* a a

1

IMPERIAL VALLBY: TI]E I,AND OF SUN AND SUBSIDIES PauI G. Barnett Calif. Institute for RuraI Studies P. O. Box 530 Davis, California 95616 copyr rg nr September 1978 This research report rvas prepared under a research contract w:Lth the Reclamation La'o Unit of California Rural LegaI Assistance. Points of view or opirrions stated in thj-s documentr do not necessarily represent the official position or policy of California RuraI Legal Assistance.

TABLE OF COI{TENTS I. Introducti-on

II. t1arry vrsro NS 4 III. Private Dev elopment of the Imperial Va Iley IV. The Great Flood I5

\/ 'Fhe Tmneri al Trri oaf i.On Dis:rict FOrmed 20 VI. The Quest for Federal Subsirlies zoaa VII. The Boulder Canyon Project Act and Acreage Limitation 3I VIII. The Era of Federal Subsidy 4I IX. Land and Labor 56

.: r,, T .: + .i x. The Reclamation Subs ruy !rrur -.: L !lr '. thgI Imperial Yulley 65 IMPERIAL VALI,EY: TIIE I.,ANT) OF SUN AND SIJ I]S I DI IiS

Ca-Lifornia's Imperial Valley i.s the hot-house f or Ame;rica's sinter sleason vegetables. Each January, most of the 'nation's lettuce is picked under tl-re Valley's mild rvinter sun, irrigated by water from the wor.Ld's best engineered reclamat:-on project, built at llederal expense,, Thel Val1ey has also become tire center of a political maelstrom between advocates of l-and reform and sorne of tl-re state's wrlalthiest farmers and largest corporations. A combination of court rulings, pressure from community groups, and the new perspective of a Presiclent from the South has made it appear 'bhat for the f irst time in 76 years, the 160 acre l.imit and the residency rquirement of the Federal reclanration larn miqht be enforced. The large land holders in thc.tmperial Valley have energed as a powerful voice opposing enforcenren-1 . Last year they financed : ptionw:ide media campaign run by Bill Roberts, the image m,aker who created 3ona1d lReagen "Citizen*Polit-ician. " i\dvertisements appeared in the lkshington Post, Newsweek, t.he Los Angeles Times and a host of 1=riodi,:aIs, carrying the inrage of a rugged Imperial Valley f armer, &nrdene,C by government regulation an,J asking only that the Federal €wernmr=nt live up to its "promdse" 1-o exernpt the Imperial Val1ey from ac:reage restriction. Thr: politicaJ.ly potent growe r -slrippcrs have, over the years, poven their public relatj-ons si)dvi:. With their workers organizing to Fin Cesar Chavez's United i:'arnuor l'lc rs Union, the Westerrr Growers *ssoeiation siqned much weaher cont'racts with the 'feamsters' Union,

L €V€flr thou-ql-r thcir employ':c:'; lt'ttl nL'\'/!rl. tltorizcd t.tre'Ielamsters ':\11 to represent- tltern. 'llhe t-arrrnworl',ers' Unj.ot-t boycott of lLettuce was frustrated by the IVGA "truLlr sqtiad" whictr criss-crossed the courrtry argr:ing that their worl

The Defano grape growcrs, intple ss;ccl ,,v j.tll the lettuce ql:owers' success, soon s iqtred with t. ltc 'le:er nts Lers as we l'l . The ploy was foiled, horvevcrr, by euactment of a .[arm labor election Iaw, t,he California Agri cultural Labor Relations Act, in 1975. Goverr'Ior Jerry Llrown rvas j-ttt rurnental in getting the law pass;ed.Itrequiresentployeestorloteinfavorofaf.rrmunion before it can claim to represent tl-rem- In the Imperia I Va 1Iey, the UFI^/ j..eat- the Teamste rs hands down. The agriculturaJ interests demons;trated the audacity of their power by pressuring the tegi-slature to cut- of the appropriations needed to conduct elections- The UFW resPoncled witi-r an lrri.t,iative mandating funding fctt the farm election law, and nraking i t mor:e dif f icult to amme nd. Though the initiative \^ias suPPorted b5r rl6vcrnor llrown, it was opposed by a blitz $ 1 . tA mi I lion c-ampa iq n which inclurded a BiIl Roberts media that alledged it t.hreatened prival.e property rights. The measure was resoundingllr defeated bY California voters in a malor political setback f or Ilrowrt. californja's enigrn;rtic and vacj lating Governor, r^,ho had recent chicled the Carter ac'lmin:istration l.or: lacking hhe wi'11 to enforce t subsidy limits in Ileclarnat-ion law, sought some way to appease the agribusincss 1obb5'.

[]is particufar collcerll , nc clc-, ubt was tne growrng campa ig n - 2.- war chest of tlte Westerrr crowcrs l'olitical Action Committee, thre sixth larqcs;t (-','-)t)trj.btrtot tr: st.alr: leryislative candiciates in the lg76 election, accorcl rn,-J Lo Common C.rrtse .I According to the Fair politic:aI l)racti.ce:i Courmi-ssi,on, agricultural contribuitions I totale.l $1,f 12,193 itr thc l)'/(t c-'arrrl,argr..2' In ttrc i,ace of thc raw politic;rl. reattities of the uprcoming j gubernatorial r.:1cction, t. lrc Ilr:own ac'lministration took a d f ferent stand on t,he Ri:c lamation Act, a starrd more in keeping witir that traditionatl,r, mac,lc by Ca li fornia pc.,) iticans. Ilrown's llcw Dircctor c;f t,]rc I)c[rartment of Food and ltgriculture is now aclvocat,inq that, t he subs j cly I irnits be relaxed, and that the Imperial Va1lcy be exernpted olttr. ight. Brown's rlew 'stance wn ' outraged advocate:; of lancl ref ornr. 'f he exemption f or the Imperial pr er VaIley was part.icularily c,:ut:r:aqeous, because most of the lcenef its of its Feclerally subsidj.zei rccfaruat,j-on project had not grcne to resident i small-s;cale farners. Rrown als<-r .ip;-rointed WGA activist IJerb FIeming, the , ' a ReaEcn appoi.ntr:e, to Ciiair: the lj'oard of Food and Agriculture. tlL Fleminl;'s sist-cr .rnd ncpher,v are act.--ve in the anti-I60 ac.re campaign. : , Land terrure in the l,mp,eriaI Va-L1ey more closely resernbles that bf , Sou.th ?\merican plant.rtions than Thornas Jef ferson's idea 1 ,:f independent

yeoman f armers . tlalf of t l-re l-arrcl is held by absentee own{3rs. About dI I2,000 people carn thcir living on lmperial Va1ley farms. f4ost of them ar:e landl-ess farm laborers. Le:ss than 700 are farme.rs. Of these, nt Iy 72 farrn operators control uto::e tlran l-ralf of the Valley's land. the Bounded by tlre Salton Sea to the north and the Mexic,an border

to tlre sout,lr, some who live irr thc -tmperial Valley have a,:guired a , fortune from the lancl . But tire maJ()rity of Valley residents are not,

' by any me

C;rrey 1"1<:Wi.l liams wroi,c that the Valley has "the char,acter of an 3 abo:rted commllnitlr; a h.rif-i,or:mecl l i.rr sted , i Il -conceivecl nonqre l Bigotry is:l procllict of the V,rl Jt:1u, aS mttc5 aS Let-tttce, carrrots, or cattle. It js a bigotry infl anit:cl by the fear of the vast numbers of :lmpoverishecl }lcxicans who dai I'r, ..,'ross the border: to seek whatever worl< they can find.

It rs nt.lt sLlrpt:isinc.; tlrat- tirc \zalley's wealth have ralLied so quickly to f iqht the enl-orcenrent o f tl.re r:ecl-amat j.on subsidy limj ts.

These limits ttrreaten tireir control of irriqation r,vater. In an area wirich B0 years a{Jo was a barrun descrt, questioning their eont of ruater is to quest-ion thei.r conh::c>f of i-and, and t,o question the sys'bem which has rewarded thenr with so mrrclr, while leaving those who work the land and harvest t,he c-rops wjth so 1i.ttl"e. I. "L0 Groups Gave I'{iIIion fot: Lllection" Sacrame nto Ilee l-te cembe c ) 2, I9l1 2. "Farmers Gei- Set- for ''78 Ilaces" Sacramento Beer f'ebruar,r' l, 1978 p. Jr. McWil-Jiams, Carcl' pagc 302 Ca 1i f ornia : Ttre Grca t ii:

I I . EAIiI,Y VTS IONS . It was Oliver wozencraft':s ..rision. Water from the Colorado River could be cliverted to l,lrc r:lch farrn land that it today the Imperial- Va1]ey. Wozencraft first saw the Colorado Desert on his was to the California qolcl fielcls; i.n 1849. Ue was such a visionary that he planned nr)t on Iy to )rring water to the desert, but .3

to capture tl-re benef i.Ls of the p::o 1c<:t entirely for himself . rn 18 aa - a lobbiest for the At.l.atrtic-Pacif ic Railroad Proj€ct, he sought

to protect his envisioned enrpi.re from the land grant railroads. He opposed the soutiterrt crc) ss ing of thc t-ranscontinenta I ra i lroad throu -4 3. the Colorado Dc-:scrt, telling 1eg"i: lat ors that It was "a country ots, in which evcn a cc>yotc cor-r ld not r;,-, t an honest 1iving. ,, orc In 1859, hc obLained the errclorslernent of the Californ:La (/p r , legislarture in t'ris irir-l to have ttrc-: (,OO,OOO acres of Federal Land given to him. Ilt,,'was not ablc t-o s\.JJly Congress, principa.Lly besause SO of his inoppor:tune t.inring . Woze n(-rr:;r f 1. sought his gra,nt in L862, c only one week a f ter Cong lrcss hacl pasjs€rd the llomestead Act . I Despite lriozencraf t's cf f orts, t,he land-grant railroarJ did seek rtrol a southern route {icross thc Cr:lor:iclcl Desert. In 1876 the Arizona " Eastern Railway, a subsidiary of t ]rcr Southern Iracif ic Co. , began laying . rails east f rom l,os Angeles, throuqh the desert, and arri'*ling in Yuma in May , LB77 , to complcte tlrc last- -iink in the nation's second

transcontinetrtal railrc>aci.2 Nearly .) -(t million acres were granted to , Southern Pacif ic in Southern Calif or:rria I 01, O98 actres was irrigabte : land wj.thin tl're boundaries of what became the Imperial Ir:rigation District, while another 36,'/OO acires; rvere farmable land irr the Coachel-}a Va1ley.4 Wozencraft died in IBB7, fourt-een years before tLre Colorado . River watered the desert he sought.

: ' tly tire turn of the cen hury, desert agriculture began to prove itself feasible. The Coforado River was diverted to Cali:Eornia's I Palo Verde V.rlley in LB77 by Samuel Bl.ythe. Another irri

The Colorado River, second on.ly to the Tigri s as a carrie r o f silt, had built an immense delta c;1- alluvial soil- as it emptied intr: the Gulf of calil'orni-a. rn sc-,me past era, when the Gulf extended as far north as present c1a1, Indio, the delta bridged the narrow gulf , cutting a thir:d ol- it off from the ocean and cre.rting an inl-and body of water, Lal

Wozencraf t discoverccl it ncar11, c.l :v S.r.l Lot-r llasin. IIe rcasoned that it vrould be a relatively sinrple rna t-l-er to conduct Colorado River water to the basin by means of an unl-ined, gravity canar. 1. Ilosmer, Llelcn ]ragc:; -17-3tl " f mper ia I V.r 11ey: ,l-t.i urnlth and Fa i I ure in the Colorado Desert " Ameri-can lVcst Vol . 3 , No. t Winter l-966 pp. 35-4

2. Duke, Aft<;rr page 3 1 _:_--_Whc r-r the Cc lora clo Rive I eLr i t t Lrc Ocean Southwest prj nteis, vuna, erfTonal-fg7+ I22 p. 3. cali.forni.r commission ()n Inrmigr.ation and I-Iousing page I3 "A Report on r,arqe r,;irrc.lliol di ngs j n southern (la tiroinia wit Recommendations" catii.. state printing office 1919 43 Y. 4. U" S. Congress. llouse Cornrnittee on Cl-aims page II "Sor.lthcrn T)acif ic f nrpct r a1 VaIlc)/ Cl_ainl,, Ueirings on I_1. J Rcs . 4tl Atr t-ltor.i :t i ncy ltttcl Dir:cct inq thc InterslLate Comrncrce Comnrissi.on to Asccrt;:irr tlrc Loss to the southern pacific in Closing ancl cor-rtrolJ ing the Break in the colorado River January 23, l_9l.7

q NacJeau, Itentj. A. Dr-lcrc) ,t4O 'I'lrc lva Lcr .Sctckcrs gZa Santa U;;6ara, f Iievisecl Ejclition. Z7B p , II]. PITIVAT'iJ DiJ\iEIOPMiJI'I'f OI 'III]j IMPURIAL VALLI]Y ' a-b the 1-ur:tr of thc century , Wrt,zc:ncraf t.'s vision was taken up ot , by Charles Robinson Rockwood and c. N. Perry, construction

: engineers from the Southern Pacific Railroad. They ;oined with ' two land agetrts of thc Itern Countlz .t,and Company, Antliony Heber and Sam F'erEusson, in forming the California Development Corporation in order to clivert water fronr the Cr:loracjo.I Perry filecl a claim for 10,001J second-feet of the Colorado's re I f l-ow by posting a notice lust north of the international border.2 , gut lhe CDC prontoters were unable trr raise the capital they needed ' ' , to sf art ti-re canq 1. f n Ap:ri J. , 1900, famous irrigation gngineer George Chaf fe'g took ovcr the corporation. By November he had raised enough I capital to acquire the rigirts of way and begin digging. , The canal could not be built entireJ-y in the United States. . a canal build entirely in the U. S. woulcl have to cross sand hills , east of the Valley, a profrosition t.nat was too costly for the tr Ai J-*r' cDc to undertake. 'Ihe promorers pivert i- pla:rned instead to water from , the River in Ca lifornia , tlren condur:t it in a canal f our miles south, crossing the borde:r into Mexico. They would then turn the canal t3 vitf,' west, and connect it with ;rn ancienL overf trour channel, the Alamo n . River, which led to the bottom of tl:ie basin. rt would be relativelv . J. , easy to clear the channel for the 52 miles down to the American : co. srde ' 'tt', Through a Mexican corporation controlled by CDC, Chaffey acquired , the l"lexican l-and to be crossed bv the canal-- 10,000 acre,s of the ; r Andrade Ranch and the bed of the Afilmo River. On the American side,

a ; 316 acres were bougl-rt along the rivr:r f rontage, drrd another small I p.t".1 w.:s pLrrc--hased at l-lanlon's heieding, where the Alamo entered the -r U. S. Tl-ie rcll.rinclcr ol- thc rLcyltt:, ol'rvAy,itt thc Ll . S. coufd t'tot- be purchased outri.ght. Llasementr.; \..rer€j "earsi ly obt.aineci" f rom the Secretary of Interior. This was t:he first contribution of the Federal governmenL towards dcvelcping an irrigation system in 4 what Chaf fey rtamecl "The Imperial Vrill-e U ."3 ' A temporary lreadgate, macle of woocl, was built to controL the diversion. Se ttfcrs began arrivi.nq a few motrths before the f irst waters trickled clown the Alamo Rivcr bed on June 20, l9OL.5' 6 Thousands f f ocltecl Lo the Imper j a1 V;i1ley, attractecl b!' brochures that promisecl gc>vcrrnment lancl at $1.25 an acre, and water for 50C an acre-foot. By 1904, there \vere seven thousand se,ttlers in the valIey, anci one hunclrcd t l-rousancl acres had been tarketl up.7 By 19t5, there were 35,000 settlet:s, and 400,000 acresi were being cultivated . B Only a bonafide settler seekinq 3 20 acres of lancl coufd obtain the Federal Lands which made up the majority of the VaIleY. The settler could gain a Patent to this land under the Desert Lands Act as soon as he paid a nominal $1.25 an acre fee, and "Proved uP" the water.9 Withottt water, the land was useless. Water rights had to bb purcirased from tire CDC. Chaffey instituted a compl-icated system of tri-party contracts, mutual water companies, ancl wate:r stock. f t was the rneans to circumvent the inter-rt of the Des;ert Land Act to limit ti"ie benefit any individual could receive by obtaining public lands. It was the enactment of Wozencraf't's dr:eam of concentrating 'bhe wealth qenerateci by t-he aplirec--iation of c'lesert lands,in the hands of a few. -8 In ordcr to receive water, f ,irrncrs were required to buy one share of water stock for each acrc c.tf land to be irrigated. Under rgDC rules, an errLjre parcel had to be covered by water stcck before 3ny,water coulcl be delivered. luluch of the stock was sold for $II.75 IEr ehare, and some for l-ess.10 In theory, settlers were restricted to filing for no more than :.3F acres uncjer the Deserl- Laud Act of I877. In practice, water gtock manipulation and other techniques allowed some insiclers fo :acquire larqe tracl-s, such as the 10,000 acres purchased by the 'tasners in 1904.11 Water was del-ivered to the mutual. water company, and not to .isdividuaf settlers. T]-re Va1ley w.rs divided into eight dj-stricts, each.with its own mutual company. Although the mutual was; ostensibly t3 be ooerated bv the holders of the water stock]2 it tas usually ltt i;,ganized and off icered byr- - thetr-^ innert----^--. circles-i---1^- of^c the!L^ CDC.--'- Through a tri-partlr contract between the Mexian compariy', CDC, ad the lrtutual Water Cornpany, the wa.ter stock holder was quaranteed r from the Mexican company, drd a sound delivery system from cDc. Chaffey, the CDC Board members;, and their associates, organized

rf:triF- Imperial Land Co. to promote col-onization and se Ll waller stock. Company so.ld the stock on a cash basis at a IO% discoi:nt, but 'settLers r,tere too insolvent to pay cash. The Land Company ided f inancing. For its servic€rs, Chaffey gellerously granted Iand company a 25% comrnission on water stock sales, and the ts to develop the V.tIley's town:;ites.14 If a farmer defaulted on his watter stock payments, it was

o of inevitable tira t tltc l;rtrc,l wc-ru1i.'l c: oliitj r trto the posscssion the Imperial Laud cc'.l'5 in More direct methocl s rvere u:;ecl by tl-re CDC promote:rs to cash on the appreciation of newly irriq.rblc desert lands ' They bougftt sections huge blocks of water stock at }or.v Frrices, and bought sclroof not resist and rndian reservati.on lancl scr:i-pt. rina1ly, they could land in the temptation of hi ring otirer people to f il-e on clesert to their stead. severail- clirectors wcr(r convicted of conspiracy defraud the qovernment ln U' S' District court'16 Beginnin.]in].902.a-.;er:icso{-c-.ventsbegantoerocJethesettl the CDC confidence in the CDC, and to revca]- ;ust how precariously oromoters had built their entpire ' In 1902, tlle U.S. Dei:artrn'ent of Agriculture re]-eased a study which reported the VaIIey's larrds to be highly akaline' It recomme cro that half of the lanc'ls shourfd Lre planted only to salt-resistant 17 used and that some ]ancis bc abanclone'cl a ltogether ' Newspapers the report to label the CDC promotion a fraud' In the winter of 1902-03, the time of the seasonat 10w flow of of water w the Col-oracjo, thc clistribution system began to run out ' sett lers as a year round g rowing season, wa t:er: was needed by the badly in winter as in the summer ' The bottom of ch.iffey's hr:adgate was considerable above the bc' In addit' of the river. At- low flo\v, i.t aclmit-ted too Iittle water' canal' the coloraclo depositecl silt in the first four rnil.es of the

reducing 1a= caPacitY-IB' The next Year, additional silt was cJeposi ted at f lood stage ' , and the By the winter of 1903-O4, the canaJ was f u IIY obstrutcted

