El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-16

the Stanton street bridge, Dec. 70,
1893, with two or three and q half feet
of water in the river. He estimated
| the rate of t-avel at 20 miles per day,
and he travelled q days to reach Pre-
sidio del Norte, which would make the
His object was to hunt
| beaver, but he found no signs of them
until within 40 miles of Presidio, and
did not stop there. He did stop at the
beaver. When he went on with his
boat there was no water in the Rio
Grsnde above the Conchos, but water
from the latter stream carried MIN on.
'Where in your opinion does the Rio
Grande river commence?" was asked.
I'm my opinion: from my observa-
| ton and travel and work on the river,
1 believe it really begins at the mouth
of the Conchos' ,ef.
The perennial or running stream?''
Eyes, sir.
"Whst ia the distance, in your opin-
ion, from the mouth of the Conchos
to Del Rio?'' -r.s.-.
s'I think it is not less than 600 miles.
I always call it 700.''
"Were you with Mr.. Ware on that
trip down the Grand Canyon?"
81 was.''
"Who guided this expedition down
the river?" s.-,. 90
"I did,
Witness believes the distance from
Ell Paso to Del Rio TO be about ZOO
miles. nd from Ell Paso to the mouth
of the Pecos between 900 and 1000
miles, following the siuuosities Of the
stream. o.. -
THE FLOOD OF NINETY-SEVEN
Witness remembered the flood of
1897 at Ell Paso, because he wanted to
| take q trip on the river, and waited
for the flood to come down aud raise
! the water; but it didn't come. So he
| trok his boat up by rail to Marathon
| and across the country to the river.
| The river kept receding instead of
rising. till rain storm set in and
river to rise. Witness did not believe
a full river flood at Ell Paso would
re ch Rio Grande City. or even Del
Rio. Nor did he think storing all the
water in the river in q reservoir up
| here would affect the naviRable capac-
ity of the stream below.
| Samuel Armstrong was called for
the defense. He testified that he lived
in Las Cruces. In February. 1895, he
h sd met witness MoMahan At Del Rio,
and for three months thereafter they
fshed together down there, for mar
ket. On the 10Th of May, 1895. there
was a flood there. It came from Dew
| IFS river. 1t was ~ feet high In Dew
il's river and IL or IA in tine Rio
Grande. Witness knew it was coming
because he had trsinmen on the South
ern Pacific keep him posted 80 that he
might save his fishing nets from being
washed away. Witness did not believe
that the flood waters of the Rio Grande
at Ell Paso would reach Del Rio or that
the proposed Elephant Butte
dam would affect navigation:
| r. G. Daily, aged 81 years, was called
for the defense. He lives at Preside
and teaches school there. He testified
that for about IL years past there has
been q decrease in rainfall and in the
flow of most of the streams. The Ell
Paso food of 1897 reached Presidio "to
q certain extent, but very small. I"
When the Conchos comes down it backs
water up in the Rio Grande five to
seven miles. Witness said there WAS
no seven days rain where he was in
1897, as Mr.. McMshan had testified.
81. M. Morelsnd was called for the
defense. He is deputy sheriff from
Maria. He related an incident to show
that q rise in the Rio Grsnde 80
high that it was unsafe
to drive horse and wagon across the
river, all disappeared in the sands in
q distance of eight or ten miles.