AZ vs. CA:04 California Exhibits, Vol. IV; Nos. 151-192

page 5

-5- developed a dangerous situation, and at that time it was thought by engineers and experienced persons that the government of the United States should attempt to control the runaway river and return it to its old channel. To secure this aid, your receiver visited the president of the United States, William H. Taft, at Beverly, Mass., and was enabled to show the physical situation so clearly that a special message was sent to the Congress, which resulted in an appropriation of $1,000,000.00 by Congress, or as much thereof as should be found necessary to control and return the Colorado River to its old channel. This money was expended under the direction of a skilled United States government engineer of national reputation, but scarcely had he pronounced the levee completed, when a sudden rise of the river brought the water up against the embankment, and in a few days the levee was practically ruined; no effort was made thereafter to rebuild it, and the Colorado River has since discharged through the new channel, via Volcano Lake. In the early winter of 1913, it became apparent that the sill of the original concrete gate at the Colorado River, known as Hanlon Heading, was at too high an elevation to make a gravity discharge possible during the extreme low water. Your receiver petitioned for and received an order from the court to build a section at the west end of this gate with a sill five feet lower than the original sill. A new type of gate was installed, termed the "Stoney Gate," which has been very successful, and if your receiver were asked what is the most important structure built under his administration, he would unhesitatingly say, "The Stoney Gate in Hanlon Heading." The silt problem has been one of the greatest to solve, as shown by the fact that during the year 1914 (daily