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Show -22- Nevada's Position Nevada proved at once a great help to Arizona and a thorn in her side. Nevada's interests lay in the direction of Arizona's, but for a limited distance only, and it was quite natural that when the point was reached where the Nevada interests appeared to be served, Arizona was left alone to bear the burden of battling for her rights. Nevada has little or no land susceptible of reclamation from the Colorado River, hence the question of division of the river's waters is with her a purely academic one. Her mines create some power requirements, which might be served by a development at Boulder, and this gives the State a minor interest in the project. What appeals to the people of the State as a much larger, if not indeed the major interest, is the fact that one end of the proposed great dam and the power project would rest on Nevada soil; a construction town would be built in Nevada; thousands of tons of material and supplies would be shipped through Nevada; many men would come and go through Nevada towns and the business of these towns would profit thereby. To Arizona as a whole, all parts and counties of which are vitally interested in the Colorado River, the localized activity and prosperity of the construction period of a dam, however large, does not mean much, but to Nevada, with her comparatively limited interests in the river, it means a great deal. For a considerable time after the Boulder Canyon project came to be agitated, Nevada gave little or no thought to any other advantage to be gained from the enterprise, but so great was her interest in this advantage that she gave her undivided and unconditional support to the California scheme. Finally, however, the significance of Arizona's persistent demand for recognition of the State's right to derive a |
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Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde 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, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : California exhibits. |