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<br />... <br /> <br />CHAPTER IV <br /> <br />THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RIVER <br />AND THE LAW OF THE RIVER FROM 1930 THROUGH 1968 <br /> <br />Introduction <br /> <br />In mid 1929 as President Hoover was declaring the Boulder Canyon Project Act (1928 Act) <br />effective, forces beyond the control of the President were already underway that would have a <br />profound impact on the Colorado River Basin. <br /> <br />From the authorization of the compact negotiations in 1921 through 1929 there was a period <br />of prosperity referred to as "The Roaring 20s." While it was a prosperous period for business, most <br />farmers did not prosper. Congress was not inclined to fund Reclamation projects which would <br />increase farm production and further reduce prices. <br /> <br />From 1925 to 1929 the average price of a common stock on the New York Stock Exchange <br />more than doubled. Then on October 24, 1929, known as Black Thursday, stock values crashed. <br />Prices crashed again on the following Tuesday, October 29,1929 leading to panic. From October <br />1929 until Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in March 1933, the economy slumped almost <br />every month. In 1925 the unemployment rate was an estimated 3%, by 1930 is was about 9% and <br />an astounding 25% in 1933.73 <br /> <br />At the same time, subtle changes were happening in the global atmosphere. The jet stream <br />is a band of fast moving air current in the upper troposphere. There are three jet streams; the polar <br />jet, the subtropicaljet and the equatorial j et. Jet streams in the Northern Hemisphere flow from west <br />to east in a wavelike fashion. They change constantly, both horizontally and vertically.74 In the winter <br />months, primarily the polar jet, and occasionally the subtropical jet steer moist Pacific storms onto <br />the mountains that rim the Colorado River Basin. <br /> <br />For reasons we don't fully understand even today, and aboutthe time Congress was debating <br />the 1928 Act, Mother Nature was making small adjustment to global circulation patterns. Beginning <br />about 1930, fewer winter storms or perhaps storms with a little bit less moisture hit the Colorado <br />Rockies. For the period of 1920 to 1929 the estimated natural flow of the Colorado River at Lee <br />Ferry was over 18,600,000 af per year. From 1930 to 1939 the estimated flow would only be <br />12,700,000 afper year, a drop of almost 6,000,000 afper year.75 <br /> <br />73 World Book Encyclopedia, Volume G, "Great Depressions." <br /> <br />74 World Book Encyclopedia, Volume J, "Jet Stream." <br /> <br />75 House Document 4]9, TABLE CXL, page 281. <br /> <br />Page -26- <br />