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<br />..6- <br /> <br />Under Congressional aots and the opinions of the Federal oourts ever sinoe <br />irrigation was f'irst praotioed in the West, the states have always been held <br />to oontrol the use. administration and distribution of the waters of' the rivers <br />of' the arid andseml-arid West. 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 oontro1 paramount to irrigation. <br />This would jeopardize every water use, every property right and every tradition <br />and plan f'or 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 3 of' the proposed bill says, <br /> <br />"Projeots so authorized and oOnstruoted shall be operated <br />so as to (1) insure the oontemplated navigation and f10od- <br />control benefits, and (2) provide for the generation ot hydro- <br />eleotrio power and the delivery of water f'0J! reo1amation and irri- <br />gation pur~oses 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 f'or nearly a hundred years. <br />Instead; the interests of navigation and proteotion against floods beoome of <br />f'irst importanoe and the development of' irrigation oan only be enjoyed and oon- <br />summated when it is oonsi,stent with--and that means subject 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 f'onn 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 source <br />of' late water in J~y and August. <br /> <br />The John Martin dam. at a point below most of the irrigation enterprises <br />in Colorado answers the question of flood dangers to western Kansas. That dam <br />af'f'ords a means for regulating the ri ver..flow and f'or 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 f'rom f'loods reour every spring. In tha't <br />seotion also there are opportunities f'or industrial and agrioultural developmeut <br />dif'ferent f'rom any in Colorado. Alumin\.ll1 and other minerals may be treated and <br />sent to market under oondi tions wholly distinot from those prevailing on the <br />upper streams, <br /> <br />The water of the upper river oould be of no value even if' it oould be foroed <br />to f'low downstream. Its presenoe there would simply add to the flood menaoe <br /> <br />