9367 ‎(3)‎

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9367
• Author: Colorado Water Workshop.
• Title: Proceedings
• USFW Year: 1992.
• USFW - Doc Type: Colorado Water Workshop July 22-24, 1992.
• Copyright Material: NO

The law of the River originated with the signing of the
Colorado River Compacts in 1922. The events which culmi~ted
in the Compact make for absorbing history,9 far too extensive
to be fully elaborated here. But the broad outlines of the
saga at least require mentioning. The annual threat of
disastrous floods, dissatisfaction with Mexican control over
their bi-national diversion system, and eagerness for a
canal that would serve more land at hig~ elevations led the
residents of California's booming Imperial Valley to seek a
newall-American canal and effective flood control works.
The Reclamation Service, directed by Arthur Powell Davis
(John Wesley Powell's nephew), regarded the Imperial Valley's
agitation as an opportunity to advance its vision of a
comprehensive development program for the Colorado, featuring
an immense flood-control and storage dam on the lower river,
probably at Black or 'Boulder Canyon, all under the paternal
guidance of a growing federal agency. Davis convinced the
Imperial Valley leadership of the advantages of his scheme in
protecting their proposed new canal. Los Angeles also
pressed for a high dam as a source of cheap hydroelectric
power and as an aid in its endeavors to tap Colorado River
water for municipal use.
With the partial exception of California (which had
adopted a hybrid appropriation and riparian system) the
appropriation doctrine prevailed in all of the Colorado Basin
states. The upper states, particularly Colorado, were

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