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Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA
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The Imperial Press. VOL. IV. I'uMUhed at the center ol the greatest Irrigated terrllory In America, In the heart of IlieColoradodeaert, Sin Oleifo county. Southern California, 67 ffet below the level of the Ma. Under pres ent tanal«. 250,000 acret: »mder Irrigation «y»trm when completed, 400.000 acres. Adjacent to irrigated land lr» Arizona and lan.J to be Irrigated by the National llovernment from the «ame grand Colorado river which wlllmake a combined hodyof more than a million Irrigated acre*. A DEAD ONE The Three Million Dollar Deal Advocated By the California Development Company Through Its Imperial Valley Organ The Conservative Advocated By The Corporation— The Corpora tion Advocated By The Conservatives — "Birds of a Feather Will Flock Together" since Mr. V. C. I'aulii. lee < the • ..... v ..uner of the Imperial Valley New.-, i ni journal has liecome a very *ln>ug iidviHiite of government ownership on i alifornia Development Com | mny leriMH. It" i^iif i»f January <» »;i-cu i plele with thin «ort of pabulum, ami , . itaiiifd such a complete ex|«»»«»»< l_ii« aigument for government owiut; rhi|> from the conservative stand jMiiut, lint we feel that it should Ik? given a wi.lur publicity than the "News" circu it tion will give it. We were particularly struck by the i-iueuuoufl nrgunient against litigation ii .1 iv favor of arbitration. This is the i -jKfl of "business methods and uiph» ui.u-v" brought tlown to date. In view . f the fact that on December 1, liXH, every debtor of the California Develujn inent Company in this Valley received ii bill from said company; across the face of which was i printed in red ink a notice figned by A. \\. Hchcr and read ing to tlie effect that unless the, re cipient met his contract within ten days from the day it became due, the bill would 1m« turned over to their legal department with instructions to enforce collection. Wo would like to a-k oui conservative friends what advice they have to give the poor unfortunate who unable to meet bin payment on account of crop failure caused by the California Development Company not furnishing water to him, finds himself sued, by paid company. Would they deprive him of the right of defense on the grouuds that he is plunging the Valley into litigation? If so, a very unjust judgment might Im« given against him. NO! emphatically N<>: What is nance for the goose must be sauce for the u'liuder. The California Development Company being coiujHised of business men, know that the law suit is the backbone of business, and the only sure method of enforcing contract!* and' col liding bills. If the California Develop nient Company uses this method, why should it not be used by others. Another thing that we feel merits attention is the naive and misleading Mi-gnuieit ih favor of paying the Cali fornia Development Company three million dolluis. This i* gotten "l» on tlie hyjMitli»«Hi« Unit the Californui De velopment Company owiih the Colorado river and has a rijrht t» oxnct fn'iii tin* l.i'ul owners a bane cliaryo for v water l lght, .represented l by "water^sUKik" in Hiiiiiu one of tlie mutual water com iMuiiH, uiul ftl»o tlto r W't t<» charge il ft v cent* per ii'cfo f«»'t for all ivutbr MM-vt'«l to such water stockholders. ••Wntcr Is Klnjc Merc is Hn Kingdom." IMITJtIAL, CAL., SATURDAY, JANUAKY 14, IWS. There are very grave doubt* of this all being true in the face of the Call • ••iniu laws, and lat«- Supreme l.oiirt • leHHi'llS, not to tIM'llllOII tllO OpIHIOII of she Attorney (ieneral <»f the United Slut* s, who hold- thai all of the water of that river belongs to the I'niled "'tales aH long as it is in American Terri tory and that all'divciMion* of water from naid stream by individual* and c 'iporations a ■ illegal. So tar as the California Development Company's Mexican contract is concerm d, il in not an asset to be reckoned at all. The Mexican government has decreed that no base or "water .stock" charge shall \h' made, against lire lauds the Cali fornia Development Company have contracted t»» irrigate in Mexico, ami that lifly cents per acre fo<it for water actually used shall he the charge f«>r the prevent, hut they have the power to cut that down to any figure they please (m*o section 18 of the contract!) The Reclamation Service has always advised that a contract I «: made with the Mexican land owners, for an «•«{ vu it able division of the water and its use fur irrigation. Said contract to provide the Imperial people with a free riulit jof way ill rough Mexico for their water. Also to limit the amount of water Mex ico shall have, and provide that all the remainder may l>e used iv the United States. If we. ever get government ownership it will he on such terms aH | the United States, government considers j fair to itself and to the people of the I iii|«tiial Valley; In this connection we would nay, that ! tlie Reclamation Service advises that tlie Imperial Valh'V Water Users' Ansoeio ti«n purchase the existing plant of the California Development Company and ■ its associated (Mexican) cor|>oratinu. They do not say for iih to purchase their water'appropriation; nor their Mexican I ■■■■'"..