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of the El Paso Valley, either in Mexico or in the United States, have right by prior appropriation, and provide some legal and practicable remedy and redress, in case such waters should be used, to the citizens of both countries. And that thereafter the two Governments provide by joint representatives or mixed commission who are to reside at their respective ends of the dam, for a permanent distribution of the flow, as follows:

One-half or so much of one-half as may be required to the Mexican side of the river for such use as the Mexican Government may see proper to apply it.

One-half or so much of one-half as may be required to the United States side for similar use by the United States.

And all the remaining flow not required by either nation to the bed of the river, so regulated by partially depleting and refilling the reservoir as to maintain as far as practicable a constant and uniform flow, for the purpose of avoiding a change of its bed (the boundary) by erosion or avulsion.

And in consideration of all the foregoing, that Mexico relinquish all claims for indemnity for the unlawful use of waters in the past, and accept the dam so constructed as an equitable distribution, past and future, of the waters of said river, so long as the United States conform to what is stipulated above.

That the United States defray all the expenses of the works of the dam, wasteways, outlets, etc.; the removal of the two railroads from the bed of the reservoir; the condemnation of the land; and have charge of the construction of the dam; and that Mexico be put to no pecuniary expense in the matter save the salaries and maintenance of such representatives as may be desired to witness the construction of the work and see that it be carried out according to the stipulations of the treaty and the specifications of the work.

In view of the importance in getting this subject before the present administration in Washington in time to receive attention from both the executive and legislative departments and thus avoid the long delay that would necessarily occur should the matter be laid over to a new administration, having given the matter no previous study, it was decided that the United States commissioner would proceed at once upon the signing of this journal to Washington to hand in person to the Secretary of State his copy of the proceedings, and that the Mexican commissioner would proceed at once to Mexico to carry his copy to his Government, with a request that the Mexican Government approve or disapprove these proceedings at as early a date as practicable and telegraph the result to the Mexican minister in Washington in order that there may be as little

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delay as practicable in the two Governments bringing this matter to a final determination.

If the United States permits the construction of the Elephant Butte Dam (or other similar structures) on the river in New Mexico, the commissioners concur in the opinion of the engineers that the work should be done under United States or international supervision, as the release of such a vast body of water would not only endanger life and property below it but possibly destroy the international dam 120 miles below, should it be built, and entail further destruction.

The population of the El Paso Valley is at least 50,000, all dependent upon the flow of the water in the Rio Grande. The engineers in their report place the population at 20,000.

At 2 p. m. the joint commission having concluded the consideration of the subject of the distribution of the waters of the Rio Grande and the proposed international dam at or near El Paso thereupon adjourned.

ANSON MILLS,

United States Commissioner.

JOHN A. HAPPER,

United States Secretary.

F. JAVIER OSORNO,
Mexican Commissioner.
S. F. MAILLEFERT,

Mexican Secretary.

The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Interior.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 30, 1896.

The honorable the SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

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SIR: I have the honor to invite your attention to the enclosed 1 copy of a letter dated November 17, 1896, and accompanying papers from Col. Anson Mills, of the United States Army, who is a member of a joint commission appointed by the United States and the Republic of Mexico to report upon the best and most feasible mode, whether by a dam across the Rio Grande River near El Paso, Tex., or otherwise, of so regulating the use of the waters of the Rio Grande River as to secure to each country and its inhabitants their legal and equitable rights and interests in said waters for irrigation purposes. This examining board was appointed in pursuance of a concurrent resolution of Congress, approved April 29, 1890, which recites the

1 [For enclosure, see ante, p. 253.-Agent's note.]

fact that by reason of the irrigation ditches and canals leading from the upper waters of the Rio Grande in the State of Colorado and Territory of New Mexico an insufficient quantity of water remains in the river to irrigate the lands adjacent to the river after it leaves New Mexico, thereby rendering the lands arid and unproductive to the great detriment of the citizens of both countries who live along the Rio Grande below the line of New Mexico. The resolution then authorizes the President to enter into negotiations with the Government of Mexico with a view to remedying this condition. I enclose 1 a copy of the resolution.

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The duty imposed upon this board of examiners was to ascertain: (1) The amount of water taken from the Rio Grande by the irrigation canals constructed in the United States.

(2) The average amount of water in said river year by year before the construction of said irrigation canals and since their construction. (3) The best and most practicable mode of regulating the use of the waters of the Rio Grande so as to secure to each country and to the border landowners on both sides of the river their legal and equitable rights and interests in said waters.

