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<br />000171 <br /> <br />-6- <br /> <br />Under Congressional aots and the opinions of the Federal oourts ever sinoe <br />irrigation was first praotioed in the West, the states have always been held <br />to oontrol the use, administration and distribution of the ..ters of the rivers <br />of the arid and semi-arid "est. This bill proposes under the terms of a olause <br />of the United States Constitution whioh olothes Congress with the power to o'on- <br />trol navigation to make navigation and flood oontrol paramount to irrigation. <br />This would jeopardize every water use, every property right and every tradition <br />and plan for the future of the people of the Arkansas Valley of Colorado and <br />western Kansas. And if it suooeeds here then the upper reaohes of every stream <br />in the West are in grave danger. <br /> <br />Paragraph (b) of Seotion ~ of the proposed bill sayss <br /> <br />"projeots so authorized and oonstruoted shall be operated <br />so as to (1) insure the oontemplated navigation and flood- <br />oontrol benefits, and (2) provide for the generation of hydro- <br />eleotrio power and the delivery of water for reolamation and irri- <br />gation purposes to the maximum extent oonsistent with the aohieve- <br />ment of (1) above." <br /> <br />Thus irrigation is no longer to be the paramount use of water on the Arkansas <br />River in Colorado and western Kansas as it has been for nearly a hundred years. <br />Instead, the interests of navigation and proteotion against floods beoame of <br />first importanoe and the development of irrigation oan only be enjoyed and oon- <br />summated when it is oonsi.stent with--and that means subjeot to--and of seoondary <br />importanoe to--navigation development and the oontrol of floods. <br /> <br />All who were interested in the two prior attempts in the last three years <br />by Federal agenoies to seize oontrol of the Arkansas River know that this is a <br />river with two distinot personalities. The headwaters form in the mountains <br />near Leadville. The supply is limited and thousands of aores oapable of irri- <br />gation are left without water. Torrential oloudbursts furnish the only souroe <br />of late water in July and August, <br /> <br />The John Martin dam, at a point below most of the irrigation enterprises <br />in Colorado answers the question of nood dangers to western Kansas. That dam <br />affords a means for regulating the river-flow and for adjusting many of the ex- <br />isting oontroversies between Kansas and Colorado. <br /> <br />Navigation in its practioal sense is as foreign to the upper river as if <br />there were no water in the stream. <br /> <br />In the vioinity of the 99th meridian near Dodge City, Kansas, there is a <br />oomplete transfornation in the oharaoter of the river. It runs through a seotion <br />of heavy rainfall where the dangers from floods reour every spring. In that <br />seotion also there are opportunities for industrial and agrioultural development <br />different from any in Colorado. Aluminum and other minerals may be treated and <br />sent to market under oonditions wholly distinot fram those prevailing on the <br />upper streeJl18 , <br /> <br />The water of the upper river could be of no value even if it oould be forced <br />to flow downstream. Its presenoe there would simply add to the flood menace <br />