Imperial Valley press., 1922-02-13
LATEST DEVEL OplIENT IN COLORADO
RIVER HYDRC FL E;CCTRIC POWER PROJECT
By Howard ID. Hadl ey in Saturday Night

Daily press comments concerning
the recent meeting of the Colorado
] River commission in Washington hav,
been of a discouraCing nature. Thi.
/ meeting, like the Riverside conference
OF the League of the Southwest, ha;
led the patient people of the Colorado
basin to fear that the project is al
but hoDelessly deadlocked; that thC
interests of the upper river" states
! Wyoening, Colorado, New Mexico anC
Utah, cannot be reconciled with those
! of the "lower river" states and oi
| Mexico. The delegates from the up
per river" states made amazing de-
mands for what they termed THEN
equitable" proportion of the water of
the Colorado river Tor irrigation in
those states-demands which We're 50
far out of all reason as to cause one
% wonder just why such demands
should have been so perslstently
made.
Authentic reports represented Sec
retary Hoover, chairman of the c,m-
mission as so utterly disgusted and
discouraged at. one stage of the con-
ference, as to be on the point of re-
signing. But quiet reflection and pa
tient investigation have convinced eX-
perienced observers that the Colorado
River project is simply experiencing
the pains and dangers, if you please,
incident to bringing thing into be-
ing. The Colorado river development
project, the greatest development pro
ject in the world today, is being born,
win all that il imDiies, Something
new, something unprecedented, in
I.la1y respects, is slowly making its
appearance in a busy, and quite be-
wildered world
Patience, therefore, should be the
watchword just now Secretary Hoov-
er knows now what he had been too
busy on other important matters to
learn heretofore. He knows now what
he, of course. had previously sus-
peeted. that petty state and national
and others have been quietly and
cleverly attempting to throw various
and sundry Inonkey-wrenches into the
official machinery, now slowly being
erected TO develop Rio Colorado.
There are selfish folk in each of the
seven states, who are pulling, each in
his own particular direction. There
are, regrettably, powerful interests
seeking to delay for decades any de-
velopnlent of the Colorado. The people
of the southwest, meanwhile. are n
almost complete ignorance of the true
situation. They will soon have ample
opportunity 10 know. however, what
is happening behind the scenes. 1t IS.
indeed. Interesting and Illuminating
ard-futile 1t may be possible to de-
lay somewhat the actual development
and fair distribution of the resultant
benefits among those entitled to re-
ceive them. But not for long.
Interests of the several states, our
federal government and Mexico do not
conflict. All will gain might
ily by putting their shoulders to the
wheel of progress. The people are
3 awakening. The old ''stand-bys, =
glory bc,-are on the firing line.
George II. Maxwell, for one, is well
up IN front, as usual, where the fight
ing is hottest. He was hitting on all
twelve cylinders when saw him a.
few minutes here the other day, just
before taking the train for a months
campaign in Arizona. He knew what
the up-river states were
claiming as their ''inalienable rights
in the way of water for irrigation IN
those states. What he told me started
most interesting lines of thought:
"Ona second foot continuous flow of
the Colorado" said my friend, Max
well, furnishes $50 acre-feet per an
num-enough water to give to 800
acres more than two acre feet (24
inches) of water year.
Every 320-acre farm reclaimed and
irrigated IN Colorado or Wyoming,
with water diverted up there from the
Colorado, viii destroy 200 potential
horsepower at Glen Canyon. Boulder
Canyon and all other power dam sites
on the lower river
ITO sum up" Mr.. Maxwell conclud-
ed, "a given quantity of water trans
formed into hydro-electric energy on
the lower river, is worth four to SIX
times more than the same amount OF
water can be made to yield IN lrrlgat-
ing land in the upper river states, and
the water is still available for lrrl-
gation," -,
Yes, you may ask. bat where will
QEullGd DIV lNE iilSptNkOAS , VI NAiN nNs'NS
department Of agriculture.
F. A. Seymour has been made gem
eral manager of the Sun-Maid Raism
Growers and c. A. Murdoch assistant
general manager and secretary.
The East Side Canal Company has
distributed to irrigators near Bakers
field its 1922 schedule. Water viii be
delivered in net less than "a houf
periods.
Sun-Maid Raisin Growers, antici-
pating problems Of marketing the
1922 crop, have sent special trade
representatives to the Eass, Canada
and Europe.
Delano is stepping out as a pro-
ducer of fine lettuce. Several carloads
were shipped early in January. It IS
estimated that 130 cars will be snip
ned within a few weeks.
The melon growers of the Iuriock
district of Stanislaus County nave
made firm resolve that they VIII not
sell another melon on consignment
Everything must be sold 1. 0. D
Turlock, for cash.