August 4 last the Mexican minister to the United States transmitted to this department a copy of a petition forwarded by the inhabitants of the city of Paso del Norte, Mexico, calling attention to the distressing situation in the towns on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande caused by the immoderate use of the waters of the river for irrigation purposes by the adjacent owners in the United States above the boundary line. This petition states that the efforts of the two Governments to remedy this condition will be fruitless if, in addition to the 40 dams already existing in Colorado, the Rio Grande Irrigation & Land Co. (Ltd.) should be permitted to construct, as it proposes, a dam across the Rio Grande at Elephant Butte, N. Mex. The Mexican minister said that his Government regarded this petition as well founded and requested the United States to adopt such measures as may be in its power to put a stop to the works undertaken by the Rio Grande Irrigation & Land Co. (Ltd.) until the effect of that company's proposed works upon the practicability of the international scheme could be considered by the examining board and determined upon to the satisfaction of the two Governments. A copy of the Mexican petition was sent to Colonel Mills for his suggestions. The inclosed letter of November 17, 1896, to which your attention is invited, is his reply.

Colonel Mills says that the proposed dam and reservoir of the Rio Grande Irrigation & Land Co. (Ltd.) is located about 125

1 [For enclosure, see ante, p. 145.-Agent's note.]

miles above El Paso and that it will be useless at that distance to furnish water for irrigation in the vicinity of El Paso and below. He says, furthermore, that he is informed that the same company has on file in the Interior Department applications for two additional dams and reservoirs, one at Rincon, N. Mex., about 100 miles above El Paso, and another at Fort Seldon, about 60 miles above; also that at the latter place a man named Ernest Dale Owen has applied for permission to erect a dam and reservoir.

It is understood that the Rio Grande Irrigation & Land Co. (Ltd.) acquired its right to build the reservoir it is now constructing from a corporation existing under the laws of New Mexico under the name of the "Rio Grande Dam and Irrigation Company," to which company the right of way for the construction of the storage dam at Elephant Butte was granted by the Secretary of the Interior February 1, 1895, under the provisions of the act of March 3, 1891.

Colonel Mills gives it as his opinion that the probable flow of water in the river will be sufficient to supply the proposed international reservoir after deducting for all the small reservoirs now in operation and likely to be constructed above; but that the flow will not be sufficient to supply the proposed international reservoir and allow for the supply of the proposed reservoir of the Rio Grande Irrigation & Land Co. (Ltd.) at Elephant Butte or any other reservoirs upon the same scale, and that the scheme of building an international reservoir will have to be abandoned unless completion of the works proposed by the Rio Grande Irrigation & Land Co. (Ltd.) and by Owen is prevented. Colonel Mills's letter suggests that the rights obtained from the United States by the Rio Grande Irrigation & Land Co. (Ltd.) may be subject to conditions in favor of the rights of those who live below, which on a proper showing might enable the Secretary of the Interior to cancel the grant made to that company. The other applications for permission to build reservoirs for storage of the waters of the Rio Grande, mentioned by Colonel Mills, have not, it is assumed, yet been finally acted upon.

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The circumstances being as above stated, I desire to suggest the propriety of declining to grant any additional rights to build dams and reservoirs as applied for-certainly until the negotiations now pending between Mexico and the United States have reached a final conclusion. I desire also to suggest that an investigation may made of the rights already granted to the Rio Grande Irrigation & Land Co. (Ltd.) and of any acts or proceedings done by that company by virtue of such rights, with a view to ascertaining whether there is any legal power to cancel those rights, and, if the power exists, whether it can be exercised without injustice to the parties directly and indirectly interested in that enterprise.

With a request for your earliest practicable attention to this

matter.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

RICHARD OLNEY.

Inclosures: (1) From Colonel Mills, November 17, 1896; (2) resolution of Congress, April 29, 1890.

Mr. A. Simpson Slater to the Secretary of State.

RIO GRANDE IRRIGATION & LAND COMPANY (Ltd.),

34 VICTORIA STREET,

Westminster, London, S. W., December 9, 1896.

The Hon. RICHARD OLNEY,

Secretary of State, Department of State,

Washington, D. C., U. S. A.

DEAR SIR: Being informed by this company's representative in El Paso that the whole question of the building of an international dam and reservoir across the Rio Grande, above El Paso, will come before Congress within a short time, I beg to call your attention to the correspondence between this company and your office during the period from April 10 to July 21 last.

In that correspondence we pointed out the enormous amount of capital your Government would have to expend in constructing a dam at El Paso in order to store so much of the flood waters of the Rio Grande (if any), as may at certain times of the year escape through the spillway of the Elephant Butte Reservoir of the Rio Grande Dam & Irrigation Co. (whose rights have been leased for a term of years to my company), and we suggested that the most economical way of satisfying the Mexican claim will be for your Government to subsidise the Rio Grande Dam & Irrigation Co., on condition that sufficient water be supplied from the Elephant Butte Reservoir for the irrigation of the Mexican lands; the Mexicans paying an annual water rent of, say, $1.50 per acre for every acre irrigated, this company taking over and keeping in good repair the existing Mexican canal.

This company is still prepared to supply the full amount of water necessary for the irrigation of the Mexican lands, and it is obvious. that such arrangement would be much more economical and satisfactory to your Government than the construction of the proposed costly storage reservoir at El Paso; which would be subject to the dual control of the United States and Mexico.

Your obedient servant,

A. SIMPSON SLATER, Secretary.

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