Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1904-12-07
FOR
RIO GRANDE
This vexed Question Solved by
Reclamation Service at Re.
cent National Irrigation
Congress.
.BENEFITT0NEW MEXICO
Out Of 10000 Acres That Elephant
Butte Reservoir will Irrgate, no..
900 Are in This Territory.

For more than quarter of CEN
| tury the Texans, New Mexicans and
| Mexicans on the Rio Grande have
water rights Of that river, and at times
the feeling has become so intense that
actual warfare seemed imminent Yet
at the recent National Irrigation Con-
gress held at Ell Paso the harmony and
| jubilance which characterized the joint
session of the delegates from Mexico,
Texas and New Mexico were so great
as to almost amount to love feast.
To those familiar with the conditions
and temper of the citizens of that val.
| ley this was source of wonder and
surprise and not little qualification.
Since irrigation came into practice
in the west, the people of the Rio
Grande Valley have been divided on
the subject of the equable division of
the waters of the river and upon the
best methods of flood storage. Ell
Paso and Mexico have labored manful-
ly for great storage dam above Ell
Paso under International supervision,
which would reclaim the valley below
Ell Paso and Juarez, and for fourteen
years this proposition has received the
attention of the government. Num-
erous bills have been introduced in
Congress to secure the necessary ap-
preparation, but without success. New
Mexico has bitterly opposed the in
ternational dam, favoring a storage
system farther up the river to reclaim
the Mesilla Valley.
The Cause Of the Harmony.
At the Irrigation Congress oil was
poured upon the troubled waters by
the Chief Engineer of the Reclamation
Service and his board of consulting
engineers, through their presentation
of plan which met with the unani-
nous approval Of the delegates. This
plan is the direct outcome of the re-
connaisance work in 1902 Of Arthur P.
Davis, assistant chief engineer Of the
Reclamation Service.
ILdl Ill 1COG, hl Dof 10 lldoO q Sul g
full reconnaissance of the valley to as
certain the comparative merits of the
International and Elephant Butte pro-
jects, the latter then being exploited
by an English corporation. His report
on the Elephant Butte was unfavorable.
He called attention to the necessity
for much larger reservoir and to a
feasible site near Engle New Mexico.
Shortly after making this report the
National Irrigation Law was passed
and the Reclamation Service organized.
Chief Engineer Newell ordered sur
vey of the Engle site under Engineer ].
A. French. Upon the completion of
the preliminary surveys the data OBJ
tanned were given to Supervising En-
gineer B. M. Hall, who has just com.
pleted the plans of structure and a
careful study of the water supply.
Mr. Halls work this season has DEM
onstrated the entire practicability of
the Engle site, and has resulted in the
citizens of the valley burying the
hatchet and uni 1g as one man in ap-
proving the project. The big Congress
hall at Ell Paso was packed to over
flowing to hear Engineers Newell and
Hall explain the plan in detail.
International Dam Commission.
The International Commission, COM
posed of U. S. Army Engineers and
Mexican Engineers appointed by that
government in its report recommended
that the United States should buy all
necessary land, pay all damages and
construct at American expense the in.
ternational dam "the pass" about
four miles above Ell Paso; submerge
1866 acres of good land in the United
States, extend the Mexican boundary
up stream to the dam site, ceding Mex
leo SO acres additional territory in or
der that one end of the dam might be
on Mexican soil; deed one-half of the
dam, the reservoir, and the water sup
ply to the Republic of Mexico forever,
and prohibit the construction of any
large reservoir on the Rio Grande in
New Mexico.
The alternative plan suggested by
the U. S. Reclamation Service is to
build storage dam opposite Engle.
New Mexico, across the Rio Grande,
at a point about one-quarter of mile
below the site selected by the old Ele-
phant Butte Company. From this res
ervoir it is proposed to irrigate 18O,-
900 acres of land, 10000 acres in New
Mexico, 10000 acres in Texas above
Ell Paso, and $4,000 acres in Ell Paso
valley below Ell Paso. There will be
no good land submerged by this reser-
voir. It will be located in New Mexf-
co and subject to the operations Of the
q. S. Reclamation Service. while the
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