10 VaIley fac--ed a sc.rious sl-tc.:rt-ac1e of r,"r;itet.19 Settlers werrt to cclurt 20 to sue the CDC f c>r faif ure t.o delivt:-:. water - 1n At the sanrc time, the Il.eclamation Service, newl! created by' + Congress, began to survey tlre Val}ey, In 1903 it announced a gr:andiose ions plan to harne ss t'he Color:ado's f ower basin with 4 resevoirs and canals .i ^r to irrigate I.2 nrillj.on acre".2l In an argument with J. B. Lippincott, the chief enginccr of the Reclamation Service in the Southwest, Anthony lteber boastecl ttrat the f i li.ng f or Colorado water by the CDC gave the corporat-ion practicaf control of the river forever. The l-{-lor was a navigable stream, :, Reclamation Service rcsponcled that the Colorado -\ar and that no one but the Fecleral Government had any absoJute rigl-tt to remove water f rom tl're rir,rer. :lrr i With CDC 's right to cli',"rert water beinq threatened, Heber hurried lme ncE- I to Washington in early 1904 to promote a bill before Conqress that psia : rould have decl-ared the Coforado non-navigable, giving up the government

.: claim to control the river. The Congressional hearing on the ? : ,i bilt revea Ied the inner r,^rorkings of CDC corruption, and its 4OO''/, of .: ; yearly prof its. Ileber was so di scrcdited that even the bi.Il's w .L?i+f 22 4 sponsor voted to have it kitled. It was at this point that Heber macle tris threat to etrade U. S. control by divertinq the river in Mexico. "It is my earnest desire bottf i to worship at our own altar and to receive the blessinc-; fr:om the itioi Shrine of our own goverrrrTl€r-lt, " said ileber, "but if such permission 4* F' $ is not grantecl, I wil-I be compelled to worship elsewhere."23 Heber l'rurried off again, this time to Mexico, to obt;tin a concession f rom Pl:esident Diaz to di,vert 1o, OOo second-feet of the Colorado. Ratjfieci by the Mexican Congress on June 7, 7904, the

- 11 Concession rccluircd tlra l- a pcrmant,rit- dj-version structure be l:uilt, that up to olte-half of the watcr J-;t: us;cd Io irriqate lands ad lacent to the Al;rmo Canal- in the l"lcxica 1i Va 1 Icy ( tlre f mpe ri al Va L ley in 1A Itlexico) . '* That sumnrcr, the settl-ers \^/erc orqanized into a water users association Lry recfamation pampl'rLcteer Wi-IIiam D. SmlztI^e , and Paul

Van Dymas of thc lleclarnation Serrv|ce. ileber of fered to sel-I the C for S5 mif lion, and the settler:s of fered $1.25 mj Ilion. A compromi of fer of $3 mil-Iion was made, ancl l-he warter users went tc,Washingt to persuade Presiclent Roosevefl- to t rry.25 Smythe suggested that the Afamo Canal be connected' to the new Laguna Diversion clam, to be built by the Reclama'bion Service tordivert water to the Yuma Val l.ey.26 ilut the CDC w;rs not about give up its control of the fmperial Val}ey's irrigation water. Operating uncler the trlexican concession, €Dgineer Charles Robi Rockwood dredged a 3300 f oot long channe I to the Col,crddo. eliminat the four miJe section of the canal that was blocked 'ruith silt.27 A mass meeting had been calfed of Imperial Valley settlers to discuss the Federal talreover of the CDC. With a flair for the dramatic, lleber revealed tirat i:he Mexican cut had be,3n made. The U. S. government couf d not own irrigation works in tul,:xico, he told the settlers. If they asked the Reclamation Service to talle over the project, their wat.er would be cut off. Heber whipped the sett into such a hysteria that Van .Dim.rs was tarred, feathered, and run of town on a rail.28 By making the Mexican diversion, Rockwood and lleber not only by-passed the silt-choked part of the canaL but they by-passed t

-12 the Recl-amation service as rell.2!) T n January , 1905 , t he Siecre ta ry of ,Interior rjavc Lrp on tlrc pl.rn to have the Recl-arnation Ser:vice take over the Imperial diversion. The Attorney ceneral reported that Heber was ,correct, tl-rc (lover nment couLd not operate water works j-n lulexico.30 The terms of thc Mexican conccssion brought untold wealth to a group of Southcrn California investors wtro formed tiie Co-lorado

River Land Co. , a luicxican corporatiorr also known as the C.1,1. Co. , or the C. Iq. Ranch. The corporation bought some 830,000 acres of Iand below the border, including ncarly alI of the irrigab-Le delta lands in Mexico. The investors included llarrv ChaLndIer of the Los Ange,Les Tiqes, his father,in-]aw, Ilarrison cray otis; , drrd others in the investment grorlp whic]-r subdivided the San !-ernando Va1ley. Cotton was qrown on these Lands; by Chinese and Mexican tenants, who irriqated with water from the AJ;rmo Canal.3l' 32,33 The rapid expansion of settlemernt in the Valley was :[ar beyond any of the promoters' expectations.34' The problems encounl;ered in the diversion used up CDC's funds. llhe canals, headgates and ditches \^rere. aII in poor condition. There wers not even enough money available to build a contro)ling headwork at the new Mexican cut.

f n January, Il.ockwood sought a $ 200,000 loan f rom the Southern Pacific Co. The railroad ac;r:ced to the loan only if it received controlling interest in CDC as col.lateral- This arrangemr=nt had to be approved by the CDC Iloard of Dj-rectors, who would not meet until June, 1905.35, 36 1. In New .-Iersey, Apri 1 26, 1896 Cory , tI . 1'. p.rge I25L flg_lpgffgl vallev and the, Sg_llgn_qinl: John J. Newbeqin, San Francisco, 19I5 -13 2. Apri I 2.5 , Ltl99 Cor\,, ol) ci L. l)aqe I2i, I

3. I'lr,rsme r, op cit. page 39 4 . Cory, oP c it. Page 12152-53 5. llosmer, op cjt, Page 39 6. Duke, op cit. f)age 37 1. Ilosmer, oP cit., Pag€r 43 B. Cory, oP cit., Page )517 9. Hosmer, oP cit., Pagcr 40 10.. tiet-iderson, Trac--ey pi1 rJt') 132 Imperial Va1ley Neyernch Printers, San Diego, 19168 240 P. 11. Flosmer, oP cit., Pagc 43 12 - Cory, op cit . Page Ll254 13. Hosmer, oP cit., Page 40 14 . Cory, oP c it . , Page .t 258- L259 15. Flosmer, op cit. , Paq(l 40 16. In Los Angeles in I9{lB; Ilosmer, op cit., page 4'?--43

L7 . Nadeau, oP c it . , Pag{l L46 ]Bu Duke, op cit.. , page '+0-41 19. Duke, op cit. , Page '44 20- Duke, op cit., page 40 2L. llosmer, op cit., page 44 22r llosmer, op cit., Page 44 23. Nadeau, oP cit., Page I41

24 . Cory , op ci t- . , page I215-1216 25. llosmer, op cit ^ Page 45 2(r. Cory, op cit., Page I212 27. Nadeau, op cit, Page I41

-14 28. llosntcr, op cit., Iilagc 4i,-'-l(; 29 . Na de.ru , op c'i t . ' Pagc I'11 30, Cory, op ci.t, page I213

31. Nadeau , op ci.t , pcf lJe 169 32. Ilenclerson, oP cjt, Page 20 33 " Cory, op cit. , page L262 34. Cortr, op cit, p.ige 12(rB-12r--:9 35. Ilosmer, op cil-, paige 45 36. Cot:y , op cit, palic 1.291

1.V. T'IJE GIIE.AT T'LOOD It is clear that the CDC promoters were unawafe of the danger of f lood. The Coloraclo was a wide, erratic stream that f lowed tthrough a shif ting channel along the top of a ridge of loose alluvial s:l1t.1

: The grade clown into the Imperial Va 1ley via the overf low channe,I was twice as steep as the grade to Gulf via the river's normal r:hannel. An early geographer, Blake, lrot-ed tirat a canal might "caus€ the overf Iow once more of a vast surface, " f illing the basin r,,rith water.3 A series of three unusual early season flash floods deepened the new channel of the Mexican cut. Robinson, who felt certain that the canal would silt. up as it had in the past, Dow realized tLre pos,sibility that they might loose control of the diversion. He ordererd a diam to be built to stop the CoJorado frorn pouring through the ne\^r canal and into the A lanto. On March l.B , 190l> , a f ourth f lood wiped out Rockwood's dam. By May, half of the waters of the Coloraclo were pouring into the Imper.La I V.r 1ley . 4 On J'une 20, the Soutirern Paci.fic Loan and takeover oll CDC was

l[: comp.Ieted. The watc':r Ll scrs / howeve r. were unaware t.]:rat the CDC had been taken o.r*r.5

The $200,000 loatr was soon used up in building a series of der that was unsuccessful in re-diverting the Colorado to its course.

The lake at tlre bottonr of thc Sal-ton Sink began to grow. The: New Liverpool Sa l-t. works \.^rere inuncla ted. The Southern Pacif ic railroad tractks l-rad to be moved five times, each time to higher gr to escape the rising floodwaters. Southern Pacific enginecrs beqan to build new dams to stop tl Colorado's fow. fn November floodwaters from the Gila River wiped out the Southern Pacific dam, and the breach in the river's levee grew to 600 feet rvide. The entire Colorado was runnring into the Salton Sink, threatening to fill the basin and innundate the Imperj- Virlley-- about I2)( of California's irrigable cropland.

The f lood of s i lt l-aden water began to cut deep barancas in tl overflow channel.s. fn the Afano River, a twenty-foot deen chanueI was being carved at the rate of a ha lf-mile a O"r. U I f a;" f l-ood

was not soon stopped,adeep channel might be cut all the way back tcr the.Colorado, €lirninating all hope of stopping the flood. Southern Pacific be-qan another series of dams, using wooden trestles and huge quantitites of rock. A new, 100 foot wide canal was built to direct the water while the rock and trestLe dam was being constructed. whi ]e the ,cana J was not used at that time, it became the new marn intake f or Irnperial Valley's water supp Iy.7

By November, 190€), tlre sixth attempt to dam the f lood succeeder

in diverting the Coforado's flow back to the sea. The river was at: a low stage, however, and when its waters rose on December 5, the

_16 was breache d in !)0 clif f erent place s . T'l-ie colorado began once agarn to flow full force ir-rto tlre Sal-torr Sj-r'rI'.. II. T. Cory, in charge of the f Lood coutrol worl< for Soutlrern Pacif ic, tatlied the costs and

found thrat the ra il-roacl had expcndccl g 2 mi llion so f ar. Hi: recommended to Southern Pacific Co. Presiclent tr. FI. Harriman that no more mone\/ be expended to save the rmpe5ial valley.B Tire f lood lvas devas tating thc 1-mperial Va1ley. The .t]ood waters had destroyed tlte i rrigation f .l-ume to the westside canal, rvith the

ironic impact that it cut off water cleliveries to many farrners. The towns of I'lexicali and ca lexico \^iere silowing being lost to the rampaging water. Nearly half of lvlexi.cari was destroyed.9 The residents of the VaIlelz apprealed to president Roosevelt and the'railroad for aid. At a meeting jn rmperial, on D:cember f3, they pledged $1 mi1lon to pay for closi1-lg the break,lO During the month of December, I.looseveft and Hqrriman exchanged a series of telegrams. Roosevelt pointed to Southern Pacijlic's ownership of CN: ut''6 its responsibi lity to close the break, adding that thse was nothing that he coul-d clo without an act of Congress and an agreement with lutexico.ff Afte,r receiving Roosevelt's promise to endorse federaf reimbursement to Southern Pacific, Harrj-man agreed to put Southern Pacific resources into closing the gr"up.112 The seventh attenrpt at closure was successful in Febr:uary, I9O7. rt took 7,000 frat cars of rock, B,ocO carloads of gravel, and a vast quantity of timber to construct a 15 mile long levee and st.op the flood.

The total cost , according to Southerrr Pacif ic, wds $1 ,663 ,l-36.40. 13 A subseguent auclit reportecl the costs incurred between December 1906 and February, 1907, crs $1,083,613.97.I4

-11 CongressRlan I(ett.tlcr inLroduc:cd bills Lo compensate Southern Pacif ic irr the o0tlr and a-cyain in t-lre 6ls t congress. The committee on Claims relected tlie Soltthern Peicific bj.cls, pointing out that in stopping the flood, the railroad ]raci actecj to proterct its own vasi:

holdings of farnrlancr, ancr iLs rai.-lroacl 1ine.15, 16, 17

rn the end, southern pacific ]rad very little to complain abou i\ series of -Lar,vsr-rits agai nst the cDC board rnember:s garne recl severil lhundr:ed thousand dol-l-ar:s.I[j T]re cJccrepit water works were sol-d t' the rmperia l- rrrigation District f or $3 mi.11ion. 19 By rg17, the ::ailroad haci solcl of f 45,33t) acres of J.mperial VaIley fa:rmland, al. of which would have been valu,el-ess if the flood had run :Lts cours€l lfhe railroad's coachel.l-a valley holciings had been protected as wel. pacif j.c rn 1936, southern rec{rivecl a payment of $r, o 12,6!i5 from t 2l' Pederal Government. as reim,cursement f or controlling t6e f lood. The southern Pacific levee clid not end the flooding of the lower Col-orado. By l.9IO, the river was f loodi ng into other overf I channels, once again threaten-Lng tfre rmperiar va1ley. congress appropriated $1 rnillion dollars to construct flooclw,crks to protect the Vatley in 1910?2una another $lO0,0OO in 1915.23 These federal subsidies were used to buil-d -Levees to contain the Cofora do.24,25 The c- M- co-, with vast holcri-ngs in Mexico, wds used by the government as a conduit to spencJ thc moneys in Mexi<:o.26 I. Cory, op ci t . , pagc l_246

2. Cory, op cit . , page J.223

3. I-losmcr, op cit_. , pagte 38 4. Nadtrau, op ci t, po!€ l4u

-18 -,. I.tt.l,,r;, :t ,.'i li-., i)ci,Je i3 r,. iJ.t(,ii,rftti, (.,1., , i I., iri.i'J,j l

1 . L-)rif:!,, rrl ]i I , I)a,r'-Ji-l llii

Lf . t, . :; . t-lUn.,JIi;:l r-i, ilOtls,.:. on Cl"ainrs, 11i17 op (tit. ])a. i! t-'

9. j'l.lallrai].r , op C' j l-, i-r.l .Jrr I l lt) . N,iilrrirl,, ol) ci t. , ir,(r'Jir .l i I1. 1l<.':;iirtrr, ol)

1-1 . Cr--ri,, ()f) cit., p.-r.:l c: .l z1 ft,i

11i. tl . S. Col-)grcss. ljr-rusr:. Cl r,rrrrnl1.t(re on Claims. IIousc Iieporl. l9Jfr, Pri,.,'ate Cafe:ndar No. 121 "llcp:orL. favr:r:ir-r,J 13. 341 tc,r reimburse Southern Pa,cific Company anrour')t,s expcnilcd Dcc. .1 1906 t-o Novenrber 30, 19C)B in :losing anil c'on1..r:o 1 11 riq brcak j r: Cc>1o::ado Itiver with hea,rings a nd \/i.c\rs of 1"1r. L.i trcl::crqll. " I91 p. I/IB/lgtt Pari: 2. Virlrs oi, rninorit',';rclvcl:se to S 43] to reimburse SoLr1,]rc:rn Paci Ii c (]o. ),/'-'f / 1971

16. l'irrr., l:'. tl . trc l

L1 . lj(r:,; r,, r.,l) r:.i t . , [)a.i(lL' 41 . l]c>srttt)r says that t-he rarl road 'lrl1 te r.c.i r,reri :;j 7o[], trL)o l ront I l',,. rjJ ovcrnrricnt. ltJo r:ccOr:ds of these c1 r-.rrrt,:l rrt tl r,'e portrd in l lrt: Cor-rgressional ]iecorcl . iJj. 11s v,)el:c rcir.rtr:,,,-lnc'ccl on t. lri Sorrthern Pacific Impcrial Valley c-1 aint ir-r thc (,.1 t-lr Clc,ngr.Lrsisi (ll. J. Res. 25c)) ancl again in tl-rc {r5t}r (it. fi. lOt,3) nr-rt. were not enactecl. 18. Llosmr:r, op r:-i.t., pa(ic 41

