Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT
OF THE LOWER COLORADO RIVER BASIN

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Saph. Doc. 4-22-24 риво

PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF LOWER COLORADO RIVER BASIN.

COMMITTEE ON IRRIGATION AND RECLAMATION,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C., February 9, 1924.

The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Addison T. Smith (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. This meeting has been called for the special purpose of giving consideration to H. R. 2903, introduced by Mr. Swing, of California, to provide for the protection and development of the lower Colorado River Basin.

This legislation was under consideration at the last session of Congress; but as we have so many new Members, and there have been some new developments, we will proceed as if we had not heretofore considered it.

Mr. HUDSPETH. What is that bill, Mr. Chairman?

The CHAIRMAN. H. R. 2903; and Mr. Swing, the author of the bill, will first address the committee. If there is no objection, I will introduce into the record at this point a copy of the bill. (The bill referred to is as follows:)

[H. R. 2903, Sixty-eighth Congress, first session.]

A BILL To provide for the protection and development of the lower Colorado River Basin.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the purpose of regulating the lower Colorado River and controlling the floods therein, providing storage of water for irrigation and other beneficial uses, securing the development of electrical power, and providing homes for honorably discharged men and women of the United States Army, Navy, and Marine Corps who served therein during the war with Germany, the war with Spain, or in the suppression of the insurrection in the Philippines, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and empowered to construct a dam and incidental works for the purpose of providing a reservoir at or near Boulder Canyon on said river, adequate for the purposes aforesaid, and to acquire by proceedings in eminent domain or otherwise all lands and rights of way necessary for the said reservoir and incidental works; also to construct a main canal and appurtenant structures located entirely within the United States, connecting the Laguna Dam on said river with the Imperial and Coachella Valleys, in California; also to construct such other canals and structures as may be required for the delivery of water from said reservoir and said river to lands in the States of Arizona, Nevada, and California, which said Secretary may find practicable of irrigation and reclamation therefrom, and to acquire by proceedings in eminent domain or otherwise all rights of way necessary for such canals and structures: Provided, however, That no expenditures for the construction of canals or appurtenant structures authorized hereunder shall be made until the lands to be irrigated thereby shall have first been legally obligated to repay their proper portions, as may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior, of the total cost thereof to the United States in accord

« PreviousContinue »