C6A3
1922b

PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF LOWER COLORADO RIVER

BASIN.

COMMITEE ON IRRIGATION OF ARID LANDS,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Thursday, June 22, 1922.

The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Edward C. Little presiding. Mr. LITTLE. Gentlemen, the committee will please come to order. I understand that Mr. Bacon is to speak first this morning.

Mr. RAKER. Before you proceed with that, Mr. Chairman, there has been so much said about the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of the State of Wyoming versus the State of Colorado, the Greeley-Poudre irrigation district, and the Laramie-Poudre Reservoirs & Irrigation Co., that I would ask that the decision in that case, No. 3, original, October term, 1921, be printed in the record, so as to have it at the beginning here.

Mr. LITTLE. Is there any objection? If not, that will be done.
Mr. RAKER. I have the decision here.

Mr. LITTLE, Might I suggest, Judge, that probably you do not want to put it all in? You might designate the parts that you wish to insert.

Mr. RAKER. No; there is nothing that you can leave out in reading it.

The decision referred to by consent of the committee is to be printed following the statement of Director Davis.

Mr. LITTLE. Now, Mr. Bacon, will you address the committee? Please state your name, residence, and sufficient of your antecedents to shed light upon the reason for your appearance here.

STATEMENT OF MR. JOHN L. BACON, MAYOR OF SAN DIEGO, CALIF.

Mr. BACON. My name is John L. Bacon, mayor of the city of San Diego, and representing the Southern Branch of the California League of Municipalities. Some time ago the matter of Boulder Canyon was brought to the attention of the organization in California which represents all of the municipalities of the State of California—that is, the League of California Municipalities. We had not realized the gravity of the situation and knew very little about it. This matter was brought up about a year ago. Some information was given at that meeting and later a meeting was called of the southern branch of this organization, known as the Southern Branch of the California League of Municipalities, and action was taken at that meeting to get further information and to see what could be done to relieve this serious situation in the Imperial Valley. We went into it at some length, and about that time various Government reports were coming in; various investigations had been made and Mr. Swing introduced his bill before the House which you are now considering.

When it was known that this bill was coming up the organization got further information and then requested that some representative be sent on to Washington to lay this information before the committee.

The one thing that appeals to us most strongly is the imminent danger of flood in the Imperial Valley. We did not even realize it out there until we commenced to investigate. You see, California is a State of magnificent distances, and we do not always realize our neighbor's difficulties.

Before coming out here I took a trip down into Mexico on this project to be sure that I had the facts. There was some feeling of apprehension before, and after going down there there was a feeling of actual terror in connection with it. It is pretty hard to point out-I did not realize it, and I realize that it is infinitely harder to give any idea here of the awful danger that threatens that valley.

To go back a little ways, this map here I think will show more clearly than anything else the situation. There is a peculiar condition existing here that I

do not think exists anywhere else in this country. It was not very long since that the ocean beach line followed this line up around through here [indicating map of Imperial Valley and vicinity] and came up through here. This was all ocean. When I say "not very long since," I am speaking from a geological standpoint. That was only a few hundred years. Imperial Valley was all under water at that time. This was part of the ocean [indicating Imperial Valley and vicinity].

The Colorado River, coming down here [indicating], as it follows down its channel brings more or less silt with it-dirt. There is not a man here but what has watched perhaps these little spring freshets that come in every part of the country, where a groove or a gulley will be washed down the side of the hill, and then when you reach your lowland at the bottom, where it is flat, the dirt that has been brought down from that gulley will spread out and form sort of a little triangular mound. The dirt washing down the side hills makes this mound and builds up the lowland. You have probably seen some lowlands built up 3 or 4 feet. That is exactly what took place here. The mud which came down this river built up a sort of a delta here until gradually it built up a mound out here [indicating], and the river was diverted and came out through here where these dotted lines are [indicating]. This water then evaporated and left a great deep basin 300 feet below sea level, and there is no way to drain it; it is simply a basin there down below the level of the ocean.

Now, in the course of time this river repeated its process, and instead of filling up over in here [indicating], it has filled up this portion, with the result that the river now is attempting to break back into its old basin [indicating]. It did break through in 1905, and it took a year and a half to stop the break. In the meantime the Salton Sea was gradually filling up. Since that date this whole delta has filled up about 13 feet.

