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the experiment. The Colorado river is on a much higher level than this plain. The Commissioner of Public Lands, in his letter, hereto annexed, says: "It is a well-ascertained fact that the Colorado river is considerably higher than this desert. There is a natural channel, known as New river, with a regular descent of five feet to the mile, but which is dry, except at high water in the Colorado, when there is a regular flow into the desert." Mr. Ebenezer Hadley, surveyor of Los Angelos county, in his report, hereto annexed, says: "After having made a careful reconnoissance of the country, I was forcibly impressed with the practicability of taking water from the Colorado river over a great portion of it, inasmuch as there is the unmistakable evidence of water having flowed from the river through innumerable channels, and finally concentrating into two of some magnitude, by which the water is conveyed far up into the basin. Water having passed through one of those channels from the Colorado river, soon after our acquisition of the country, it was called New river; the other may be justly called Old river." Lieutenant Williamson, topographical engineer, in his report, in speaking of this plain, says: "Not an inconsiderable portion of this divide is below the level of the Colorado river. In 1849 this river broke through its banks, and the water flowed inland for some two hundred miles, forming what is known as New river. In many places it formed lagoons, while in others it confined itself to a narrow channel. The water in the connecting channels having dried up, the lagoons still remain, and are of great benefit to the emigrants. Dr. Blake, geologist, reports: "On the part of the desert that is usually traversed by the emigration to California, via the valley of the Gila, the main dependence for water is upon New river' and its sloughs. The two ponds called the Great and Little lagoon' may be regarded as por tions of this New river, from which they become filled only when the waters in the Colorado river rise to a great height."

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With these proofs before it, the committee cannot doubt the prac ticability of introducing the waters of the Colorado to any desirable

extent.

Assuming what the committee thinks all must admit-the immense utility of reclaiming this desert-and assuming that water, the great desideratum, can be supplied from the Colorado as proposed, the question arises, By what agency can it best be done? It is very manifest that the work is beyond the scope of individual enterprise. It will require the use of large capital, applied on a single plan, embracing the whole region. No proprietor of one or two, or even forty sections, if he could be persuaded to accept them, could effect anything. The supply of water must be drawn from a single source, and conducted through long canals, and the agency constructing them must, in addition to the capital required, have unity of purpose and a free selection of way. We cannot doubt that, if trusted to individual enterprise, no improvement will be made, and this whole region will remain a desert waste. Reclamation, if effected at all, must be by the proprietor of the whole; it must be effected either by this government or by the State of California, or by an agency created

by either the State or national government, to which a grant of the entire district shall be made for that purpose.

Obvious, abundant, and conclusive objections interpose, forbidding this government to engage in an enterprise of this description. In the first place, it is a speculation of uncertain issue, and at best of doubtful expediency. It is not embraced by any of the objects for which this government was established; and if not a clear violation of the Constitution, it is the exercise of a power which more appropriately belongs to the State in which the lands lie. It would create a necessity for a new swarm of officials, increase the patronage of the executive department, already too great, and demand expenditures which the treasury, at this time at least, is unable to meet. All the objections which have been urged against this government involving itself in schemes of internal improvement might be urged against this, and even with greater force, for this enterprise affords much less promise of general utility than have been expected from many schemes clearly condemned by the public judgment. And finally, it would be an abandonment of that policy, which this government has for many years adhered to, of granting to the States in which they lie all lands which require artificial improvements to render them fit for settlement and cultivation.

Nor can this government properly create a corporation for the improvement of these lands. The committee is at a loss to find in the Constitution any warrant for the exercise of such a power, and if it could, it would long hesitate to recommend its exercise, in view of the inconveniences, not to say conflicts, which it might give rise to between the State of California and such corporation, and perhaps this government itself.

The only method at all practicable and prudent of securing the reclamation of these lands with safety to national interests, is to grant them to the State of California, within whose limits they lie, on condition that she introduce or cause to be introduced an adequate supply of water. The State of California is entirely competent to make these improvements. She may execute them by her own officers and with her own means, or she may, on such terms as she may think fit to prescribe, commit it to a private corporation of her own creation. She has, by the resolution now before this committee, signified her willingness and wish to undertake the trust, vastly more important to her than to all the residue of the people of the United States, and by an act of her legislature, passed in anticipation of a grant, she has devised a system, and established a corporation to execute it. The committee perceives no valid reason why the grant should not be made. The lands are without value in their present condition, and cannot be improved by this government. And we are not without a precedent for the grant. For many years the government has adhered to the policy of ceding the submerged lands to the States in which they lie. This policy is believed to have been first introduced in the case of Louisiana, by the act of the 2d of March, 1849, granting to that State the whole of the swamp and overflowed lands in that State which may be or are

found unfit for cultivation. By the act of the 28th of September, 1850, a like grant was made to the State of Arkansas, and by the 4th section it was declared that the provisions of this act be extended to, and their benefits be conferred upon, each of the other States of the Union in which such swamp and overflowed lands, known and designated as aforesaid, may be situated." The policy thus established and made general has been uniformly adhered to down to the present day, and no one seeks to disturb it. The present case is within the reason of the rule established in relation to swamp lands, and the com mittee thinks it ought to be provided for in like manner. There is no distinction in principle affecting the question now presented be tween lands rendered unfit for cultivation from excess of water and lands unfit for cultivation from scarcity of the same element.

