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Show Civic Clubs Guest Informs Audience Of Colorado River Project Items Probably the most informed man on the Echo Park Projects and by far the best speaker on the project to come to Cedar City was George D. Clyde, director and commissioner of the Interstates Streams Commission. Mr. Clyde talked before the Lions and Ki-wanis Ki-wanis clubs on Monday of this week. Brought to Cedar City by the Kiwanis Club, Dr. Clyde defined the details of the proposed project, pro-ject, laying a foundation for the development and revealing the difficulties arising from the contemplated con-templated dam project. His source of information was unlimited un-limited and the practical angle of the project was stressed. Mr. Clyde was present at the hearing on -the project held in Washington, D. C. To start his discussion Mr. Clyde gave a complete history of the Colorado River and the method meth-od of appropriation that has governed gov-erned the use of water through- out the United States. His point of stress was on this, that the use of water is determined by the cri-teiia cri-teiia that "First in time Is first ' in right and beneficial use determines deter-mines the right." On the basis of this and the fact that water from the upper basin of the Colorado River is practically Impossible to harness the the lowor basin area in Arizona, and particularly California, Cali-fornia, would have most of the r'.ver water allocated. Pact Made to Divide However, in 1922 a pact was made between the upper basin r.nd the lower basin people to divide di-vide the waters of the Colorado I equally, Mr. Clyde slated, and .although the lower basin states ha vf- a guarantee of their half regardless re-gardless of the flow, still the rpmainder of the waters are delegated del-egated to the upper basin people. The waters of the Colorado .River arc the last major source for both consumptive use and for I use in generating energy, Mr. ICiyde stated and unless we start this project, which will be over 2.5 years in completion of the overall affair, we will eventually eventual-ly lose our right to the lower basin people through use alone. In stating the opposition to the bill that has just recently passed the house committee, and will go to the floor of the house of Representatives in the very near future, Mr. Clyde simply stated that water runs downhill and California and particularly the Imperial Valley area is where water from the Colorado goes if it it is not utilized in the upper basin. At a parting message the water commissioner stated that 90 per cent of the water originated in the upper basin and that unless we utilize that water the states in the lower basin area will have the entire amount allocated to their own use. O'Leary's wife woke up in the middle of the night to hear her husband creeping about the kitchen. "What might you be lookin' for, darlin'?" she called out. "NothinV called back O'Leary. "Just nothin'." "Oh," said his wife cheerfully. ' Then you'll find it in the bottle where the whiskey used to be." |
