The Coconino sun., 1926-02-26
IMPORTANT STATE NEWS


to beneficial and economical use, the
latter having precedent in all ques-
tions
Outlining the value of the hand
ling of the river, Dr.. Widtsoe placed
flood control pre-eminent. Settlers on
the land are worth vastly more than
those who promise to settle at some
later date and those who have staked
their all in the Imperial valley should
be protected, he said After this,
comes water for irrigation purposes
and finally, for power purposes.
THE main question" he said, "is
one of adjustment / think there is
ample water for all, / know Utah is
not worrying and | believe Wyoming
is straining a point in her objections
| The upper states cannot take more
than their half of the water, and that
| is just what the compact means, di-
vision of the water of the river, one
half to the upper states and the other
| half, to the lower. 1t is not half so
much a question of the compact as it
| is one of storage with scientific regu-
! lation of the flow, to see that half
the water reaches the lower states"
His personal view of the river ques-
ton, one which he endeavored in vain
to put over at the time the compact
was formulated, seems a safe and
sane method for development. The
river has been tanned, he said, no
longer is it wild and turbulent
stream which frightened Colonel
Powell in his first trip down the cam
yon, and it's every angle and turn is
known to engineers. These engineers,
then, he would take to form a new
body of study, to forget state lines
and to formulate a development plan
for the stream, one which might take
from one to three generations to COM
plete, but one selected with far vision
for the future. He suggested u sys-
tenn of dam sites along the river, but
first that these dams be built on pa
per, that every inch Of the flow of the
river be studied and worked out scien-
tifically. that the engineers "use their
heads" that they lay out the manner
in which each of the dams would be
handled all the way down the river to
its mouth.
That this plan be laid before con-
We further suggested, and that,
government go ahead and
any one of the dams, so long as
o.. ufld fit into the entire program.
The plans for the Boulder Canyon
dam, as he heard them recently dis
cussed at a congressional meeting,
frightened him, Dr. Widtsoe said.
They were not planning a dam for
protection, but one for other purposes,
for the protective part Of the scheme
could be carried out with much
lower dam than was planned.
He firmly maintained, however,
that there is enough water for all and
enough power for all eventually will
be generated by the river. There is
water to irrigate five million acres,
he said, tremendous outlook for the
southwest, and the power possibilities
of the river are between one-seventh
and one-eighth of the entire hydro
electric power produced by streams in
the United States.
Dr. Widtsoe, who is a student of
nature as well as of economics, did
not stop with the beneficial develop
ment Of the river, however, but car
ried his audience with him on a Wis
ionary trip down its canyon from the
point of view OF tourist. Few on
this side of the mighty chasm have
seen it from the northern rim and still
fewer have explored its depths. The
speaker is one of the fortunate ones
who has been able to drift down the
stream from Halls landing to Lees
Ferry, a trip of several days, he said,
along a river as sweet and calm as
one could wish Deep canyons lead
ing off from the river offer untold !
joys to the explorer and the tourist.
Here may be found many species OF
game while the flora of the canyon
depths in places resembles that of the
islands in the south Pacific. At one
place, DR. Widtsoe said, his party
came upon bed Of maiden-hair fern
finer than that ever found by any of
them, and they had wandered in the
far places Of the world.
In addition to his duties in the
Church of the Latter Day Saints, IN
which he is an apostle, his work as
president of two Utah colleges, his IN
terests as a member Of the presidents
special fact finding commission. DR..
Widtsoe is giving some time to piac-
ing before the Utah legislature the
feasibility of expending between
$4,000 and $4,000 for the construc-
tion Of road to Halls landing on the
Colorado river hoping in that manner
to open the river to tourists, who
could make the trip then in comfort
from the landing to Lees Ferry and
so across, to the Arizona side Of the
Grand Caravan