You can get some idea of the amount of mud brought down that river when from a rough calculation it is found that that mud, if dumped on the District of Columbia, would raise the level of the land in the District of Columbia about 3 feet every year. In other words, there is enough mud in that river to put a layer of mud 3 feet deep over the entire District of Columbia every year.

Now, here is the situation: A series of levees were put in here in an effort to control the river. Each year the river has brought down this mud and built up the delta on the river side of the levee. It is getting higher and higher all the time. We checked that up last week. Mr. Swing telegraphed back to get the actual elevation, and we found that since 1908 the point right there at Volcano Lake levee [indicating] has risen 16 feet higher than it was. That river bed has raised 16 feet since 1908. This point is about 35 feet lower than the point right here at Bee River and Pascadero Cut where the river is now [indicating].

Mr. LITTLE. Will you say that again, please?

Mr. BACON. About the elevation?

Mr. LITTLE. Yes, sir.

Mr. BACON. This map to-day is not correct, because the land is changing so fast. It may be correct to-day, and this is as close an approach to correctness as we can get. That just shows you how the river changes.

Mr. LITTLE. In what way is it not correct?

Mr. BACON. Because the river bed is constantly changing. A tree may come down there, lodge against the side of the levee, and the current may scour out and break the levee, simply from a tree coming down. That could happen in half an hour, and has happened in half an hour.

Here is a map gotten out by the United States Geological Survey in 1908. It is not quite the same scale as that map is [indicating], but you can see what that is, as shown on the map here. Now, that map was correct in 1908. To-day all of this land down in here has been filled up, with the result that that river has been forced, as you can see, off to the left toward Imperial Valley. This year an effort was made to control the river and force it through here at Pascadero Cut. It was successful, but from an engineering standpoint I can not see how it can last over three or four years. It is a race against time to keep the river out of that valley. If it ever breaks in, I don't see how they can ever stop it. When the river broke here in 1905, it washed a great deep gully, starting here at Salton Sea, and gradually it is working back across the border into Mexico beyond Calexico way up to this point. Now, that gully only has about 35 miles farther to go to hit the river this time. That time it cut over 40 miles. Once it cuts that gully, they tell us it will scour right back up here and probably take out the Yuma Bridge, part of the town of Yuma,

and will work back pretty well up toward Laguna Dam. Laguna Dam is built on bed rock, so it can not scour out. It will probably be a century and a half before any of that valley can ever be used again if that happens. It will not fill up over night, but it will fill up in a series of years. You can not stop the river once it breaks through.

Mr. RAKER. Now, take Volcano Lake and the dam from the western point. From where the dam begins what is the elevation of that as compared with the Gulf of Mexico?

Mr. BACON. To-day this land [indicating] is 40 feet above sea level. This is about 250 feet above sea level.

Mr. RAKER. But I just wanted to get before the committee the relative elevation along Volcano Lake, where the embankment is, and the Gulf of Mexico. You say it is about 40 feet elevation?

Mr. BACON. About 40 feet. This is 40 feet above sea level right at that point there [indicating]. It is 76 feet above sea level at this point here at the Volcano Lake levee, and the top of this levee is 28 feet below the water level at Pascadero Cut and the Bee River.

Mr. RAKER. Please designate that levee so that we can refer to it later in the record.

Mr. BACON. The Volcano Lake levee?

Mr. RAKER. That commences from the west, or on the west, near by the railroad and runs on across to the point-how is it marked there?

Mr. BACON. Black Butte.

Mr. RAKER. About what is the size of Volcano Lake now?

Mr. BACON. I do not know. I do not want to give you that information, because I do not have it correct, and Mr. Nickerson can give you that far more accurately than I can.

Now, in order that you might have some idea of the magnitude of this I took some photographs down there. These photographs are less than a month old, so that they are fresh. They will give you an idea of the condition. This was taken right up there at the point marked Bee River and shows the levee at that particular point.

Here is another photograph, which shows it a little more clearly, and a third photograph shows the intake to the canal.

