The San Francisco call., 1910-08-30
Mccarthy Declares That the
Garfield HetCh hetchy
Grant Is Worthless
STARTLING STATEMENT
BY CITY'S EXECUTIVE
Supervisors Urged to Negotiate
for Purchase of Spring
Valley Properties
TWO PLANS SUGGESTED
FOR ACQUIRING PLANT

IN an exhaustive letter submitted
yesterday to the board of super
visors Mayor P. H. Mccarthy, dis
cuSsing the water situation in San
Francisco, makes the assertion that
he does not believe the Garfield per-
NIT for the use of Hetch Hetchy and
Lake Eleanor to be worth the paper
1T IS written on, and urges the super
viSors to enter into negotiations with
the Spring Valley water company for
the purchase of its entire plant. The
letter in full is as follows:
The Mayors letter
August % 1910.
To the honorable board of super.
visors, city and county of San Fran
cisco, 81 Eddy street, city.
Gentlemen: There is no matter Of
greater Importance to the people OF
San Francisco than the water ques-
tion. For many years the question of
an adequate supply. for present and
future needs. of pure water has en-
gagged the attention of our officials.
Every available supply has been stud
led and exploited At last our people
were informed that the question was
finally solved by the Garfield permit.
through which the city of San Fran
cisco had acquired the rights to use the
waters OF Lake Eleanor and the Hetch
Hetchy in the Sierra Nevada noun
tains
We were told that every action which
was necessary to acquire and hold these
alleged rights was taken by the city
and large sums of money. have been
expended by our people in consumniat-
ing what they were led to believe were
the necessary and proper steps for the
acquisition and use of this magnificent
water supply
Under the Garfield permit it was
necessary to use the Lake Eleanor Sec
tion first and when that was found to
be inadequate then the Hetch Hetchy
was to be available.
S45, 100000 Bonds Voted
Our people, happy in the thought
that at no very far distant day they
would have the clear. cold. snow water
of the Sierras served to them under a
municipal water system. went to the
polls on the 14th day of January last
and gave almost unanimous consent to
the expenditure of $45. 600 to brine,
Hetch Hetchy water to our city. Soon
thereafter came the rude awakening.
The secretary of the interior issued his
much deplored order to shaw cause
why Hetch Hetchy should not be with
drawn from the permit hitherto
granted.
Lake Eleanor. with its estimated ca
pacity of 6O,OOO.OOO gallons daily. when
improved and brought to the city will
probably meet the requirements of the
city when the plant will have been
completed (say in 1870. but no more.
The people will then be Obliged to de-
pend on Spring Valley or some other
supply in case Hetch Hetcby, now in
dispute. is not available
Thus. we once more found ourselves
in dilemma. where 1t was supposed
that all was clear sailing.
The Mission to Washington
On Monday. April II, 1910, your hon
orable board decided. in response 10
the order issued by the secretary of
the interior to show cause why the
permit granted and known as the Gar
field permit for the right to use Hetch
Hetchy valley and erect and construct
a dam therein should not be revoked
that the mayor. the city engineer. the
city attorney and Professor Marx of
the Stanford university. associated
with representatives from the trans
bay cities. proceed to Washington and
defend the rights of the people in the
matter
Upon the arrival of our representa-
tives at Washington we learned that
the hearing set for the 18th day of
May had been postponed for one week.
This gave our committee time within
which to look the ground over, COM
pare notes and meet with many differ
ent people in Washington who seemed
to have a knowledge. in some form or
other. of the matter so important to
San Francisco and it's people.
Your representatives met with Presi-
dent Taft by appointments and discussed
the Hetch Hetchy situation quite fully,
the president entering into the dis
cussion with a great deal Of zeal As
the president proceeded to explain the
position occupied by San Francisco re-
garding the Hetch Hetchy valley and
the construction Of dam therein NE