Imperial Valley press., 1919-09-08

CeNl.
Mr.. Sinnott. They bid in?
MFR, Swing. The Southern Pacific
Co. put up the cash and took our
bonds.
Mr.. Sinnott. Then, you have con-
troll over that canal running into Mex
icop
Mr.. Swing In way which will
explain later on. 1t is a rather i'm
perfect control.
Referring now to the Imperial irri-
CATION district, all the land in Imper-
ial Valley susceptible of irrigation by
gravity flow from the existing sys-
tenn, amounting to 584,700 acres, has
been organized undr tn laws Of the
State of California into an irrigation
district called the Imperial irrigation
district; and it is by means of this in
strumentality that the people own and
operate that part of their irrigation
system lying in the United States.
About 100000 acres Of this land has
been reclaimed to date and is now the
home of some $4,000 people. During
the year 1913 there was shipped out Of
the Imperial Valley, at conservative
estimate, $40,000,000 worth of farm
products.
In this pamphlet which l have laid
upon your desk is the statement in the
back that Imperial Valley produced
over $5O,0O0,OOO worth of farm prod
ucts in 1918. My figures has been esti-
mated as what was consumed by the
people in the valley themselves. l
think with that explanation the state
ments found in this little pamphlet are
quite accurate.
Mr.. Brooks. And also the difference
in the statements as to the stock go
ing in and coming out.
Mr.. Swing. We are the winter-feed-
ing ground fora great many cattle
bronught in from Arizona and New
Moxico and fattened in an average Of
about three months, and then shipped
out to Los Angeles and to Kansas
City and sold, and have made the
allowances for that, too; we are only
entitled to the additional weight put
on, and we do not claim the credit for
steers raised in Arizona and New Mex
leo.
The canal, which supplies this land
with water, heads in the Colorado
River at the lockwood intake, about
| IL miles north of the international
boundary, thence crossing the line al
most Immediately makes long de-
tour through Mexico and recrosses the
boundary line into the United States
at several points about so miles west
of it's origin. Aside from the. intake,
practically all the main canals and
principle works are situated in MeXi
CO, the title and management of which
are, by requirement of Mexican law,
vested in Mexican coronation called
the Compania de Torranos y Aguas.
The Chairman. What distance is
water conveyed in the Alamo river?
Mr.. Swing. The point on the inter-
national boundary line where it re-
crosses into the United States is
about so miles west Of where it first
crosses at the river. The canal itself
is about GO miles long. The 10 miles
additional is because of the route.
The fact that the Imperial Valleys
irrigation system is located almost
wholly in a foreign country and sub
ject to the caprices of the chaotic
Government of Mexico has given rise
to grave ploblems which not alone en-
danger its progress and prosperity
but which menaces it's very existence.
The predicament in which Imperial
Valley finds itself is not on it's own
chooseing, nor of it's own creation. The
get-rck-quick promoters of the early
California Development Co. in the
,,oxyi 4, ,o,...l L., E. H.