Source: 64th Congress, 1st Session, Senate, Report No. 262
EROSION AND OVERFLOW, GILA RIVER, ARIZ.
March 16, 1916.--Ordered to be printed.
Mr. Ashurst, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 4655.]
The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 4655) authorizing and directing the Secretary of the Interior
to determine the most suitable method of preventing further erosion and overflow on Gila River, Ariz., having investigated
the same, reports the bill back to the Senate and recommends that it do pass without amendment.
As part of this report the committee submits the statements of Phil C. Merrill, of Pima, Ariz., W. W. Pace, of Thatcher, Ariz.,
Senator Mark Smith, and Senator Henry F. Ashurst of Arizona, made before this committee on the Indian appropriation bill,
as follows:
STATEMENT OF PHIL C. MERRILL, OF PIMA, ARIZ.
The Chairman (Mr. Ashurst). What is your name?
Mr. Merrill. Phil C. Merrill.
The Chairman. Where do you live?
Mr. Merrill. In Pima, Graham County, Ariz.
The Chairman. You have, of course, read this bill introduced by me providing for an appropriation of $15,000 to make a survey
and investigation as to the status of affairs regarding the Gila River in Arizona?
Mr. Merrill. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Will you please tell the committee briefly what you know about it, and what you think the necessity for the
bill is?
Mr. Merrill. I have lived in Graham County for about 25 years. The Gila River enters Graham County from the southeast and
flows northwesterly for a distance of about 60 miles through a region that is cultivated partly by white people and partly
by Indians on the San Carlos Reservation. The conditions pertaining along that river for its full length in Graham County
are similar--the conditions under which the Indians take their water from the river are practically similar to those under
which the white men take the water. In the early days a heavy growth of vegetation for a great extent held back these flood
waters and prevented the damage that the river did. We know that for a great many years past that has been increasing, until
within the past few years the land that has been lost by erosion, both on the Indian reservation and above there where the
white people have settled, has been very great. It
is estimated that during the flood, just about a month ago, 1,500 acres of our vicinity was washed away. We know we are incapable
of determining what should be done, and we need the assistance of the department as to what is the best method to control
that river, and, as has been mentioned by your chairman, we know that the interests are mutual as between the whites and the
Indians. If we were to take care of the river banks above the Indian reservation, it would do them no good below, for the
same condition exists.
As mentioned by the chairman, there are about 1,200 acres that have been in a high state of cultivation by the San Carlos
Indians along that river, on the San Carlos Indian Reservation, but I think at the present time, and during this year, they
will be unable to cultivate any of that land, or practically none of it, because of the fact that there are dams and canals
that have been washed away, and it will be necessary, in order to get the water on their land again, to have new dams and
new canals beside the loss of the land they have sustained.
Our object is to enlist Federal aid in engineering questions in order to determine what is the best and most feasible method
of controlling that stream, for if it is not done, it will not be many years, as conditions are existing now, before practically
all the tillable land along the banks of that river will be washed away, because the river, in its meandering course, is cutting
away each year and taking away many acres of very valuable land.
Senator Page. Could not this examination be made by the engineers of the Army?
Mr. Merrill. Well, we think perhaps an Army board, or a board appointed by the Interior Department, either, would be suitable.
Senator Page. If it was done by the Army engineers, would there be any necessity for this appropriation?
Mr. Merrill. I think so. I am not advised of that, but I think so.
Senator Page. I had the impression that the Army engineers were sent out to do this kind of work, and that there was a general
appropriation made that would cover the expense; of course, there would be no salary.
Mr. Merrill. I am not advised as to that, but I do not so understand it.
Senator Page. For what purpose?
The Chairman. Because the War Department would not be authorized to send an Army engineer to make an expensive investigation
and take the money for that purpose out of the general fund. It would not be authorized by law to do so. We looked into that
feature of it with some degree of care.
Senator Page. This is a gratuity appropriation, I understand, from the Treasury?
The Chairman. Yes, sir, of $15,000.
Senator Page. Please explain where the necessity for the expenditure comes in?
Mr. Merrill. As I have stated, this tillable land extends a distance of about 60 miles along the river. The valley is narrow
and long. The Indian Reservation on the San Carlos is about 25 or 30 miles, and the balance is occupied by the white people
above it, so you can understand that it would be quite a task to make that survey along the banks of that river to determine
what methods are best to control it.
Senator Curtis. What efforts have you made to control it?