19. Sl.rrctt-r, Co1.lis Il. L).r(_l(j 2'1 ]-:IL+.L l :1], :r':! l''lglr-L!:L-\1ll I':-:lt liLanforcl Univ.:rsi.t,r,-Q 1?rcr^s, Standorcl , California 1952 .lO. ll- Sr. (lt>n

- l!) ::;:!l il .::: a': ' i! r ,1i::: :!ii .

t.: i',:.: l;:-i ! ;; . it;, {r ;1 .f--: tn 2I . Stcct-c, o], c.i. 1. Il.riJc 2, ,tl; t:: ' "f rr lli3ir t. lrc Soutircrn P.ti'i Iicr reccivcd d palrmg n1 of !; $I,012,65!1 , littIe nlc_,rc 1ltan .l t.hird of the amount t he '. 'i, :..'1 company officials clain-rccl in a suit against the , fecler;rl qovcrnntcnt.,,

.t: 22. Resolutiorr of June 25, 19IO. l

j '.1 'l 'l 'l 23. 38 Stat . 6I, of lrlar:c_-l-r cr ri l l 24- U. S. Corrc;rcss, IloLrs;c, C--crmmittee on Claims 1917 op cit. pagc 2.I

25. Nacleau / op cit, pal-;e l(r(,

26. Cory, op cit., pag,3 I43 7

V. THil II'1PtrRIAL TRRIGATION DISTRICT FOR|"IED With tlie CDC banl

cleeper and dcepcr iutr: clel-rL, Iry'j ncl to o1-lcrate arrc] j 11-conceivecl a uneconomic irrigatiorr system. AdJi.Lior-ra.l- bonds were issiie in I9l? 1919, to raise another $5 mi11ion;3 and again in Lg22, when the district j.ssLred another $7.5 rnillion in bonds. g5'million of the

was used to bu'r, ti're shares of rvatcr stock, so that it cor-rId buv utr

0 - '1 the distribuLic-,n czrrrals f t:om t lre .l I ruut.ual water companies operat ing at that time. Tl're hol-clers of water s [ock received $I0 an a,cre for the wate:: stock, plus the appraisecl rrafrte of equi.pment.4 The IID incorporated i nto its gror,vl ng debt nearly aII of the costs ol: private

The balance of the i9222 bonc] wels used to begin construction of j-on drainaqe faciliti.=.5 The IfDT bot-rcied debt now tota I led $ 16 mi J I , and represcntecl most of the costs incurred in deve loping the irrigation works, and sonlc of the costs of f l-ood control - Thr: district was faced with the same problems which bankrupt the CDC-.- f looding, si1t, salt, and the burdensome Mexic'an Concession. The operating costs were so high that little progress \^ras rnade in paying the debt until a l-at.er er:a, when Federal subi sidies would underwrite the operation of the district. Underlyi,ng the clifficulties of the fID was the fact that the flows of the Colorado were not regulated by a dam and storage resevoir. During the first 20 ycars of the ccntury, the flow varied f:rom as much as 21O,O0O second-feet of fl-ow during the 6 to B week flood period, and to as litt le as 2, 2OO second feet during the low f lo'w stage. 6 By impounding the river's f1ow, a storage resevoir would aIlow the silt to settle out. Water relcased from a resevoir would be relatively silt free. The resevoir could al-so provide a more uniformr 1ledr-round water

suppJ-y, impouncjing the sprlng a nd s unlrrer f unof f a nd stoppillg the annual floods. Flood control was expensive. By 1925, rnor€ than $10 miflion had been sPent on rock derms, levees, and flood channels _2t in order to stol: tlrc J -loocls of tltc I owc r: Co f crra do . Tlrc ci:l)c n d j. t ure by source, are ljsted cis j:ollc)ws: Expenses Inctrrred iu Clotrtrolling Floodincl of t-hc I-,owe r ciolo rado as of L924 U. S- Rt:clauration Service $3, 070,000

Speci.rl Acts; of tl. S. Conqress $],11-O,OOO

Southern Pac-- i. t ic Co. $3 , OOO , OOO Imperial Irr:igatrot-r Distr:ict $3, 115,970 Source : (1) The Fec'leral share of p.iying tfrese expenses is uLndererstimated this accounting. Southeru Pacific was reimbursed, at le.ast in part in 1936. The IID rece.Lved a $3 mi.l"ljon "credit" from Congress for its f lood control- work under Publi c-- l,aw 150 . This credit \das appli towards eventual pr:rch.rse of an All- American canal-ti' 9' l0' 11 Despite this huge invcstment-, the river's floocls continued. Each year, BS more silt was depo.sited in its channel, the ,Colorado' w&ters rose to a hiqher leve] at flood. The levee work had to be ra ised corre sponcli ng Iy . The IID reported tl-rat "each season fj-nds the warters of the Rive.r threatening to break from tl-reir uncertain coursie on a ne\d po of attack. Each flood season compc-Ls the spending of additional large sums of mone\1 to temporar ily hol.d back the river. We have almost reached tl're stage where tl-ie burden is heavier than the Valley can stand ."12 The clistrict was also burdened by operating itr; diversion wo and canals in Mexico. When tire, Colorado had been dirrerted in the by the CDC, it was sol.d by the CDC to the Mexican Cornpany, which i

-22 turn sold it to the Mexican irrigai,or:s. Operating under t,he Concession, the IID was reguired to

great loss, totaling millions of dol-Lars to crops, resulte,C. " 16 Dredging was a continual burden on district finances. An average of $784,000 a year was spent on silt removal by th,e District between 1923 and I93O.17 In Ig24, the annual cost of handling silt

-23 wars estimated to be $2] million.l€i Another $I million was estimate spent each year by farmers cleaninq and operating farm drtches, and rerleveling fields, a practice made. more costly,by the constant de ofi sil-t at the upper end- of pa::cels of valrey farm land. 19 During the low f rows of 1-lre winter of l9l5-lb, a temporarv dam was built across the colorado to raise the ri.*,rer's water so tha it could enter the silt cloggecl canal. On Janua.g 26, 1916, a fla flood came down the river to be caught by the new brush dam. The river suddenly rose, breaking the l-evees protecting the yuma vallev yumar and the city of Ceusing erxtensive flooding. The u. s. Recla service made emergency repairs and raised the Jevees around yuma. rn August, the Yuma resicentsobtained a court injunction agai th'e rmperial diversion dam. Thre inlunct ion permitte,c a &emporary dant to be l-iuiIt, but it required that the ciam be iles troyed bef ore the seasonls first flood.20 For a number of years the rmperial Varrey fa'me:rs eyed with envy the diversion works, levees and irrigation cana.Is constructed in the Yuma vaIIey by the Recl-amation service. The tfuma project included a stone wier across the colorado at Laguna, built in 1909. The wier impounded 20,OO0 acre-feet of water, slowinc; the colorado, flow long enough for its load of sitt to settle and be deposited, concrete sluiceways, with specially devised diversiop'gates, al-l only clear, sil-t-free water to be diverted. Tire si.l-t was periodica flushed from the system, and deposited in the river chlrinel just beLow the dam.2l

since the Alamo canal is located below the Laguna wier, the

.- 24 Imperial Valley farmers no doubt lrenef ited by the reductiorr in river silt bro,ught about ttre wi-er , bui l-t at a cost of more than S;2 million to the U. S. taxpayer. But the waters of the Gila River erltered the Colora do be low L,ag trna , adding additional silt. To get the full ben,efit of the Laguna Dam, the Imperial Valley would have to connect directly with its diversion works. The Imperial Irrigation District revived Smythe's plan to connect the Alamo Canal lto the Laguna diversion dam. I Cory, op cit., pag: 1433

z Burgess, Charles P. Page 16 Imnerial Irriqation District California @Iythe and Cc. , Inc. , and Kaiser , anrj Co. l'lay 2L, f 943 60 p. Ibid., page t6 ' 4. Henderson, op cit. , Page L3i2 Burgess, op cit., Page 16 6. Imperial Irrigation District page 5-6 Tirl Boulder Dam All-Americern Canal Project

7 Ibid., page 14

B Imperj.aI Irrigation Qistrict News -August 1951 "President Ilewes fxplains :inletail the 1950 Audit Report of Imperial Irrigation DisLrict" Imperial Irrigation District ]Lel4q June 1958 "Net Revenue "r rID 33;E3T;BgtS in 1957 " lo Imperial Irrigation District NewF-May-June t97O "W-hen the District Operated a nallroad Line in l4lexico to Stem the Floods" I1 Imperial Irrigation Distri,:t prbm Desert Wasteland to Arqricultural Wonderlanil: thg tfrg-oct ' 1977

L2 IID, Bouf der Dam AII-Ameri,sdrl Canal Project, Nol'ermeber L924 page 14

25 13. Ibid., page 6 I4". Burgess, op ci-t., page 28 L924 J-J o fID, Boulder Dam A11-American CanaI Projecl: Nov.

I6. Ibid, page 1 L7. fmper:iaI Irrigation District -::._---_]---_ft's Yours . Imper:ial Ir:rLgat.ion--Dis-trLct, the Larqes Lrriqartion Drstrict in tl-re Western lJemisl:here 16 p. unda c. 1966 IR f ID, Bould Dam All-Anrerican Canal Project Nov L924 page 19" Tmperia I Irrigation tristrict, page 9 The Boulder Canyon Dam ancl the All-Ameri-cain Canal: Facts Oc--t ober L924 , 2L p.

20 . Nadeau, op cit . , pagle 161 2L. Cory, op cit./ pages 1215-1238

VI. THE QUESI' FOR FEDERAL SUBSTDIES In Decmeber of L9I4, Secretary of Interior F'ranklin Lane dff to al1ow the Imperial- Irrigati.on District to divert water from the Laguna Dam and into the Alamo for $500,000. The District could not afford to acquire the existing waterworks, let alone pay the government for the Laguna rights while constructing the necessary eanal to l-inli with the modern

would solve the s ilt probl-e m a:rd relieve the Valley of its respons

-26 under the l"lexican concession. As an .rdded benefit, the water would enter th

Al1-Amerrican Canal. In October 1916, the Farm Bureau adopt.ed a resolution declaring that the river ccntrol and water suppi.y were matters for the !'ederal Government .3 Rose was successful in gathering VaIIey support for hi-s plan, and wgnt to Wasl-rington where he began to make headqay with the Federal Government. The IID Board of Directors was opposecl to the All- AmeIican plan, still preferring the Laguna connection. Thev became afraid that Mark Rose might succeed, and his private company might come between the Imperia] Vallev and the river.4' 5 In 1918, IID Gerreral Counsel Phil Swing went to Washj-ngton to confer with the Secretary of Interior. On February 16, ther District entered into a contract with the U. S.Government to pay fot: a survey and cost estimate of diverting I'nperial VaIIey water from Ldguod dam. Under the agreement, the U. S. appropriated $15,000 for the study, and the IID $30,000.6 On October 23, a second contract was signed between tlre District and the Government. Later ratified in a special election held by the District, the contract gave it the right to divert water at 1 Laguna dam.' The District waq to pay $1.6 million, which lvould go towards raising the dam several feet, enlarging the desilt:Lng works, and the first 15 miles of the canal. Although the contract between the Yuma Project water users and the iteclamation Service included 4+ the 160 acre limit, I'lo sPec ific reference was made to acreage limits in the IID contract, accc,rcli t-tg the District. l\s of L924 ' the District had Paid $I92' OO0 towards this contract.{J The payment was later credited towards tl-re I ID debt of contruction of the Al}-American canaI.9 Under the first contract, a CanaI Bed made its investigatio The Board consisted of W. W. Sctrlect, manager of the Yuma Project, who recresented the L'ederal Goverrnment; Dr. Elwood Mead of the University of California repres€:nting the state; and C. E. GrunskY' a \rt,e}l-know civil engineer who l:epresented the f ID. On JuIy 22, I the Board released its study reporting that the collstruction of an All,American CanaI was both practicable and feasib.Le, and recomme thaLt the canal be built as soon as possible. The State Engineer and ttre Bond Commission reviewed the rep and called into question how the project would be.feasible unless storage resevoir was constructerJ as we11.1I The same guestion was asked of Congressman Kettner who ir-rtrod legis lation in 191912 to provitJe f or construction of an AII-Ameri canal. Mark Rose went to Washi:ngton with an Imperial Valley deleg to lobby for the Kettner BiIl. .ile returned to the Val.ley to be el to the Board of Directors of the IID. I"lost of the Board was opp'csed to Rose's ideas. In the next Board clectioris, hc suc:c'ccclcil j n qct.t-itrg Lwo All-Amer:icau Canal backers voted irrto office.13 The ITD was from then on solidly in

f arror of the A I l-Ame rica n' plan . Questions about water supply during the 1920 heiarings on Ket

- zrt bi1f14 caused Moses Kincaicl Cirairn.rcln of the Ilouse Irrigatiron and Arid 'Lands Cornniittee to introclr-tcc a bi11l5 of his own providing for a $20,000 approPriation for ac'lditi-onal studies on the Colorado. Pasqed into law, the Kincai d Act reqLr j.red the IID to contribute a matching a*ount. 16 The report commission by the Kincaid Act was released on February ZB, Lg22.I7 It was caIIed the Fall-Davis report, named after Secretary of Interior Albert B. FaII, later famous for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal, and Chief of the BureaU of Reclamation, Arthur PowelI Davis. Davis was the nephew of Coiorado explorer.John Wesley Powe11, and very sympathetic towarQs the tB fmperiaf Valley interests - The Fall-Davis report became th,e "bib}e" of the Coloyado River, It recomrnended construction of a high-Iine (Al1-American) cEnal connecting the Imperial VaIley to the Laguna Dam, construction of a stora.ge resevoir at Boulder Canyon, and the fu11 utilization of its potential to generate hydro-electric power. The second of the six recommendations of the Fall-Darlis report was one that supported the intent of the Reclamation Act of 1902, to give'the benefits of publically financed reclamation to des;erving settlers. "It is recommended that the public lands that c;rn be reclaimed by such works (the All-Americqn canal) be reserved for settlement of ex-scrvice men under ccnditions securing actual settlement and cultivation," recommended the report.I9 The Imperial lrrigation District became a staunch advr:cate of the recommendatioss of thc FalI-Davis reprort, includirrg the pr,cvision for settling servicemen on public lands. In campaign literature published

-29 +:,l, ' l3di .=i^ # i..r :l: ,i 5?:eE' i':: ffi;. Ed $.: ffi' FEI .r. .: #'1 , H ,'.' by the District, the settlemernt provision was a central argument: rHtH'. 3?a4 "In our midst are tl'r:usands of Bx-serivce men and women who are entitled at our hands to be given an opportunity :+A to build homes for thenrselves and their children. Here !:.:;: pioneer people living l ower {} are thousands of in th,e FJ Colorado River basin wLro merit vour support. Thousands t"'? tfr i: have tolcl us they wish to hel.p us. Now is; the time to put +E ,r3..i '- into effect this pledge of co-operation. Join with us ,..:' in advising Secretary of the Interior llubert Work, and your :4-f .:jr:' Senators and Congressmen that you will endorse and *EF..: : r advocate such plans as the Departnent of the Interior

;:.:, I i has recomntendcd ."tu 5-1 ' ?:,, The plan obtained the erndorsement of both the State and = National Conventions of botLr the American Leqion and tl-re Spanish il war veterans.2f 1. Cory, op cit., page 1580 ) Nadeau, op cit-, page 169 a 1.. i:tl: r..: r3, [Ienderson, op cit.i page 90 Ei , i'. i:g tl *,:i, -i 4. IID. From Desert Vtrasteland op cit, page 4 ** ,;'. q Nadeau, op cit, pagte L69-7O Yi'J:r. 13jt :ii .ii: -.-:d j '' 6. IID. Ilgulder Canyon Dam,and the AlL-Srerican Cjrnal:Facts '...-? October 1924, op c j-t. , 1-'age I ir:i' ' 7. Ibid., pages l7-18 :::,::: : Ja.r : .l:: ;;.1 , B. Imperial Irrigation District "fnformation on Imperial Valley Acreaqe Limitation ProbI '-i''i Office of PubIic Information, IID, E1 Centro -t,.t '.':'ti. I undate, c. T967 =i, .,i:, 9.', IID . From Desert VJa ste Ia nd op cit page 5 j:i : r:;l' ::. 10. U. S. Department of Interior "The A1.L-American CanaI" .l:. Report of the A1l-Itmerican canal boar

30

- t' i ? F F

F l; 12. R. $r).1.1, 66 t,h Corrg Ist Session b F * 13. Flendersi)n, clp r:i1., IJagc E V 'l E ,l FIR 1I553, (>(>th Congress, 2nd Session I? F F IIR 12':31 , tjt, t h Cong rcs s , 2n,:'l Scs sion

E th fID. Boulder Danr Al l--A nrc r-' it:an Canal Pro ject- l{,1V. L924 op cit.. page Y F 1- U. S. Dcpartment of tl-ie Inir:r'ior. Reclamatj-on Service. " Problcnrs of thc J nrper:ia I r.r,r Iley and Vicini ty" F E l,etter f rom the Secre ta r1r of Tnt.erior transmittir:Lg a report E. on problems of Imperi-a1 Valley and Vicinity with respect to ir:rigation l-rom thc Colorado River together with the proceedirrgs of the confe]--enrre on the constructiorr of the F 'Boulc'ler Canlrep Danr hcld at San Diego, Calif . 67th Congress, 2 rrd ses sion. Senale Docurn,=nt I42, 326 pp. Wasi:rington D. C. Governmetrt Printi nrt Of f ice , 1922. l NT:.1.::r, E llquvqu, ^y\..it., pcllCS lTO,fnd 774 F U. S. Dept. of Interior. Senate Document I42, op cit.

20. I TD. Bou f der Dam z\ l- l--Ante t: i,:an Cana l Pro ject Nov L924 op cit. , page ]2

t'l Ibid, plicJ€ 2?-

VII. BOULDUIT. L-r\NYON PI1OJIiCT AC'I' AND ACRUAGI] LTIUITAT]-ON By ]921, Imperial Val)ey sentjment was strongly in favor of the A11-American CanaI.I Ir-r tl-rat ycar, PhiI Swir-rg ran for Congress on a single issue: he would cJo to Washington and get Boulder Dam and the A]I-American Canal through Congre==. 2 Immediatell, aftr-:r .rrriving jn washington, Swing's firs;t action as a new Congressman was to introduce the first in a series; of four

bills. l'le e nlistcd tlrc sr-rpport of Calj.fornia Scnator Flira.nn Johnson.

