El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-13
Ell PAso. TEXAS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 49, 1899

of the river impair this present navig-
ability.
The government proposes to show,
said Judge Burch, that it would take
certain number OF cubic feet of waite r
to fill the proposed reservoir: that
some years enough water goes dow n
the river to fill the proposed reser-
voir two, three or four times, while
other years the total flow would not be
reservoir. This! would be shown by
records of measurements at Embudo,
above Elephant Butte, and Ell Paso.
below Elephant Butte. It would ais o
be shown that while in some years Of
high flood the reservoir could he filed
in days, in other years it would take
the entire flow of the river for 20 or 80
days, while in still other years the
reservoir would not be filed by the en-
tire flow of the river for the whole sea-
son. And navigation of the lower riv-
er would be impeded ac cordiugly.
The government also proposes to
show that the river is raised from one
to six feet in the lower course, the
navigable part, by these flood waters of
the upper course.
DISPOSITIONS
After q little sparring by the at.or-
neys over legal points, the reading of
dispositions was begun and continued
for the rest of the session of court tn is
afternoon. The whole time was con-
sumed in reading the depOsitions of
three residents of Brownsville, offered
by the government. These dispositions
consisted of answers to 10 direct int er
by the government, AMI an
swers to 12O cross-interrogatories by
the defendant. Following is an ab-
stract of these dispositions.
Francisco Yturria deposed that he
was SO years old and had resided all
his life at BroV nsville, is merchant;
knows personally the Rio Grande was
in good boating condition as far up as
Camargo, Mex, from 1848 to 1874, and
navig able the whole year.
Here Attorney Hawkins for the de-
fendant company reserved the right to
far back toaffecsthe'question of present
The court held that the question at
Issue is, what Is present navigability
and the question of nsvigability in
former years is immaterial, except for
its bearing on the question of the pro-
oable effect of impounding the waters |
Of the river as proposed by the defend |
ant company.
Reading of the deposition of Yturria
was resumed. He deposed that ever
since 1873 the river has been gettin g |
lower and lower year by year. He
knows nothing of the waters of the r 10 |
Grande at or above FL Pa:o. He knows
Of no cutting of TIM Der or other caus g
that would reduce the flow of the |
river. The storage of large quaati ty
Of water would tend to impair nsviga
tion. He has never been above Laredo. |
In 1S4S there were several governme MT
steamboats, plying on the river. In
1870 there we're four or five large
s. eamboats. They ran up and down at
all times of year. Now ,there is but
one small steamer, the Bessie, and on |
account of low wafer she makes one oc-
casional trip to Rio Grande City. UpI
to 1873 and afterwards merchants de- |
pended entirely on steamboats, for |
and would now
but for want of water. Now
hey use carts. Vessels drawing
Jour feet can go over the bar at the
mouth of the river, but not more than |
six miles up the river. The tide ex-I
,ends up for six miles or more. Nav
e alton was a financial success befor e |
1878 but is not now. 1t had no gov
aid. During June and July |
;he Rio Grande is mat erially incre ased
oy waters from tributaries. It is |
possible floods coming down the Rio
may come from some trib utary |
,r rains below Ell Paso. Floods Of the |
upper Rio Grande usually come down |
n June or July. The floods have /
been larger this year.:than for many
7ears past.
Robert Dalzell' 6years old, retired
teamboat owner. deposes that he first
1new the river in 1S47 or 184S, and has
ived at Brownsville ever since except |
our years; was captain and pilot from
$50 to 1874. The distance from
Brownsville to the rivers mouth is 65
niles by water, and from Brownsville
o Roma, the head of navigation, 25O
niles by water. The river was then
lavigable the year round for the
,oats then used. These boats /
oade1 drew to feet of |
Hater The riNar heuan dQWn