Mr. Merrill. There have been efforts made by farmers by driving piles, etc., but it has been demonstrated that there would
have to be some systematic scheme adopted to take care of it all, because one farmer might protect his land and a little above
him his neighbor being unable to do the same thing, it would wash behind him and give one more protection than the other.
Senator Page. Then it is your idea not only to have this investigation, but have the Government appropriate the money to protect
the land?
Mr. Merrill. That would, of course, be a matter to be followed up. I assume there would have to be some arrangement made whereby
the Government would pay its proportion and the property owners their proportion of the expense after the scheme had been
adopted to control the river.
Senator Curtis. Is most of this damage done in the spring when the snow melts?
Mr. Merrill. There are two seasons of the year--the spring and the summer time, during the summer rains. It is not so much
the overflow that damages us as it is the erosion.
Senator Curtis. The silt that comes down?
Mr. Merrill. Not the silt but the water that washes it away.
Senator Curtis. But the silt does come down and helps to do that?
Mr. Merrill. Yes, sir.
Senator Curtis. Has not this question been pretty thoroughly investigated by the Geological Survey?
Mr. Merrill. Not that I know of.
Senator Curtis. Did they not, some 10 years ago, go all over the Gila River and make a report upon that subject?
Mr. Merrill. Not that I have been informed of. I think they made an investigation of the amount of water--
Senator Curtis. That came down in the flow?
Mr. Merrill. That money was appropriated for irrigation purposes, etc.; but as far as this matter particularly is concerned,
I have heard of no report upon the question.
Senator Curtis. I did not mean that they had reported on what was necessary to prevent the washing; they did not investigate
for that purpose, but they did investigate as to the flow and as to the seasons of the year when the flows were bad.
Mr. Merrill. Yes, sir; I think that is correct.
Senator Curtis. Has any effort been made, Mr. Chairman, to get the Geological Survey to make an investigation and report on
this subject?
The Chairman. I will say we have consulted the Arizona delegation in Congress, and these two gentlemen from Arizona--we have
consulted with the Secretary of the Interior upon the matter. We had a personal interview.
Senator Curtis. Did you go over the records of the Geological Survey?
The Chairman. No; we did not have a consultation with the director himself. We took it up with the Secretary direct.
Senator Page. Does he think this action is an appropriate one on our part?
The Chairman. I am not at liberty to quote him. I think I may go far enough to say that he certainly expressed no opposition
to it. It is always dangerous to quote a man unless you have it in writing. However, I am willing to say for this record that
I had an extended interview with the Secretary on last Saturday, and he is not opposed to this matter. On the contrary, he
looked with considerable favor and sympathy upon it.
Senator Page. I do not want to oppose a $15,000 appropriation for your State, but if we have officials whose duty it is to
make these investigations--the Geological Survey or the Board of Army Engineers--I do not know whether it is a healthy precedent
to establish or not.
The Chairman. If you will pardon me, you will recall, I think, that there was some discussion in 1912 on the question as to
whether the Board of Army Engineers--Senator Curtis will remember the occurrence--had the authority to make an investigation
and a report to Congress, unless they were specifically charged with that duty. I looked it up at the time and came to the
conclusion that it would require an act of Congress or an amendment to the Indian appropriation bill to authorize any board
of Army engineers, under the direction of the Interior Department, to go out and make an investigation, unless they were authorized
by Congress to do that. I have a very definite impression in 1912 I looked it up.
Senator Page. What is the duty of the Board of Army Engineers or of the Geological Survey if it is not to take up matters
of the most pressing importance and focus their minds upon it and make a report?
The Chairman. Their duties are manifold, but an appropriation of money from the Federal Treasury can not be used for a particular
purpose, except in accordance with a bill duly passed and which shall become a law. You can not, under ominum gatherum, detail
men to do certain work unless the law is written that way.
Senator Page. I supposed the law was written in that way.
The Chairman. In other words, money must be expended in pursuance of a bill or a joint resolution, of course. There are men
around this table who have had more experience on these subjects than I have.
Senator Page. It may be expended in pursuance of a general act or a specific act. We appropriate large sums of money, and
they are supposed, as it seems to me, to be devoted to just such investigations as the one proposed here.
The Chairman. I know of no authority for that; I certainly have been unable to find any authority to permit any Army board
to go here and make this investigation except we pass an act of this kind
Senator Page. What particular reasoning led you to believe that this $15,000 was the proper sum to appropriate here?
