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<br />001801 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />THE HISTORY OF THE CONTROVERSY <br /> <br />The story begins with the forces which produced the <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado River Compact. A large part of that story was written <br /> <br /> <br />here in Colorado. <br /> <br />In 1901, water was first brought to Imperial Valley <br /> <br /> <br />in California through an ancient channel of the Colorado River <br /> <br /> <br />which traverses Mexico. Less than five years later, Imperial <br /> <br /> <br />and Coachella valleys, 273 feet below sea level, were almost <br /> <br />wiped out for all time by a flood which turned the full flow <br />of the Colorado River into the valley, which is the bed of <br />ancient Lake Cahuilla.~ <br />The flood of 1905 was finally stopped. In 1907, the <br /> <br />river was turned again to flow into the Gulf of California, <br /> <br /> <br />but the people who lived in the valleys of the lower river, both <br /> <br />on the California side and the Arizona side, were left aware <br /> <br />that they lived in acute and ever mounting danger. The silt <br /> <br />laden Colorado continued to deposit its burden near the delta, <br /> <br />building up the bed of the lower river by as much as l2 inches <br /> <br /> <br />a year. Millions of dollars spent for levees brought only <br /> <br /> <br />partial and temporary respite from danger. The answer to the <br /> <br /> <br />flood danger, the silt problem, and the water conservation <br /> <br />11 A map of the ancient lake, prepared by M. J. Dowd and <br />introduced in evidence, shows the lake extending from about <br />15 miles south of the international boundary in Baja California <br />and north to the city of Indio, California. <br /> <br />l3. <br />