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Show DIXIE PROJECT, UTAH 37 STATEMENT OE MALIN OOX, PEESTDENT, WASHINGTON COUNTY FAEM BUEEAU Mr. Cox. Mr. Chairman, Governor Clyde, members of the committee, I am Malin Cox of St. George, Utah, president of Washington County Farm Bureau and member of the Board of Directors of the Utah State Farm Bureau, and tonight it is my privilege to represent the Utah State Farm Bureau. I would like to state our position on reclamation: New highways and roads, industrial expansion, subdivisions, and urban developments take more farmland out of production each year than reclamation replaces. Statistics tell us by about 1975 to 1980 we will have all the population in the United States that we can feed on the farming lands that we now possess. Farm Bureau stands wholeheartedly in support of the Dixie project. We think this is a most worthy project. It will increase the opportunity, the income, and the wealth immensely; in fact it is vital to the future growth of Washington County. On the other hand the Virgin River is not too important to Lake Mead. Wilson McConkie, a Government employee, whose business it is to measure the water in the streams in this part of the State, tells me that in the 5 years he has been here the river has gone dry each summer and for about 4 months no water runs out of the State. The State line is only about 10 percent of the distance it must run to reach the lake. I would like to speak as a farmer. For 40 years I have farmed and raised livestock in Washington County. We live in a country beset with drought, sometimes of long duration. If you want to break a farmer's heart, force him to watch his crops burn up and his livestock die from the lack of moisture. The Virgin River and its tributaries, including the Santa Clara River, is the only known source where we can materially increase our water supply. I wish I had time to tell you of the pioneers, how year after year the river went on the rampage and washed out the dams, filled the ditches with mud and debris, and washed away the farmland. Wearily they turned to the pick and shovel, team and scraper, and cleaned up the mess, rebuilt the dams and got the water to their crops before they burned up. Then came talk of the Dixie project, and for more years than I like to think of our hopes and fears have ebbed and flowed. A number of years ago I attended a meeting in St. George. The Governor of our State was there, the State engineer was there, the head of the water and power board, and many others, including the Federal officers from the Reclamation office in Boulder City, Nev. I heard the Reclamation officers say that for the first time they could report the project as economically feasible. My dream became a hope. The western concept, and I think the correct concept of water is, Put it to a beneficial use or lose it. Each year that the Virgin River water runs out of Utah our chances of utilizing it decrease. As farmers, as livestockmen we stand before you tonight not hat in hand begging, but asking for what we believe are our rights. We, believe that the water of the Virgin River belongs here in Wash- |