THE BOULDER DAM PROJECT
Johnson, Hiram W.
The Boulder Dam Project Eleetric Power Capacity Equal to That of All Niagara Plants Now Operating Would Remove Peril of Floods and Droughts By HIRAM W. JOHNSON (U. S. Senator from...
...The issue has been made, not by the proponents of the bill, but by those who represent private ownership of electrical development...
...It would be not only unwise but worse to construct a dam of the magnitude contemplated and not utilize its possibilities...
...It constitutes the greatest development program of this generation...
...I hope every subscriber will read Senator Johnson's article with care.—R...
...It means annihilation...
...It represents in higher degree than perhaps any other part of our country, the sturdy, courageous, pioneering American spirit, which, in the development of this Nation, no obstacle could halt and no peril daunt...
...installed capacity 50% Sweater than Muscle SboaLs...
...ThS* Mexican corporation operates the canal in Mex» ico under a concession, by the terms of whkij "one-half of the volume of water passing through the canal" may be withdrawn for th)t irrigation of lands in that country...
...I T IS interesting and significant, iri- triguing as modern writers like to put it...
...secondly, reclamation of a million or more acres of land now waste: thirdly, domestic water for the coastal cities of the southwest: fourthly, an all-American canal to the Imperial Valley upon American soil, solving the present intolerable international situation: and lastly, as a by-product of the plan, the generation of power, whirl) »il...
...The limits of this article will not permit a legal discussion...
...The real opposition to the project, however, comes from thosp who in the pride of their power and their wealth, say that the Government of the United States shall be permitted to do nothing which private or individual initiative might do...
...enable the project to pay for itself...
...and some of this opposition arrogantly and insolently says to the United States Government that no bill shall be passed by Congress authorizing the Government, in case the future may require it, to exercise an option for the protection of its people or the development of its resources...
...There is but one source to which thes$ cities can go, and that is the Colorado River, The immense storage provided by the Boulder Dam Bill will give to those cities potable drink ing water, and to no higher purpose can the us of water be put...
...as occasion suggested to prevent monopoly and readily contract for the sums essential to pay for the entire works...
...When the work of reclamation began it soon became apparent that the same river that supplied the water would be a constantly increasing menace...
...The problem of providing protective works was enormously complicated by the fact that such works must be built and maintained in Mexico...
...Imperial Valley IMPERIAL VALLEY is a desert reclaimed...
...Less obvious and spectacular than the flood danger of Imperial Valley, but not less seriouff in consequence, is the ever-present danger erf water shortage, a danger which because of * very peculiar situation respecting Mexican de* velopment becomes worst- each year...
...and that power will be supplied of course to Imperial Valley, now supplied by companies in which Mr...
...They selected a diversion point on the American side, but, to avoid the sand hills, they were forced to build their irrigating canal through Mexico for a distance of 50 miles...
...If to the former, it is intolerable...
...the Elephant Butte, of New Mexico and our Reclamation Service, with 2,368,000 acre-feet capacity...
...The highest dams now in existence stand from 260 to 350 feet above bedrock, while the Boulder Canyon dam will consist of a solid concrete structure towering 550 feet above its foundations and braced between solid rock walls...
...Originally a desert, it is now one of the most productive spots in the world...
...The investments that gave predominance in the one were Utilized seemingly to give control of the other...
...The dam would remove the peril of floods...
...Its magnitude can only be appreciated by comparison with present existing works of like character...
...Successive administrations at Washington have recognized, not only the possibilities, but the necessity for the regulation and control of the Colorado River, and finally out of years and years of study by engineers and by the reclamation service has come the perfected, crystallized, unified scheme, by which, first, there will be flood control and river regulation...
...Levees were constructed by the people of the valley in an effort to hold the river in its course as it flowed through Mexico, but against its whirling, rushing floods these works built by necessity from the unstable material of the locality, could givs but partial and temporary protection...
...and the Gatun Lake on the Panama Canal, with 4,4I0,0O0_ capacity, while the proposed Boulder Canyon storage will have approximately 26,000,000 acre-feet...