The legislat ion became known as the "Swing-Johnson BiI1. " It took Phil Swing 6 years to get his bill through Congress. ft faced competitiorr from irrigation project being planned in other parts It was al-so opl)oscci ],y pr:ivatc power cornF)anies in ...'l:;i:of the west.3 California, who did not want tire competition of ch,3aP fe,deral hydro- eLectric power. The bill was; al.so opposed by Flarry CharldJer of the Los Angeles Times who feared that construction of ttre AII-Americ Canal would resuJt in the cuttoff of watcr to his vast holdings in Mexico. The strongest opposition, tholtgh,came from the ottrer states in the Colorado basin. The upper basi.n states and Arizona were concerned about their future water r:ights. With construction of Boulder Dam, California could divert additional water and establish greater water rights under the doctrine of prior appropr:iation.

For that matter , t he lrlexican wate r u se rs as we l- I nrig ht e nlarge their riqhts by utilizi.nq the increaseil l-ow-fIow c,f the river. The fears of the upper basin states were well grounded. To int adequate supplies f or l-ower basin irrigators, the Ireder;i I Governnlenl had put embragoes on tr{yoming's use of the upper North P.Latte, ancl on the use of the upper F;io r3rande by Nerr. Mexico and Co.Lorado.4 A settlement dividing the waters of the Colorado.was importanl to !h* fmperial Va1ley, for representatives of the Rocky Mountain States controlled the key congressional committees-5 A supreme cou: ruling in favor of the rights of prio]: appropriation in June , !9i22, induced the upper basin states to pr:otect future rights with a compi A federal comDact conrnission, Chaired by I'Ierb'ert Hr:over and cot .ts 1. of represenlatives of tl-re 7 Colorado basin states, reac hpd an agltee ::: ?c .:d on November 24, 1922. Tl-re Colorado's waters wouICl be split even.Ly r ,.i tJ 7 . between the lower and upper basin states.o The compar:t was then .? :f. '€?* J* *_ :s sent to the seven state s ' legi s latures f or rat if ication. \'{hat the compact did not resolve, however \'Jas how the low basi:n water would be divicled. Arizona was adamently opposed to Boulde.r Dam, foq it vrould allow California water users to build up their water rights, while giving Arizona nothing. Arizonan George Maxwell was advocatj-ng a resevoir which could store water for delivery in a hiqh-Iine canal to the central ;cart of his state. The Arizona state }egislature refused to ratify the compact,T and Arizona representatives became the strongest opponents to the Swing-Johnson bill in Congl:ess. Srving introduced his bill (n. R. 9826) for the third time before i[he 69th Congress. It was heard by a house committee during llebruary of 1926. During the hepring, Swing testified that, in his opinion, the bill did not require private landowners to sell lands in excess of 160 acres. He then asserted that there, were only one orLwo large land holditrgs in the Imperial Valley.B I't was, in the kind works of the U. S. Court in L977, "misleading testimo:ny. "9 In 1917, the California Commission on lrnmigra.tion and Housing studied lmperial Va1ley Land holdings and found ttrat 93,843 acres of tiltable land in the Valley uere in large holdings, whir:h it defined as 2,Ooo acres or *or".I0 This was a substanti.al pa,rt of the 40O,0OO acres under cultivation at that time-11 Despite swing's testimony, of perhaps because of it, the committee decidecl to make acreage limitation explicit in the bill. The committee added a specific acreage limitation ammendnlent, similar to the divestitute provisior, which became part of the Omnibus Adjustment Act passed by Congress in May of that same y"tt.12

- 33 The divestiture provision of 1.he Omnibus Adjustment Act, Sect '46, was written in order to clos,a tire apparent loophole in the Rec.Lamation Act of I9O2, It requires that land holders owning more than 160 acres who wish to receive j rrigation water from a federal pro:iect must sign a recordable ccntract with the Secretary of Inter prornising to sell- their excess l-ancl witl-rin 1o y".t".13 The Swing-Johnson bill did not pass the 69th Congress, howeve It :Ee1I victim to an Arizona led and Utah ):acked f i llibuste:r in the Senate. The biIl was reint::oduced in tl're 70th Conqress. Years of pati worl< began to pay off for Phil Swi.ng. tlis support for f loorl contr on the Mississippi a]lowed him to count on the votes of Misrsissippi VaLIey Congressmen. Swing's bifl, (nR 5773) inclufled the specific divestiture provision adopted by the House committee i-n Lg26+4 It passed the llouse on May 25, 1928.11 The bill introduced by Sen,ator Johnson (S. 128) did not incl the divestiture section. It didl sdlz, however, that "reclamatiou l shaII govern the construction, c)peration, and management of works 1. herein authorized. lrO When the second session of Cotrgress began in Decr:mber , 1928, Senator Johnson asked the Senate: to subsitute the Hous;e bill for hi own. He then anlmer-rded the llouse, bill by retaining the enacting cl and substitrrting his own measurer , S . 7 28 , f or the bodl/ of the bi 1I. He told his colleagues that he vrished to do this to "preserve order procedure" and that the two bill-s contained "like purposes" and "Ii designs."17 But the divestiture provision had been d-ropped from t bilI. Even so, the divestitufe spclled out in the Omrribus Adjust

-- 34 Act was part of Reclamation Law, .rrrtJ tlrcref or applied to the lirnds

irrigated f rom t-lre works cons t, ruc l L..cl r-rndcr t_he bi l r. rn later years, the exccss r.incr o\rners in the rmperiar virrley argued that they l-rad been exemptecl from the acreage limitation because

the di'uest itr-ire clause had been cic lctcd f rom the bill which became the Canr''t)t't Boulder Project Act.. 'I'lrc Nj nth Circuit of tire U. S" court of Appeals clr.sagreed. I'lad con:,rcss wanted to exempt the rmperial val1ey f rom acreage limits, tl-rc c()u r-,t r:easoned, it would have expressly stated the exenrpLion. fB . AriZo.cr senat.ors Ilayclen anci Asrrrrrst for-rght to block the senate bi ll. They could no longer count olt t hc :j,.rpport of the senators from Utah,

for Phi l sw ing h.rcl lrad gone t-o Ut-.-rir antl r. a 1li.ed support for Boulder: Dam.

Senator Phipps of Colorado i rrt rodr-rcecl an ammendment limiti.ng California's usc of Llrc Col.c.rr,rclo. '.i'liouc.; l-r thc Arizonans were farr from satisf i.ed, the cornprornise !ave Scnri t-or Johnson enough votes that he could invoke clotttre. Tl're Ariz:c.na Senators were finally sil.enced. The Senate passe d Johnson's bj 11, .,rr-rc.l tltc Iiouse accepted the ammendments. On Decentber 2l , prcr;ic,lent Coolidge signed the Bourlder Canyon Pro ject- Act into }aru. f 9 The law cor:ld not cJo into el:fcct, liowever, untif tha.b Colorado compact was rati.ficd by aI"1 sc\./en st-.ites, or until six states ratified it and Californi.r .tgreed to 1inr.i t i ts use of Colorado River water. Shortly tl-rcreafter:, on Marci-r 4, ,L!)..1!), the Califor:nia Legislatur:e agreed to the restriction b), cna.ctirrg thL: l, j nri Lation nct. 2o president l{oover procLairncd t-}r: ljoul,ch-r' Cc}nyc)n I,r.o;ect Act in full ef :[ect on June 25

-_.j As sooll as Corrgrcs:3 appl:ol)l-'ir,l,-: cl t, lic first ,s; lo nrill-j.on i-n

JuIy of 1930, wo]-Ii l:cc1 an t-owarrl:,i lir,: r'(.)r)srt-r--uct,i.orr ot D,otrLcler clarn. Contract bids for tl-re ditru, rvhrc:lI h/i.rri l;i..l lcc.l as ttrc "qt:eatest

construction ;ob ever ltnderl-a]

following March. 'f he l-ow bid r.v.r:; i or $48 . 9 rnilI j on. 'Ihe bfast:Lnq

of the diversior-r tunnels comnlencrri(l on f.lay ?-I .2L

Negotiator--s reprcsenl-ing Ca.l il-c_ry11i3' = municipat ancl agricu.Ltu districts, inc.lr-rdir-rq tl-ie lmpcrjal Jrr,iqati-on Djstrict, met to

allocate priori tiers l-crr Col-or.acj o lii v,-:1 wa ler. Af.ter m,cnths of rnee

the Seven Par:tv Ai;recnl(: nt- r,vali rc.illrr:t.l (tlt Ar.tgust l.B, I931. Tire Zrer, ment allocated 5,3b2,000 acre-fcct ol rvat-cr to tfre sev13n agencrgs, nearly the colnF)lctc amount t,o wiric:li tl;r.li f or:rria lrad rcst.ricted hers, under the Liniitatior-r Act.22

In October, t hc Secrct.at.;' o1 lntt:r'ior l-reld a hear:inE j n tVas;hi:

D. C. on tl'ttt III) c:orrt-rirct l-lt- llou li jr:r: l't:() jt:c:h wi.tter. r\ t:(rlrot:t on a draft contlacL \r'.ls :,;eni- t-o Llrc rlir;Lr:.ict- on Novcmber .l . 23 The foJ-lorvinq Decembcr (l!13.2) tlr.: c--or:tract betwce,n thc disLri, and the govt:rnmcllt \\rar; si,:Jncil . 'l'lrc U- S. rccoqni.zecJ thc lrnperierl

VaIley's right to i-he Col or:.rcl o rJr: r- j n.:cl 1.,1, i-lrc Seven pa.rt, y l\grcenten. 'rest The of t'lte t r':rnis of th,: con t-r ,tc t- hre rc vclry generoLts .

The U. S. wc:,u1cl cronstrttc:t. t-trc A.1 l-Arneric.rn Canal .rncl a nev/ diversion datn r"'itli c'lesi1tin.l rt,orl.',r,;, t-o be called t.he Tnrper:iaI Derrn. f t gave tO tlrc.Ili:;t-rict- al1 of tltl l)o!r'cr rlrc.,1tr; alor)g blre canal 1, )4 a concession rr'lrit'lr gr.r.rlaltt-e,:cl il l)Lrli1;cIrr;11 subsi.cly to ti're IID.

fn rcturtt, Lltrt IJisl-.ri,::i. .t,1r--t,rt:c.l t.r-, l'.ecgt tJic str:ucl:-ur:cs in ![oor repair, anc'l to f)tt\,'b.rc:ll l-Lc c--ost r.r1. cc,ltstruc:tj-on over 3 4Lr veatr., inter:est-frcc tct:nr. Il'or tlr,r: lir'::L l.ivc V'cals, paymcnL:; wcrulcJ f..r(: l: Of thg COnStfUCtiOn COSL.S, fOr t. ltr, rrc:...:t l-rrrr rrr)Arc {. irg payrnentS WOUId be Ac of costs, i'rtrcl for thc f irrat.l .ll, \/c.lrs, payntents r,vould be 3/,. The contrre-t made no spcc j f i c r-ef erence to the acreaqe f im,its. Article 3 of the contract does sa!,'[]rat "reclamation law shall govern the constrr,r<:tion, ollcl:.li.ic,n, ;irrcJ nrair-rt.enace of the v;orks to be constrr,isg..l lrereunclcr ."2(> llcr,-c was perhaps the mo:st generous aspect of all-- Lhc Sce rcLary oI Irrt cr iot- did tiot include if mec]'ranism f or enf ore-ing thc acreacle limi t-s ancl r eside ncy requirements requrired by Rec lamat ior-r law . Imperial ValIey "Iandowncrs \rur.c:;tiIl fearful that tl-re laircluage in the contract meant tirat tlre .r(:rca(-lc limj ts ',vould ap1:1y to their land. Charlcs l'1.r1;rtr, a -l ancl obine l: ,,vh,) ownccl 20O acres, sued the f ID in Dectqmber 1932, cfainrin'.J t. lrat. t. lr,, r..rcrntr.rct was illec1 ;il, for it woul-d require l-rinr t-c> scl. l. t-lru li.rn.i li,. c)!vnLr d j.n excess of I60 ')-7 )(1 acres. " ' ' , :l !)

An attor:ncy for: t. lrc t..L[), lt j c:]riLr J Cof l'ey, wrote to, the erssist-ant Reclamatiott Comnri:;siot'tc:: f'or1,cr I-)c:r)t i n li'cbruar)/ 1933, in the 1;rst days of tlic Iierbcrt lloovcr ;rcinri rr.i s t r',.rt- j orr. llis l-etter: l.abel1ed

"conf ider-rti.r1, " Cof f c5r asl

Dent f orrvarcJccl 1-lrc rcrlucst, ',.tr t-li crn irp;rroving nenr(.r, to Northcutt

Ely,Assistarnt Sucl:cL.tt\; o[ -lnt-c:1.-.ic,r'. ]jl:, had ncc.; ofj,trted the Boulder

Canyon Ilrolcc:t cc'lrt.racl-s. 'l'i)r:,:u ',/Lr.rr s rr.-irficr, lre liacl written ,Lhat he coufd see notliitrg 1-o do Lut clri-or-.:e tlre 160 acre limit in the ImperiaJ-

VaItey, Lrn,l css tlrc 1II) lv.is itlrlt: Lr, ;ct, nr)\t lcgislation.3l, 32 i.. - :..]::: -: '-: la -r . ;---\: .,

=!,.:. It ]933, lily was about bo leaive washirgt-sn- He woulicl " 3i.,::'li . , soon be

ii retained by the IID. i3ypass.ing tlie Department of f nter j.or's lega 1 staff, he forwarded Coffelr'5 letter and Dent's memo directlv to Secretary of Tnterior iiay Lym.rr-r lvil-bur, recorrrmending th-t the Imperial Va1ley bc exenptecl. On February 24, only 20 dayzs af t.cr Cgffey hacl sent his request and just weeks before the nelt Iioo:;cvcl.t- administration woulcl enter

off ice, Wilbur wrote his trvo and a h;rlf page letter to the f mperial

Irrigation Dist-rict, s.rying 1, hat, I.urcis i-n tl're Va1}ly were exempt from acreage limitatiorr. j TLe letter was submi ttecl .is ev cl cllce i n the Malan casie, and the court dismissed the lawsuit ()n Marclt lfr.33

As a ,}ega1 docunient, wil-bur's let_i_er has litt Le rveight and numerou6 f l-aws. rt refers c:rnly t-c: the l9o2 Recl-arnation Act, and does not deal at af ] wii ii tlre L,[Lrcril-ion of the .rpplicability ofj the Omnibr"rs Ad;trs;turcrrt- Act- t-p tltc .lnrpc-.:.j.1-1. V.rllcy.-)4 Usipg the 1 '!filbur letter as a rationafe, itor^Jc\zcr, tlre IID has refusecl f or 35 years to enf orce 1-hc s;ubiscly I j rni t:-; of il.elamation law i n tire I Va : Imperial 1le1r. t Over the years, Departnre nt o.t- Interior torneys have repe

reminded tl-re Secret.rry tita{: t-}-re law w.rs stilt o lt the books, and .llrc should be enforccd. Wi l-Lur l-et t-cr bec._.anrcl t he 6)xcuse of the rrf Interior for: not {tnforcinq tLre litv,r;isj wel. l.

A fcrnra J- opinion by Dcpartrnerri-: of Interior S ol icit:or Irowler

lJarper criticize rl thr: Wilbirr: .le1_ t cr i-n 1945, but Sercret.ar.l of .tnterior J. A. Iirug refused to c..vcrlr:Je t{il_bur's clecisicn on th

- ltJ basis t,hat the Land-owners and farrn operators had relied on it for 18 year;s. He left open the pos.siLi litl, that, in thre future, aqreage limitation might still be con..jider:ed Eor the Imperial VaIley - trgain in 1957, Interior Solici.tor J. Lee Rankin reminded the secretary that tl-re acreage limitation applied to the rmperial Va1Iey. Despite Cot-tgression;r1 prcs.:jLrrc, tlrc Interior Department did nothing to enforce the }aw. In tr utl-r, the government was giving no espe<:ia1 exemptiotr to the largc Ero\rers in the Imperial Valley, for it was doing little or r-rotl.ring tr-r e nforce acreage I imits anywere in the Inlestcrn United State,u .3 5, 3(r

Thre validity of tl-rc f mperial Va1ley's de facto exemption f rom the Rac.lamation sr:bs:Ldy li mits wa:i not challerrqcd again unti I the

1960's, whcn tltc carnp.r.i cl t't o L il Ilr..rr"v.lt.:12 1tlri, 1;ic j an ancl tlrc inquir.ies of Cong:ressmcn prr:npl,cd l.ntr:-r iur [,c-r c]C1..

