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Show 22 DIXIE PROJECT, UTAH Mr. SKUBITZ. I have a copy of the Secretary's report, and I'd like to read from page 96 of that report. It says: Livestock feeds are the major crops grown in the project area and occupy about three- fourths of the present irrigated acreage. Now, what crops does the Secretary refer to- what livestock feed ? Mr. WEST. A great deal of it is alfalfa. Mr. SKUBITZ. Thank you. Mr. ROGERS. DO you have a question, Mi. White? Mr. WHITE. I have one question I'd like to ask my colleague from Utah. I hope that during this term of Congress I won't see a bill introduced to change the name of this project to the Bennett project ? Mr. BURTON. It won't be introduced by this Congressman. Mr. ROGERS. Thank you very much, Mr. West. Mr. WEST. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ROGERS. Our next witness is Senator Orval Hafen, senator for the State of Utah. Senator Haf en, come forward, please. STATEMENT OF ORVAL HAFEN, UTAH STATE SENATOR Mr. HAFEN. Chairman Rogers and members of the subcommittee, my name is Orval Hafen. I am a member of the Utah State Senate representing Washington County in which the Dixie project is located. I am the first resident of the area to testify here tonight, and so on behalf of the local people I want to welcome you. As has been said, I believe this is the first time in the history of our community that a group of Congressmen have honored us with their presence here in an official hearing. We deeply appreciate the fact that you came so far when you're so busy to investigate the feasibility of a propect which is so dear to our hearts. Control of the waters of the Santa Clara Creek and the Virgin River has been a problem during the entire hundred years that white- men have lived here. A month after Santa Clara was settled, in the dead of winter, a flood washed out the settlement and forced the people to move. For more than 30 years efforts to keep a dam in the Virgin River so we could water our crops seemed fruitless, and without water we could not live. I notice that most of you committee members live west of the Mississippi River and so you can appreciate perhaps more than those who live east of the " father, of waters" that water is the most precious resource on earth. Out here in the West, the extent to which we conserve it and utilize it determines the extent of our growth and development. A group of witnesses here tonight will tell you why they consider the Dixie project vital to our area. I do not want to anticipate their testimony. Tomorrow morning we will take you to the damsite on the Santa Clara and on the Virgin and you will get a picture better than we can paint tonight of just what this project means to us. We have worked for more than 40 years to bring the project to this point. We cannot bring it to fruition with our own limited resources. We are not asking for charity or handouts. We want only to share in the great reclamation policy of this Nation, and that is to get help for a project that is too big for us, and to repay to the Federal Government every dime of the reimbursable costs. I have spent some time reading the project development report which the |