...An aqueduct is contemplated by the cities requiring water, constructed course, at their expense, far below the dam) which will supply the inhabitants, now numbeav ing more than two millions, the domestic watet sorely needed by them...
...Chandler, opposes the all-American canal...
...Phipps, like Mr...
...The Colorado River flowing above the level of the Valley carrying silt deposits estimated at more than 100,000 acre-feet per annum, has made for itself various channels to the sea, all of which the vagrant stream has abandoned as they filled with silt, until now there remains but the one possible channel in which the River flows...
...Danger of Flood IF THE Colorado River breaks from its un^ stable bed and flows into this valley, th^ waters will have no outlet...
...The issuer involved in this measure are of great public importance...
...It furnishes to the country, et a time when no other land produces, its fruits and its vegetables...
...In the legislation for the Boulder Dam is sharply presented now whether the United States Government may develop a great natural resource, protect its people from flood, reclaim its arid lands and solve an intolerable international Situation or whether the government is powerless and must rest supine at the command of private interests seeking more private profit...
...A flood there is not like a flood on the Mississippi where in time th| water subsides...
...Financial Aspect of Bill WITHIN our limited space, it is impossibly to state the financial details of the schera$> It is sufficient to say that as in no other meaflii ure ever presented, the Swing-Johnson Bill prop vides that not a shovelful of earth shall turned, not a dollar expended by the government until the Secretary of the Interior has secure contracts which will provide for the reimburse of every cent which might be expended...
...Power to he Developed THE project, while startling in its magnitude excepting size, la directly in line with the experience and practice of the Interior Department...
...The pkmeer settlers, who a quarter of a century ago undertook to reclaim the Valley from its original desert state, turned to the only available water supply, the Colorado River...
...Whetha this language means one-half of the yeartjp volume or one-half of the day-by-day flow is ft matter of serious dispute between Americas and Mexican interests...
...The Boulder Dam would generate !>&0,000 firm horsepower continuously with a 1,000,000 horsepower installed capacity, a capacity equal to the total capacity of all the Niagara plants now operating, an...
...The bill, at the instance of the Secretary of the Interior, authorizes him "to construct a plant and sell the product, but it does not make mandatory upon him the building or the operation of the plant...
...There it means overwhelming inundation, from which evaporation is thv only deliverance...
...With equal candor, doubtless, he would concede his interest and his dominant position in Colorado politics, which it was stated upon the floor of the Senate, the Reed Investigating Committee would probably explore...
...Chandler, the rich* est man ra California, feverishly reclaiming' Mexican acres, views with distrust and suspicion the ail-American canal, which will solve the international situation and relieve Imperial Valley farmers from their present precarious position...
...Insull, because of his public Service corporations, acquired a commanding position in the economic life of his territory and apparently he sought an equally commanding position in its political life...
...From the Mexican side came the danger of overflow through the breaking of the river banks in times of flood...
...If it Is subject to iha latter construction, the situation of Imperiw Valley is had enough...
...and in the short space of twenty years, the terrible death dealing desert has been transformed into a garden spot, where sixty to seventy thousand Americans dwell in a half dozen well-built little cities, or upon 400,-000 cultivated acres, with $100,000,000 worth of property values...
...The power companies and those with investments in electrical enterprises are against this bill...
...Electric power and politics seem to be, in our modern scheme of things, inextricably interwoven...
...It can not m> over-emphasized that the right to construct a plant i3 a mere option conferred upon the Secretary of the Interior, and was inserted in the bill because the topography of the country might require it, and the necessity for financing ii> advance the plan demanded elasticity of provisions, and power in the government co be used or not...
...that one of the principal forces behind the two filibusters of the late Senate session, upon wide-ly different and apparently un-connected subjects, the Boulder Dam project and the investigation of primary elections, was the personality of the Senator from Colorado, Mr...
...The power that could be generated would be incidental fco the project...
...It seeks to harness the Colorado River, to transmute what for many years has been a national peril into a national asset...