1. "ltlikc Dovrrl Pa',25 G.lc-'r,v.i rrrl 'l'r.i l.rrrt-,: t,o Irhil Swing" fnrpcri;r1 Irricyat.ion Ll11t l,l-c'!- 1!1lr1: M.]y 1958 p. 2 ..: .- i:,aa:a . Nadcatt, o') c:i [.. , l.)ar(_l (j )J't Ibid., page 193-4 +- fbid., pagc 17I Ibid., page t7b

6. Ibid, page 185

7. Ibicl, pciqe 190 B. U. S. Cou r:t of Appe.r 1s , Nint,h Circrr i.t tlnrtcci Sta.t-cs v- Irrrl>c::i.r1 ,trt:ir-;;rtion District et aI. Nos. 1I-2L24, 73-:1333,'73-13tJB Decisior-r of Auc;ust 18, I91'7 q rbid. 10. Ciilif ornia Commiss;iotr ot-t Irnnrigrat-iorr and IJousing 1919 op cit. page 19

II. Cory , op c it . , 1)aclc I'-:J J 1.2. U- S. CourL of Appc:.rIs, i.l i nl-lr C.i rcuit op cit, p,age 19) 29

1.3 . G ree ne , Si-ie I don f, . "Promised l,and: A Contcntpor-arY Cr:itique of Distribution of Pubfic J,and by tl-re Un,LLcd States" Ecof oqv. Law Qu.lrterl,"' 5:'707 pp - 707 -15L I976

1-4. U. S. Court of Appcals, l:I j rltl-r Circuit, op cit ' , pag€] 1930 l-5. Nadeau, oP cit,., pages 2r)4-206 l-6. U. S. Court of Appeals, I'JjnLlr Circuit, oP cit-, page 1930

)-7 . Ibid. , i)ages I930-3 f ItB. Ibid, , page 1931 :19. Nadcau, op c it . , I').I(Jc .2()(l :20. Ibid, page 209

:2I. Ibid/ pagc 210 and p.r!jt: ?.12 :2-2. Ibid, palcJe 2l-9

:23. f fD. "Infor.rl.ition olt .f rrit.rrrri;r l Varlfey Acreail e Limit;rtion problen" C)f f icc of Prrlrl.i c J lltormation, Imperia1 Tr:rigation Distric b , Ul Centro. Lrrtcla t.cd, c . I9A7 , 12 p. page I

:24. Artic l"e .1.4 o f thc con t- r.tr-: i . '.25. Article 12 of L.ltc collLl-ar'1. '.:2e., U. S. llureau ot- IleclaruaLir.,n page 82 Wasl'r', D' C' 1950 Boufc.ler Can1,1'r11 Prolect Irjr-ra1 lle;:rr:rts- Part I-- Int:roduc!oty BuIletin 2 itoov_er- ll:lm__t!11_.1!__!_lVatgI-_g"ntracts & Re l;rted Data 27. IID. "Informatj.on of Itrtpcr j.e,l, VaIlcy Acreage I.,imitation n-^l-lrl uuf,ulll ^^,rr vl/ \-.'it. , "Some l:'acts" page 2 Yeflen, llcn "Ilorv Lhe Small Farmcrs were []etrayed" Nervslcttcr: f rom Dr. Ilcn Ycfler-i, Brawfey, Calif:ornia February 1, 1963 29. lJ. S. Coltt.t of Apyrcr.rlr;, I'lintll Cl:i.rctr j l-, op cit, pac1c 1933 .30. Ib.i d, paqc 1934-35 31. Ycll-c:n, ol) ciL., F'cirr-ual:1, 1, I963 32. Ila-l1j-s, Llrlorrjq), .-tltcl licrl.lr,L, Itl.Li,r "1'l1c Iiccl-arnat-iorr l. iinrls Arrtlrr-.rr: tr- Ar:t. Iurpcrrierl VaIley Repor Contlressionarl ltqcgig Vol . 118, Irlo. [J0, Wedne'sday, May 17, I972

,ltr Yc I lerr , op cil- [ebruarrl .1, 1963

34 Court of Ap1>ca1s, fJinth Circuit, op cit., pages 1933-35

Tay lor , Par-r1 S. pagcs B-I3 "Water, Land, and Environmcnt f ntperial Valley: Law Caught in the V/inds of Politics" lJatural Resources Journal Volume 13, No. I January 1973 pp. I-3s

36 U. S. Cor:rt of Appeeils, N:Lr-rth Ci rcuit, op cit., pages 1935-36

VIIT. TIIU ERA OL] TTEDERAL SU]3SIDY

Since the days of I3abY Ion, thc trvo maior causes for the failure of i;vigation s1'stems itave been scr -l.t .rnd si 1t. By the I93O ' s, they were changing the ImpcriatI VarlJ-cy bi-rc]'. into the Coforaclo I)esert.

Even the Federal Land Bank, crcatucl )--,y' Congress to l-oan mc)ney to farmers when priva tc lenclcr s wouIc r-rc:, t', refused to make ]oans for Imperial valley' farnr fand. The banir crted the flood danger, unpredictable watcr supplY, need l-rrr drainage, and the speculative nature of land iroldirrgs as t lic rc.l so ns i t wo uld not ma ke l-oa ns in the Valley.1 The most serious Problem was t l'rc r.val,erlogging of soi-Ls, and

nf rrr#a the resuf tant accunlltlation of sa lt .a . 1.'hirty years v! Ir!r\/qLv^ri devetropment had used up the l.rnd. t\,t, ]920, fifty t housancl acres of land had been put out 9f productrot-r because of alka 1i accumulation. By 194I, lO0,00O acres l-rad gonc ta1 .lolv, white with thc sa.Lts broug ht ln oy tne uororado's waters.2 None of thc V,'ill.e\/'s w;lter r'lcl jvery d.itchcs were lined with concrete. Scepailc from the c--ein;r.ls ('()nl-ri],uted to the waterlogging of the soils. Few fielcls wcre eqr"rippeci witlr clrrin tiles. Tiling is needed to Iower thei water table so ttrat t f-re s;it lts cctn be leached be low the root

_ .lr zone of gt:owinq c--ropsj. 1'c.rcla1z thc I ll) cst, i.rn;rtcs that r^rittrout drain tiIes, tire avcrcrgc tifc of Intp,er,.iii l V.rl.lc:y i-ait:rnlanc'l is 20 year=.3 Thoug}-r the district began a di,ainac;e program in 1923, it mainly involved conn€tcti-ng drainage clranrit:1s to the floocl-carvecl barancas of the A1amo ancl Nerv Iiivcrs. No rlr;i.irr L.i Le was installed until- 1929; by 1943, less than (t)L of t-he Vallt:;" s lclltd ]'rad been ti Ied. But the Va1ley's problenrs werc not just a nrltt.ct.' of .1 lack of clrai.nage works. Tire irrrq,rtion rvorlts t-Iicnts;...:I\rt:s welt,e so faulty i-hab water del-iveries wcrc unt:e.l jalrlc. 'i'htr 1lD, lrttrr.lt:tred wj1-h heavy operatrng costs and i-ts obl i

C,n July .1, I93t-.,, t-]tc disl-ri.ct. clcl-;iultccl on a porti.on of the bond intererst and maturjti".r.7 Distr.ir:1- fjnat-lces clr:opped so low that IID jsccrunt-.8 regist.erecl wal:ranLs rvcre l,,citrrl L.rl,r:tr l-, y lltrll:c-'it.rnts at-, a cl T'he f inal j iJrrominl, f c'r t he Cr :r of private developmcnt !'ias t he drougtrt of 193il. Onli' olte: yc.1t: i;,,:Ir-.,r,, IJor.rlc]el: Dam wor-i1d be ai:Le to store the Coloraclots waters, tlrr: r. i.,,'cr r,vet'it nearly dry f or 5 months. j The Il.D could ncrt (jvet1 ltrorziclt: c'l r riti. rirl water f or Va1ley rcsidents.

The Federal E,lvcrnmeltt steppr:cl in ;rtrcl r.l .i s;Lributed tltous;tncls^ of 9 carIoEIds of dontc s b ic water' - Constrr.rction of tl're /r1l-Amcr.i-(-'.1 rr C.tn.rl clid not begin unt-Lf August of 1934.1U Contl:eti- bi on f or.' sc.1 t-c() f ederal f uncls ]-rad c;rused

the delay. Onl;z \^,j 5l-t thc l)]-e:.js\.l .r.L) oi a Congressj.onal clelegat-.i-on to

presi

allow Merxican irrigators to increasc il-reir use of the river and build up water rights. The A]l-Amer j_can Canal was needed to keep the Colcrado for the U. S.

ThLe next day, the first $O mi 1l-ion vras appropriated lior the All-American Canal.Il Mark Rose w.is grven the honor of diqlging the first scanpful of earth at the ground-breaking ceremony shortly thereafter. In March, 1935, Bouf der Dam was; cornpleted,l2 and the Imperia I Va11ey began to receive the subsidy of a massive reclamation program designed to keep it from turrring back into deserf. After Boulder Dam was buil-t, the Lrecleral government continued to build darns to make resevoirs that hav'e allowed more of the Colorado's waters to be stored. Pa6ker, Davis, Floover, and Glen canyon Dams, as well as a half*dozen otlter clams or the Colorado's tributaries, store water for release to tlre l-ower basin irrigators. For this massive network of resevoirs, the Imp,erial- Va1ley landowners have paid nothing. Federal- appropriations and hydroelectic pow€:r revenues have paid the bul-k of the cc,sts. 'The dams st.op the Colorado ' s f lcods . They al so impound much of the river's sitt. 13 with l3oulder Darr' s completion, the III) was able to cut its operating costs, and Va11ey farms began receiving a regular supply of water. Once the district learned t li.:t it could get government subsid.ies, it began to persue them with vigor.

The State llmergency Relief Administration (S. S. R.A. ) prrovided assistance f or brushing and cleaning canal=.15 The Federal-

Reconstruction l'inance corporation loanecl the District $1,9150, oo0 t!j- rt t+- to bui.Ld drainaqe facilities. Anc,Lhcr Iit'C loan of $ I1,348, 500 was grante

The Imperial and Coachel-la VaIleys were a lready served b!' the CaIif . Electr.ic Power Co. CiiPC just- j f jed r ts high rates by saying that I6perial VaIley electric powcr canc f rom the longest tans;mi ssion lines in the worId, and that larqe Dower losses resulted, raising costs. CEPC was in no position to cornpet.e with cheap hydr:oelectric power. In I934, the district contracted to build a diesel gl.nerating plant in BrawIey. CIJPC obtained .r court in junction attacking IID's right, dS an irrigation district, to purchase generating units. The operation of the generators was del.iyed by the suit unti-L l4ay lB, 1936. The district then applicd for a Iiederal loan from the Rural Electrification Aclrninistration to irui.ld power lines in rLlral areas.

The CBPC sued ac1.rin, bl-ocki.ng t- he I oatrs a nd applying for the REA assistance for itsclf. Ilut tlrc IID lrad c'liscovered that CEPC had strung

- 'l-l - transmission lines over t]-re distr:j.r,:t,s canals without securring the necessary rights of way. Flaving learned about the po\rer c,f the courts, the district securerl crn in junction against the pou,er company, halting its RIIA application as we II.22 I:n 1937 the 9700,000 U( foan ,.;ent to the ffD.23 allowing it to build a distribution system in rura 1 crrcds. over the next two years , the Pub.Iic works Administration gave the district a grant and 4/, roan for $2,563,000 which it usecl to br-rilc hydroelectric generators on the All-American canut 34 tn., fecleral government not onry gave the district free opportunities to devel,:p el_ectric power, it f inanced their exploitation as we l_1. An era of ,competitiq)n ensuccl, w ith the If D and CBPC signing up nevJ urban customers and installinq dr_rplicate power lines to serve them. llhe IID hpci two crucia 1 advantages: as a public agisncy, it is ta,x-exempt (the district paicl no property tax in 19'75 on either its 104,158 acres 2'5 of land or its $lfi_-,850,82O in assetr) ' 26 and it couId, in fact, use the hyclroe lect_ric works to deliver power to the consumer at less cost than the CIlpC. After completion of the A1I_Amer.ican Cana1, these economies made the district a sound i.nvestmerrt . $O million of bonds were sold, and the district acquired the fmper iaI and Coachel1a Va1ley properties of the CEPC in ).g$.27

Over the years, the revenues f rorn the power division Lrave not only helped to pay of f the cl.i strict 's debt for completion of the All_ American Canal,, they also helped to ::ctrre the debt the district aceumula'ted from the era of prl.vate developrnent as we11.28 The power subsidy rended up hefping to yray off the bad clebts of the CfC, the

- 6e5 creation of the dra r nag e c hanne l s , t ire levee works in l4e.xico, and even the 1922 br:y256 ci< o f the wal. er r.lclivery system from the water stock holders q5 well.

T'he g rea tes t s ubs i r'lr.z tn Ihn Valley, however, is the All-American

Canal. 160 feet wj dea nd B0 mil es long, the canal begins wittr a diversion dam and a uE5l^^ i l+in- rrrn rks; wi-rich can remove 70,000 tons of sil.t a day from the river's w ater =.29 The entire riv,er can be div'erted; the port io n r,,r'hich i s rlropped back to the river and allowerd to fl-ow int oMe vi,-n Anor all:e.s the back bone of th'a district's

hydroerlectric power "J " tem, the 30,000 kilowatt Pilot Kn'cb gerrerator. Virhile much of the Valley's larnd was already under cultivatj-on, the now dependable su pp I rr nf r^r: t er. rvh:,ch came from the c,ana1 allowed more acreage to be devo ted to in tensive, high risk crops. Since the canal entered the Va lle yatahi ghcr elevation, an additional 38,000 acres could be bror-r nl-r+ under cuf tirz;'rtion.3O

Eiet\,,reen I940 a ndl 954, the va.Lue of Imperial Va lley f arm producti increased frorn an a rrar> ge of $53 .50 per acre to $200.00 per acre. Thougl:i a portion of the increase v/.ls attributable fo infLatiorr, the vafue of production )--pq5 ^ ed on con st eint dol lars doubled in that period, principally bec ause of t lre bcnefits of the new ciana1.31

T'he regular wa l-or etrnnl rr nra de Va I Ie y f ar:nri ng le ss specu la t ive .

Federa I Land llank I oans became a vaj-lable to Imperial Valley farmers in October of 1941. 5Z The asses sed valuation of Imperial Va11ey farmland increased from $36. 2 mi 11::on in 1940 to $72.6 mill-ion in ta J9s4. ."

Drainage a!d cana.l lilrinq - VJ-L th t-he construction of the new canal and the i.nstallati on of the l: irs1, hydroelectric generators to create the power to l'relp pay t-or j f , Valley farm operators turned to the Federa 1 goverr-Inlent- once: ag.rl rr i,rr i:i:tain a subsidy to recfaim the dying soiI. The -tmperial Irr:igation Districb joi.ned with three Federal agencies, the Farm Credit A

by thre University of Ca I j f ornia . i run A memo of understanclirrg was reached between the USDA and the IID, a making th,e IID the area's soi L colrservation district. The IID F Board of.Directors afso serve as the Soil Conservation Boarc, dfld set soil (:onservation po1i"y.:15 'Ih" irrigation district prcVide€ office spiace ancl clerical staff, and the lrederal government provides the staff to administer a pl:oqram which has installed the worldrs

most modern atrd e f f icient dra i llacJe s ystern - BB% of the Valley's farmland has been equipped with a sieries of drainlines buried 6 feet deep or more in the soil, and empty'ing to ditches which ultimatellz empty into tire Salton Sea.36 Whitn t.he f irst drains were clay tiles, today tLrey are made of plastic tubing. More than 600 miles of rrrigatior laterals have been Lj.ned with concrete to prevent water ="epoge.37 T'lte district pays 75% or more of the cost of ditch lining.38' 39 The FederaI government makes subsidy payments for clitcl'r lining, l-and l-eveling, tile installation, and for builciing vari.ous concrete strr-rcture=.40 Soil Conservat jron Servrce payments in the Imperial Valley wcre reported at $f.7 million for the period 1966-7O.4I' 42 The Soil Conservatior-t Scrvice er.ls;o does the survey and engineering

-41 ' \^Jork for the reclamation prolect,. 'fire SCS staff prepares farm plans, deep strata surveys r {Jo!ineering clcs.i c_.1ns , maintenance and ef f iciency evaluaicions, field surveys for clr.ainage outlet elevations, irrigation system designs, soil saljnity checks, water delivery investigations, and land levef survev=.43 S;rtisfvi-nq the Mexican Obligjltion. With completion cf the AII- Americ;rn Canal, the IID no longer rrrlied on the Alamo Can,aI for irrigaltion del-iveries. The canal w.:s still the means to irrigate severa.L hurrdred thousand acres in Flcxico.

B:l the law of prior appropria t r on, Mr:xico had deve lc,ped a rig ht to use the Colorado that was nearly as old as that of the Imperial Valley,i a rigirt prior to ntosts of thc Amerlcan water users. In order lto use the Col-orado's waters, the Irnperial Valley hrad inr:urred an obl:Lgation, an obligation that it coufd not fu1fi11, but that the Federal government would be for:ced to ftilfiI1. lrJater use and irrigated acrearJe i ncr:eased in Mexicc, because of the increased low flows of tl-re river brought about by Boulder Dam. Harry Chandl-er's CM Co. did not ber-refit, fcr nearly aIl c,f its irrigal:le lands (287,00U acres) were expropriated for land refr:rm in I93{i.44 An organization of U. S. v;ater users. the Committee of Fourteen, luas dounded to limit the Mexican ci j.versions by an Internati or:al agreeme The cornpletion of the Al-l*Americar-r Canal gave the U. S. total r:ontrol over how much of tl-re Col-orado would be refeased to Mexicci. The Mexica.Ii Valley iracl the bad Luck of being downstream from the U. S. M

- 4rl was reversed . Tirere ttre f low of rn;a Lcr ari ses in Mexico anil the irrigable land is principally in tirc U. S. The treaty with Mexico was signed February 3, L944. It allowed Mexico 1.5 million acre feet of Colorado water, and gave U. S. irrigators rights to the Rio Gr:andc':. The terms of the dgr€r€rn€nt, discussed at a ccnference of U. S. water users, \^iere satisf:actory to aIl of the Colorado Basin states except California.45 The California delegation, wl:ich included Phj I Swing, wds angry because Mexico had not beenlimited to its pre-Boulder Dam water use.46 California Serrator Iliram Johnsou fought a losing battIe to block Senate ratif ication of the trea ty -47 Despi te its concer,n over the treaty the Imperial Valley macie out rather well-. Water whi.ch was delivered to Mexico generated power for the fID at Pilot Knob. The IID controlled Mexican corporaticn that owned the irriclation system paid the IID for water deljvered to the border. The works themselves were operated and rnaintairred by additional water: charges levied by the Mexican "o*puny.48 Mexico was not happy wifih these water chaqges. The Meixican government subsidi zed the irri.gators water payments, and leivied special taxes on the f TD lulexican corF)oration. In 1961, when the 50 year charter of the Mexican subsidiary expired, the IfD was forced to liquldate its shares. The Departncnt of Flydraulic Resources of the Government of Mexico bought Lhenr for $4,t, mitlion pesos ($360, OOO) .49 l'lexico built tire Morelos Dam to divert the Colorado's waters into the Alamo Cana}. It was a modern work, and among the largest undertaken in Mexico. The government planned for the Mexicali Valley to become clne of Mexico's most productive regions.

