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<br />12 <br /> <br />~ <br />~ <br /> <br />f; <br /> <br />Drought and erosion on the Navajo range in the 1930's spurred Navajo interest in a <br /> <br /> <br />large irrigation project for the Reservation. 31 At the same time, the state of New <br /> <br />Mexico had been interested for some time in diverting San Juan water to the densely- <br /> <br /> <br />populated Rio Grande Valley, by way of the Rio Chama. 32 By the end of World War <br /> <br /> <br />II, both basins wanted to benefit from ambitious Bureau of Reclamation plans to <br /> <br /> <br />develop the Colorado River Basin, including the San Juan. 33 <br /> <br />,~ <br /> <br />.~~ <br /> <br />The Winters decision gave the Navajo an important bargaining chip in the <br /> <br />;<, <br />~ <br /><, <br />"/" <br />~ <br /> <br />negotiations. The Navajo reservation was created bv treaty in 1868, before non-Indian <br />settlement in the basin.34 Thus Navajo Winters rights had senior priority over non- <br /> <br />:;: <br />\.;;' <br />:{': <br /> <br />~.' <br /> <br />Indian prior appropriation claims in the basin. This priority provided the ground from <br /> <br />,. <br /> <br />:.-" <br /> <br />which the Navajo bargained for an irrigation project for themselves and against a <br /> <br />cO, <br />t\. <br /> <br />diversion to the Rio Grande. <br /> <br />," <br />'<." <br /> <br />In 1957, the conflicting basins reached a compromise by agreeing to two projects-- <br /> <br />~;: <br />t~ <br />h <br />~; <br />:-;; <br />,~ <br />,,-;---. <br />~J.;; <br />,.,. <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />\-;: <br /> <br />31 See. e.~., D. Parman, The Navajos and the New Deal 150 (1982). <br /> <br />32See. e.~., the discussion of a diversion from the San Juan to the Rio Grande in <br />National Resources Committee, Re~onal Plannin~. Part VI--The Rio Grande. Joint <br />Investi~ation in the Upper Rio Grande Ba~in in Colorado. New Mexico. and Texas. <br />1936-1937. Vol. r. at 475 (1938). <br /> <br />33For Bureau of Reclamation plans to develop the Colorado Basin, including the <br />San Juan Basin, s:. J. !<rug, The Colorado River: A Com.prehensive Report on the <br />Development of the Water Resources of the Colorado River Basin for Irri~ation. Power <br />Production. and Other Beneficial Uses in Arizona. California. Colorado. Nevada. New <br />Mexico. Utah. and Wyomini (1946). <br /> <br />3-Treaty between the United States of America and the Navajo Tribe of Indians, <br />June 1, 1868, United States and Navajo Tribe, 15 Stat 667-672 (1869). <br /> <br />. I <br />