...Phippa is interested...
...The Bill is the culmination of many years of technical, frcientific research, study and investigation...
...Riw erside, Orange and San Diego Counties, in southern California, owing to a very large and rapid increase of population, are feeling tty necessity of an additional domestic water supv ply...
...When Congress meets in December the efforts to enact this bit I will be renewed...
...The issue having thus been made, the command having been laid upon Congress that it may legislate only as the power trust dictates, that issue must be met by every self-respecting legislator, and by every man who believes that the Government, dealing with its own...
...The lands now cultivated in Mexico just over the border from Imperial Valley are not owned by Mexicans, but by a few Americans, the chief of wbom is Harry Chandler of the Los Aaffete* Times, Eight hundred and fifty thousand acre* of land these Americans own, and they hartf first chance at the waters of the canal, whkk flows through Mexico, Mr...
...As in all probability this disput* will in time be resolved by Mexican courts^ there is ground for grave apprehension lest rhfc former interpretation be the one adopted and en forced...
...such provision can be made is admitted, and the entire project can he frnrocud thus without cost to the government none deny...
...Domestic Water Supply CITIES in Los Angeles, San Bernardino...
...In a very recent year, the loss from water shortage in Imperial Valley exceeded $5.000.000 The Swing-Johnson Bill seeks to remedy the anomalous situation by which the very sustenance of Imperial Valley flows for sixty miles through a foreign territory, ft does this by providing for the construction of the all-American canal which, beginning at the I.aguna Dam, near the Mexican boundary line, would flow entirely through American territory' into the Imperial Valley...
...The valley lies 250 feet below the sea level and it may be likened to a saucer, along the rim of which flows the Colorado River...
...the all-American canal would pre-redt droughts...
...The revelations of the Illinois primary Indicate that Mr...
...Upon this canal, power will be generated to assist in its payment...
...Phipps...
...Ho may, in his discretion after building the plant, lease the same as a whole or by units, and he may, instead of building the plant, lease the right to utilize the power heads at the dam for the development of electrical energy...
...and we dismiss Arizona's claim by the dogmatic assertion that it is neither justified by logic or law, and that the United States Government can neither pay royalty upon works constructed by the United States Government, nor taxes upon Federal property...
...Its very vastness, demonstrated by the best engineering skill to be entirely feasible, its possibilities for contributing to the wealth of the nation and the happiness of peoples, excite the enthusiasm and fire the imagination...
...This danger grew with the gradual building up of the bed of the stream by the deposits of silt...
...is superior to any private interest...
...At th* present moment irrigation of new lands in Meat> ico is actually taking place at the expense of lands previously reclaimed and irrigated in the United States...
...S. Senator from California) istiiiitor Hiram H. Johnson led <i magni-cent tight for the Boulder Dam bill against terrific odds during the last session of ('on-gresfl...
...The Government today is engaged in the development and the sale of electric power upon government constructed and controlled reclamation projects...
...ARIZONA opposes this monumental work because Arizona claims title to the bed of the Colorado River and insists that Arizona shall derive revenue from the project...
...As required by Mexican law, the canal in Mexico for supplying Imperial Valley Is owned by a Mexican corporation, which in turn is controlled by the Imperial Irrigation district...
...Some of the great reservoirs in the world are the Assuan, of Egypt, with 1,865,000 acre-feet capacity...
...The distinguished senator, while disclaiming that his opposition to the Swing-Johnson Bill, which embodies the Boulder Dam Project, is based upon personal considerations at all, readily concedes his interest in electric power companies, which furnish electricity to the Imperial Valley, and which would probably seek an allotment of power, if the contemplated dam be constructed...
...Great Development Program THE Boulder Dam project is so appealing that it ought to have the support of all disinterested persons and the aid of every far-neeing statesman...
...The Dam THE DAM provided for is to he located at Boulder or Black Canyon on the boundary of Nevada and Arizona...
...M. /.a Folletie, Jr...
Vol. 19 • May 1927 • No. 5
