Arizona republican., 1920-09-09
CAMP BELL HAD. IMPORTANT PART IN CONFERENCE
Sims Ely Praises Governor For His Success in Keep ing Full Harmony at the League Meeting

Governor Campbell in his state i ment to The Republican covering the proceedings of the League of the Southwest at the recent meeting in Denver failed to disclose the great i'm portance of the work accomplished by the governor himself" was the com ment yesterday of Sims Ely, chairman of the Arizona resources board and ex- ecutSve secretary of the league.
 It developed early in the conference, Mir. Ely explained, that some of the influential representatives of the states of Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico were frankly suspicious as to the designs Of California and Arizona with reference to the projected Boul- der canyon reservoir. The reservoir located on the Colorado river below the Grand Canyon, will if constructed be the largest the world has ever seen. and the dam will be higher by far than anything of the sort yet attempt ed by engineers anywhere. So large a proportion of the run-off of the whole upper Colorado basin could be stored there that the representatives of the northerly states of the basin had felt disturbed ever since the proj ect took definite form. following the convention of the league at Los An geleS last April. They learned that the United States reclamation service had begun an investigation of the prof. ect. which is now in progress, and the A -ople of the northerly states were afraid that the construction of the Boulder dam would lead to the recla- nation of so much land in Arizona and California that the several good prof ects on the upper reaches of the river might be left with insufficient water. These people were advocating, there fore, a resolution which in effect re- quested congress to postpone indefi- nitely the construction of the Boulder canyon project. A lineup" developed in which California. Arizona and Ne vada were on one side, and Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming were on the other.
 It was Governor Campbell. MT. Ely declared, who established complete harmony in the convention by conyinc- ing the conference that Arizona and California have no disposition to tres pass upon the inherent rights of other states, and by showing to the confer ence in a tactful and forceful way the imperative necessity for the seven states of the Colorado river basin to work together for the development of the basin as a whole. The Denver pa pers before the conference ere Se- verely critical of Arizona and California and were asking in a sensational way that Colorado stand on her rights Be- fore the proceedings of the confer ence were ended, however, the local papers and the Colorado spokesman were announcing that the conference had proved the most valuable ever held in Denver. The harmony which had been created was praised on all sides and Governor Campbell was fencitated on his able guidance of the convention into a broad pathway of unselfiSh ef- fort for the benefit of the whole basin country. All opposition to the Boulder canyon project had completely dis appeared.
 "The several irrigation conferences -z- ..4r- Governor Campbell in the past year. which have been attended by many governors and men of affairs. have made it plain to me that Arizona $ governor is now accorded a leadership u formulating reclamation pollcle- for the west of which the people of Arizona may well be proud added Mir. Ely.