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Show DIXIE PROJECT, UTAH 33 Dixie problem. Here's a magazine printed in 1911 which talks about Dixie and the Dixie project, so I believe it's been known ever since the beginning, 1861, as the Dixie Cotton Mission, and, therefore, we do have a little Dixie blood in us. I would also like to quote from this magazine: The Virgin River irrigation project is the most extensive reclamation scheme undertaken in the State of Utah. These are quotations taken from this book from the Honorable William Spry, the Honorable Governor at that time when he was down here on a trip in 1909: Application has been made to the State engineer for the necessary water rights, and careful estimates, based upon Government records and other reliable data so the water supply is ample to serve all the lands sought to be reclaimed. This project will depend upon storage lake water supply. The main reservoir will be located on the natural channel of the Virgin River, the site of the dam being near the boundary- near the center boundary line between Washington and Kane Counties. They were a little more optimistic in those days, gentlemen. They estimate the project will irrigate 100,000 acres, and it goes on, if any of you would care to read it you may do so. Our association has mothered this great project and is primarily responsible for the local and multi- State support which it has received. Before going further into my testimony, Mr. Chairman, I would like to commend you and the other dignitaries here for the help you are giving us in furthering the aims of the people of southern Utah. I have here a copy of a magazine which was printed in 1911 by a group of businessmen from southern Utah, recognizing the possibility of the controlled flow of the Virgin River; and at this point I would like to read a paragraph from that magazine. As you know, the first feasibility report of this project was written, I believe, around 1918, and in our current feasibility report it has been proven economically sound with the benefits exceeding costs by a ratio of 2.1 to 1. Local support for the Dixie project has been very enthusiastic. We have now completed the creation of a new conservancy district and a permanent board has been appointed by the district judge. The conservancy would also provide for a maximum tax levy of 5 mills, and as you know, this is a much larger tax imposed upon the county for a conservancy district than in most reclamation projects. In spite of this, over 90 percent of the people available in Washington County signed to support the maximum 5- mill levy; and this includes people on the outskirts of our county, consisting of around 20 percent of our population who will not receive any direct benefits from the project. Just prior to 1941, the first complete Dixie project report was issued and the people of Washington County were solicited for a conservancy district. Unfortunately, pressures of World War II forced postponement of the project and the conservancy district was never completed. The Dixie project as proposed by the Bureau of Reclamation in their report of 1961, proposes that Dixie be a multipurpose water resource development on the Virgin River and Santa Clara Creek by regulation of flows of the Virgin River and its tributaries. The proj- |