Imperial Valley press., 1910-06-25
COLORADO MUST BE PUT BACK INTO OLD BED BEFORI
 NEXT FLOOD SEASON
Senator Flint Asks for Two Millions for Protective Work. Imperial Valley Finds Friend in Engineer SeIIew But Fails to Arouse Yuma Water Users to Reaiza-
 ton of Peril of Their Canal System

 Companies of Imperial Valley met at Imperial last Saturday to appoint the committee of nine provided for by the resolution adopted at the meeting of directors and water-users in El Centro, and made the following se- lections: R. D. Wills, E. R. Rock wood, B. E. Patten, Porter N. Fergu- son, Geo. A. Long, c. J. Upton, G. J. Reiner, A. T. Taecker and Roy D. McPherrin. The committee met on Monday, organized with R. B. Wills as chairman and adopted the follow ing:
 Resolved That committee of three consisting of the chairman and two members to be appointed by the chair be appointed, who shall be di- rected to proceed at once to Yuma, to consult with Supervising Engineer Sellew and the officers of the Yuma Water Users Association as to present conditions on the Colorado river af fecting the intake of the California Development Company and the Lagu- ma dam, and endeavor to unite those interests in an effort to induce the governments of the United States and Mexico to take charge of the control of the lower Colorado river, and that such committee be authorized to ar range with such interests to send a proper committee to Washington, D. C., to present such information and make such appeals to the secretary of war and other proper officials as shall be by this common move definitely provided; and be it further
 Resolved, That said committee be directed to employ MT. Scobey to in vestigate with them the present con- dition of Imperial heading to ascer- tain whether dredging between the river and the gate will result in in- creasing the flow of water in the canal during the summer season of 1910; and be it further
 Resolved, That said committee be instructed to request MT. c. K. Clarke to accompany them on such trip to Yuma and the heading.
 Messrs Wills, McPherrin, Clarke and Scobey went to Yuma on Tuesday as instructed. Dr. Patten was unable to go and his place on the committee was taken by MT. Redwood.
 It was found to be idle to endeavoI to secure cooperation of the water users of Yuma Valley. Nobody in Yuma appeared to have any compre- hension of the situation on the river or to be willing to believe that a re- cession of grade in the channel pos sibly could menace the Hanlon head ing and Laguna dam with a common danger. Yuma seems to be obsessed with the idea that the only solution of irrigation problems in the Colorado river region is attachment of the I'm perial Valley system to the Laguna project, whereby the cost of the pro- ject may be distributed over a larger territory and water rights under the dam be reduced from $65 an acre to something less burdensome to Yuma Valley landowners.
 Some Dam Foolishness.
 The Yuma view of the situation was expressed by the local papers, whose editors appear to be about as well informed on Colorado river con- ditions as on the hydrography of Af- ghanistan.
 One of the papers said of the re- ports of engineers:
 It doesn't matter in the least to Yuma what the Colorado river is doing miles down the river It can find lower leve if 1t wishes and can do all sorts of stunts as 1t annually does, but 1t has been sue cessfully harnessed at Laguna, and the above would appear to merely be the carping cry of engineers who are afraid that the Imperial Valley will vote tC secure their water from Laguna. which will eventually be done.
 The Idea that the lowering of the river bed miles below here would effect the foundations of the dam fourteen miles above Yuma is too silly and preposterous to stand the light of truth.
 Even if the river bed were lowered twenty feet to within thirty feet of the rock all below the dam. what of itH Il wouldn't hurt tho dam particle as th' water is coming this way and not eating back toward the dam.