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<br />00184( <br /> <br />Foreword <br /> <br />It is with particular pt'ide and gratification that the Arizona <br />Interstate Stream Commission presents this report of its opera- <br />tions and proceedings in the 1959-60 fiscal year to the Governor, <br />Legislature and public. For it was during the year in question <br />that there came the climactic moment in the Colorado River <br />legal case, the conduct of which has been the prime work of <br />this Commission for the past several years. As readi'rs of this <br />report must already know, from the extensive press coverage, <br />the draft report of the Special Master, Simon H. Rifkind, was <br />handed down May 9, 1960, and sustained Arizona's position in <br />all major respects. It was a signal victory for our state and a <br />striking defeat for California. Indeed, viewed within the whole <br />context of the long Colorado River controversy, the Special <br />Master's draft report may well be regarded af; one of the most <br />f;ignificent events in Arizona's history. <br /> <br />W I' trust, therefore, that the readers of this annual report <br />will understand if once again we devote the larger part of it to <br />the Colorado River litigation, To be sure, the Commission and <br />its staff have attended to many other matters affecting Arizona <br />and its various watersheds, and they are being duly reported on <br />~erein. But the importllnce and impact of the Colorado River <br />litigation in these closing stages are such as to rate the lion's <br />~hare of attention. <br /> <br />lnterestpd readers, particu1arly historians and rl'lsearchers, <br />may want to note that this annual report is, in effect, the latest <br />chapter in a running history of the Colorado River case. The <br />last four annual reports of the Commission plus this report will <br />give the reader a complete and reasonably detailed account of <br />the proceedings, from their beginning in April, 1956. Testimony <br />has been digested and excerpteu. Issues have been summarized <br />and made intelligible to the lay reader. Thus the whole case, <br />which consumed no less than 26,335 pages of court record, has <br />been telescoped within the span of :152 pllges of annual report. <br />This. so far as we know. is the only history of the case extant. <br />W I' believe it will be of value not only to present-day Arizonans <br />but as well to future citizens who may want to look back some <br />day' and assay the role that the Colorado River has played in <br />the life of our state. <br />