El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-11
The BIG
DAM CASE
To Begin in the City Of the
Crosses Tomorrow
THREE POINTS INVOLVED


His Departure For Las Cruces
How the Government Is Inter-
ested-Its Control OF the Rio
6rande Mould Benefit the Ele-
plant Butte Company and Every
Other Interest.
Judge Marsden G. Burch left last
night for Las Cruces where tomorrow
the trial of the Elephant Butte dam
case will begin in the Third District
Terrific ,ial court of Ne " Mexico.
The case will be tried before Judge
Frank w. Parker. Associated with
Judge Burch in the propar alton aud
presentation of the governments case
are the Hon. w. b. Childers, United
State.,district attorney; Judge Brack,
of snis city: add the Hon. w. P. Sat
ton, former consul general in northern
Mexico. Associated With w. A. Hsw-
kins in the presentation OF the dam
company's case are Judge Fail OF this
city, and Judge Newcomb, fLas Cru
Gee.
The case being one in equity will
not be tried before jury. Jud ge
Rurch said yesterday that he expects
the trial to last at least the remainder
of this week. He said that Judge Par
ker, in order to get through "a soon as
possible, may hold night sessions of
the court, in which case It ought to be
finished by Saturday.
Judge Burch, sis not complicated nor
will it take any great length of time to
present. The conduct of she trial will
depend largely, however, upon the de-
fense. We cannot tell what may be
necessary to do in rebuttal and there
fore cannot gives definite idea OF the
nature of the trial. the evidence to be
the length of time it will take"
Explanatory of the case Judge
Burch said: Three points are in
volved. The supreme court OF the
United States has asked this court TO
pass upon the question as TO whether
the proposition of the construct on OF
the defendants dam and reservoir sod
the filling of The latter with water will
have a tendency to impair the naWlg-
able capacity of the sire am within tae
limits OF it's present navigability.
1.-The Fret point is. what do the do
PENDANTS propose to doe What kind of
a dam are they going,to build and
what will he the capacity of their res
ervoir?
"Ti second point is the present
limits of the streams navigability.
from Brownsville to Rio Grande city, a
distance of $50 miles.
Third, will the storage OF the pro-
posed quar- titv of water affect Injurious
ly the naviRability of the stream be-
tween these two points?
"These points are to be brought out
by scientific deductions from actual
o observations and measureme nts at va
rious government stations from actual
n hzarUafinn nd ra
ton of the nsvigability ofthe stream.
"BOth oral testimony and dispositions
will pc presented and such records and
documents, historical and otherwise, |
as may bear upon the facts in the |
>ase.s
Asked as to the legal Importance of |
his case to the government Judge |
Burch said: THE actual point at is
sue in this ca e Is not of any great i'm
main question, that of the govern
nent's control of pavigable streams,
hat is streams that are navie able for
my distance, if it be but ten miles,
has slresdy been ses,lsd by the su
oreme court. That question is not at
ssue. 1t has been settled finally. The
present case is rather of local interest
han national interest.
THE government is interested in
ng it may have upon 9th er cases where
he question of irrigation and naviga
ion may arise. In other words, it will
lelp to etc, mine what should be he
policy o! the government in matters of
his kind.
ITO the people here the navigability
II the Rio Graude appears to be ridi-
ulous. l have noticed witticisms
bout its being navigated by burro
rains and the like. That is all very
veil, but the nsvigability of the stream
3 fact, and the protection of the
tream is OF great Importance to the
government. This is proved by his
orical facts. The usesof the stream by
zen. Taylor in carrying on his opera
ious in the war with Mexico was Of
upreme impor lance. Supplies for
600 men were Jranspor ted by it. {
.ater it was of great Importance to {
zen. Sheridan, who with $4,000 men I
sed it as Il base of operations to pre- {
emit French monarchy from being !
E tsblished in Mexico. Thus in at E
oast two events it has been of import
nee TO US In our relations with our I
eigh Dor, once against her aud once {
Or her benefit.
This case is peculiar in that the
sio Grande is boundary stream and a -,
on tier stream. There are other . :
ouudary streams that are nnvigable
nd of course under government con- !
'ol, but in those cases there is no
uestion of irrigation, or the waters Z
cling taken from them for any purpose
} an extent that would be likely to i'm I I
air their baviP ability. There are
Their streams in the great, arid south