OCR Text |
Show To facilitate the leasing of the undeveloped lands, Congress enacted Public Law 390 in August of 1955, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior, for a 2-year period, to lease any unassigned lands on the Colorado River Reservation for educational, recreational, agricultural, and other purposes, but meanwhile the Colorado River Tribal Council had reversed the position it took in 1944-45, at which time it (1) agreed to permit the division of the Reservation into two Reserves, a Southern and a Northern, in exchange for the development of 15,000 acres of irrigated farm land in the Northern portion which it reserved for the use of the Colorado River Tribes (Mojave, Cheme-huevi, etc.) proper, and (2) by Ordinance No. 5, adopted on February 3, 1945, it agreed to permit the colonization of the Southern Reserve by Navajos and Hopis. The Colorado River Tribal Council stated its opposition to continuation of the colonization program and it was not possible to carry out the improvement lease program for land development pending solution of the problem of land status on the Reservation. The two year period during which leasing was authorized expires in August of 1957, but lease bids have been invited by the Phoenix Area Office for the development of 65,000 acres of irrigable land under a single 25-year lease. In accordance with Public Law 390 (84th Congress) revenue accruing from leases in the Southern Reserve will be held in a special account pending determination of beneficial ownership of the land involved. Development of the 65,000 acres by private capital, added to the 38,000 acres which have thus far been developed by the Federal Government since establishment of the Colorado River Reservation in 1865, would meet the objective of attaining the full agricultural potential by |
Source |
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. |