The Chairman. In 1912 the Army board was authorized to make an investigation as to the feasibility, practicability, and suitability
of a reservoir site at San Carlos. I was a member of the committee at that time; $15,000 was appropriated. A board of Army
engineers was duly authorized to make the investigation, but we learned that the $15,000 was not sufficient, and in 1913 a
deficiency appropriation of $10,000 more was made to pay the expense of that investigation. Now, this will by no means be
as comprehensive or as extensive as that one was, and I came to the conclusion that if we asked for $25,000 for that, this
ought to be done for $15,000.
Senator Page. Senator Curtis, you have had a great deal of experience on this line. What do you say about this establishing
a precedent that will return to vex us at any time?
Senator Curtis. It will be like every one that we have heretofore established. Next year they will come in and ask for $100,000;
the next year for $200,000, and the next year for $300,000. This committee has never established a precedent of this kind
with respect to any of these matters that has not been abused. They commenced with a small appropriation--as you will observe
if you will look over the bills--and they keep growing year by year. My own judgment is, that if the Senator wants this done
he ought to go to the Geological Survey, and I think they will tell him very frankly that if he can get a very small increase
in their general appropriation, if they have not enough now, that they will send men down to make this investigation and make
a full report, without establishing a precedent in this committee, by appropriating for something of this kind.
Senator Page. Does not this appropriation look forward to a much larger appropriation next year?
The Chairman. We are in the dark, both as to the Indians and as to the whites. I am very familiar with the proposition. It
is a meritorious appropriation in my opinion. Here is a river that is cutting away rich Indian land and similarly cutting
away rich land of the whites year by year. This is a small county. There is not a millionaire in the county, but it is filled
with most excellent citizens. We do not know how to reach the matter. I had at first an idea of introducing a bill providing
an appropriation of $100,000, but I reflected on it and thought there should first be some investigation made by somebody
authorized by Congress. So I have put my cards on the table. I want you to see them. I want you to say whether there should
be an investigation or not. If the Army board investigates it, or the Board of Engineers investigates it, and they say we
can do nothing, and ought to do nothing, or we are unable to do anything, we can do no more.
Senator Page. I agree with you that there ought to be something done about this matter.
The Chairman. If the Army board says, ‘‘We ought to do something,’’ then we can proceed, at least in law, on some technical
information upon which we can rely. That is my--I would not say excuse because this is so meritorious that it needs no excuse--but
that is my reason for introducing this amendment.
Mr. Meritt. The board of Army engineers has also made a report as to certain features of the San Carlos River, for example,
the San Carlos Reservoir site. So far as the Indian Office is concerned, we would be very glad to have this appropriation,
because this river flows through the Pima Indian Reservation and has damaged a large acreage of land, which is being destroyed
annually by this river. If any scheme can be devised by which this wild river can be kept within its banks, it will be very
helpful to the Pima Indians.
The Chairman. I am very glad to receive that statement. My colleague, Senator Mark Smith, is here now. Senator Smith, we have
up my bill proposing to appropriate $15,000 to make investigation and examination for the purpose of controlling the Gila
River in Arizona.
STATEMENT OF HON. MARK SMITH, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM ARIZONA.
Senator Smith of Arizona. Mr. Chairman, I do not know what I could say in addition to what has already been said by Mr. Merrill
and Mr. Pace.
The Chairman. Mr. Merrill has made a statement to the committee.
Senator Smith of Arizona. If you will start in on the Gila River about 10 miles above where Solomonsville is now situated--and
will be unless the river washes it away some of these days--you will observe that the river comes down at a pretty solid formation.
It strikes this alluvial level plain. It serves a most prosperous community. They have worked harder and got less from the
Government than any other irrigation people that I know of, except some of the places in Utah in the early days. They have
never received one cent of compensation from the Government in any way; not a dollar. By their own industry starting back
in the days of the Indians up until now, they have developed a community that is an honor to any country, and which possesses
as good citizenship as any State of the Union.
Now, this river, when it comes down with its great floods, disemboweling itself at the mouth onto the alluvial plain, begins
to cut these trenches, and a bridge that I have seen at Florence standing a mile and a half out in the dry plain that once
covered the stream--an expensive bridge--it stands there to-day a monument to the treachery of that river.
Senator Page. Is it a monument too to the foolishness of any of our officials?
The Chairman. The State built it.
