
ment of time introduced into the
calculations aud practically can
GELS The operation of the three fac.
tors mentioned.
81 can show by the same data
from which the foregoing calcula-
tlohs were made tbst the interna-
tionai reservoir would be filled by
the forty days of greatest flow if
nothing Is deducted therefrom and
that IN any event the reservoir
will fill in sixty days.
I'VE have been too busy with
our own affairs to give much atten-
ton to the agitation going on. II
the opposition continues il will
compel ns TO prove that the inter
dam people have a very
weak project II it is true, as the
promoters Of the latter project
claim, from engineering. financial