Gunnison news-champion., 1922-04-07

agree upon TINS obvious, yet str
whole problem solves itself, whe
unite shoulder to shoulder in the
velopment of the ages.
But recurring to the conferences
themselves, News-Champion, because
Of the importance of the matter, pro-
poses to print considerable extracts
from the reports of the speeches pres
cnted.
The voluminous testimony which il
was desired to present required boil
ing down, on account of the lack Of
time given TO the rehearing. Some
salient features only of the newspaper
reports are presented. The seven
states interested include those above
mentioned and Nevada, a portion of
which is in the Colorado basin.
The Grand Junction News reports:
At the Grand Junction meeting,
when Mr.. Hoover announced they were
ready to proceed, Engineer Frank Mer-
riell, mayor Of Fruita, who had much
TO do with respect to bringing the
commission here for a hearing for a
day, was introduced by Attorney Gen.
eral Victor f. keyes, who stated that
the testimony the people here wished
Mr.. Merricll.
Mr.. Merriell guided his remarks
largely from maps that had been
drawn showing the Colorado river
and the water shed.
He stated that the rainfall along
the Grand vally and Uncomphagre
projects is less than six inches annual
ly, while higher up above Gunnison,
the rainfall is approximately 20 inches.
He said that the present acreage
under cultivation is less than one-third
what it will be in the future. There is
now net consumption of two acre
feet on the lowlands and some one
half acr-feet on the higher lands. It
was his judgment that the final aver
age would be about one and three
tenths acre feet.
The principal land yet to be develop
ed is in the higher sections and very
little yet to be developed in the lands
in the altitude of Grand Junction and
Montrose.
He said that ultimately there will
have to be storage reservoirs con-
structed in order to take care Of the
flood waters as against the supply Of
the low water period.
GAG, 900 ACRES ARE NOW IRRIGAT-
ED IN GETTY'S DISTRICT
H. C. Getty, irrigation division en-
gineer for division No. 4, was next
called and he stated that there are
Gao, 900 acres Of land now irrigated in
his district, which comprises fourteen
of the twenty-three counties Of the
Western Slope. Ultimately there
will be about 300, 900 acres irrigated,
one-fourth in low lands and three
fourths in high mesas and mountain
lands.
The principal crop avrage may be
tabulatd as follows: Alfalfa, 226, 600
acrs, or above 35 per cent; native
hay, l28,000, about 20 per cent; cere-
ais, 5000, 20 per cent; orchards, &c.
600, 6 per cent; sugar beets, 10000, 2
per cent: vegetables and miscellaneous
50 500, IL per cent.
Irrigation requirements are gradu-
ally absorbing the direct flow in the
late summer months and storage de-
velopments have been made for &C, 900
acre-feet. In addition, 10000 acre
feet Of reservoir capacity has been
developed for hydro-electric plants.
Return flow waters from irrigation
have developed in greater or less de-
gree on all streams in the district and
in some places are extremely heavy.
The importance and value Of the re-
turn flow is now generally recognized
as large element Of river flow in the
lower valleys.
SENATOR TOBIN WANTED UN-
RESTRICTED WATER RIGHTS
Senator J. J. Tobin Of Montrose was
the next witness called to the floor,
and he gave q complete history Of the
Uncompahgre valley and its watDr
problems. Showing that scarcity Of
water in early days had hampered
ranchers for many years, and it was
not until the advent Of the Cunnison
tunnel project that It was possible for
farmers to cultivate their acreage and
new farmers could be given assurance
of plenty of water for new farms.
Tn senator was very emphatic in his
statements that Colorado should have
unrestricted water right to all the
water it needed, especially since tie
waters originating within its borders
primarily belonged to Colorado for
present uses and future developmentB.
Mr.. Tobin stated that the development
Of reservoirs, canals and farming did
not affect the water that was returned
to the streams after irrigation, md
that the conservation Of water IN t6e
land prolonged the dow ~ IN . lar9e
measure increased tie SteAdy hoW
! Of tn ateam.
eAst. Is vstr TT n o6s stste