Senator Smith of Arizona. Oh, the State built it. You need not think there is anything there that our officials had anything
to do with, except probably laying the burden of taxes upon the people.
Senator Page. It was wisely built, when it was built, in your judgment, was it?
Senator Smith of Arizona. It was built at the best possible place on the Gila River, down at Florence. If I had a photograph,
I could show you the condition.
Senator Page. How much do you think there will probably be required from the Federal Treasury later on if this investigation
is made?
Senator Smith of Arizona. I do not know that it will require anything. These men can make the investigation, a scientific
investigation, as to the proper way of handling this river, and, especially if it is done above it will not only help these
people above where these particular men live [indicating Mr. Merrill and Mr. Pace], but it will help everybody on the Gila
River at the San Carlos Reservation.
It flows down through the Maricopa Reservation and goes on and empties into the Colorado at Yuma, Ariz., on the line of California
and Arizona. Now to put the burden on these people of holding that river in check for the benefit of the Indians, for the
benefit of two great American white irrigation schemes, and for these men to bear the whole burden of keeping that river within
its flow, if it is not done above them it is a waste to all.
So that this is not a mere scheme to help these men here and several other farmers. It is also to keep a regular channel for
the Indians on the Maricopa Reservation, to the white people in the Florence Reservation, and to the Indians in the Florence
Reservation, who are going to get a greater benefit from it under the bill, if it is passed, than anybody else that I know
of.
So this whole scheme must look to the Government at least for a legitimate means of accomplishing the purpose of holding that
river within its boundaries or else it will become a ruinous flood and will wash everybody away.
Senator Page. Would you regard this appropriation as a proper one to make here if there were no Indians there?
Senator Smith of Arizona. Unquestionably; whether there was or not I would regard it as such for this reason, which it is
difficult for people to understand: Arizona was admitted as a State, and you will be amazed at the statement of fact that
at the time of admission the Federal Government absolutely owned, controlled, and has reserved 90 per cent of the available
valuable land in that State, and we are forced to levy taxation on cattle and mines and town lots. That is what we have got
to run the State on. The Government has land to such an extent that I think the whole of the New England States would be covered
by the different reservations of my State alone.
Senator Page. I have been through one of your counties, which, I know, is larger than my State.
Senator Smith of Arizona. There are plenty of them. New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut would
certainly not cover the reservations of Arizona. Now, we are left in that attitude. How? By taking away our power to tax ourselves
for any improvements. As I have stated, 90 per cent of the really valuable lands in the State are held by the Government,
and you are putting a burden on these people who have spent their lives, and their children's children are there now working
out the same problems that their fathers had and that their grandfathers had.
Now, it is just a question whether Congress will pass this resolution to give us that small amount of money for investigation,
not only for those gentlemen there but for everybody on the Gila River from its source to where it empties. As soon as it
comes out it spreads, and in the very next place you find the shortage is at the Indian reservation in Maricopa county known
as the Maricopa Reservation. There was a bridge there three-quarters of a mile long or more--a bridge that these waters have
swept away, coming into another channel and coming down into Pinal Valley, and washed that bridge, three-quarters of a mile
long, completely away. There [indicating] is one of the bridges. You will see what it does to a bridge standing there a quarter
of a mile long.
Senator Page. It occurred to me that this was an examination which looked forward to a very large appropriation some time
in the future from the Federal Treasury.
Senator Smith of Arizona. I know; but even if it does it is a question for Congress's discretion to say, even then when it
comes up, whether it would be a wise appropriation or not.
Senator Page. That is right; we do not know from this bill, at least I did not know when this bill was first read, whether
it was a harmless bill calling for simply $15,000, or something that looked forward to $5,000,000.
Senator Smith of Arizona. It will never get to any such figure as that. It would be futile. I want to say that I would never
advocate an expenditure of more money than is provided for in this resolution, but then it would be before you gentlemen to
take it off if you had that bigger proposition here. You have been given the information, and that is all we are asking in
this resolution, and if Congress will not help, you will at least let every man on the Gila River know what is the best thing
to do to keep that river within its bounds.
Senator Page. I think that is correct.
Senator Smith of Arizona. But if they can not do it, then they may come to Congress and it will be within the wisdom of you
gentlemen to say.
Senator Page. Would you think this would be a proper matter for the Indian Committee to take up on the Indian appropriation
bill?
