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Chronology 600 1500 1847 1859 Anasazi and Hohokam Indians develop water distribution systems. Spanish explorers introduce livestock and ditch systems called acequias. 1928 The Mormons arrive in the Salt Lake Valley and begin cultivating farmland. 1929 Oliver Wozencraft promotes the idea of 1930 irrigating the Imperial Valley. 1865 Lower Colorado River lands begin to be set aside for American Indians. 1869-71 John Wesley Powell explores the Colorado River by boat; issues report in 1875. 1892 Aqueduct. Legislature approves MWD in 1927. Six-state compact approved by California, Nevada and Upper Basin stales. Congress approves the Boulder Canyon Project Act and the 1922 Compact. California passes California Limitation Act. California agrees to buy all power produced by Boulder Canyon project. 1930-36 Arizona files three cases with U.S. Supreme Court trying to invalidate Boulder Canyon Project Act. Court refuses to hear cases. 1931 Colorado River water transported across the Continental Divide into Eastern Colorado through the Grand Ditch - the first Colorado River transbasin diversion 1937 project. 1902 1901 100.000 acres irrigated in Imperial Valley. U.S. Reclamation Service (Bureau of Reclamation) established. 1940 1905.07 Colorado River breaks through Imperial 1941 Valley Canal. creating the Salton Sea. 1908 U.S. Supreme Court rules that water 1942 reserved as part of land for American Indians in Winters v. U.S. 1919 Grand Canyon National Park created. preserving a 132-mile reach of the canyon. 1920.21 Colorado Attorney Delph Carpenter argues for a Colorado River Compact. 6 1922 Interstate compact negotiated by Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover and seven states to divide the use of the Colorado River between Upper and Lower basins: U.S. Supreme Court rules that appropria- tive water right doctrine "first in time, first in right'" applies regardless of state lines in Wyoming v. Colorado. 1923 1944 California Colorado River users enter into the Seven Party Agreement. Construction of Hoover Dam begins. Colorado-Big Thompson project autho- rized. California forms the Colorado River Board. Bureau completes the AII.American Canal and Imperial Irrigation District (110) receives initial water. MWD completes the 242-mile long Colorado River Aqueduct. Imperial Valley receives its entire supply of water from the new All-American Canal. The U.S. and Mexico sign treaty to annually allocate 1.5 million acre.feet of Colorado River water to Mexico in normal years. Arizona Legislature ratifies Colorado River Compact atter 22 years of opposition. 1946.48 Upper Colorado River Compact apportions Colorado River water among the Upper Basin states, creates the Upper Colorado River Commission and paves way for new water projects in the Upper Basin. 1947-49 Bureau presents Central Arizona Project (CAP) plans and states and Congress ratity Upper Colorado River Basin Compact. All basin states except Arizona ratify 1951 compact. 1925 Southern California creates the Metropoli- 1952 tan Water District of Southern Calitornia (MWD); goal to build the Colorado River Congress refuses to approve CAP until California and Arizona resolve differences. Federal bill for Upper Basin projects gen- erates national opposition because of plans to flood Dinosaur National Monument.