The Winslow mail., 1923-07-20
DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLORADO
HELD Up PENDING RATIFICATION
SAYS CONGRESSMAN CARL HAYDEN
Fifty Rotarians and Guests Hear Flo
Quent address on the Colorado River
Pact. No Development in any man
ner or by any means likely until
the compact is Ratified.

The local Rotary Club entertained
number Of guests at their lunch
con on Wednesday at the Harvey
House, among whom was the Honor
able Carl Hayden, United States
Representative from Arizona. Mr..
Hayden had been up into the White
Mountains for fishing and recrea-
ton trip and very graciously con-
sented to stop over here and speak
to the Rotarians and others on the
ary routine of the club was dispens-
ed with and Mr.. Hayden given the
right of way for the entire time al
lotted for speaking.
President Tom QuebedeauX, in an
nouncing the speaker, said that Carl
Hayden didn't need any introduction
for everybody knew him.
In beginning Mr. Hayden said he
didn't know all about the compact
but mentioned as one of his qualifi-
cations the fact that when he enter
ed Congress some eleven years ago
he was put on the committee on ir-
rigation Of arid lands which had
given him opportunity to make quite
study of the conditions here in the
west. He then went on to speak of
the different dam sites along the
river where dams might be located,
and of the amount of water that
might be these dams, Tor instance he
said that a dam 900 feet high at
Glen Canyon would hold 10000 ,0n0
acre feet of water, which would be
an enormous amount He spoke of
the Diamond Greek located near
Peach Springs as a good one for a
power plant.
He said he was one Of the group
of % legislators who came to the
West several months ago to look
over the Colorado river situation and
other projects in the west. 1t will
be recalled that these men were re-
ported to have been impressed with
the Boulder Greek location as a good
one for dam site. These men went
down the river to Yuma, then into
the Imperial country where they
made a thorough inspection of that
district and the river conditions No
doubt what these men saw on this
trip would have a great deal of in
f1uence in any action that Nigh be
taken by the federal government in
river and conditions along it's course
Mr. Hayden spoke of the different
conditions prevailing in the lower
and upper basin of the river In
the lower basin the climatic condi-
tions are such that agriculture can
be carried on during most all the
year, while in the upper basin the
altitude and climate are such that
H. Il, ,,1,sx,
only portion of the year These
different conditions would have quite
a bearing on the use of the waters
Of the Colorado river
One of the most important queS-
tions in connection with the Com
pact is that of flood control, accord
ing to Mr.. Hayden. Engineers say
it is only a question of time until
the river will break into the Imper
ial valley again with destructive eff
fects. A limit of only about five
years is given until that is likely or
almost certain to happen. So that
flood control is one of the urgent
reasons why Mr. Hayden thinks the
compact should be ratified and steps
taken to build dam or dams in
odrer to control the floods of the
river. The two other things sought
by the State of Arizona according
to Mr.. Hayden, are water for agri-
culture and hydro-electric power
On the need of action to secure
flood control, Mr. Hayden called at
tention to what happened in the I'M
perial Valley some years ago when
the river broke through into the
valley and formed the Salton Sea,
and of the great effort and expense
put forth by the Southern Pacific
railroad to stop the break. This
cost was over a million dollars and
has never been repaid to the railroad
by the government which it was
practically assured would be by the
then President Theodore Roosevelt.
This may happen again most any
time if flood control is not provided
to prevent the waters breaking over.
Mr. Hayden spoke of the benefits
to be derived from the storage of the
water by dams, especially that to be
derived from agriculture He said
that a total of at least 100000 acres
could be irrigated along the valley
of the river known as bottom land,
and he didn't know how much more
might be irrigated on higher levels
by use of the necessary provisions
to get the water on to the land. He
stated that an investigation is now
being made by competent engineers
to determine just what can be done
along that line. This investigation