In view of all the circumstances the committee is of opinion that Congress should make the grant to the extent already defined, and herewith reports a bill for that purpose. It will be observed from this bill that the grant is upon certain conditions and with certain reservations, expressed in the bill, for the protection of the public interests. Lands now used or which may be hereafter required for forts, military stations, railroads, and other roads, as this government may think fit to occupy, construct, or authorize, are reserved; and conditions for the protection of existing vested rights, for the completion of the work, and for an adequate supply and free use of water, are imposed.

The committee also annexes a number of letters and other papers in verification of the facts and opinions herein set forth, and desires the same shall be considered as parts of this report.

RESOLUTION of the legislature of California, asking Congress to cede and donate a barren tract of land known as the "Colorado desert" to that State, for the purposes therein set forth.

Be it enacted by the senate and assembly, That our representatives in Congress be requested, and our senators instructed, to procure the passage of a bill by which the federal government shall cede and donate the following described tract of land to the State of California, said tract being bounded and described as follows, to wit: Beginning at the initial point of the San Bernardino base line, as established by general survey; from thence running east on the said line to the Colorado river; thence down said river to its junction with the southern State line; thence west along said line to eastern base of the main range of mountains; and from thence northerly along the base of said range of mountains to the place of beginning; all the above-described sections, with the exception of so much as the government may wish to reserve for the military post now established on the Colorado river at the junction of the Gila.

It is respectfully represented that the State of California, in thus applying to the federal government to become the custodians of the above-described tract of land, is actuated by no other motive than our common good and general welfare; being firmly impressed with the conviction that the disposition which it is in contemplation to make of these lands will inure to the benefit of both State and federal government; the entire section of country herein described is known to be a desert waste, devoid of water and vegetation, owing to which it presents a great basin to travel, and transportation over the most approved route of land communication between the Atlantic and Pacific. From surveys ordered by the general government the fact became apparent that a portion of the above-described section of country was relatively lower than the Colorado river, and consequently can be subjected to irrigation from that source; and further, the geological report of the same survey establishes the fact that this portion of country is barren and sterile, simply for the want of water. And in proof of the correctness of both reports it may be cited that a portion of the above-described section is subject to overflow from the Colorado river, and after such overflow the lands immediately adjacent thereto are clothed with a rich and luxuriant growth of grass and vegetation. The overflow, however, is of unfrequent occurrence, there having been but one within the recollection of the population of California, which was in June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine. It is proposed by the State, that in the event of approval and concurrent action of Congress, to cause to be constructed a proper system of hydraulics-a series of canals traversing through all the practicable portions of this sterile waste-and thus not only remove the existing impediments to travel and transportation, but cause the desert to yield to the wants of man her latent, reserved, and hidden stores. It is further represented that the only line of communication on which it is now practicable to cross the above-described desert is the one which has been travelled heretofore, and now

traversed by the "overland mail," and that the same is a deflection. from a straight line, and the deflection carries the road into Mexican territory. And it is respectfully represented that it will be practicable to shorten the route, and at the same time avoid an unauthorized encroachment on the soil of our neighbor, by the system of reclamation of lands here proposed. And, finally, we would submit that, inasmuch as a portion of those lands above described are subject to overflow, and as such they may be justly claimed by the State under existing law, but inasmuch as it will be necessary to introduce water from the river, far removed and above the lands which may thus be claimed by the State, it is deemed proper and expedient to apply for a "grant" and cession of all the above-described section; and, as before stated, we are well persuaded that the general government will best subserve her own interests by making a disposition of these lands, which are now valueless, and must remain so through all time to come, unless this system for their reclamation is accepted, which will necessarily cost a large outlay of money, but with that expendi ture they may be made to yield return.

Passed April 12, 1859.

Letter of Captain H. S. Burton, of the United States army.

GEORGETOWN, D. C., March 22, 1860.

SIR: In answer to the requirement contained in your note of the 19th instant, I have the honor to submit the following statement respecting the Colorado desert of California. I presume that I am not required to make a minute report upon the geography of this formidable desert, as full and accurate reports upon it have been made by several scientific and capable officers of the army, and are now on file among the archives of the War Department. I confine the present statement, therefore, to that portion of the desert contained between the San Bernardino base line (government survey) and the Mexican boundary line.

This portion of California, with the exception of the narrow bottom lands on the west bank of the Colorado river, and the small patches of grass around the few water holes and springs of water found in the vicinity of the San Gorgonio Pass, I consider an immense waste of uninhabitable country, incapable of cultivation without irrigation, except occasional bunches of the creosote plant, and near the California mountains of the artemisia. From about the 1st of April to October, subject to the most intense heat-the atmosphere dry and scorching, like the hot air from a furnace; from November to March, subject to quite severe cold. At this season the winds from the coast range of mountains in California sweep across the plains to the Gulf of California with the greatest violence, raising the fine sand of the desert in immense clouds, filling the atmosphere and concealing the landmarks, almost obscuring the light from the sun, obliterating almost all trace of the roads across the country, and forcing

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