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Show OLORADO RIVER TREATY TO MAKE HISTORY I first compact on kaiiqn t8 be whiten i Utah Among States to Be Parties to Unusual Treaty WILL STOP QUARREL Waters Will Build Homes on Thousands of Idle i Acres I SANTA FE. N Mex., Nov. 13. (By the Associated Press.) Members of the Colorado river commission expect to write a compact for the allotment of the waters of the Colorado river at the meeting now under way In Sapta Fe. it was Indicated today The . commission, which held Us first for- I mal session last Saturday, already ; has before it a number of com ret I suggestions as to the form the com- ! I pact should take and members be- I lieve that before the conference here breaks up an agreement will be wnt-; wnt-; ten. The sessions of the commission are executive. If the commission reaches an ! ' p.greement and a compact is made, a ' j new page In tho history of Irrigation J In the United States will be written. j The proposed document Is very siml-'lr siml-'lr to a treaty between nations, mcin-1 beT.s have pointed cut. After It has j been written tho compact will bo 1 Klgn.-d h, Herbert Ifouver. chairman 61 the commission, as representative o'' the president ot tho United States, and by seven slate commissioners on I behalf of the seven states within tho; pact. Colorado. Wyoming, New Mexico. Mex-ico. Arizona. Nevada, Utah and Call- lornia When approv ed by congrcsj , and the seven state legislatures involved, in-volved, the compact will dispose forever for-ever all controversy over the cquit i-ble i-ble apportionment of the water supply sup-ply of the Colorado river. FIRST 1. HISTORY. The treaty-making powers of tne states frequently have been availed of ; In matters respecting interstate boun- darles. fisheries and other like subjects, sub-jects, but this Is tho first Instance In' I American history where several stat ts are attempting to make an equitable apportionment ot the benefits to thoso j ,derled from the. uses of the waters I In an interstate stream prior to d a- 1 eiopinent ot conflict rcspectlng'estab- j Ushed uses, and before the construe- ' ! Hon of large enterprises which may 1 give rise to Interstate conflict. THIRD LARGEST RIVER, The Colorado rher is the third, ; largest river In America. It also !s one of the youngest rivers in tho ' i nit- d States. Its average discharge annually for the last -0 years has been about 17,400,000 acre feet. That Is enough .water to cover LI, 40.0.0.00 at rss one Toot deep Of the annual j discharge, about 15,000,000 acre feet i now goes to waste, as It flows into I the Gulf of California unused, i no : water has Us origin mostly in C'oloc rado, Wyoming and Utah. Some rises j in New Mexico and Arizona, a very small perceiit?.ge less than ono p r cent rises in Nevada, and practically i none rises in California Mill. Ions OF 1CRES IDI. F. I Within the basin of tho great river i millions of acres of waste land now are idle, awaiting the coming of tno ; magic desert transformer water. I Qovernment experts agree that lar:re anas of public lands can be COtt-I COtt-I verted by Irrigation Into farmlnt; lands. Proper development of storage i dams would aid the work of getting , : water on the land, engineers declare ' Such dams also would create horse- j 1 power now dormant In the stream, and also would remove the peril of flood i ; in the Imperial Coachclla and Palo Verde valleys of southern California The basin of tho river Includes t:l ihoi square miles In the l'nlte 1 ; states and "000 square miles In Mexico. Mex-ico. PLENTY OF WATER. The commission has before it tho (Treat task of forcseelnp: and preparing prepar-ing for the needs of the millions of j persons of future generations who will make their homes within the ba-t I sin of the river. Much of tho terrl-I terrl-I tory. of course, is as yet undeveloped. J , Its proper development, according to I . xperts. eventually will cost bun- I dredS Of millions of dollars and will j open more than 100,000 square miles I of land to settlement 11 Is agreed that there is enough j Water In the river to meet the irri-i gatlon needs of all of tho states .-is I w ell as to develop vajit 8 mounts otl horsepower if proper reservoirs for storage sre billlt. |