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Show 188 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER Angeles area. The tube would carry fresh water to Southern California. While at first glance the idea might seem a little absurd, said the Post, Thomas had consulted engineers about it and could find no formi- dable flaws. There was one flaw which both Thomas, the engi- neers, and the Post had overlooked, as we shall see. The tube would lie deep where the ocean is motion- less. Power to move the water through it would cost two dollars an acre-foot. About three hundred acre-feet of water would be delivered to Los Angeles each day. As to the fears of Oregon and Washington that their rights on the Columbia River would be jeopardized, Thomas had that problem all solved. The tube would take water out of the Columbia as it emptied into the Pacific Ocean, after all the needs of the Northwest states had been satisfied. What Thomas and his engineers (and the Denver Post) had overlooked was the fact that the water at the mouth of the Columbia is salt water! A person who signed himself "Jiminy Cricket" was giving Salt Lake fits. For some inexplicable reason, the Salt Lake Tribune's editor chose to publish the "Cricket" letters he received. Perhaps the editor reasoned that a little common sense injected into halluci- nations of Upper Basin leaders might have a beneficial effect. Wrote "Cricket:" Both the reclamation commissioner and the speaker of the House have now confirmed what this writer has so long contended: That there will be no Colorado River projects until we make peace with California.215 But such peace cannot be bought with $200,000 lobby- ing funds; nor can it be bought by the type of recrimi- nation hurled against California at the recent Portland reclamation meeting. |
