OCR Text |
Show -72- If attempt is made to impound or divert its waters from their natural course, and for other than natural purposes, the true question is, whether such impounding or diversion will have the effect to impair navigation in that part of the stream which is navigable. If such diversion will have such effect, it may be restrained by the government through the courts. Otherwise the courts will not interfere in the interest of navigation. It is to be presumed that an impairment must be something more than imagination or fanciful. It should be a plain, fairly well-defined, practical impairment, which can be reasonably deduced from evidence competent in a court of justice. It appears from the reports that the silt deposits of the Colorado have had the effect of creating natural dykes on the borders of the stream and gradually raising its bed until it is now, in some sections, above the level of the adjacent lands. Navigation by light-draft steamers could not be impaired by the action of this diverting canal at a high stage of water in the river; it would more likely be aided, as such diversion would lessen the danger of the water's overflowing its banks. It is only at low stage that the diversion seems to become important. The work of this company is undeniably a most beneficial one, in that it is making an oasis of exceeding fertility of several hundred thousand acres in extent in Mexico and the State of California, in the very midst of one of the most extensive of American deserts. This is done without the means of a diverting dam in the river to offer obstruction to navigation. On the other hand, the foregoing report shows that the entire tonnage of freight, except that of this particular company, below Yuma for a year, involving all stages |
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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. |