commission are quite elaborate; but to assist you in a ready understanding I beg to refer you, by turning down leaves and underscoring, to those portions of the report which will more readily explain and answer the questions asked me. By reference to page 107 you will see underscored the opinion, as to the water supply, of Assistant Engineer Follett. By reference to page 46 you will see underscored the joint opinion of the two joint engineers of the commission, and by reference to page 39 you will see underscored the opinion expressed by the two joint commissioners, and by reference to page 13 you will see underscored the opinion expressed by myself in a letter dated November 17, 1896, in reply to a communication from the Secretary of State, inclosing letter of the Mexican minister with protest against the erection of a dam by the Rio Grande Dam and Irrigation Company, Limited, signed by Andres Horcasitas and M. Aspiroz, inclosing with the protest a copy of the prospectus of said dam and irrigation company. During the four years which have elapsed since our report measurements have been taken of the flow of the river at El Paso and above which demonstrate that the annual ratio of decrease has increased over that deduced from the observations in our report; but this was probably caused by a cycle of dry years, so I have no reason to materially change the opinions expressed in the reports above referred to. It will be observed that in the prospectus of the "proposed Elephant Butte Dam" (the Rio Grande Dam and Irrigation Company), see page 6, they claim legal right "to the control of the entire flow of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico," while the copy of the bill which you were kind enough to inclose me (see page 3, lines 4 and 5) only imposes a restraint of the use of water "to which others have right by prior appropriation." In the absence of any adequate international remedy it occurs to me that under any circumstances this provision in the bill would be unobjectionable and in accord with the general principles of riparian rights. Yours, very respectfully, ANSON MILLS, Brigadier-General, U. S. A. (Retired), Commissioner. SUPPLEMENTAL TESTIMONY BY J. H. M'GOWAN. Hon. J. P. HEATWOLE, WASHINGTON, D. C., February 25, 1901. Chairman Subcommittee Considering H. R. 9710, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: On the 18th instant General Mills discovered that the reference in the second section of the bill to Senate Document No. 229, Fifty-fifth Congress, second session, was an error, and that the refer ence should have been to a pamphlet entitled "Reports on the investigation and survey for an international dam and reservoir on the Rio Grande del Norte to preserve the boundary between the United States and Mexico by controlling the flood waters of said river." 66 As the proposed international dam was to be built after certain plans and specifications" which could only be found by reference, this was an important matter. You then provided that I was to have the use of the only copy of this pamphlet then before the committee (the copy General Mills had), and submit any further suggestions that should occur to me. I therefore beg to state: 1. The pamphlet is not a public document. It was never deposited in the document room of either House. It has no imprint as a public document. So far as I can learn the whole edition, whatever there was of it, was deposited at the State Department. That Department declined to furnish me with a copy, on the ground that it belonged to a class of publications that were not given out. Under my promise to return to General Mills the copy I had, I did not have time to make a completely satisfactory examination. The General has now sent me another copy from the State Department, but I can not delay this communication to make further examinations. 2. There are no "plans and specifications" in this pamphlet from which a dam could be constructed. Between pages 12 and 13 there is a map that contains all the drawings I am able to find that could be designated as plans. These are mere outlines, and relate to two possible sites. The principal part of this map is taken up with a plan of the proposed reservoir. Aside from this there are three small drawings in the margin relating to an upper and a lower dam site. A glance at these shows that they are simply tentative sketches, not plans on which to work out a structure to cost $2,317,113.36. This map is inserted in a report made by Engineer W. W. Follett to Colonel Mills. At the top of page 12 it is disclosed that Follett submitted with his said report 7 maps in all. Of these, 4 have been gathered onto the map found in the pamphlet. And of the whole number Mr. Follett says: "The work I have done is all preliminary work. It is not intended to show what should be done, but what can be done and approximately the cost of doing it." |