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Show 534 INTERSTATE ADJUDICATIONS the flow due to periods of low water.4 Commercial disuse resulting from changed geographical conditions and a Congressional failure to deal with them, does not amount to an abandonment of a navigable river or prohibit future exertion of federal control. Economy Light & Power Go. v. United States, 256 U. S. 113,118, 124. We know from the reports of the committees of the Congress which recommended the Boulder Canyon project that, in the opinion of the government engineers, the silt will be arrested by the dam; that, through use of the stored water, irregularity in its now below Black Canyon can be largely overcome; and that navigation for considerable distances both above and below the dam will become feasible.5 Compare St. Anthony Falls Water Power Co. v. St. Paul Water Commissioners, 168 U. S. 349, 359; United States v. Cress, 243 U. S. 316, 326. The bill further alleges that the "recital in said act that the pur- pose thereof is the improvement of navigation" is a mere subterfuge and false pretense." It quotes a passage in Art. IV of the compact, to which the Act is subject, which declares that "inasmuch as the Colorado River has ceased to be navigable for commerce and the reservation of its waters for navigation would seriously limit the development of its basin, the use of its waters for purposes of navi- gation shall be subservient to the uses of such waters for domestic, agricultural, and power purposes;" and alleges that "even if said river were navigable, the diversion, sale and delivery of water there- from as authorized in said act, would not improve, but would destroy its navigable capacity."6 Into the motives which induced members of Congress to enact the Boulder Canyon Project Act, this Court may not enquire. [Citing cases.] 7 The Act declares that the authority to construct the dam and reservoir is conferred, among other things, for the purpose of "improving navigation and regulating the flow of the river." As the river is navigable and the means which the Act provides are not 4 See Report by Director of Reclamation Service on Problems of Imperial Valley and Vicinity, Sen. Doc. No. 142, 67th Cong., 2d Sess., February 23, 1922, pp. 3-10, 240; Report of the Colorado River Board on the Boulder Dam Project, H.R. Doc. No, 446, 70th Cong., 2d Sess., December 3, 1928, pp. 12-14 ; Report of the All-American Canal Board, July 22, 1919, pp. 24-33. For the geological history of the lower Colorado area, see Information Presented to the House Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation in connection with H.R. 2903, 68th Cong., 1st Sess., 1924, pp. 135-43. All the former documents on the Colorado River Development were adopted as part of the hearings on Boulder Canyon Project Act. See Hearings Before the House Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation on H.R. 5773, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., January 6, 1928, pp. 8-10. 6 The House Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation stated that one of the purposes of the Act was to have the flow or the river below the dam "regulated and even" and thus "susceptible to use by power boats and other small craft. The great reservoir will, of course, be susceptible of navigation." See Boulder Canyon Project, H.R. Rep. 918, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., March 15, 1928, p. 6. As to control of silt deposits, see id., pp. 16-17. A similar report was made to the Senate. See Boulder Canyon Project, Sen. Rep. 592, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., March 20, 1928, pp. 5-7, 16-20. The House Committee said in summary : "The proposed dam would improve navigation probably more than any other works which could be constructed!. The dam will so regulate the flow as to make the river very practi- cable of navigation for 200 miles below and impound water above which could easily be navigated for more than 75 miles." H.R. Rep. 918, supra, p. 22. Compare Hearings Before the House Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation on H.R. 5773, 70th Cong., 1st 'Sess., pt. 3, January 13-14, 1928, pp. 340-41; Hearings Before the Senate Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation on S. 728 and S. 1724, id., January 17-21, 1928, pp. 368- 77, 384, 420-21. Since below Black Canyon the Colorado River is a boundary stream, such navigation will be at least partially interstate. 8 Reliance is also had upon the fact that the bill as originally introduced contained no reference to navigation, but that the statements of this purpose, found in the Act, were inserted during the course of the hearings. See Minority Views, H.R. Rep. No. 918, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 3 ; pp. 14-18. 1 [Omitted] |