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<br />
<br />WES'l'ERN UNION TELEGRAM.
<br />Sacramento, Calif" February 15, 1923.
<br />
<br />Delph E, Carpenter,
<br />
<br />Denver,. Colo,
<br />
<br />My interpr~tation of Articles Three and Eight well expressed
<br />in McKisick's wIre of the thirteenth,
<br />W, F, McCLURE,
<br />
<br />(The following is from letter of February 16th, 1923, of
<br />Arthur p, Davis, Director U, S. Reclamation Service; addressed
<br />to Clarence C. Stetson, Executive Secretary, . Colorado River Com-
<br />mission, interp~eting Par, (b), Art, III and Art, VIII, Colorado
<br />River Compact,)
<br />
<br />"Arti.cle VIII provides that all of the ~ights of the Lower
<br />Basin shall be satisfied from the water apportioned to that basin,
<br />'fhere is no indication that any portion of its needs shall be taken
<br />from the allotment to the. Upper Basin, The assumption that
<br />the Lower Basin could claim priority for the appropriation of
<br />water in a reservoir is an assumption that the compact is in-
<br />valid, for this is just the. contingency which it was designed to
<br />meet, The proviso that a storage reservoir of 5,000,000 acre-feet
<br />or more shall take care of the perfected rights in the Lower Bas~
<br />is. desiglled to lift the bail upon the diversion of the low water flow
<br />from the upper 'tributaries after the construction of such a reser-
<br />'\loir, which willi be filled from the flood waters, but which is to be
<br />charged against'the allotment of the lower division as specifically
<br />provided in Paragraph (a), Article III, This provides conclusively
<br />against the supposition that the stored waters are not to come out
<br />of the allotment to the Lower Basin,
<br />
<br />The assumption that Paragraph (b) of Article III has no
<br />limit is its own refutation on account of the absurdity of that
<br />assumption, It w~uld in a few years, if so construed, absorb more
<br />than the entire flow of the river, which reduces the assumption
<br />to an absurdity, Furthermore, the language is speciflc as the
<br />apportionment is for the consnmptive use of 1,000,000 acre-feet
<br />per annum and; cannot be construed to mean 2,000,000 acre-feet
<br />per annum or any other amount,"
<br />
<br />(NOTE;-The .Colorado _Legislature also had before it, during the de-
<br />bates :In, ra approval of Colorado River Compact, the report of Herbert
<br />Hoover, RepresentEl.t1ve for the Untted States, the same being Doc. 605,' 67th
<br />Cong" 4th Sess., House of Representatives; also extension of remarks of
<br />Cong, Carl Hayden, of Ariz. See Congo Record, Jan. 80, 1923. 67th Cong.,
<br />4th Sess,)
<br />
<br />['40 ]
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