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-. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN By Ed Vogel Donrey Capital Bureau Above, Former ames G. Scrugham carved Gov. James Scrugham spent out a career unmatched by a lot of time in Jany politician in Nevada Las Vegas in 1929, the year he history: He is the only person founded the Las to serve as a Nevada gover- Vegas Review, one of the news- nor, representative in Con- papers that be- gress and U.S. senator. came the Review- Journal. But history has shown Scrugham (1880-1945) was a At right, Scrugham, cen- man of little vision. If he had ter, and two U.S. Reclamation Ser- fought harder for Nevada's vice employees interests during the meetings toured Black Canyon in 1923. of the Colorado River Com- Hoover Dam was mission in 1922, Southern built in the can- yon 1931-35. Nevadans today might not face impending water short- Photos courtesy ages. Nevada Historical Society Please see RIVER/58 T • Iver------~--~ -rom 16 gas. Not until 1971 would the tempt in 1926, Scrogham never : The demand for water in metro- Southern Nevada Water Project returned to the classroom. He politan Las Vegas could exceed be completed and Colorado River bought the Nevada State Journal the state's 300,000 acre-foot an- water start flowing into Las Ve- in Reno in 1927. Two years later, 'mial Colorado River allocation by gas. he founded the Las Vegas Re- 2008, officials say. In contrast to Nevada's tiny al- view, one of two newspapers that As Nevada's governor and rep- location, California received 4.4 later merged into the Review- resentative on the original Colo- million acre-feet, Arizona, 2.8 Journal. And he later wrote a rado River Commission in the million, three-volume history of Nevada. 1920s, Scrogham figured Nevada Unsatisfied with the allocation, Then in 1932, he won the first would do just fine with 300,000 Arizona would fight legal battles of five consecutive terms in Con- acre-feet. for decades. Not until a U.S ..Su- gress. He took a seat in the Sen- A check of documents and let- preme Court decision in 1963 ' ate in 1942, but died three years ters in the state archives in Car- would the water divisions be set- later. . son City shows Scrugham tled. In his history of Nevada, praised the water division and Even then, Justice Hugo Black Scrogham said he derived the {lever dreamed Las Vegas would wrote that Nevada leaders had most satisfaction as a public ser- ecome one of the top tourist at- concluded the state's "conceivable vant for the successive stages of actions in America. needs" never would exceed work that led to construction of • "The terms offered are gener- 300,000 acre-feet per year. Hoover Dam. QUsand just," said Scrogham of Rather than water, Scrugham In a letter stamped "confiden- oposed water allocations. and others in the 1920s wanted a tial," Scrogham even asked Sec- : Pat Mulroy, general manager hydroelectric dam built along of the Las Vegas Valley Water retary of Commerce Herbert istrict, isn't one to fantasize Nevada's border with Arizona. Hoover in 1924 for free power about what could have happened They sought a source of cheap from the dam that would be built if Scrogham had been more of a electricity and tax revenue and in Black Canyon. fighter 70 years ago. the jobs a dam project would Hoover, chairman of the origi- "We are a fluke," she said. "We bring. nal Colorado River Commission, are a product of Hoover Dam in Scrogham's work on the Colo- became president in 1933. Boul- many ways. Who was ever going rado River Commission was der Dam would be renamed to live out here without air- widely reported in state newspa- Hoover Dam in his honor in conditioning in the summer?" pers. He was elected governor in 1947. Mulroy figures it is futile to November 1922 in his first try for Representatives from the other ame Scrogham for his lack of political office. Previously he had siX Colorado River basin states lUsion: been dean ofthe engineering col- who met with Hoover and • "Who is to say we wouldn't lege at the University of Nevada, Scrogham chiefly wanted guar- fnake the same mistake," she Reno. anteed supplies of water with said. "What would happen if you As governor, Scrogham was which they could irrigate crops. were to go into a small town in dubbed "Gasoline Jim" because of They feared California, certain the middle of Nevada today and his habit of ending the work day even then to become a populous ask people how much water they in Carson Cityby driving all state, would gobble up water would ever need?" night to arrive in Las Vegas the their farmers needed. : In 1920, Las Vegas was a rail- next morning. Usually he carried In an initial meeting, the U.S. road town of 2,300. Nevada was a cans of gasoline because there Reclamation Service recommend state of all of 77,000 people, less were few service stations along ed allocation of the river water than half of the population of the the way. on the basis of three acre-feet f, next smallest state. Defeated in a re-election at- each additional acre ofland tl- : Scrogham and other leaders of the era gladly left Nevada with 300,000 acre-feet because no one . expected Las Vegas would ever . use any of the water. At the time there was no meth- od of drawing the water out of the river and pumping it into homes 40 miles away in Las Ve- a Sunday, October 13, 1996/Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun/

would be irrigated in each state. Scrugham, appointed the are irrigated in Clark County. In Southern Nevada, just 5,000 state's representative on the com- State Archivist Guy Roach said acres were being irrigated, far mission by Gov. Emmett Boyle, Nevada had small agriculture fewer than any of the other argued Nevada would irrigate an communities along the Virgin states. additional 82,000 acres. He pro- and Muddy rivers, but nothing I The Reclamation Service calcu- posed a 246,000 acre-foot annual approximating farming in other I lated Nevada could bring another allocation. states. I 2,000 acres under cultivation His proposal, later pushed to with Colorado River water. It 300,000 acre-feet, was accepted "I don't think we can hold proposed giving Nevada just without protest by the other com- Scrugham accountable," he said, 6,000 acre-feet of water, a small missioners. As a farm forecaster, "There was no sense that Las-Ve- fraction of its proposals for other Scrugham proved egregiously gas would be much more than-a I states. wrong. Today, just 5,529 acres desert oasis." ,; L.