_ tlg- Bttt the Mexican farmcr:s sufft,:-r:cJ a staggering blow in 1961, .- when the sa line waters of the tVel-lt,r-r:r-Moharwk Irrigation District in Arizzona began to f low into the Cr:forado. A drainage cirannel had beein built to convey leaching '"vi:ters f rom 65,000 acres of land in that district?O The salty water, when added to the already sal-ine colorado ]:elow the l-ast Amer ican diversion, j ust at the border, made the Coforado too saltiz to be used for irrigation. 100,000 acres of Mexican crops \^/erc l-ost tI'rat y.or.5l The issue stirred great anger rn Mexico. After four years of damage, another int.ernatiorraL a-qreenrent was signed. 'rhe u. s. Governntent promised that the waters of tire Colorado entering Mexico woutd be. only srightly more saf ine r-han water at rmperial Dam.52 Tkre first step in guaranteeinc; the water quality standards of the agreement was for the U. S. Bur:eau of RecLamation to build a I3- mil.e long channel to d.ivert ti-re Wellton-Mohawk wastes below the Ir4orelos dam, at a cost of S 2. 5 rnillion.53

Thre Bureau hets undertaken bas r-t-r wide surveys and studies to discove,r ways to eliminate sources of sal-t to protect the quality of Colorado River water that is to i--,e used by Mexican irrigators, and f mprerial Valley farm oprer&tors its wel-1. Proposed str,ateqies includer the diversion of saline spr::Lngs and streams which flow into the riv'er, improved managerrrent of r.rpstream irrigators to reduce saline drainage 1.lows, and even a $62 rnil,l.ion desalinization plant to remc)ve salts f rom the WeLlton-l'lolrawk clrainage water.54 Thre Burea of Reclamation has a Lso made test drillirgc of geothermal sites in the Imperial- VaIley. The rvelfs producc boiling hot water which may be used t o getrcrate po\^rcl: or desa lini ze water. t he wells

- 5c, r) are owned by the IiD. Additional subsidies. The Im1:criaI Va1ley has relied on Federal aid to solve other problems affecting its water supply, such as the regulation of the river's downstream f 1ow, and the dredgir:,g of the Colorado's channel-. Despite the desilting brought about by the storage re,sevoirs, the riversti1l ran with enough forcc to carve some additic,nal silt from its channel-. The releases from the upstream resevoirs do not reach Imperial Dam for several cJays. Though it originally had some storage capacity, tl-re resevoi r behind Imperial Dam soon f i lled with silt and could no longer requlate the river,s flow. The Federal government provided the rmperiril Val-tey with another subsidy to solve the probfem.

Two miles futher upstream thc ISureau of Rec lamation b,ui It in 1965 the $B mi]lion Senator l{ash Da m. ln/ater can be efectrically pumped from the river into the 13, zl0O acre-feet capacity resevoir. It can Iater be released dorvn to tl're river, generating hydro-electric power and providing a means to regulate the fluctuations of the Colorado's f1ow.56 The Federal government also bsqan to dredge the cirannel of the CoIorado, draininq sloughs and bypasses to save an estimated 190,000 acre feet of water and to c]ear out the secliment be l ow Imperia 1 oa*. 57 The

') ijosrrer, op crt. p. 49

IID page 11 "It Yours Imperial Trriqation ciistri.ct, the Largest rrrigation Dist-rict i n tl'rt-: tvestern ile misphere" c. 1966 l6 p. 4. IID pa!,les l2 - l3 "The Colorado Rivcr and lml>c:r:ia ] ValIey Soils: A Chrrcnicle of Inrperi al VaI.ley's Corrt i.r-rrring F ight Aga inst Sa ft " c. 1975 24 p. 25 , I2O acres ti led i n I 943 of 449,762 acres farmed in L9l4

5 . Fle nderson, op c i t . pacJe 13 2

6. Burgess, op cit., page ?-(-,

1. Ibid., page 16

B. Henderson, page 13r. 9. Ibid, page I34

10. Nadeau , op c it . , Ilage 2.31 1I. Ibid, page 230

I2. Ibid, page 217 13. Dowd, M. J. "Silt Problems of Imperial Trrigation Distr:ict as Affected by completion of Rouldcr Dam" ci,ril_ttuj.n==.ir-'g 9 (ro) :609-rr October 1939

14. Ilenderson, op c it . , page 134

15. Burgess, op cit. page 19

16. I3urgess, op c j.t. , page 11)

I7. fbid, pagc 20 lB. rlD "Achievcmcrnts of fmper:ia I Irriqation District Power System Ileviewecl" Distr-ic t News Apri l , 1950 p. 2 19. IID palte I2 m}1^ "!-ronr Desert l{ctst.elancl t_o Aqr:icul tural Wonderland: a I lc Story of lVater anc] Po',vcr" op cit. j 20. Burgess, op c t. , pagc '- :a, 2L. Hendersorr, op cit, paqe l.iiJ 22. Ibid. pages 148-49 23. IID " De\re lopment of fID Elcc-'tri.<: Power Svstem OutIi ned in Statement " District Ncws November 1953 p. 2 24. IIi) "Ne t llcvenue of IID $3 , t13 1 , 893 . 55 in 1"957 " Ilistrict News June 1958 pages 1, 2, 4

25. I04, l-51 .64 ac . acc-'ording t.c,: Cal-ifornia. State Lands C'ommi.ssion. State Lancis Drvision. "Public Larrd Owner:sh1p ir, California IgJ5" October I975, an annual scr:ial-. 26. assets acco::ding to: IID 1976 AnnuaI Report 27. llenderson, op cit., pagc )49 z6ad - Ll t) " Dist,rict Pays Of f Irr igat ion Dcbts; Eliminates Future Pnoperty Asscssments" District News, July ]967 pp. I-2 29. U. S. Ilurcar: of Ileclamcrti.on "AL1-Amcrican Cana1 SysLcnr (Roulder Canyon lro3ect) California, Inrperial and lliverside Counties" Region 3, U. S. Bureau cf'Reclamation Pro_iect l]eadquarters, Yuma, Arizona 30. U. S. Congress. Holrse. Interior and Insul.ar Ai:fairs Committee. page 4 "The Contribution of tfic A ll-American Canal System, Roulder Canyon Pro ject-, 'l'o the Economic Development of the ImperiaI and Coachella Valleys, Calif., an

31. Ibi c'l- , parge 5

32. Burgess, op cit., paiJe 21 33. U. S" Conqress. IIous;e. Intcrj,or ancl Insular Affarrs Comrrrittee llage xir: "'fhe Cont ributiorr of the l,.l l-Antcrican Canal System . . "

34. llurgess, op cit. , page 27 3 5. IID " Soi 1 Conservatior-t Procyt r': r,jij Rcport " District News, sDri.nq 1969 pag€r 2

36. 403,079 ;:cres of 45ti,04'tr acres IID page 9 "frrom Desert Wastelancl t-cr Ag r icu Itura l- Wond er 1a:nd : T]-re Story of VJater and Powtir " o}l cit

37 . Ibid. , page B

Jt'. IIlJ "District Regins Bigqest Concrete T,ining Prolect on T\,^lo-Nli le Sec tiotr of South Alanro Canal" District News Ju ly-Auglrst I968 39. r.rD "District- Shares l,arge r: Par:t New Concrete Ditchlining Insta 1l-at ion " Districl- News February 1964 p. t AA IID "SCS Repor:ts Il-, !,OO Acrcs; Plantred for 1"959" District News ApriI 1960 4I. "l{elfare 1.or Groiters, Ear:1y Graves for Workers " El Ma lc--riado Vol III , No. 3 page 6 c. early I974 pflodftal of the Utrite

A2 TTn *J. T.LU "Soil Conservation Ilxpert:; Pr:ocess 3,971 Acres in Sept." District News Oct-ober 19li7 44. Nadeau, op cit., page 231

45. lbid, F.a\Je 236 46. Ibid page 237 47. Tbid, page 240 48. rrD '' Presiclct-it llewes lixplajns jn Detai1 ]950 Audi t Report of 'l c)q. I Imper ia I Irrigat-i-orr Distri ct" District News, {1^,r^,r^+ UYUJI LJJL v. AO ITD " Liqu i c'la 1- i on o f Mex ic-'a n Pr:op:r:r--t ies Ends IJistoric fmperia Vallcy Erat: TTD Linds 50 \lr. Operation in Mexico" Distrrct News Scpteml-rer 196 ] 50. u. ..s. []ure;iu of Reclamat ron, office of saline water U. S. Dc--pf . of Tnteri.or: U. S. Dept. of Statc Draft- ilqvironnlental Statcnrent-.-i Colorado River: In,ternational gari?ily_qontrol Fioi ? a ApriI Lc)74

5 1. Nadeau , op cit . , page 243 52. rrD "lJ. S.-- Mexican A-qrcement l^Ji 1l llelp Solve Knotty Salj.nity Problefil" Dist-ric: t News April 1965 p. I 53. IID --"Cornpletion of C]-ranncl- Eases Salinity Probl-em: 13 Mil-e By*pass Drain', Di st.rict News Dec. 1963 p. 3 54. lJ. S. Brirectu of Reclamation, et a1 oD cit. Draft EnvironmentaI staLcrnent cororado River rnt'r 55 u. s - Bureau of Rccl-amatiorr. , Department of rnterior p. 82 Colorado Iiiver_l{ate r eua litfmprovement program Fe6rutry Iw2 56. IrD - "$B Million Scnator l{ash D,am to Store Excess Water for Use During sirort,ages: New ltesevoir j s lvo l"lires up-stream From Lmpe_.ria l Dctnt" Distric t Ncws April 1965 p. 4 q? J, . .LLUTTI] "New Study of Co.lorado Iti,.zr:r Channelj_zation" District News Se5>temb<:r 1,165 p.3 58. TID "Water Conservation proc;r;rrn Suffer:s Setback As Dredging of Opock Gorge Comcs to l,la lt ' District News July'-August l96B 59. I ID " District Urges Resumption of River Dredging" District News June,/July 1.969 60. TTI) I'trg_ Col9r?9o tJiye_g_end_Iry5 Iial v"It"y soi A clrr.rni"le of r'nrrorinr viLtev's coqTinuinq niqrrt 4s 1.X. I,AN I n t.lD LABOR

The Imperial Valley began as.rn arca of small farmers, settlers who patented Lheir 320 descrt acrcs - It' l-racl no Spanish lancl gr;rnts. The only lar,J€ holding was ti're ra j..Lroad lands, and Southern pacif ic sold oft mosb of j ts farml-and throur;Ir ii-s promotional sch,eme, the fmperial ValIey Farm Lands Associ;rt.lorrl i:y the f920,s. Today the railroad sti Il- ovlns ti'tousands of c-tc--lr€)s in Irnperial- County, but fewer than 1,000 are in the boundar:ies of Imperial- Irrigation District, eligibre to recc ive rvater. The Va -lley was unique to sor:thern California becarrse lt- had so few l.ar.ge holdings. Yet riqht froni the start, speculators began to buy ImperiaI Valley farm land, and through botl-r legal. and illegaI means, accumulater larqe tracts of l-and. By 1919, 25% of the tillable land in the Imper.ial Va1ley was ovtned j n ho]dinqs of 2, OOO acres or moro.3 Abrsenteer

ownership became contmon, and t.enantr-y flourishecJ in the V;rlle! c1 S nowhere else in Southern California. The Valley has always refied or) an army of laborers to help build the water works ancl cJrow ancl harvest the crops. . Crel,nrs of Cocopah lt-rdians from lrlcxico built the irrigation canaIs,4 fought the great f lood,5 ancl cleanecl tlre irrigation canal:; of weeds and sirt before the work was mecha rtJ.zad in the rate 20's.(l Farming Varley land, especi.elll'rf i.t was planted to labor intensive vecletable or mefon crops, rr: quired muclt more labor than a single farmer: for e ac--l-r 3 20 acrcs of lanrj. Japanese, Ilittdti, Chincse, Negro, and Phill.ino faborel:s worked the land and harve--st-c':d the cr()ps, tvlos t laborers coulci nol: af f ord to acquire Iancl . Asian laborers vrere prohlbiteci from own.ing it or

- 56 leasing it by the Al j cn T,arrcl I-,avrs r>1. 1.920 anc.l 1923.7

"By the latc 20's, thc Va.l lcy r''irs riot a t-raditiorral lromogenous community of farmers vrorking their own lands,'r wrote paul Tayror, "but a polarizecl, divided socicty. operation and ownership of

land were conccntrate d in few hancls , t he laboring landless were numerous. "8 TayIor visitecl tl-re Val1ey irr i928, and found large crews of Mexican laborcrs workl ng on mef on and lettuce farms. Tho'ugh the Valley

harr no>r'l }rr -,c 01f,0 farms, t-here werc orrly 56 me lon growers ,tnd 67 lettuce qrowers. . t.he rc:af scafc of vall-ey aqriculture in crops using Mexican laltor most he.rv Lly is revealed by the following figures for the melon ctnd lettuce c:1:ops, r,vhich show the, vr,.ry high averages per grovrcr of 66^7 and 336 .lcres, respectively," r,vrote taylor.9 "The grower:s of rr,clons ancl lettuce are for the most part companies wl-iich entcrecl t-l-rc Valloy ars conrrnission merchants. Of recent years, thcse conlpanjcs itavc unclcr i;ikcn to lease the land themsel.ves for the growi.nq of t-ruck crops. A consi.derable impetus to this movement waS g.ir;en b1' the al-ien 1;rnd fal' 'rrnhi l-.i +i ^., Japa:neSe glowe1.s from leasing land ." The mel"on and fettuce fields s.iw the beginning of thr: wave of farm labor strikes that hit Ca Iif ornia cJuring the 30's. iltrikes by Mexican and Phillipino workcrs in the fields and of AngIo workers t i n +ha nr^lr i na f nnlr i,. .'- . ^ r-*. ..- ,,9 sheds-lra.lo took ^'l:^oplace i n e:ar1y-'l I930.'" Though the strj.kes \nere not successful, the Trade Un.ion Unity League set up I'readquarters irr 13raw1ey, and enrol-led hundrr:ds of workers as members. In A'pr:iJ , the union sent out a call- for a mass meeting. 'lhe ailtthoritjes responclecl with a round-up of mo.re than

lOO workers, a larqr: qroup of wlric:h r^ras 1,rr-rt on t-ria1. The Imperial ValIey had thc cr.i :;Lirrction of bringinr; -Lhe

f irst conviction under Califorrri.r'r; e ri-rnilra,rf Syndicalisrn j\ct, an anti-union lavr passed to ha lt .l-eibor organizing. Eight defendants were sentenced to terrns at the statc prison at San Quentirr.ll The Imperial Valley was also tlre first area to respond with violent surpression against the clcpression era farm strikers. Cary

Ir,lcWilliams call-ed tire f niperial Va 1lr,ryz "the Craclle of Vigi Iantism, "

for it was in the Valley that the A,:;sociated Farmers began, as a voluntary organization dedica tcci i-c.r rai sinc-; vigilante armies. Financed by large corpor.ations and ()rrJc1 nized by employees of the Chamber of Commerce, tlre Farm Bur:eau, and the Universi,ty of CaIif ornia it soon grew to become a polrerfu1, s;i-atervide organization. The Val1ey's pea itrdustr:y, located around Calipatri;r, employed more than 3 , 000 workers each spri r-rc, t.o ha rvest and pack peas . Tlrere were no provisions for housir-rc-; t, ltc qrorl

freeze, strarrding the Iaborers wj tl-roul- nrolrey or work. When a week of rain f oll-owed, rrlor! feIl sick 1-cr t.he f lu. The America:n Red Cross came' in and fecl scveral- hundred st,arving families.l3

In 7934, stril work in the United States and live in Mexico.

f n many respects, the city, is reminiscent of a South i\frican bantustan. The l-ancls on the Mex icarr', si.de of the border are often poor and saf ine. Thousands rnalce the daily comnrute north across the border t o work on t he rich I mpc r: ia 1 V'a 1ley farms. Thc Borcler patrol constantly asks workers to show t.hc j r immigration papers, .t ',green card" visa complete witl-i photo a ncl c:ncased j-n plastic. Undocumented

- 59 worKers are arrestcd alnd de:pc,rtecl.

A workers' claily commut,: rni 1r, I l.,egi-n at 2 a. m. at itl Hoyo, the shape tlp area irt Calcxjc:i.r, ;rncl involve travc] to fields more than 100 mil-es distant. l"1ost of the Val1ey's farm worlir:rs ;lre employeci by v,egetable and melon grower-sl-rippcrs. 'Ihey lc:avc their famil- j.es ir-r viexicali to fol-l-ow the.availabl-e seasonal wc>r:ll as it moves to their ernployer,s operations in other parts Crf Califor:nj.a and Arizona. Lettuce pr:odtrction corrrpanies ]tarve farming operations in the cool coastal- arcils ir-r t,hc sunrnrer:, j n tlre interior valleys in moderate sprin<1 and fa11 r,veather, and unc,ler the mild desert sun for r,iinter harrrest. Tl-re following 1-abfe compares the siz,: of the ImperiaL and S.rlinas Va1ley o[]erati orrs of sorne lar:gc f ir:ms: 18

ACREAGE I-ARMUD 19]7

Irlc>nterey Co. Irnper ia I Co. Bud Antfc, Inc. - ,l'+3 acres 3,396 ilcres

Bruce Church, Ir-rc. t; ,}E2 acres 2,600 acres

D'Arrigo Bros. /1 ,583 acres I,638 itcres

Interharvest, Ir-rc . l--,785 acres 6,070 acres

Lettuce is nlore easy to grow t han it is to sel-1, consequently it is the marketirrg firms wl-ro domiriartc the industry. In no other crop do so few farnring firms contr:ol so rnuch of production. In the winter of l96B- I969 , the f our larc;es;t lettuce f irms s hippecJ 23% of Imperial Valley lcttuce prodr-rctiorr. I9 The production rvas furtlrer concler-rtrated by the acquir:rticn of nine gro\,,tinE and s hippirrg cornpan.ies; lry Interharvest , Inc. , a subs idiarv of United - {)/'(' u j*rurt j.ona.l Brands, tlrc niuI t shi ppcti ,rt Cl,riqrrita t.lrancJ l)ananas

f ormerly kncrr,vn .ts I-] n i. 20 Llrc tcd l.rui l C,r . T. I,re top four f irms, now 1ed by Tntcrl':.rrvcst-, sltippcd 3O/ c:f tlrc Va1ley,s lettuce in the 1970 - l!)71 rvintcr sicaro,,.2l 1'l-,. Tnte rl-nrvest con.bination was cLral-1e nqed as a Lrust lry the lr'l',:j, ltut tlre law sui t was dismissed. 22

fnterharvc:;t rccctrtlv uriclcnvcnt_ a slrake_up of top_.r management of f iciarLs. IJc;ivarcl ll.lrif tt.lr,:as took ()vi-)r manclgcmenl-, chcrnging its name to Sun llarvcst, rnct.23 Marguleas -i.:r the marketing expert who turned Tennc-co's Los;irttl c'lil .l .ic:tt -l t ttral opcr.)t.ic-rr-r into tlrc llegqLrlcrc]e-Marguleas Tenneco marketincl opcrai,ic-:n..'rruc,.,s paintcd with Tenneco,s,,sun Giant" fabel are 1>ar-keci j.n tl-rc S.rlirras yarcls of sun IIarvest. Marguleas is a 'lso thc own(-r oi: a b.l oc--k of share s of the rrvine co., another lar:ge jal sc:;r1<.: Imper \za I lc,,z farmer: that owns BB, OOO acres of farm lands wlti ch i t- i s sr:b'-.r'livr cl:-ng into orange County housing

deve lopment:; .

