Arizona republican., 1922-03-16
OUTLINES ARIZONA s
RIGHTS IN COLORADO
DEVELOPMENT PLANS

THE Colorado River and Arizona's
Interest in It's Development" is the
title Of a bulletin prepared by Pro-
fessor G. E. p. Smith of the Univers-
ity of Arizona, an interesting contri-
button to the foremost subject now
before the people of the seven states
of the Colorado river basin. Pro-
fessor Smith arrived in the city yes
terday with copies of the bulletin
which he presented to members of the
commission.
The bulletin sets out the geography
and irrigable lands of the basin. deals
with the water supply and the reser-
voir sites. 1t enumerates the three
great problems: Storage for flood
protection; storage to provide water
for the latter half of the irrigation
season for dry years, and hydro -elec-
trio power.
Touching upon points now in con-
troversy the bulletin says: THE
upper states are demanding a guar
anty OF unrestricted irrigation de-
velopment in the upper basin before
they will lend their support or con-
sent to a federal project In the can
yon region. The lower states are
asking for an allotment of the water
supply among the seven states. The
wisdom Of perpetual guaranty or an
allotment of the water of the river is
questionable. On no other river
basin has either been attempted. IT
is not possible to foresee conditions
hundred years ahead"
Further, says the bulletin: "There
is no necessity for the distribution Of
the unused water rights at this time.
II the act to appropriate money for q
n v-fxs mlon -Na
follows: Provided, that nothing in
this act shall be so construed as to
affect in any way the rights to the
use OF the waters OF the Colorado
Basin of any state or any part of a
state then the upper states cannot
be adversely affected by the project" :"
Dealing with Arizona's program
the bulletin opposes the high line
canal which IL is proposed to build
along the rough mountains of Mohave
county. Equally unfeasible. accord
ing to the bulletin is the alternative
proposal Of dropping the water for
the highline to generate power that
might be used to lift the water from
the river near Parker into high line
canal starting at that point. The
bulletin after calculating the diff
culties in the wav states: Neither
pTOpOSltlOn is 1eASlDle, at least during
the present generation. An invest
ment of over 5000 an acre would be
required. The best raw land in the
state cannot stand contraction
charge for irrigation Of over $3.50 an
acre"
The following is then outlined as
Arizona's proper program:
"a To encourage all development
projects. both public and private on
the Colorado river. In the case OF
publicly owned projects the state
must receive a block OF free power in
lieu OF taxes.
(2) To demand that as much power
be allotted to this state as can be
used by the state.
(3) To demand that the federal
project include a diversion dam at
Bulls Head Rock at the head of Mo-
have valley and one at Gatehead Rock
at the head of Parker valley.
a. To demand that rrovision for
river regulation on the ella river be
included in the program.
The bulletin recommends the imme-
diate construction, OF dams at the
Dewey site on Grand river and the
Flaming Gorge site on Green river as
offering the best solution. Both
dams says the bulletin, could be