AZ vs. CA:25 California Exhibits, Vol. XXV; Nos. 7501-7859

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APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD A4829 Analysis and Brief Summation of Testimony on H. R. 5434 EXTENSION OP REMARKS OF HON. JOHN R.MURDCCK OF ARIZONA IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, July 30,1946 Mr. MURDOCK. Mr. Speaker, a subcommittee of the Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation held voluminous hearings on my bill, H. R. 5434, without chance of completing action. With a view of facilitating study of this testimony I am presenting the following analysis under leave to print. PURPOSE OF THIS BILL, H. R. 5434 The purpose of H. R. 5434 is to authorize a change of boundaries and area of the Gila project in Yuma County, Ariz. This is a presently authorized and partly constructed irrigation project by the United States Bureau of Reclamation during the past 10 years, having had an expenditure of nearly ten million dollars made on it since authorization. The original authorized project included 150,000 acres of land, 139,000 acres of which lay on the mesa south and east of Yuma adjacent to that city. The remaining small portion of the original project consists of bottom lands along the Gila River very near its mouth. The reason that a change is sought to be made and authorized by H. R. 5434 in the existing partially completed project is that since. 1937 some very excellent farm land lying along the Gila River but upstream from that part included in the present project has been deprived of its good water for irrigation and now need relief. This deprivation came about through developments higher up on the Gila River and its tributaries but apparently in such a way that injured parties cannot base a legal claim for damages. This has gone on to such an extent that what was highly productive and valuable farm lands, without any change in the quality of the soil, have had to be sold for taxes and some have reverted to the desert, because the water which formerly supplied these lands from wells became too salty for use. Since these distressed lands just described, consisting of about 75,000 acres, could be returned to high productivity by furnishing a supplemental supply of good water from the nearby Colorado River, it is the purpose of H. R. 5434 to eliminate approximately 75,000 acres of the more remote and higher lands on the mesa included in the original project and substitute therefor 75,000 acres of this formerly tilled, rich land along the Gila River. The sponsors of this bill do not regard this proposal as a new project, but merely a modification of a duly authorized existing project. THE SPONSORS OF THE BILL H. R. 5434 was introduced in the House by both Arizona Congressmen and in identical form in the Senate by both Arizona Senators. However, it might be called a departmental bill, and had the full backing of the Bureau of Reclamation. The chief witnesses appearing in favor of the bill at the recent hearings were Hugo Farmer, secretary of the Gila Irrigation District, who is also a State Senator in the State Legislature of Arizona, and Mr. R. H. McElhaney, an official of the Gila Valley power district, Included in the distressed lands along the Gila River, who is also a farmer owning and operating a farm in the distressed area, which is sought to be incorporated in the present Gila project. Representing the State of Arizona, which was necessitated by the clash with witnesses from Southern California, was Mr. Charles Carson, an attorney for the Arizona Colorado River Board, and Mr. Gail Baker, an engineer, representing the Colorado River Board of Arizona. The Bureau of Reclamation was represented by several witnesses in support of the bill.