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<br />{ll) The Secretary of the Interior! be given the right to lIlll.ke
<br />reasonable rules and regulations in carrying out the true
<br />intent and mean:l.ng of the laW' and the agreement so long
<br />as they are not inconsistent with the actual provisions
<br />of the agreement.
<br />
<br />After the Association took over the Project, it cODllll,ence.o. to augment
<br />the wat.er supply and power fa.;:ilitiea. Th,ree dams were built on Balt River
<br />below Roosevelt Dam: Mo=on Flat Dam and ,power house, finished in 1925,
<br />cost $2,497,000; Horse Mesa Dam, 1927, codt $5,248,000; and the third and
<br />last, Stewart Mountain Dam, 1930" cost $l2)839,000.'l!b.e;r were financed
<br />through private sources, and the power in ; excess of Project needs sold to
<br />public utilities and mining interests.
<br />
<br />Additional lands were taken into the Project, raising the total
<br />from the initiall80,000 acres to 240,000 acres. Electrification of the
<br />entire Salt RiVer Valley was undertaken in the late 19201S and early 1930ls
<br />by private financing.
<br />
<br />"The Project still had an insuffie:ient supply of irrigation water,
<br />and undertook. to build storage on Verde R~ver. Since the Paradise Valley,
<br />north of Salt River Valley, hed been gran,ted an appropriation by the United
<br />states to construct a dam on the Verde River, the Salt River PI'oject had to
<br />prove that the Verde River supply was not sufficient for the proposed irriga~
<br />tion in Paradise Valley, and that the water should be used to augm.ent the
<br />inadeCl.uate supply for land in the Salt R:\!ver Project alreadY Wlder cultivation.
<br />The 111Rl'lRgement was successful, and the Vn;itedStates withilI'ew the appropria-
<br />tion to Paradise Valley and ent.ered int.o ja contract with the Salt River Valley
<br />Water .lJ'sers'; Associe,tion to const.ructBBJ.jtlett Dlli!I1, the first on the Verde.
<br />n was completed in 1939, and with :lJllproyements on the Salt River Dama,
<br />cost $6,500,000. Power product.ion at :Ba:t!tlett was not economically feasible.
<br />
<br />From 1917 to 1937, all construction by the Salt River Project was
<br />financed from privat.e sources through bond issues. The cost 01' this financing
<br />was ext.remely high because irrigation prCil.lects operated by private cOJ.'Ilorations
<br />had no tax advantages and poor credit ratings. In 1937, the Salt RiVel' Project
<br />Agricu1turalImprove:rnent and Power District, a political sub-division 01' the
<br />State of Arizona .WaS organized, comprisijJ.g the slli!l1e lands as those 01' the
<br />Salt River Valley Water Usersl Asaociatifln. Under a contract approved by
<br />the United States, the Agricultural Impl'by.ement and Power District ass1lllled
<br />the total debt of the Water Usersl Association, both private and that owed
<br />to the United states, and the Associatio~ turn$d over to the nistrict title
<br />to all property which it held at that tilne. The Association continued to
<br />operate the power and irrigation facilitiies as agent 01' the District. The
<br />District he~d elections, and authol'ized ~ bond issue to refund the private
<br />debt. The bonds were sold at a better pl'ice and less interest, and the cost
<br />of the pl'ivate debt of the Pl'oject was. ~herebY reduced.
<br />
<br />In 1941 the bistrict sold bonds and constructed the Crosscut Steam
<br />Plant 01' 37,500 hOl'sepower at a cost of' '$2,300,000. Another dam was built
<br />in 1944 on Vel'de River in cooperation with Phelps Dodge Corporation and the
<br />City 01' Phoenix at a cost of $3,425,000. An additional 12)500 horsepower
<br />steam generating unit was added in 19481at a cost of $1,000,000. Through
<br />Distl'ict bond issues, a new 50,000 hors~power steam plant was co~leted in
<br />
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