The tlnitecl lll-'alrds sttl.,sirl .i.rry, lrkr: i.Ls lerrgest conlpe.bitors, Bud An i:le ancl ilruce Cl-rlirc_-fr , llas tn()t:(_r t.ltan f , OOO enrployees , Sun Harvest and a half-r;or'-cn of lttrr of 1-]rc Iarcl r:s,; i vegetable companies have noh, signed contracts r.vitlt t-lte Unitt.:d l].trnnvorkers union. The lJFw has won nearly aI1 of tl-re utriort rcpr:cse.:niartjon elections in ti,re rnrperial Va1Iey, and the Teantsters h,ave abancioned farm labor unroni-zation, except for Lhe contract it. st,il1 lrcrlcls with Bud Antfe, rnc:. The Eud Au ,,Bud,, [].e cnipirc rvas cr€li_i L,cd by Lcster V. F,ntle, who died in I972, leav-r-tlg ii f.lrmrttg ol)crration wiri.ch each year harvests 20,000 acrcs; OJ, \'c(JL)ta)-rle crol)s in.Ar-j.zor-r.r ancl carliforrria, producing B)( of thc niltit.rn'sj le lL.r-ic:c: .irrc.l 4i,: o[. Lltc nir[-ion,s ce].crtr.2l.4

Thc "Ilttcl c.r l i t.,t. ';1 i iri;t l)ir.ri s; ir.,n" lr,.rs; br-rrrr;lit a f .l cct c,f rnorc tl-ran 25O refrigcra tccl t_r..ri1.:rs,':r .-tttcl ::r:i'c'r't'1. nti.lliOp dO.l l.it: VcrCuum

coolers. The corporatiot-t af so olvr)rj nrcr rkc t j-ng companies such as "Bud de Mexi.co" ivhic l-i has impor:tecl tomatoes f rom Mexic o,26 "Bud rnc. Banana rmporting co. , " bring:-r-rg t>ananas from the Dornj.nican 11 Republic,'' and the "llouse of Llud, " an Amsterclam base c'l m,arketing comPan), which intport.s to ilu::ope v()(Jctables 1-hat trave been raisecl in Africa by "Bud 56p1gc;a1," another lint. lc subsidiaty.28 Bud Ant-Ie has recently been crcquired by Castl-e ancl Cooke, the Hawaii headquarterE:d corpcrati.on v,r]'rj,ch produces foods su,:h as Dole

*iprrrsqpprs5 ^^-^,-t ^^ , r,pilrldnali , a nd nrushroonts; ., ancl Ilunrbl-ebee seaf oods . 29 Imperial- Va lley farm owr-)ershl p, whi le concentrateci, has not become as concetttrated as have the farm opcrations- There has evidently beetr great. spe:ctilat-ion l>ru real. estate clevelopers such as the union DevelopmcrrL co., a sout-hcrn california clevelop':r which owns and operatcs shoi:ping centers; and office buildirrqs in the Los Angeles area.

The investtnent in Imperia I Va -l ley f arm l-ands by the Irvine Co. has been an apparcnt attempt tc> avoid paying capital gains taxes on the salcs l:cvenue generated by i,he sub-ciivision of itrs Orange

County lands. tloth of tl-re cleveloprnrent cornpanies own thei-r o\.vn farming operai-ions in the Inrperi.al, Va1ley. A lot of Va1ley land is held jn smafl parcels by absentee owners, suclt as Iltt: ()t)(' ]lrrtti;ltt Ity ,trlv,'r-[ ir;in,; rrr.rtlrrirlrr ,1. \,V,tl tr.r- 'l'lr9rn1)r;()n.

IIe is ollc of 3t-r iar-rcl ohrncr:s l-lrat lc:frsc l.trrcl I c> Llrcr Al.-,al- t- i llroLltc-rs;, whc

farm nlorc tlrarr !),500 act:cs of: -"1 itncl . Southcrtr C;tli.forttiit siuf)crrrutr:lit:t- sci.orr Clr.rrl.cs VorrrJc.ralrc (of Von's retail chain) oh'jnsr 145 .icres of land, one of t9 owrrers of the qJ IA c c) uo & rl L Lr'r{ nr! O cn (.o | .( c{ Ln cf\ r.r J lo c trl | , o+J '1 r/, 6 ci L.l GJ Cr\ t\ 5- Cr) C) \.o E tU trj t .F I rt- rU GJ c.l crr (! Cl C! C! !r.-{ (a 1.: -: '._l o Fl rrE ro (J (J -.F{, U t'.. -- r,rjl O er- n1 e4 f- .; _t Ol C 0J t'l -f uJl L{! cJl q-ruc)--fAl/\cno ou o k <_l O ., . . q-r (0 c\ 0) r.l I L) c! c.^ cD u\ c! C) clJ C) .r{ |f) Jl J n:: c! (\ c{ () ()lI >g f-- r-{O O J 6iO \+J <otr 13ttJar)c!ra,-+ -1 rr n -P fr rJ t: tf\ E-c .o o..: :l!5{!q{ FO O U O '-l'n J O 6U -l'-l t- o, o(U (f, r+- UU (') \o Lr\ l-: o tt\ c() c{ ng-i F - ('1 (r) -Qt+(l \O C) l-\ c.l \g t/\ 'r{ l+l t- Ln r^ J (/'r N f\ ri1ULt OO LrJ I 4)L TI .(f o cv rn (I).d 0 () ;:l I: L I ZO ...{CHfEgl; UE FlI .lo c r/, L)l v1 AF o- -l €fi3 (/) csl .Y.\ LJ\ \o \o fn O,: U -rFl LrI L- cn cJ) (.O \o u1 Lnl (J >-l (.) a1 \O C) -t c-C @ ft-l FI u., ol rh ;:l -i l- )l * -o (fi Jf, l'\ c3 cr1 c.l c) :il-j: |,o C) C! .v'\ C\, if (n -l pc- OOI c)lrJ 9l c) F-l-t ,l FC) 7-::'{l Lo

Enf orci nqJ the subsicll, .l j nri t-s r,voulcl not be an idle move in the VaIley-- it r^roufd affect thr: t€:nurr,: of at- least half t-lic ]and, and the disposition of half of Lhe fcdcr:.rL sLrbsidies. 1.. California Conrnri.ss;ion on T.rnrnigrati,on and lJousing 1919 op cit. 2. Recorc-is of Impe:r:i.-rl CourLt,y Pr:opr:rty 'Iax Asseris(lr 3. Calif . Comnrissic.,r-r on Imnriqration and Ilousing 1')19 op, r:it. p.

A pa!le ') Mc:

13. IIenclcl:son, r)p r_ri L. , l).r,lc l2?-

')') 14. Ivlcl{iIliams op c:it. 1

I'a IIcncrLrt:solt, ol) c.i 1,. Ir;r!J(r .1 ,a3 +6. Mc-lVillianrsr ol) cjt . pa(J,.r 2:2,4-225

L7. f lri d, pcr(lc 2-2'-t

AccorcJinc; to records oL tlre Agricultural stabili-zation and Copscr\iation Servr ce , U. S . Dept. of Agricuf ture Sa finas, and E1 Centro, Ca li fornia ,

1q U. S. Lreclcraf i'r.rdu ComnL.is;si.orr "unitcd ]lrands cc). " Tnr1.ial Decision, Docket Nc. BB35 Iri l-ed irlarch 19, I9-7 3 Dr,rn;r1cl I1 . Moorc, Aclrninist-rative Law Judqer 20. "Garncr 'l'cstif i es on L,ct Luce Volume: T'rade Compraint Ac_l.rinst Interh.rrvest" _S_{linas Californi lttay 24, Lg72 2L. U. S. t'ecicr.tf T'racJe Comnti::sion, op cit. 22. "IIT'C Dismisse s Suit AE;r i.rrst United Brands" Packcr June 8, I914

23. Fostcr, Dor-tc1 "l'lagqio hop,:s to ltlant secrl for sLinlly I'rarvest" SatLitqq_C.llilerllan p. 1 ri,:ptcmber 2, L) ltj 24.,- "IJud Antl-e Dead a1, 58" Packcr August 5, 'I972 25. Iloarll , .lcff "r1 r.rt.lc Usinr3 Uni<1 uc Itil .i1*'f rucl< Service to East" Packeq April 5, IC)12 2(,. "Antlc Oltens Office jn l,lr,rr;alcs,' Packer Jarnuary 19, 1973

21 . **.ar" into B;r't.rnts rvt-Llt Dorninicarr Republ ic " Packc:r Octobe r 31 , 1970 Kr:cbs, A. v. "Ant. lc ir-r.,-ttt:icif,' Thc lrct IliZ'i'jl,lcr No. 'J c:. 197.7 J9. i(rt:f.ls, A. \/. "In t-hc,: c.lr-issic r-j tuaL c,, i' ,r Iric-1 f ish swal lowc:cl lty a blqgcr ljsh, rnulti-ndt'jr,niil Castle & Cooke is buying Br-rcl Antle, fnc., tlre larr;c California icebero lettrrcc, ancl celery cjrow(jr arrcl slripper" The Ag B-iz Tiller lssuc- i.Jo. 7 c:. L971 30. Brunwasser, Arthur. Qrrcrtes findinq of U. S. D.Lstrict Court in residency case. 31. Councrl- of Calif ornia Clrcx.iet:s. "Ljconornj.c tnipact of the l.trO Ac--rc l,imitation on fmpei:i-al Count-ir" CcrttnciL ol- Cal-i t. 13rowers 520 El Cam.i-no Real, San Nlatco, CA. Octolrer l9'/-7

X. T'll!j ill]CL'il"lAT'ION SLI.iISIDY I I[1I1'S 1N 'I'flE TMPITITIAL \,/ALl,EY

For nlore than l-'.r \/eeirs [3rar,v1e-i,phlzsician Ren Yellen h.ls waged a one-man carnpaigLt rll i.l ,.rcrr r>f th,,.: s rr)-,siql y limits of. the Recfamation Act being applied to the Irnpcr.i.a] Va11c5,. T']ie local power sLructure has

for so long berli ttlcti Ycllelr's qLr€rst that thc Brawley tder,vs can run a story about l-iim lrcadlccl "Crazy, a C'c>nrrnil-te: I-le's Callecl .tsoth. "f Yet llcllen lras f.;ishi.onccl hirrr:.;c-.fI. as cl champion of Lhe litile people . In 1978 , lte canrlja ignccl l- or county Sher j f f on the platf orm of "Bnforcc the .1 60 acres Iaw" attcl cJ.',1 1,385 votes. Yel-ferr l:ccame a politic;iL ;rct ivist when l're saw the domestic farmworkers who had becn his iratic,rrts in thb VaIley leave, unable to survive the low,"vagc competitiorr of the crews of Bracero workers from Mexico. Yelfen fought back L,\, documenting abuses of the Bracero progreim, and suing t]-re Stat-e I-nsurance Commissioner for failing to regulate the Ilrar,:ero's r,rcclicaJ insurance program, which had high premlurns and no apparent l-li:nef its.

i:lis canrlraic;rt clarnerccl an cc ononric boycott f rom Tmperia I Va 11ey qrowors attcl t-ltc lcr<.r.t.l rrrccj ,i t',r I l)r'()lrrl,;s ion, itrtcl a) (,rc)ur:l- (.lis(l arisi.nc; out of a scuf f l-c wi tlr a sclior,l vi,c,.:--1>l irrcilra1.2 wi t-h lrr.s pract icc cut f n haLf , he loolicd f or arrot-lrcr stt.rl c, i.;y. "I was clcspcrat.c rlsi f r,viis l-;c.l 11,y r:ilincd,,, wrotc yclferr, ,,r had heard vagLle rurnors about thc U. S. Itecl-amation l,avr. I t.hough that if it was true, that u. s. jon Irer:lamat Law applied to the rmperiar VaIley, I woulcl f ic-]hl_ the boycott b,,, ruirtrnq my boycotters . ,,3 YelLen beg"rn cJisl-ributinq ntir.eog r:api-recJ newsretters ancJ nrailing hundreds of fetters in favor of thc Re,::.lamation Law. Congressional_ l-nquiries ai:out the applicability c-,f i:he subisidy Iinrts to the f mperial Va 11e1, o,:cLrrcd j.n 1958, I9rr l, and again in 19(:4.4, 5 The Departrnc'rt'i- rr-rtcrrior Lcga,r :;taff responded rry re l,easing another opinion, the .stronclest to clate.. Solicitor: F,rank I3arry wrote that the wilbur r.cLLcr: "c.le.irly ''v.rri wrong,,, ancl that the Lands of the rmperia 1 Va l tcy ar--c sLllircct t o t.e excess land raws . The Departnrcnt arj 1,.:d on tlrc ll.rrry oprnion wi th the sl0west responsc poGSiblc' i't i:ci;;ln tc rreilotiate cnforccment with tlre rrD.6 The district lloa rd of Dircctors rcsponded i>y passing a resorution on June 25, 1965, pledgincl r,rot_ to enforce the l6O acre limi i unt.i1 the issue was tested in court.T

on July l- a mec l-it-iq \^/as ' ccll-led at the Barbara worth county club. over 500 people, incr.udi.g officials oD,J ciirectors of the rrD, came to the meeting vrhere tite t-lrrnat. f ion of 1_.ire Imperial Resources .Associates was first announced.B Stephen Elmore, 1,_he Va11ey,s largest farmer, was the rRA's first pr,csident_, a position r-re sti11 holds todav (he and his fan-ri ly farmetJ I5,79:l ciCr€s rn tlre Tnrperial Varley in rg77) .g E- c- R'tr-rcrforcr was an earry spokesperson for the rRAlg The Rutherford farnring o[)crations arc i_he s€:g6116] lar:gest rn the V;r11ey, 1o'r96 acres in all'11 Ilutltcrft',rcl js the currc:nt vice-presrdeint of the IRA. Tlrc IllA t.sl .t.ttnclc:c.l ir\' ,r $ I .tli ,iL'r,.r (:onL'r:ibrrl-i.orr l.,y larncl owners, and $f00 nlclnbcrsl'i ilrs 1-rorn.l ,.,)clsj()l.ro.l ,1,:t'!Jr()wers.rncl agric:ulLurally oriented br.rsiness(1 s.12 or

IRA has rai"sed more Ll'ran g'/5u,000 l-r,; f :i.ght the subsidy I imits. 13

A large portion of tltese ftttrc.l s wcrrt towarcls I-ririr-rg the prestic,;ious l.aw f irm of O'lUe)-vetr5, and lrteyel-s. Tl-rat f irm's nunerous political contacts have vJotl po\,verfu1 supporl-i3rs for thc Imperial Valley exemption.

Senator John'futntrey opposcd tlrc l6O acre limit in the ValIey. One of hjs advisors, \'Jzlri:cn Chtis;trrphcr., hclpccJ clefencl tl-rc Vattey exemption rr'l-tctt lre r,vclr:llccl f-or O'Mr.:1,,zen1z and Meyer= . 14 Ancti,ier of the 1aw firm's attornc:1's, Allyn l(reps, al-so workecj for the Valley,s exemption. lle qave .l prcsc)ntat j orr ,aEainst tire suits;iciy limits before the CaIif ornia Iloa rd of F oocl anc'l Agriculture on December 13, 1965. 15

Kreps workecl on Alatr Cranstorr's Scrr,atc q-anrrraicrn in 1968. Today he is a Cranstor-r aridc.l6 Secretary of Tnterior. Udall f.i nalJy resigned himself to the fact that tire f ID wculd not voluntar:i iyz ,.lnforce ti-re law, and on January 11, l-967, he sued the rrD tryirrq to f o.:,:e it to apply the 160 acre limitation. The rRA intervened on t-he s ide of the district .

Two years later, Betr Ye 1len ar-r,l a qroup of I2I landless f mperia l- Valley farmworkers sued Secretary of Interior Wal-ter J. Ilickel to haVe the feSirl.an/rv ralrr1i r,.1116;1 1= Of rcclamatiOn ]aw enf Orced.

