AZ vs. CA:24 California Exhibits, Vol. XXIV; Miscellaneous

page A122

A122 APPENDIX 214 subscribed to the Colorado River Compact. The statute referred to contains the following provision: provided, however, that any compact or agreement so entered into by said States and the United States shall not be binding or obligatory upon any of the high contracting parties thereto unless and until the same shall have been ratified and approved by the legislature of each of said States and by the Congress of the United States. In order that the material facts may be known, and a general understanding of the Compact reached by all interested, I take the liberty of presenting the following explanation and comment. Physical situation.-At the end of the Mexican War a treaty was entered into between Mexico and the United States whereby Mexico ceded to the United States a great arid territory. A portion of this territory embraced the area drained by the Colorado River, the third largest river in America and the largest river in the arid West. The drainage area of this great river includes portions of what are now the seven States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The United States failed to acquire by the said treaty the territory surrounding the lower ninety miles of the Colorado River, and this stretch of river therefore remains in Mexico. The Colorado River problem therefore has an important international as well as interstate aspect. The Colorado River Basin in the United States naturally divides itself into two great basins separated by hundreds of miles of deep barren canyon cutting through high and rough plateaus. The Upper Basin embraces areas in the four States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, and these States furnish about 85 percent of the flow of the river. Millions of acres of land are irrigable in the Upper Basin, and possibilities exist for large developments of hydroelectric power. Throughout the canyon region separating the two basins large power possibilities also exist although it is impractical to divert water in amount for irrigation. The Lower Basin comprises areas chiefly in the States of Arizona, California, and Nevada, supplying only about 15 percent of the water to the river, but which have extensive possibilities for the use of water for domestic, agricultural, and power purposes. The agricultural and economic conditions in the Upper and Lower Basins are entirely different. Development of the water supply for the benefit of the Lower Basin will be much more rapid than for the Upper. Conflict of interest therefore arises between the two basins, and the logical plan of solution is an apportionment of water between them. The Green River rising in the mountains of Wyoming is one of the most important tributaries of the Colorado River. The Little Snake is also a Wyoming tributary. These two streams drain about one-fifth the area of Wyoming, and furnish about 14 percent of the total