Las Vegas age. [volume] (Las Vegas, Nev.) 1905-1947, 1927-03-19
BOULDER DAM FIGHT
GETS WIDE COMMENT
Nationwide Digest of Edi-
torial Opinion Complied in
Bloomington. Ill.,. Paper.

/ Economic questions which are
! of interest to the country as a
/ whole are involved in the pro-
jected Boulder Canyon dam in the
/ Colorado River, it is indicated by
press comments growing out of
attention given to the matter by
national and state legislators.
Expenditure of S125,000.000 for
the entire project is asked of
( the national government. The
power phase of the enterprise is
subject of controversy, while
the expenditure of national funds
I for local water supply facilities
also comes into the question. Ir-
rigation and flood prevention are
widely supported
'The improvement of the Col
orado for water power, irrigation
and flood prevention" says the
| Louisville Courier-Journal, "has
been studied and proposed for
years, but it has been impossible
to get all the varied interests
to agree. Its upper tributaries
rise in Wyoming and Colorado,
all of eastern Utah lies in it's
watershed, and it forms the west
ern boundary of Arizona along
Nevada and California. Tribu-
taries extend into New Mexico,
Irrigation is the important bene-
fit to Wyoming, Colorado and
Utah. and to California. The
latter state also is interested in
preventing the flooding of the
Ifperial Valley Through Arizona
it is a succession of magnificent
gorges. About five years ago a
plan was prepared for a compact
to be entered into by the seven
states by which a definite num-
ber of acFe-feet of water should
be reserved to be diverted for
irrigation by Utah, Colorado and
Wyoming" The Courier-Journal
states that "the interests of Cali
fornia and Utah are so diamet-
rically opposed that the fight
over the dam has become bitter"
"As an Arizonian sees the
prospect" according to the Ian
sing State Journal, "the Colorado
river would be so developed that
II "OuAu lOldCll1y OpCl dtt " VI luS
the center of American industrial
life to the valley of the river
and to what was once termed
the great American desert. To
those on the ground, the dream
win become an actuslity just
around the turn in the road. On
the part of California, however,
the view is more Immediately
practical. 1t wants water, right
now, for at least five California
cities, and some addition to irri- (.
cation. Looking at the matter
dispassionately, it appears that
the interests of the great South 7
west would be better served if
the states affected would cooper
ate"
while the people of the I'm
perial Valley and in southern /
California generally look upon
the Boulder dam as primarily a
means of giving water to Sec /
tions which badly need it," de .
clares the Santa Barbara News, .
"other interests look chiefly at .
the power possibilities of the .
plan. This is proved by the offer
from some of the opponents of
the high dam at Boulder Canyon .
to support plan for a low flood .
control and irrigation plan. The.
Boulder dam plan is based on the
utilization of the power the dam
will develop to pay the interest /
on the bonds and also wipe out
the debt The Long Beach
Press-Telegram adds that "the
Colorado river, with its super
abundance of water, should no.
be left to the wanton waste of .
it's surplus waters, as has been /.
going on for ages" That paper
also holds that it must not be
allowed "to be a menace to the
lowlandls lying along its course
The San Bernardino Sun eX-
presses satisfaction that "the leg
islature has authorized, without
a dissenting vote, the appoint
ment of a commission which is
to inform congress that California
is earnestly desirous of the en-
actment of the Colorado river
legislation"
The Salt Lake Deseret News
refers to amendments to the bill
in congress, "deSi gned to safe
guard the rights of Utah in the
Boulder Canyon DAM"
and to the fact that such amend
ments could eliminate the gov
ernment power development fea-
ture of the bill and place the
prospective power development
under the federal water power
act" thus reducing the proposed
bond issue from $125, 100000 to
$72, 500, ,000." That paper offers
the comment: ''The construc-
tiOn of this Boulder dam is a
most important and necessary un-
dertaking, next, perhaps, in i'm
portance to Muscle Shoals, and
yet until Utah came out in op-
position to the California atti- 4
tude the Swing-Johnson bill ap-
peared to be slipping through
with little opposition
1t behooves congress to give the
measure most careful considera
ton"
"The plan can oe attacked"
states the New York Herald Trib
une, apparently upon good
grounds-for all the old vices OF
commitments, ambigu-
Gus purposes. bending of engineer