| OCR Text |
Show 71. John C. Page, who succeeded Dr. Elwood Mead as Commissioner of the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Commissioner Page actively interested himself in the problems of the Provo River Project, and played an important role in winning approval of the Salt Lake Aqueduct construction as a part of the Project. in the Deer Creek division of the Provo River Project even if the necessary aqueduct had to be financed by the City. Water, of course, is worth what it costs, and though the Board of Directors felt that the Deer Creek supply must be obtained, they nevertheless felt that no final commitment to that purpose could be made until every effort had been exhausted to induce the United States Bureau of Reclamation to enlarge the Provo River Project to include the necessary aqueduct, to finance its construction and permit the repayment of costs on the same terms as the costs of other parts of the project. It seemed at the outset that the obstacles to this result were insuperable, but even so, it was resolved to make the attempt, which, if successful, would save the taxpayers of Salt Lake City interest charges of substantially $ 200,- 000 per annum. The first step to that end was the making of a cooperative agreement with the United States Bureau of Reclamation and the Utah Water Storage Commission for the making and financing of a survey to determine expense and engineering feasibility. Next, on May 25, 1936 the Board commissioned Mr. George A. Critch- low, then a member of the Board and its Secretary, who had other business in the East, to call on Commissioner Page of the Bureau and urge the interests of the District, and the propriety of federal financing of the aqueduct. Then in March, 1937, and on the same mission, they sent Mr. Fisher Harris and Mr. Leland H. Kimball, who were accompanied and greatly helped by Mr. William R. Wallace, at his own expense. This was all preliminary work and during the month of April, 1937 the Board determined to present its case directly to the Secretary of the Interior, and to that end directed to him a carefully prepared petition containing every fact and every argument which it was thought might appeal in favor of the desired action. |
