| OCR Text |
Show 182 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER Brown, went to Washington at the request of Engle to study the matter. He was reported to have felt that if California continued to take a "too stiff-necked atti- tude" toward the Upper Basin, California's own interests might be prejudiced. Brown had a conference with Senator Anderson, an author of the crsp bill, and reported Anderson had made an ultimatum to the effect that if California con- tinued its opposition to the crsp there would not be another project started in California as long as he was chairman of the Senate reclamation subcommittee. When Anderson was asked if he had made such a threat, however, he said that Brown had misinterpreted his warning. According to Anderson, he told Brown: "If California continues to oppose all the projects in the Upper Basin, it will have to expect the Upper Basin states to start fighting back. I think every California project will be jeopardized if they oppose everything the Upper Basin desires." As the time for the reopening of Congress drew near, rumors were widespread that Upper Basin state officials were considering taking Echo Park Dam from the pro- ject bill as a "matter of expediency." 205 A furor de- veloped, and the press was full of statements from officials with varied opinions on the subject. However, it was generally conceded that the dam was the greatest obstacle to passage of the project. The Colorado Water Conservation Board reported that it had received a letter from Joseph W. Penfold, western representative of the Izaak Walton League, say- ing that if Echo Park Dam were removed the league would work for congressional approval of the project.205 The Denver Post was vehemently opposed to the re- |
