Imperial Valley press., 1910-04-09
COLORADO CONTROL A GOVERNMENT JOB Two Commissions Have Gone to Sleep and Nothing
 Doing
Associated Water Companies of the Valley Stirring Up Washington With Pertinent and EmbarS ssing Requests For Information-Connection With Laguna Dam Doubtful Solution.

The mutual water companies of Im- perial Valley have formed an asso- citation, called the Associated Water Companies" for the purpose of dealing with the various problems involved in the maintenance of the irrigation sys- tenn and melting the government to activity in solving them. Last Feb ruary the companies took up the ques- tion of possible connection of the val ley system with Laguna dam and ask ed the Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the Reclamation Ser vice what arrangement could be made for such connection. The secretary replied:
 Tn view of the present condition of the reclamation fund, no arrange ment could now be made with your companies under which the govern ment would be obligated to spend any money to carry out the purpose de- sired by them If the Reclamation Service is in position to furnish the water through said system, it is probable that an arrangement might be made between the government and your companies for that purpose. In order however to bring this matter properly before the Department, would suggest that you set forth in a petition addressed to the Department just what you desire the government l to do in the premises"
 Director Newell referred the con- panies to the letter from the secre- tary to Mir. Eckert, of Holtville, in which the charge for connection was estimated at $1,500,000, the valley to provide it's own canals in addition.
 The Associated Water Companies have not yet formulated a petition to the government. They do not know what they want the government to do except to give information, and they have not been able to get much of that. It is a question whether or not it would be advisable to connect with Laguna dam on any terms, it being the opinion of engineers that canal from the dam along the west bank of the river to the present head ing would be in constant danger of destruction by freshets from the mountains adjacent. A cloudburst last summer carried away eight miles of the Reclamation Service canal in that locality, and similar disaster to a canal connecting the valley system with the dam would cut off the water supply for months and ruin the val ley The settlers are not ready to commit themselves to the Laguna dam scheme by definitely petitioning the government to attach Imperial Val ley to the Yuma project as the Sec retary of the Interior advises.
 Engineers familiar with the river and the irrigation system advise that the best location for headworks for the valley is short distance above the present intake at the bend in the river below Yuma, and all agree that it is of first and vital importance that the Colorado be put back into its bed and kept there. Control of the riv- CT is the governments business, but up to date the government has not shown the least interest in the mat ter, and by neglecting to build the protective works urgently advised by President Roosevelt in his message to Congress, has permitted the river to break out of it's bed and complicate the problem of permanent control The latest report on the runaway river IS that it is not flowing to the gulf but has swung around the south end of the Cocopahs and Is flowing into the I.aguna Salada west of the mountains
 forming a second Salton Sea in Low CT California. From the top of Sig nal Mountain the Laguna Salada ap- pears to be as large body of water as that in the Salton sink
 In the course of their quest for in-
 formation, the Associated Water Com
 panies discovered a moribund com
 mission. presumably drawing pay, that
 Is supposed to have something to d' 1 win international control of the Col IXlo. Nobody interested in the rly c Aleer heard before of the eommia