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Show 18 A shrinking supply accompanied by an increasing demand have thus conspired to generate a very bitter law suit indeed. A few brief remarks should now be made about the behavior of the River itself. It has not been well behaved. Its flows have been uneven and unpredictable, varying in historic times from a recorded flow measured at Lee Ferry of 4,396,400 acre-feet in 1934 to 22,003,000 acre-feet in 1907.57 Before it was harnessed the River was given to violent floods causing great damage. It did not always stay on course.68 Approximately 500 years ago most of the Salton Basin was filled with water from the Colorado River in one of its many breaks to the west. The body of water so formed was known as Lake Cahuilla. The River then broke east and emptied into the Gulf of California. Thus deprived of its source of replenishment Lake Cahuilla dried up, leaving great areas of silt deposit. At its largest the lake was 30 to 35 miles wide, 110 miles long, 300 feet deep and covered 1,400,000 acres.59 In 1905, following floods on the Colorado and Gila Rivers, the River again abandoned its bed and course to the Gulf of California and made its way swiftly over a steeper grade to the Salton Sink in Southern California threatening the whole Imperial Valley with destruction.60 This disaster followed certain changes made in the diversion points of the C. D. C.fll The break was closed temporarily in November, 1906, but in December the River broke loose again, causing additional flooding of the Valley.62 Serious "Ariz. Exs. 77B, table A; 197, p. 56; Calif. Ex. S582A. See also p. 117, infra. B8Tr. 8685-8689 (Seeley); Ariz. Ex. 45, pp. 8-9. 59Tr. 6449-6501 (Dowd). «°Ariz. Ex. 45, p. 72. 91Ibid.; Title Ins. and Trust Co. v. California Development Co., 171 Cal. 173, 181-82, 152 Pac. 542, 546 (1915). G2Tr. 7396-7397 (Dowd); Ariz. Ex. 45, p. 73. |
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Original Report: State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California |