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<br />'. 000324 <br /> <br />,.,1ot<,.,. <br />~. , <br />, <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />completion. It's decreed priority date of 1852 makes it the earliest <br /> <br />decreed water right in the State of Colorado. <br /> <br />By 1900 a stable agricultural economy had developed in the <br /> <br />valley which continues to this day. The amount of land under culti- <br /> <br />vation has been almost stable for the past thirty years. However, <br /> <br />changing crop patterns and more intensive farming methods in Colo- <br /> <br />rado, New Mexico and Texas, together with population increases, have <br /> <br />increased the demands on the Rio Grande River. <br /> <br />In 1906 the united States entered into a treaty with the <br /> <br />Republic of Mexico by which the United States granted 60,000 acre- <br /> <br />feet of water annually to Mexico from the Rio Grande. The stated <br /> <br />purpose of the treaty was to remove causes of international contro- <br /> <br />versy on the waters of the Rio Grande River arising above Fort <br /> <br />Quitman. Texas. By a later treaty of 1944, the United States con- <br /> <br />ceded additional rights from the Rio Grande to the Republic of <br /> <br />Mexico from that portion of the river below Fort Quitman. <br /> <br />While the Treaty of 1906 became a national obligation, <br /> <br />the burden of delivery fell upon the States of Colorado, New Mexico <br /> <br />and Texas, and particularly upon the State of Colorado. Delivery <br /> <br />to Mexico is made from the river above El Paso. at which point most <br /> <br />of the river flow originates from the State of Colorado. <br /> <br />In 1929 a temporary compact governing the use of Rio Grande <br /> <br />waters was concluded between the States of Colorado, New Mexico and <br /> <br />-2- <br />