El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-22

Brownsville and Rio Grande City refer
red to above were fair indications OF thu
contour of the Rio Grande there.
20. That no tributary flows 10 to the
Rio Grande from Elephant Butte Il
the Conchos, POS miles below Ell Pas
by the axis of the river 400 miles b!
Mr.. Mahan's estimate.)
| That the construction OF the EIe
plant Butte reservoir would substsn
TALLY impair the pavigability of thu
Rio Grande at the points where it Ii
| now navigable.
JUDGE FALLS ARGUMENT.
In the argument o: Judge Fall, which
| followed, the Judge insisted that tn G
court must consider only the present
navigability of the Rio Grsnde, within
twenty years ago. He said al
the testimony of the plaintiff
went to show that in recent years
the Rio Grsnde had not contributed
materially to navigability. How then
could farther diversion of the waters
of the Rio Grandeimpair present navi-
CATION? He then proceeded to score
the government for not Offering the
records and data of the international
water boundary com mission in
evidence. If the commission had done
its duty, he said, it must have a mass
of such information as the court needed
to determine this case. Yet the gov
eminent comes into court without
bringing any testimony regarding the
great stretch of 1900 miles or more
between Ell Paso and the head of navi-
cation. 1t was the governments
business to show the character of the
river throughout. 1t was not the
defendants business to furnish this
taStjmnpv hut IL h AID done 6O.
Judge Fall then proceeded to read
long extracts from the report of Major
Emory, who first surveyed the Rio
Grande boundary, away back in the
fifties. Judge Fall gave most inter-
esting, comprehensive and lucid state
ment of the geological and Topographic
cal features of the lower river. He
showed how the Rio Grande along Its
course between the United States and
Mexico follows the low line of great
basin that was once long arm OF the
seastretching clear across the continent.
The channel of the Rio Grande along
this great basin and through the
canyons had been cut, not by the over
muddy stream from the Col
orado SHOWS, bus by the many erosive
streams that formerly flowed into tbs
the south. That explained the
presence of the channel. The course
of the Rio Grade, as Emory described
1t, is q succession OF sandy and gravel
ly basins with "sponts,'' as Emory
called the canyons, leading from one to
q mother. This TALES closely with
Wares and McMahan's descriptions.
Judge Fall then went into an elabor-
ate calculation of the quantity of water
VI hich this great stretch of sand might |
wallow up. First, in order to elm |
mate those inaccurate tables of meas |
lrement of river flow at San Maroial, |
be took the flow at the Rio Grande, N. |
NJ, gsugipg station, 300 miles above |
Ell Paso, and showed that they indicat-
I'd a loss of thirty to sixty percent of
,he flow of the river between Rio
irande and Ell PasC. From the sound
ngs for bed rock at the site
ound the Sand and gravel bed WAS
10 to 80 feet deep, and that at place
to be favorable for finding
, II rock. Taking 40 feet, instead of
> Or 80 feet, for the average depth,
a.. $50 feet as the average width OF
he overhowed part of the valley, and
allowing that sand and gravel would
axe up one fifth to one third of their
bulk of water, be calculated the size of
hos. The computation ran up enor-
nously, showing that there
vas room for twenty or
hirty times the largest floods ever
;nown at Ell Paso, and this took no &C
CUNT of the spread of the waters under
round north and south from the channel
or any account, of the 200 miles of
and and gravel from the Conchos TO
be head of navigation. He then
sked, If the river loses from 80 to go
'er cent of it's flow in distance of 300 |
niles above Ell Paso, how much will it
ave left 1000 miles below Ell Paso.
Why. Judge Fall asked, had not
1sjor Emory's report been put in
whence by the government? The
My copy of the report here was
rought by Judge Burch from Wash
'gton. 1t contained a vast amount of I
aformation bearing directly on the {
resignation in hand. The only possible c
esson why the government had not
fered 1t was that the information I
obtained In 1t was not favorable to r
1e governments contention. If the
overnment was honestly seeking to z
nlightep the court, why was it left q
,r the defense to discover by mere 2
,cident that the report was here and
,ntained data of great value bearing
D the case.
He said the life of this country was Il
rigation. 1t was not worth while U
n the governmenG counsel to tell us q
lat the government proposed to take
way the waters of the Rio Grande o
oder the plea of navigation and then =
We them back for irrigation. In the I
.ture of things the law of riparian II
ghts could have no logical applica- 5
on to an arid country. 1t had never o
zen applied here. From time i'm
emorial the right of the people to g
'e the running waters
I'D been recognized as right "
and necessary q
their very life. To enforce this c
,ctrine Of riparian rights in the arid Z
gion was to strike the heaviest blow b
at had ever been struck at any Sec G.