Now, just to show some of the difficulties that the Imperial Valley people are meeting with I want to say in explanation that as far as San Diego and some of the cities are concerned we have very little to gain or very little to lose in connection with this, excepting as Imperial Valley gains or loses. That is the feeling in San Diego, but we feel that the situation there is so serious that it is our neighbors problem, and we are trying to do everything we can to help them solve it.

Mr. RAKER. Do you not go farther than that? You have got a wonderful valley, producing almost everything on earth, with a wonderful State boulevard, a highway across the mountains, and also a railroad. All those things are concerned.

Mr. BACON. Yes; but we consider that the seriousness of our neighbor's position there the serious difficulty that faces them-is the thing we are really worried about. If that river should break, it would wipe out the Southern Pacific Railroad down here, take out the canal system, and flood the valley; it would take out the Southern Pacific Railroad up through here along the Salton Sea [indicating]; it would wipe out that region there absolutely.

Mr. BARBOUR. About how large is that region you have just referred to that would be practically destroyed?

Mr. BACON. It would destroy over half a million acres of as fertile land as there is in this country.

Mr. SMITH of Idaho. Do you know the population there and the assessed. valuation of the property that is in jeopardy?

Mr. BACON. The assessed value of the property is between seventy-five and one hundred million dollars, and the population between 50,000 and 75,000.

Mr. RAKER. That is all on the California side?

Mr. BACON. Yes, sir.

Mr. RAKER. How much is there on the Mexican side?

Mr. BACON. I do not know.

Mr. RAKER. Now, I am not at all squeamish on this matter. I think you people ought to be open and aboveboard and give us the entire territory involved and how much it affects, not only as to ourselves, but the other fellows,

because you people are dividing that water now, and while we are for the United States I believe that it is the proper thing to plan out the whole question involved relative to what we are working on, and I hope you will not just leave out the other fellow's interests, because the whole railroad to Yuma until it gets across the California line is involved also, is it not? Mr. BACON. Yes, sir.

Mr. RAKER. And we ought to see the whole picture at once, ought we not? Mr. BACON. Yes, sir.

Mr. BARBOUR. How would you determine the assessed valuation of land in Mexico?

Mr. BACON. I would not determine it, because I do not have the information. I am not trying to withhold any figures, but I do not have them.

Mr. SMITH of Idaho. Can you give the area under cultivation and the number of people on the farms?

Mr. RAKER. I did not mean the assessed valuation. The only thing I was asking or speaking of was that this not only involves the railroad which brings traffic from the East, from this great valley on into San Diego, Los Angeles, and the West generally, but there are a great many interests and people South that are now using part of that water.

Mr. NICKERSON. I can not answer that question, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. LITTLE. As Mr. Nickerson is to speak later, I believe, he can state it then.

Mr. HAYDEN. That data, I might say, is all included in the Davis report. Mr. BACON. Yes; on page 20 you will find that matter laid out. It would mean simply quoting figures from the map if I gave them to you.

Mr. RAKER. Well, it does not matter.

Mr. LITTLE. Will you please mark these figures before you go, so that we will know just what they are?

Mr. BACON. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTLE. What is your profession, Mr. Bacon?

Mr. BACON. Engineeer.

Mr. LITTLE. Civil engineer?

Mr. BACON. No, sir; I have had general engineering practice largely on construction work out in California, but I would not want to pose as an expert in connection with this matter, because this is a specialized branch of engineering that you have had expert advice on already from your Reclamation Department. Our feeling is just this in connection with this project: We realize the danger; we are in actual fear, almost terror, in connection with it. We do not want to even suggest how it should be corrected. We believe that the Government departments have investigated and determined how the dangers there in that valley can be righted, and we are simply accepting the Government reports and say that we indorse them in every way. In connection with this, this matter has been taken up and there has not been one single dissenting voice among the California cities so far as I know. The widest publicity that we can give in a short time has been given to it, and I have original indorsements and resolutions that have been passed by some 20 cities in California, adopted since the 1st of May, in support of the proposition. I want to say a little further that we have not always been unanimous in our opinions out there. We have had our local disputes. There has been a little jealously sometimes between the cities, but in this particular instance all of that end of California is working solidly together.

