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Show -103- The first step toward solution of this riddle has been taken in the making of the Colorado River Compact negotiated in the year 1922 by commissioners from the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Mew Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in conferences presided over by Herbert Hoover as federal representa- tive. All of the States except Arizona ratified the compact promptly; but more than six years of negotiation and delay followed before Congress finally enacted the Boulder Canyon Project Act of December '21, 1928, 197a consenting to the compact either as a seven-state or six-state treaty unless within six months ratification be completed by all seven of the interested States; the compact not to be effecive among the six States until ratified by five of the States and by California with an added covenant never to divert for use in that State more than a specified quantity of water * The six-month period having passed without action by Arizona, and all of the other States having ratified as required by Congress, the compact 98 was proclaimed in effect by President Hoover on June 25, 1929c It then came into force as between the United States and all the other States interested except Arizona; the original rights and interests of that State and of Mexico remaining unchanged. By that act the United States and the six signatory States cancelled the race among Century Co., 1924), c. 13, pp. 235-258. The federal government's "a compre- hensive plan'' for improvement (including flood control) of the Mississippi River and its tributaries will probably cost the United States more than 500 million dollars no part of which is reimbursable. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Waterway improvement awaiting the making of a treaty with Canada may cost the United States 200 million dollars or more, not reimbursable. A giant ship canal is projected from the Gulf of Mexico across southeastern Georgia and northern Florida to the Atlantic Ocean; and another from the south end of Lake Michigan to the west end of Lake Erie. The New York Barge Canal - a State enterprise - cost more than the estimated cost: of the Boulder Dam. The City of New York proposes to expend a auarter of a billion dollars on the upper Delaware River to provide about one-third of its municipal water supply. .Th.e Delaware River controversy further involves immense navigation interests, in.c- luding a proposed 5000-ton ship canal 125 feet wide from near Trenton to New York Bay, and the domestic water supply of more people than live in all the seven States riparian to the Colorado River. 19<7aAct of Dec. 21, 1928, o. 1*2, k5 Stat. at L. 1057. 1^8House Poc. #605, 67th Congress, i+th Session; Act of Aug. 19,1921, 0- 72, l£ Stat. at L. 171; Gal. Stats. 1923, p. I53O; Colo. Laws I923, p. 68ij.; Nev. Laws 1923, pp. 35, 286 and 393; N. M. Laws 1923, p. 7; Wyo, Laws 1923, p. 35 Cal. Stats. I925, p. 1321; Colo. Laws 1925, p. 525; Nev. Laws 1925, p. I3I4J N. M. Laws 1925, p. 116; Utah Laws I925, p. 127; Wyo. Lars I925, p. 85; Cal* Stats. 1929, pp. 1, 37 and 38; Utah Laws 1929, p. 25; Boulder Canyon Project Act, Act of Dec. 21, 1928, c* Ifi.; J4.5 Stat. at L. IO57. The proclamation de~ claring the six-state Colorado River Compact in force brought from the White House a statement characterizing it as the most comprehensive, and with one possible exception the most important, compact yet made between.the States of the American Union. (The compact, omitting the preamble and the final article-relating only to approval by the States and Congress--is printed in full, infra, p. 3^7-) |