Colorado River Conferences and Their Implications

Abstract

BUILDING a dam in the Colorado River for the purpose of protecting the lands of southwestern Arizona and southeastern from the annual floods caused by the melting snows in the mountains of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, and for the conservation of the millions of acre feet of flood waters which now run waste annually, affects so many divergent interests that from the beginning of the agitation for the project it has seemed almost impossible correlate the conflicting claims. The Colorado River has been under observation by army engineers and officials of the Department of the Interior since 1857. Therefore, there were on hand considerable data when an act of Congress to provide for an examination and report on the condition and possible irrigation development of the Imperial Valley in California was approved May 18, 1920. This act, known as the Kinkaid Act, directed the Secretary of the Interior examine the Imperial Valley with a view determine the area and character of unirrigated lands in the valley which might be irrigated at reasonable cost, and report Congress the result of his examination and his recommendations as the feasibility and advisibility of undertaking a dam on the river and the participation therein by the United States. The Secretary of the Interior was also required report in detail the character and estimated cost of a plan, and if the said plan shall include storage, the location, character, and cost of said storage. FALL-DAVIS REPORT