Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-12-16
LOWER RIO GRANDE
Witnesses Say That Years Of Drouth
Gut Off Water from Texas
Tributaries.
GOVERNMENT HAS NO CASE
It Has Proved That There Was Once Bet
ter Navigation, But Not That the
Flow from New Mexico Aug
mented It.

phant Butte dam case before judge
Parker, continues and grows in interes
as it progresses. This is the third day
of the hearing, and considerable prog.
ress has been made. In fact, the govern
| ment has closed Its case, and the de
Tense has called one witness and entered
on the examination Of another. 1t look;
now as if the hearing would be much
shorter than anticipated. Fewer wit
nesses have been called by the govern
ment than was expected, and the cour!
has entered on the practice of night ses-
sions. At this writing the court is hold
ing a night session, and every effort is
to be made to conclude the examination
of all witnesses by Saturday night.
The greater portion of the day has
been taken up by the examination of
P. E. Harroun, of Albuquerque, an en-
gineer in the employ of the hydrograph-
lc department Of the. government, and
Mr.. Toilette, of Denver d consulting
engineer employed in connection with
the international water boundary COM
mission. The testimony of both these
witnesses was long and tedious, and
mainly confined to the volume Of wa
ter passing down the Rio Grande above
and below Ell Paso in past, years. To /.
man not up tree, the significance OF
this testimony was not apparent.
In the testimony Of the last witness,
however, the "nigger in the Woodpile,
who has been suspected, nay, charged,
as being at the base of the suit on the
part of the government, appeared. 1t
cropped out in the testimony OF Mr.. Fol
lette, whose manner on the stand i'm
pressed every one with his fairness ami
conscientiousness that the early years
of his work in connection with the in
ternational boundary commission was
devoted to the investigation of the feast
bility of the proposed international dam
$50 called just above El Paso, and that
this was done at the instigation of Gen
eral Anson Mills, who Is reputed to be
the father Of the international dam
scheme, and one of the persons who will
profit most by its construction. The ev-
idence showed that Mr.. Toilette report
ed to Mr.. Mills that there was not wa
ter enough in the river for both the in
ternational dam and the Elephant Butte
ton of the latter would be fatal to Gen
eral Mills pet scheme. This report
sheds much light on the animus of the
present prosecution.
Upon the close of the evidence for the
government the defense called Judge
Allen Blacker, formerly district Judge,
county judge, city attorney, ETC., at Ell
Paso, but now Of Otero county. Judge
Blacker has known the Rio Grande i'll
this section for thirty years. He testi-
fed that there has, during all that Pc
riod, been a scarcity Of water at El
Paso for irrigation purposes, and that
the conditions in this respect have been
no worse of late years than they were
in the COS. In his judgment the con-
struction of the Elephant Butte dam
would not In any way impair the navl-
gability Of the lower Rio Grande.
Upon the conclusion of the testimony
of Judge Blacker, DR.. Alexander M
Headley of Rio Grande City. the head
of the alleged navigation on the Ric
Grande, was called to the stand. DR.
Headley had known the lower river ever
since 1865, and his testimony was sought
to determine the extent of the alleged
navigability Of this part Of the river
and to explain the cause Of the de-
crease in the volume of water in the
river in that part of Texas On the first
point he showed that for many Years
the commerce on the river had beer
carried on in one small boat plying be-
tween Matamoras and Rio Grande City
enthusiastically. On the other point
his story proved an interesting one, ant
it was drama tically told. 1t should be
stated, to make the matter intelligible
that it is the theory Of the attorneys foi
the lower Rio Grande has been di
minishing one for the reason that sc
many irrigation bitches have been con
structed on the upper waters of the riv.
er, thus reducing the volume Of watel
on the lower river. According to the
testimony of DR.. Headley, there has
been in that section ever since 1880, ant
until June of the present year Except
ing the years 1867, when there wert
copious rains), a prolonged drouth, in
In consequence, a large section Of coun
try which, prior to 1880. was covered
with the greenest grass and aboundet
in hundreds of the fattest cattle, ha.
been reduced to a desert, over which