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<br />\)J;1175 <br /> <br />-to- <br /> <br />which have developed the semi-arid '/{est. They do not re&Iize that in the semi- <br />arid West water is the source of life& They cannot visualize a condition where <br />the presence of a head of vmter marks the difference between bumper crops of <br />beets, potatoes, vegetables, berries, grains and other foodstuff and crops of <br />prairie dogs, sage brush and weeds. <br /> <br />They will never guess what has been acoanplishe.d through the energy and <br />courage of' men who dll-red all the obstaoles presented in Il- desert country to re- <br />olaim the West by digging irrigation oands. <br /> <br />In a large seotion of these United Stll-tes, Il- great portion of the people of <br />this Nation live and work and prosper through tJ:le Il-pp1ioation of water to the <br />lands whioh they have reolaimed. <br /> <br />Praotioal navigll-tion is, of oourse, impossible on the oreeks and rivers from <br />which these lands Il-re watered. At Santa Fe a few. yell-rs ago when the needs of <br />nll-vigation were argued Il-S the rell-son for hobbling di'18rsions of WIlter for Il-gri- <br />oultural uses on a certain river, a great lll-wyer' of this state retorted thll-t a <br />IIlIl.n would get sand in his eyes if he attempted to row a boat in that stream. <br /> <br />This is not an overstatement_ Floods threaten the lives and property of the <br />people on the grell-t rivers of the E/lat Il-nd )lidwest every spring. Their pioture <br />of water is based on fear and hostility and Il-pprehension. Here WIlter is so <br />scaroe that we ciherish it. Even the western oowman's tre.ditionll-l dependenoe on <br />his horse beoomes insignifioant in oomparison to the oonoern of the western <br />farmer over Il- threll-t to deprive h1m of his water supply. <br /> <br />Where better river transportation is essentill-l; where annual flood threats <br />hang like a shadow over Il- oommunity there is need for legislation whioh will <br />authorize the oonstruotion of dams and reservoirs to end that danger. <br /> <br />With that we have lio qtarrel. But the water in the upper reaohes of rivers <br />having; their origin in the Il-rid Y;est seldan rell-ches the seotions where navige.tion <br />is possible or where flood threats--aside tran occasional oloudbursts--are im- <br />port!Ult . <br /> <br />It _s nearly a hundred years ago when the first irrigation ditch was con- <br />struoted to take water out of a tributary of the Arkansas in Colorado. Ninety <br />years ago the second series of ditohes WIlS built on the Rio Conejos. Those last <br />named ditches have functione'd every year Bince and still _tering the lands of <br />thriving farming seotions. The growth of irrigation since hae brought us to the <br />point where this state ranks as one of the great agricultural sections of the <br />Uni ted States. <br /> <br />With irrigation rights reoognized and authorized and approved by repeated <br />Acts of Congress and by a series of oonsistent deoisions of the United states <br />Supreme Court, a way of life has been established whioh cannot be modified or <br />altered without oausing untold damags to the people of the West and conse. <br />quelitly of the entire oountry, <br /> <br />The oonstruction of' a projeot with navigation as its primary objective <br />