Judge llor,varcl B. Turrcntine rlr l-cd in favor o f: the di strict on the 160 acre c-'itse i n 197I. 1l'houqh 'lel len tried to intervene irr the case in ordcr to appea.l. the: decisiol-r, Turrentine ruled that- he had no legaI standing. Yellen apflealc<'l tl-ie starrding cluestjon, dhd pointed out that trlixon apl)oi trte.: 'lurrcnt i rrc lrad :ipecr-rlative lrolclinqs of lancl

- f'B rn nearby IJorrer-;o slrl-ings;, a poL')rrti.i l confl-ict of rnterest should an aqueduct be cr{tcr-rcrccr t'r;m t lic irrrlrr:r.i.a1 varlcy. r7 The goverttme--nt clj cl rtot al)i)eer.I the Turrentine decision to a higher court' tr{hcn asiiec-i wriy no appeal had been made, the Justice Department !v.1s at r8 f irst- cva-ir,., t.rrc:n r-ater said that enfo.rcing the law wouf d not be fair, for thc Var r.ey,s irrigation works irad already bee n buil t_ bc:f ore Lhc l.,ccle r.lI ci o(,crnnlent came Lo tl-re Va lIey, and that no f a.cJ iraci Lrce n rcclaimcd by virtue of the Federal pro ject.lg Tl'tis was thc 1)ositior-r tvlt-i<:lr lras; i,rc:crr cc,nsistcntly held by the Landowners, one that is cot-itr'rdictccl by r-eporLs fronr the Bureau of lreclamation,20 yel-Ien venture cj arr a ltr:rnat_c e;

* {r9 but that YeIler"r ]rad llc) s tancling l-<, l-.r .lc suit in the rc.sic<: r-)cy case. At the samc t.intc, ;r f.ccjcr.-rf r', ,iir t, rtrl.cc,l in farvor ol. anr:ther

Iawsuit fi Ied l-, 1, 1'1.tiot'ra l l,.rtrc-l f or. I,cc:J.rlc .rgains L t. l'rc Secr:e l_ary of Interior- A !-resno based qroup aclvoLrating enforcement of' the subsidy limits, NLP was successf ul- in forcl r-rq t.he Departme nt of Interior to draft adminjstt-ativc rcqulatjons .i n order to enforce the law, someihing it had never bot-hcred to clo l:eforc. The two court rulings prompl-c,C the ImperiaL Valiey Iandowners into a burst of I)ubl-ic re 1;r tior-rs ar,rtiVity. In two months, more than $128,O0O w;is rais.rd 27 by the Crtjzcns for: Government F'a1rness. The group ts a f ictitious natmc of tlre lnrlte ria f Ilesources Assocrates , according to its ]reacl, Larry Fl,eming.2B

The bul"k of Lhc f urrcls;, $Bt:, [)rj..1, wcnt to IJi]1 Roberts' Dolphin Group, rviro spetrt Lhe nroncy olt au ilrJrzcrLising btit-2. To the Valley Iandowners, Roberts' crcdcrrtial s w(-,r.{j cxc-.c)1tent. tle recerrt.l.y directed ,the No on 14 Canrpaigt'i, tl-re opposit.i-,.'l'r to the farm Iabor electiotr initiative, which they l-r.id supportr:J wi th tltousancls of doll.ars in contributions. tle has rvor:],:ed fc-,r: rn,)re than lOO Republican polltica] candidates including Geralcl Forcl,'i'lrolnas I(uche1, Ronalcl Reaqan, and Nelson Rockefcller. With his then par l-ncr, Stuart 13perrcer, Roberts createcl the "Citizen-Politrcian" irnaqc tl-rat al.Lr:wcd Ronatd Reagan to at:gue that his inexperienr:e irr pol j tics \^ia!i .-in asset., and win the 1966 Californra gubernatoriaL efections . .l97() But durint3 tl-rc i.r:cs j.cli:r'r tra 1 prirnaries in tr1or: j cla , t-he Spencer-Roberts cJuo r,vorloriticaL trrcks,,such as nlrnna {.>^^i yrrurrq ua;.r;,rrr!,^, srJyf l1 g, .rnd ra1ly ci.rrsruption. The charge, w5ich spencer and Roberts deniecl, camcr fronr politicaI consultant Raymond V' Huntphries ancl three unnanred sour:ces who also attenc]ecl the courses.2g The advertising desicanccl b}, Iloberts for the ,,No on I4,,campaign was labelled as "frauclufent" by baclcers of the measure. At l_east one T. V. station refuscd to 1:un Robcrts' commercials, whiclr were studied by the Los AngeJes ancr sar I'rancisco District Attrrrneys for possible prosecution.

The accuracy of Robci--Ls' ac]s c)n the 16O acre limj t- irr the Imperial va1ley was questioncd by Bureau of RecLamati.on o:fficiat Mike Flacskaylo',v.30 Georcle ltallis, Ijxecutive_Director of lrla tional Land for People, tvas more succinct. He said that the Dolphin Group was " 1ying to t,he pul:1ic , " adciing ', there are six f 1at out lies in the ad. "3f The biqgest impact of the anti-subisdy limit ptrblic r:elations campargn was in tlre rmpr:rial Va11cy. A series of meetings and rallies were held, with thousancls a ttending . The peak of activ j-ties \das a ra11y at the state G. o. p. convention in san Diego,on oct.ober 2,32 and a protest at a l,os Angc 1es f und ra j.ser for president Ctarter on october 23' in wlrich evcn tl'ie l-ocal high school marciiing Lr3p6 participateO.33

The l-andorvners campclign was callecl a "Ca1l for Faj_rness.,, It h'as geared towards wl-ri1:plnq up the s,ame anti-trccleral. lrysteria that Antl-rony FIeber had usccl j n 1904.

_ ?l The landowncrs; s;.-r:i d LhaL tllu,, \.r()Llld 1ct- t-l.re ir land go itacll to desert bef ore tlrcy woulc'] st-'1-l out. 'I'housands of leaf lets were distributed in Va 1J-ey tor"^rns a ncl to r,vorkers crossing thr= border, alledging that busincrsses would folrJ and lobs would dr:1 up if the 160 acre limit were enforced. The anti-acreagc linrit carnpa i1r-i was sLllIied by t-lre resignation of Robert Me yer f r:onr his pos j tior-r .rs Assi.stant Secreta ry of Aqricu lture in October. Meye r, an Irnperia I Vri 1.[e1r grower who had s upported Jimmy Carter's election bI, i-tcilciincl Llp ltrs California farm carnpaign, put his holdings in a blind l-rrist to ac<:cpt the Washing Lorr jcb witli the ne\^, administration. tle resigr-rcd wlrt:n it was revealed that he hacl used his position and USDA transportat i or-r nroncys to support t hre campaign against tire reclamatiotr sr,ibsi.dy lim.i-ts. Iueyer, his br,rther-in-law, and one of the trustccs of his ranch had lobbjed Congressnen against applying the limits tr: thc Impcr:ial Var11ey.34, 35

At the Departnrent of f nterior. 'r; )1q1 .r ri nnc nn i {-q nt:w1y draf ted regul-ations he 1d at tl-rc counti, f a i rq r-ounds in IlI Centr,o in Novernber, more than a thousand tractors and o-.-her far:m implements were parked outside thc hearirrqs. It w.rs an inrpressive display of sentiment, but rvit h one f lar,v. Llraw Ley News reporter Jrce t ivernois observed tha't "The bulk of t,lrc dri.,'ers were Spanisir-speaking farmworker* Most of ti'rem said tlicy wcre i:ei nq paid f or their ride to the

Fairgrounds. " Jb After two months of i.r-rtc:nsc ac--t-ivity, the landown,:rs, ' campaign subsided. The Citr zcns fcrr r;overnment Fairness hj red former liberal Democratic Congressman Tom Iiecs, of Los AngeIes, to Iobby' against tl'r*e qubsi rlw I inrits ip Washinqton.3T R*os bccame the cooldinator of a coalition of diffcretlL rr.lclanra1.ro1r .l,.rrv c-rpponcnl-s cal.lecl thc

National Alliance to Moclernizc \da l-cr.- Laws, but the AJ riarrce has begun to divide. Rees lef t, c;ir:osing to represent orrly tlre Imperial Va11ey.3B In their quest for exemption from subsidy limits, the wealthy landowncrs of t hc rnrl:i:r:i-a I V.r llcy lr,:ve woll support. f r.om other politicians hoqi rlr''c .Jnrr^rr Ilrorvn. St.rtc At'.tot.'rr.:,r, Gcner.rl llvel. 1e yopng'gr, Lieutenant Governor Mervyn DyrnaJ-11,, arrd San Di,:go Mayor Pete Wilso hrave a1l supported t-hc c:

Joe F.r l-s says lre hais 1, lte clrcarn of becoming a farm'3r. "But since large corporiltions hold slrclr lcrrgc 1;arcels of Land, it drives prices so high tlrat iL mal.cs it r.rjrtua.l 11,impossible for my dream to come

rr rrue,!yti^ neL^ says. "1tra- also^ 1 --- asl-, for sotne fairness.,' I'armworker/ ctolrntunit.y clevcJclrnrr:nt, and Mexican political groups 'i n {.ho r.,yu,-dlTm^r>'- j Vallclz havc enclor:r.;ct,l enforcement of thr. reclamation subsidy limits, incl-uclrnq t,l-re Unit-e

Since the fartnworkcr.s a J rcacly l a rrn t.lrc land, lie says , tfrey should be al-lor"ed thc olrportun,i ty Lo .)wn jt. That wil.I take federaL t : * t i a assrstance to prlrcl.ra:;c t. Ire farrcl o rr

too powerful. Llut tl-re land bc:lonq!l t-o those who work it, and we are t lre ones wiro worl< i t . "

t. "Cyazy , A Conrrni c; Ilc: ' s C;r.l li:cl lloth " ilrawlcy _Ncwl Septcui]:c,r 2.:1, I977 pagc t

a l'1a nk i rr , Er.i c "Thc: Irlarr V'/ho St-aricls t.rir t o Aclrj l:rrsi.ness" Motlti:r .lollL:s ['c].;rlra ryzlrrlar-,-)r ),c)7-/ p. 3o-35

? Ycl len, Ilen "The Flonor llel-orrs to prol r:ssor paul S. Taylor', Newslctter from Dr. Berr Yr:1Jen January 28, 1973 Brawley, cA- a U. S. Court of Appcals, t'iirrth Circuit. palre 1936 "U. S. v. fTD" oD cit.

ci 'Iaylor, Paul S. "I{.lter, L,anc'l , ancl llnvircr-L{n€jnt f mperial Vallcy ." op cit Ibj cl. , p.rqc ]3 1 lID "Lancl I inr-i1-ation lli qhl.i qlrt s" Drstrjct_Ngng Auqust 1965 paqe 2 Danit-. 1-., Dick "Lonq lljttcr lil ic1 ht irr Ltor:rt I).1 cc]geci on l_(>O-Acr,e Law: IID f,rorn-is;es IRA Support" Inipcrial Vglley prr:ss p. I July 2, 1965 9. Accorcling to r:ecords of the Aqr:icultural stabilization and Conservation Service, thc El-more operati"on,s are as follows acr(3s (gross) John Elmore , P. O. Llox 156, 13rawley 4, ,578 Stepltcn Illmorc, P. O. lr',ox 119, 13rawley 4 ,82s ljlmor:e Co., P. O. f]ox I-19, I3rawley c, ?,1 ? *Aiidr.zark Farms, [). O. Box 4I , I]raw]ey l , OIJO !':t , I J) *a partnership of Uor,larcl J. and Richard D. Ill_mo.re

10. IID "T,ancl Ljnrrt_al_i-on IIiqhliglrts;" District Ncws Arigust 196 5

- 74 '-{

. j ,* I 7

a

a :-| tI Acc_'ot-cl -r,n,J t.rr r:<,c:or:c.l:; ()1 ti,., ,/tc-;r'icilll-ut:it1 !lt,ai:, j. l:i.zation tI artcl Cc>trs(.: LVil f iott Sr:t:rr j r', I lrc [trr L]tcrfor:d Clpclrat.Lons were fo,.l,l.ows (in f)cc,.,rr,I-,,:r -T irs of 1977): acres (gross) dIt Ed Rutherfor.l, P. O. Llo:< 6., Brawley 398 , Jack Ruthcrl:ord, same aclclrcss 2l ,3gB Rutherford Brothcrs, sarnc) acldress 7 ,4,+5 I3 Iluthcrfor:cl L,.ltrd & Catt,lt' Co., sane address I ,867 I Butters Ranch I'arming Co., same address 7 t30 i: : (partnership rvitit Ilutters family) t Orita Land I Cattlc Co., same address I , 59B t .-" (partncrship w:i-th Dan Ccrnrer:on) ', R & R l,ancl ancl Cattlc Co., same address 1,7I0 ,i (partnership with Roger Itevel-le) TclT% 4i I I L2. Im;reria.l. Ilcs;oul:(:es Assc><:j-at_es

a. "l,and l,imitation Laivs ancl Trnperial Va11ey" VoI. 1, No. 2 Novcmbcr .1965 folder 6 13. Bakcr, (jc()l:(,c. l;'rclsno Ilccl Novr:rnbcr LB , IL)l7

3 I t r+. ilaller, Georqcr J*q' "Sctlartor Joltn '1'ttnr.tct1,: Il.i s,; Irat her \^raS a ileavVvr,eiqht" Ilampart-s July I974 1rp. 12-16 :i 15 AJ ly,1l t I(reps, { "Statt--nrc:rtt o{ A.1 i;, 11 I(rc1rs []c Ior:c tlrc Califorrri-a Board of c Irood rincl Aclr:rcLrl tr-tr,:" Ir'.rcnl tltc archives of the Imperial -t 2 Irr:igat j on District., IiI Ccntro, California. ; 16. U.-rkcr, Gcol-'(lc

.1 "Cranston Airjc i,i nl,.ccl t c,, Tmprcrial Water Lobbf inr3" F rc s no lle e Se p t-e nrltc r 2\) , I917 L7. Yelfen, Ben "Congressman Pet.cr Rodino, Jr." NcwsJet.t-cr fronr Dr. i.]ci'r Yel le n Brawley, Ce lif:. .Iuly 20 , I973 18. Barne:s, Perter "Wa ter , Wa te r f or t-he Wca I thy " New Republic ltlay B, 197) p. 9-11

19. Tayl or, Pari} S . page 23 "Water, Land, and llnvirortnent Imperial ValIey' ." op cit

20. U. S. Corrgt:crssi . IioLlsc. Intcr.ior ancl Insular Aff;lirs Comnri t tee . "'lhe C-ontril>nt.i.orrs of tlre AII-Arnerican Canal . . ." op crt. 2I . Ye1len, IJCI'r "Conc;resslriln Peter Rodino Jr." Ju1,g 20, 1973 op cit

22. Yellcn, Be-n " -lltc Cons t rp;itr:d C j-rcuit. Court" Irlcwsl.ctter_. l-r<;rn P_r- lr-cn_Yel-lcn, 13rawley, CaIif. June 28, I977 23. Bar:nes, Petcr: c)tr) crl.

/t '2,1 . Yr,--,l lrn llt:tl "'.1'lr,: (.jr_', tx;l iI f ,.:rJ tlir-r.:ttit (jr,Ll t:t_,, ,ii.itrc '2tl , Iglj op c.i. t aa I 25 . l.1I) -;'5t] "colrrt, ltrr-l.j r-r,l lIlect-s TV L.indowners; rf uphercl , lrlr'r Ci-i;ttt,.1,.-r Va l. Lt,:r,' Ir't)rntil'tq" l)j,:;t.r. jct NcwS lrlOvcrli.lCi f 972 p. I

2(r. Tct'.,'lor, J,)cLtl Sl . jitrtu .a3 "ln/.iter, Lattd, ancl lit't,,,i.r r:l-inrt,n I I'm1-rcrjal VaIley " o[, ci

27. "$128,000 slrerri s: o t_.rr l, \' 'l;'.i.1 r ness' Conrmitt-c:e" j&r!t€J_ilgI! No..iernl:cr l', l)'77

28. Tntcrv.iL'\\r rvi Ilr T,ct] t..i, lr'li.'rrrirrly, I)c c nie i..,e r 1L)'7 1 29. \{ci-ns:tcin, IIcnri, "A it.rrtl lc-'oll: t-Irc {itct}r l;t: l'L j.nd t-h,: No on 14 Camp,lign,' _a.rn__tlqitcLs_c:o fj.:<,-rnrir-tr:_r r.r.t c,, lter 30, I91 6 p. I 30. Clal', \{il.lr.rnr "Acl l.ry;tnti IintrtaiL.i(.)n i.J ir:,trl) cl t:ilws criticism', Ilrawlcv News Ilorzentl;er l, lg'/-/

31. "Acr.r I i nri t l-,;i,:ll sal j's .rr-l l.i tr:,j r.vi .Ll rrrin e f fortrs " '2.2 llrat'v Icl wgtl: i.love ml;c r , l97 7 p . 3 32. "Farnr..:rs 1al;.i-: lrrc'rLc::t t.,r S;rrr Dl t:go: ila t t le ,to the Wlrite IIouse'" l;r.rivlc1 llcw! O<:t_oi;cr 3, Ig-77 33. Ga1,, \Vi l liarlr "llalfi', tract-ot.si clt'.lrr, l-l . :i. oL tentiorr: Carter Fr-rnd-ra-Lser j n L. A. " lira*- l-ey__ller: O<,: f oJtcr- 24 , i9'/-/ p,. i 34. "N1e1'6'r erdnrj.t's '1rersorr.r.i' .r1.rnir.'rl. on acrcagc ru1..i.nq: Ag Boss Garze Pe r:niis;.sion" Assoc j,ated Press, New York llrawl-ey News Septcmber. 28, )911 p. I - 35 Iralier, (-lcorrj c L. "USDA A i clc' s'l'l-12 for I [,(,t-lrcr,: Ile lie f " '28 Irre s t^ro llce SepLcrnltcr , I()J 1 36. Livernoi s, Joe "lIear:ir-rES are polite e>:c-e pt f or: NLP leer" !-1el[gI_ry cjg N ove Lrbe r ?,') , 197 7 p. l

3l . G;r\', \r'i ,l -l i.;rrrr "']'r.-rltl Ile e r,; lt.i t:t:r'l I c> 1.j cJ ltt- li'0-acrc" IlrawJcl, 5a,t" Decctnl;cr 2, J9'/1

38 lja }lr: r- , (.it) O fcJt: "Acr:c Lirrr i t- l''rru:; I)i:;.r(lt.e r,: (lO*orclinator errr t:^" Sacr;tincnt_c'r [-t,ei_: l.larc]-r ?l), I 97tl x? 39. "UFW Backs Reclamation Iicquirernent,, , BrawleV News t November 26, 1978 .i * 40. Livernois, Joe "Attendance smal_1 at 160 hearing,, Brawl-eV News November 23, LgjT 4L. T\,,iomey, Steve Fligh noon for land ref orm: There's trouble in the valley,' Philadelphia Inquirer January 29, 1978

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