Imperial Valley press., 1921-03-02

The Press is enabled this afternoon
of it's official publication the report
of the Reclamation Service, prepared
by Arthur P. Davis, director in charge
through the courtesy of Walter Kib-
bey, former Washington agent and at
torney for the Imperial Irrigation dis
trict, of this city.
The report which is in the shape of
galley proofs were sent Mr.. Kibbey by
the Reclamation Service officials as
soon as the proofs were read and
corrected direct from the government
printing office. and were received this
morning. The report bears the cap
ton of THE Problems of the Imperial
Valley and Vicinity" and is very com1
plete and comprehensive.
The report was prepared pursuant
to the Kincaid bill required by an act
of congress approved May 18th, 1920.
Work of securing the data began last
June when a coterie of men from the
reclamation department came to I'M
perial Valley starting surveys and the
completion of other data. During the
latter part of December the work was
finished and everything in readiness
for publishing the report.
The galley proofs received today are
two to three weeks in advance of the
time when the report will be Off
exhaustive and deals in comprehen-
sive manner with the subjects most
vital to the Imperial Valley, VIZ:
Power, silt, storage, flood control, ap--
portionment of expense, character OF
soil and distribution system. Every
thing is complete in the report with
the exception of the Boulder Creek
storage proposition, but this will be
Forthcoming in a supplementary proof
to be completed some time during the
month of April. The secretary of
the reclamation service stated in let
ter that the Boulder Creek report
would be ready for distribution by the
last week in April or the first week In
May, 1921.
The report now complete is directly
the result of the joint meetings held
in San Diego and Los Angeles last
summer. 1t is upon the information
furnished in this report that the arid
lands committee will draw its con-
clusions and make it's decision as to
what rights shall be allotted to lmper-
ial Valley. Hearings by this commit
tee will begin as soon as the report is
off the government press, and incl
dentally it is of interest to note that
the Imperial Irrigation District has at
his time no representative at Wash
ington to confer with the arid lands
committee while in session; no one
to ask for any concession that is right
fully due the valley.
Upon the completion of the study
of this report by the arid lands COM
mittee, that body will draft a bill for
presentation to congress which VIII
be additional and supplementary to
the Kincaid bill. The bill will embody
the recommendation of the arid land
committee with reference to the dis
tribution of power rights, apportlon-
ment of expense, etc, for the I'M
perial Valley.
With reference to power privileges,
which is perhaps the most vital to
Imperial Valley, the report anticipates
an argument between the valley and
Los Angeles. to quote the report,
"There is a general desire on the part
of the irrigation districts to have the
enterprise financed by themselves IN
conjunction with the United States and
the power by-products disposed of at
commercial rates for their benefit. On
the other hand, the city of Los An
geles, Calf, appears anxious to par
! ticipate in the investment and to re-
ceive as much power as possible from
the reservoir if built in Boulder Can
yon. 1t seems advisable for the
! United States to conduct and super
wise the work, and this is desired by
all interests. 1t also seems desirable
for the United States to participate
in the investment to an equitable eX-
, tent in proportion to the area OF the
public lands and Indian lands in
volved."
With reference to the east side
mesa, the report states that an exam
ination of the soil conditions includes
all of the lands from the Mexican
boundary northward to the third stan
dard parallel-a distance of about Is
miles. The area includes about 2O6,00O
acres, or about 80 per cent of the gross
area of the mesa. 1t is further stated
that only about per cent of the soil
examined in this tract is not suitable
for irrigation purposes. The only
other feature being involved in the de-
termination of the irrigable acreage
is that of topography.
Construction costs for the Allan
erican Canal are thought to be not so