Mr. RAKER. What is the attitude of the railroad company relative to this project, so far as it affects their property, do you know?

Mr. BACON. They are anxious to see it go through, so far as I know. I know very little except just general hearsay. I believe these is a feeling of anxiety on their part.

Mr. RAKER. What is the attitude of the Californians who own the Mexican land, land on the Mexican border? Do you know?

Mr. BACON. I do not know. It would simply be hearsay, anything that I could say. Mr. Nickerson can give you exact figures in connection with that. Mr. RAKER. Very well.

Mr. BACON. I do not want to give you figures that I am just guessing at.

Mr. LITTLE. How much time have you spent recently in Imperial Valley and in this adjacent country?

Mr. BACON. This last time?

Mr. LITTLE. Yes.

Mr. BACON. This last trip I was only down there three days. I have been there going to and from the Imperial Valley, I presume, for six or eight years. I own a little property over there, but not very much.

Mr. RAKER. Just tell us, if you can, how the expense of the new diversion dam is allocated between those various parties, in a rough way. Part of the water is used in California, part is used across the Mexican border, and the railroad company has its property there. Do you know offhand what that division is?

Mr. BACON. All I can do is to give you the information I got from their engineers. The engineers told me that all of the protective work here, every cent that is spent on these levees, every cent that is spent in protecting this property, and every cent that is spent in keeping the river out, is paid for by the land in Imperial Valley on the American side of the border; that the Mexican lands bear no share whatever in this protective work.

Mr. BARBOUR. And all of that protective work that you refer to lies in Mexico? Mr. BACON. It all lies in Mexico. They told me that last year-here is a very interesting thing that shows you some of the difficulties they are working under-they told me that last year they spent approximately $60,000 in duties which were paid to the Mexican Government on material which went down into Mexico and was used on Mexican soil to protect this land; that over half a million dollars was spent on this protective work, and that the $60,000 had to be paid in duties.

Mr. RAKER. That tract of land lying north and west of this embankment is on the Mexican side, and the necessity for its protection is the same as that on the California side?

Mr. BACON. Yes, sir.

Mr. RAKER. And you say those people in Mexico have paid nothing towards the $60,000 that you have been talking about?

Mr. BACON. It is more than $60,000; $60,000 was simply the duty. About a half million dollars was spent on the work and they have not paid one cent for this.

Mr. RAKER. They made these people pay a duty, and then they paid nothing for putting the work in?

Mr. BACON. Yes, sir. Here is another example: There was a minor break in the levee, which it was very necessary to close. Men were sent down there hurriedly; supplies were sent down; a train was made up carrying emergency supplies for these men and carrying additional men, and through the officiousLess of some under-official in Mexico that train was held up for 11 hours at the boundary line until word could be gotten to the higher Mexican officials to release the train and allow it to go down into Mexico. That is just one of the difficulties that is met with in that connection.

Mr. RAKER. I may seem a little peculiar in my questions, but I think all of these matters throw light on why you people are figuring for the all-American canal.

Mr. LITTLE. Do you favor this all-American canal project?

Mr. BACON. Yes, sir; it does not seem right that the American farmers here in this district should be at the mercy of the Mexican Government, which is here to-day and gone to-morrow. The Mexican Government changes almost as often as the river does.

Mr. LITTLE. Are there any more questions to ask of Mr. Bacon?

Mr. SMITH of Idaho. Has the question been discussed among the people in southern California as to the advisability of negotiating with the Government of Mexico for the transfer of that section to the United States?

Mr. BACON. I do not think anything could be done by the Federal Government that would be hailed with greater joy than the acquiring of that land down in Lower California by this Government.

Mr. SMITH of Idaho. Might it not be a good idea for the people interested to initiate a proposition of that kind and have it presented to the Secretary of State?

Mr. SWING. Let me observe that the legislature of the State of California memorialized Congress to purchase that land several years ago, but nothing has been done and nothing can be done, because the constitution of Mexico prohibits the alienation of any territory of Mexico.

Mr. RAKER. Let me ask you just a couple of questions. You have some interest in Imperial Valley and I suppose you have met their chambers of commerce and landowners and prospective landowners. This all-American canal is estimated to cost about $30,000,000.