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Show 74 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER River Board of California, was the first California witness to challenge the testimony of the Reclamation Bureau engineer, Larson, and other technical witnesses Arizona had presented.42 The board, whose six members were appointed by the governor, represented established agencies having rights to the use of water and power from the Colorado River. The duty of the board was to protect and preserve California's rights. These rights, said Matthew, were among the earliest on the river. In developing them California agencies had made investments and commitments amounting to more than half a billion dollars. For the first time, Senator O'Mahoney of Wyoming apeared at a hearing. A supporter of Arizona, he asked several questions regarding uses of river water in the Southwest, and then departed. His visit, although brief, served to place his name in the record and show officially that he had participated in the committee debate. Matthew told the senators that during the previous seven years there had been intensive development of irrigated land in Arizona. This was done in part by speculators eager to cash in on high crop prices. The speculators knew that underground reserves of water were being "mined," or overdrawn, but they expected that their investments would be more than repaid before the underground water was exhausted. They cared nothing for the future of Arizona. The feverish expansion, Matthew declared, was also carried on for another reason. This was the desire to establish rights to the use of water before the state could pass an underground water control law that was being considered. From personal observation, said Matthew, he knew that the drilling of new irrigation wells and the |