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Show 188 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER large part of the supplemental water supply it desired by salvage. Murdock sought to weaken the effect of Lane's testimony by adding that his remarks about salvaging water applied not only to Arizona but to the entire Southwest.255 Arizona strategists had contrived a story they hoped would throw more unfavorable light on their arch- enemy, the Imperial Valley. It was the accusation that the All American Canal had been built for a sinister purpose. The Imperial Valley was the chief beneficiary from the canal, and Murdock intimated that it had been built to carry a large amount of water over and above what the valley (and the adjoining Coachella Valley) could use. The reason: Imperial Valley officials and landowners, as well as other Californians, had large landholdings in Mexico. The canal ran along the Mexican border. Murdock got Engineer Debler to testify as to the capacity of the canal, and Debler said: 256 "It starts with a capacity of 15,000 second-feet. At Syphon Drop Power Plant, where most of the water is taken out for the Yuma Project, right opposite the city of Yuma, the capacity reduces to 13,000 second-feet. A few miles farther down, at the Pilot Knob Power Plant where water is being delivered to Mexico, the capacity reduces to 10,000 second-feet; and that is the capacity as the canal enters the Imperial Valley." This was the statement Murdock wanted, and he quickly pointed out the difference between the canal's capacity at the start and that after it passed Pilot Knob. Allegedly by such subterfuge were California interests taking water to irrigate their Mexican lands. |