Senator Smith of Arizona. I unquestionably think so, because I know of no other committee to send it to. The Commerce Committee
has nothing to do with that, because they deal with navigable streams. The Committee on Appropriations has nothing to do with
it. They would say, ‘‘We have nothing to do with this part of the business; why do you not go to some other of your committees?’’
The Agricultural Committee has nothing to do with it, for it does not deal with Indian questions at all and I will state frankly
that it is brought here because I do not know where else to send it. That is the reason it is before as good a committee as
there is in this body.
Senator Page. Oh, yes; it is a splendid committee.
Senator Smith of Arizona. There is not one crank on it as big a crank as I am. But, gentlemen, this ought to be done not only
because of the suggestions I have made, but because of the question that is naturally raised--and I think you gentlemen, as
able legislators, always raise the question as to whether this is an entering wedge to rob the Treasury hereafter. We have
seen departments grow that have started with $500 or $700 or $800.
But I submit that it is essential that this knowledge be given us by the Government on account of the condition in the State
and the condition of the Indians and the condition of the white men, for they are put exactly in the same fix down there,
and that we at least ought to give it to the State and the people and let our State handle it, or the people try to handle
it, and when they have obtained a scientific knowledge of the situation then we can do our very best. If I come to Congress
again for another dollar of help, I hope to be able to show Congress that they can not avoid it; but if Congress in its wisdom
says, ‘‘We can not afford to go into this sort of thing, as it will set a precedent for a hundred other cases,’’ and decide
against me, why that is for the occasion and the time when it comes. Very likely I will be, as I have sometimes been before
on the most virtuous matters, cut off from any further communication with the Treasury Department. But this ought to be done,
and these men who have spent their time in coming up here to attend to it ought to know how to do it, for I do not know how
it could be done. It would take a scientific engineering proposition to say whether what little land is left in Arizona is
to be ruined by the river, or whether Congress, out of its abundance, will say, ‘‘We will give you a little aid, at least
a scientific investigation, and see whether you can possibly yourselves handle this problem or not.’’
Gentlemen I have another committee to attend, and will have to retire; I thank you very much for your attention.
Senator Lane. I would like to ask you, Senator Ashurst, how much Indian land is involved in this matter?
The Chairman. About 1,200 acres of cultivated below a place called Geronimio, but several thousand acres of Indian reservations
are within this county.
Senator Lane. And how much of the white man's land?
The Chairman. About 30,000 acres cultivated by the whites, but 1,200 acres at one point on the river belong to the Indians.
Senator Lane. Is it reimbursable?
The Chairman. No, sir; it is not reimbursable out of any fund.
Senator Lane. It is to be an appropriation from the Treasury Department?
The Chairman. Yes, sir.
Senator Lane. The solution, and the only solution of these washouts in the long run in Arizona, where you have that trouble--you
have fine land below and the flood comes down on it every year--is to impound the water, is it not?
Mr. Merrill. That is a question to be determined.
Senator Lane. You will never get out of it in any other way.
Mr. Merrill. That is a question for the engineers. I think they will tell us whether that is the most feasible.
Senator Lane. And whether you will have water to let down on the land when you get it. In the other way it runs away and goes
to waste in the summer time in that country, and you will have to begin a system in the mountains of impounding the
water into the ravines and all the gulches leading into the main streams, and when you have done that you have stopped the
waste and have water impounded for irrigation. That is the only solution of it. How else can you do it unless you dike it
and levee the rivers, and then you will be in a condition like the Mississippi--you will have your river up above the lands
after a while.
Senator Page. Do you not think this becomes an irrigation problem within a short time, and is something that so slightly affects
the Indians that it ought to be made a general proposition rather than an Indian proposition?
Mr. Merrill. I think the Indians are vitally affected by it. I know that from my observation and experience.
Senator Page. Do you say they have 1,200 acres of land?
The Chairman. That is only at one point, Senator.
Senator Page. We had much better buy that land of the Indians and let it be destroyed than to go into a $100 or $200 or $500
project here with its possibilities of loss and risk as we have done in several irrigation projects. I do not want to interpose
any further objection to this proposition, Senator. I do want to know more about it.
STATEMENT OF MR. W. W. PACE, THATCHER, ARIZ.