■ -* , . r ; . concession, nor any of the franchises, etc., they- claim to have. It is simply their KXihiiNta plant, which means theii main canal in the United States and Mexico, and the lieadgatcs and struct lire's that are parts of it. The question now is, how much is thin KXIMTI.NU PLANT Worth. If tlieV (jet what it cost them what mor* Hhoiild they ask? They have already sold water stock for -17,(XX) acres of land, and have received at least $L\">00,000 for the name. Besides this, the parties composing the California Development Company own most of the valuable franchises, the towusites, and a great Con I i titled un pa,.'*' 5. NO WATER RIGHTS Claim of California Development Company To The iWaters of the Colorado River Is Denied by the Government "Gold Bricks" Arc Sold Even In These Days of Wisdom And Conservative Business Methods. — Times Articles Explains Situation — Government Is Master The Secretary of the Interior, on Monday of the present week, trans mitted to Congress his rejxirt on the Colorado Itiver. This n*|»ort, it will In? rrcalled. i* made n« the result of a reso lution adopted at the last petwioti of oiiiigrem' l directing the Seen tary of the Interioi to investigate various questions involved in the lower Colorado Uiver for the irrigation of arid land.- in Cali fornia ami Arizona, to rejMTt the extent to which t'liene waters should he con trolled for irrigation under the national irrigation act or by private enterprise; and what legislation, if any, is necessary in ihe premises. In trans4iniUiiiK the rejwrt; which \va." prepared by the Geological Survey, Secretary Hitchcock in a letter takes occasion to .say (referring infereniudly to the hn|>eiial enterprise.) that in the case of waters appropriated and "now being put to beneficial use," he recom mends that the appropriation stand, leaving it plain that where water has been appropriated and is not being put to henefioial use the appropriation should not stand. Mr. Hitchcock merely states with refereiicij to .Mexico that the Mexican government ha* entered a protest against any interference with the navi gability of the Colorado Itiver. The re|M)it makes no reference to the propo sition that the government purchase the Imperial property for $:j,000,000. Coining down to the rej>ort itself, which was written by K. 11. Newell, chief of the Reclamation Service, there . . . ■ ■•... are many pages devoted to the questions involved in the physical conditions sur ruundiug the entire proposition, and to a discussion of legal questions involved, etc. Finally the report says that tinder n complete conservation of the waters of the Colorado river and its tributaries, such .is would be pos.sihle under the Reclamation act by a systematic and logical development, not less than 2.1XK), 000 acres could be irrigated in the com paralivelv near future, and a uoihl deal more than that later. The report then recommends as follows: I N V KSTM KNT UISCODRA4 > Kl>. "ITptbtiie present time all develop ment on the Colorado rlvei lias Ihmmi by private enterpriHe, the proj»osed Yuma project being the tlrst Investment of national funds. Ah a rule private enter prise lias been greatly hampered by the magnitude of the construction of eftVe tivejy controlling the stream. Kxpr rieuce with these enterprises has been hucli as todisc<»ura«e further investment, !es)»ecially in view of the fact that under the terms of the Reclamation act the government probably will construct large and permanent works, utilizing all of the available resources. 'The principal large enterprise is that of the California Development Company, taking water at or helow the iiiterna tianal boundary on the California wile and carrying it through tlie republic of .Mexico for about sixty miles to points where it id returned iv part, northerly into the United States. "Here in the southern end of San Diego county, California, is a great sink, or depression, extending to a depth ot nearly 300 feet lwlow sea level. Waters from the Colorado river conducted through Mexico and distributed ovei a part of this area through canals owned by the fanners. The lauds lie in alti tudes from those slightly above sea level, sloping very gently toward the north or west to Sal ton sink. The entire area has heen frequently overflowed in recent geological times, both by waters of the <.iulf of California and by the waters of the.Coloiado river, in fact the depres sion is sin. ply the upper end of the (iulf of California, cut off from gait waters hy a broad expanse ol Ami sands or clays, being sediment brought down by the Colorado river. WASTE, SOT I'SK. "This depression being the bet I of a former estuary or brackish lake, it con tains all of tlie salts or alkali which was left by the evaporation of the water. This alkaline contents ranges from a slight or inappreciable percentage 4 to 3 per cent or more. Heportsof the Bureau of Soils of the Departnientof Agriculture cover this point fully and illustrate the difficulties and dangers encountered by settlers in this area. 11 Lands within tiiid around this de pression have been tiled upon principally under the terms of the Desert Laud Act, ami to a less extent under the Home stead act. Holdings are usually from ICO to .TJO acres or more, and irrigation has U'en attempted on many of these with greater or less success, dependent upon the amount of alkali in the noil and the skill of the farmer in distribut ing the available water supply. "Use of the waters of this river upon laudfl which are very strongly alkaline, or which for other reasons can not he pt'inmuently reclaimed and made to produce remunerative crops, is a waste and not a beneficial use. The waters of the Colorado river have in some eases been applied to lands of this* character, NO. 3»