Mr. Pace. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, the people there are trying to teach the San Carlos Indians the art of cultivating the
farms; that is, agriculture, and as the matter stands now, and as it is going, it will be only a very short time before there
will be no lands on the San Carlos Indian Reservation for these men to farm. It is not only the value of the 1,200 acres of
land, but when that is gone it has all gone. When those farms are gone they can not be replaced; they will not be on the reservation
for the Indians to be taught this art of agriculture.
Senator Page. Let us pursue that investigation a little further. If you have some land there that is worth a one-tenth part
of the expense it will take to conserve that land should we start in in Congress with a proposition that looks to conserving
at a great deal more than the value of the property conserved?
Mr. Pace. Senator, we do not think it is ever going to run into that kind of cost. We have our ideas, but we have no way of
determining the best means. We have no board of engineers to give us absolute knowledge. We have had no experience. That waste
has been going on within the last few years worse than it ever has been. We got along very nicely for a good many years, but
later the burden has become so heavy that we can not stand it, and we do not know how to control the situation. We have an
idea by which private individuals will expend a few thousand dollars over there. That has some effect; but each man has his
own peculiar ideas about it; one man works it out one way and another another. We do not work concertedly.
The proposition that our Senator has so kindly consented to introduce here is for a small appropriation that we might know
what is best, and that the Government, through the War Department, or through some of the corps of engineers that they have,
and through their experience in cases of this kind, they might give us a plan setting out what could be done to keep this
river under control and to keep it in one channel. As long as it runs straight we have no trouble, but when it runs straight
a mile, or such matter, it will take a turn over that way and bore out a section of country, and then turn and go the other
way. It is a curving, tortuous stream there, and it is ruining some towns and breaking up some of the best citizens of our
country.
Senator Page. I have a very fine meadow that is being eaten into every year, but I have no idea of coming to Congress for
assistance.
Mr. Pace. This is quite a big stream, and the final result of it will be to depopulate the San Carlos Indians who are farming
part of their reservation. That will be the end of the matter. It is cutting into that.
Senator Page. I think I have reached my purpose. I rather think the appropriation is one that we ought to make. I did, however,
want to draw out the fact, because it seemed to me to be a proposition that was to be an entering wedge and that there would
be quite a large demand on the part of Arizona upon the Federal Treasury.
Mr. Pace. We can see some places in Arizona where we could use that money nicely, but we hardly think we will be able to get
it. It is not the intention that this should be an entering wedge for larger appropriations; it is simply in order that we
may know just where we are. We want you to tell us what can be done in a scientific way and an effective way, and we do not
know anybody else to look to except the Army engineers or some corps of engineers of the General Government.
The Chairman. Let me say, lest some misapprehension may arise from my statement as to 1,200 acres being irrigated, I meant
at one particular point. I have in my hand the report made to Congress in 1914 regarding these Indians. It says some 15,000
acres of Indian lands are irrigated.
I would not want the Senators to get the impression that that was the only territory.
Senator Lane. No; you said several others. If you gentlemen had brought this in as a definite proposition, to go up into those
mountains and put in dams and catchment basins in and across the ravines that feed into the river or channel, and hold that
water in there for irrigation, you would at the same time stop the erosion. I would like to see this Government make large
appropriations to help Arizona to do that, and as well all over the country. They have the richest land in the world. The
water comes down in a rush, and they not only get no use of the water, but it destroys valuable land. Eventually that will
have to be done. I have been in Arizona many times, and have felt that I would like to be superintendent of the job and hold
that water. It would make of it the most fertile and richest State in the Union There is no doubt of that. I suppose some
one, however, would grab the water from the Indians. I think that ought to be provided for. They could utilize an appropriation
of a million dollars in Arizona for that purpose; it is wise, and I know of no other place in the world where they have so
much water at certain seasons and get so little use of it, or where it could be used for better purposes. There is not a State
in the Union that compares with it; if it had water that is the truth of it.
The Chairman. I appreciate the statement of the Senator. It is a very fair statement. He says that the water will be gobbled
up by the Indians--
Senator Lane. No; I did not say the Indians.
The Chairman. Or gobbled away from the Indians.
Senator Lane. Yes.
The Chairman. I want to say at once for Arizona that there is no State in the Union where the Indians are better protected.
Senator Lane. I hope so.
The Chairman. The Indians are so well protected in my State that the newspapers are almost unanimous in saying that you must
be an Indian to secure any of your rights from the Federal Government. No State has with more scrupulous care seen to it that
the rights of property of the Indians are protected. Arizona has the largest Indian population of any State in the Union except
the State of Oklahoma.
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