Chapter VIII: Part 8

Youthful knowledge of our war of 1847 with Mexico, and a residence of four years at El Paso, where I employed many Mexicans in the construction of buildings and surveying, gave me a great interest in its government, its people and affairs generally. History told me Cortez in his conquest destroyed a civilization better than his own, leveling to the earth a beautiful city of five hundred thousand inhabitants, and rebuilding one less beautiful by the enslavery of its people, reduced from civilization to abject serfdom by Spanish authorities. For two hundred years these people suffered cruel wars before their efforts to acquire independence were successful. Later, Mexico was again victim of foreign nations, and finally America, too, was guilty, as I believe, of making a needless and unrighteous war upon her in 1847. In evidence, I quote the following from page 53 of Grant's Memoirs:

"For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this
day regard the war which resulted as one of the most unjust ever
waged by a stronger nation against a weaker nation. It was an
instance of a republic following the bad example of European
monarchies in not considering justice in a desire to acquire
additional territory."

The peace treaty promised we were to pay Mexico many millions for territory acquired by force, but much of this money was withheld until a commission of our own people determined how much be finally kept in payment of claims alleged to be due our citizens--the pretext for the war. This commission could not find claims enough to exhaust the money withheld, so much of it was given back to Mexico.

My brother, W. W., lived on the border for fifty years, ten of which he was consul in Chihuahua. Another brother, Edgar Allen, after spending twenty years on the Rio Grande border, lived and traveled in various parts of Mexico in different business capacities from 1886 to 1901. He was employed at Escalon, the City of Torreon, Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, and the City of Jiminez, traveling through the states of Sinaloa and Durango to Jiminez, then to Sombrerette, and then to Gutierrez and state of Zacatecas, thence to Chihuahua. He found Mexico a tranquil nation with a people satisfied with their government; where a great majority of the foreigners were likewise satisfied with the government and their treatment, and where the people were glad to see foreigners and treated them well.

From all foreign nations, however, but principally from our own, came a disturbing element of ne'er do wells, itinerant visitors awaiting a hoped-for conquest and exploitation of that country to get their innings. Somewhat lawless, these people did much for which they would be arrested at home. Occasionally they were arrested by Mexican authorities. Many brought money procured from friends and relatives at home to enable them to establish themselves in a new country. They spent it rapidly, became troublesome, got into difficulty with the officials and made loud complaints to our government. These, perhaps, did not represent one-fifth of the American residents in Mexico.

Another class on the border of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, were native citizens of Mexican descent, born on American soil, but good citizens of neither country, and continually in trouble with one or the other. Together with lawless Americans these fostered trouble from year to year.

Of the probable fifteen million inhabitants of Mexico, at least eleven million are pure Indians, with no admixture of Spanish or other foreign blood. These Indians are much as when Cortez found them, few speaking Spanish or any other common language, but speaking at least fifty-five different Indian languages. They have never taken any interest in what is known to us as politics; have no desire to vote, and do not know what it means. Yet they are, or were, as contented and happy as other peoples, satisfied with their governing classes, and as kind and gentle in their intercourse with each other as the people of the average nation.

More Mexicans, or people of the Mexican race, lived on the American side of the border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California than on the Mexican side, because no American markets are available to Mexican producers. They could not afford to pay the duty required to enter the American market and compete with producers on the American side, so that most produce was raised on the American side to which adjacent population gravitated.

As a citizen in Mexico, an officer on the border in Texas, and as boundary commissioner for twenty years, I can testify Mexico possessed a tranquil government, and that my wife and family felt as well protected from violence on the streets of the great cities as they would have felt in the United States. My brother, W. W., also found in his official connection as consul, that this state of affairs existed.

In October, 1909, President Taft and President Diaz, by mutual agreement, met for greetings and congratulations at El Paso and Juarez, and gave each other dinners on each side of the river. Physically splendid men, it is a compliment to each to say they resembled each other, both in physical appearance, in language, and in gesture. In Juarez, I was a guest of the Mexican Government; in my diplomatic capacity, I sat near both Presidents, who were seated vis-à-vis. In their speeches the two Presidents seemed to vie with each other in congratulations on the good relations and tranquil governments on both sides of the border. The hundred guests in the great hall of the custom-house heard them with profound interest and respect. No one could doubt the sincerity of each; yet in a few months the two nations were practically at war. How it came about will be a mystery forever, but there is no disputing the fact that the rebellion against Diaz was organized, armed and equipped on the American side.

When the trouble began six years ago, as boundary commissioner, I advised the Government that our neutrality was so inadequate, or laxly administered, or both, that nearly all the insurrectos then in arms in Mexico were organized in the United States, and practically all the arms and munitions of war were unlawfully or at least unrighteously introduced from this country. Living in El Paso during much of the hostilities, I knew that many secret service men, detectives and others in the employ of the Government, were seeking something. But neither I, nor so far as I know, either of my brothers were ever approached regarding conditions in Mexico.

The original Francisco I. Madero, said to be of Jewish descent, as a young man lived near Matamoras, when General Taylor crossed the Rio Grande for Monterey. The army was unable to procure wagon transportation, and Madero suggested pack animal transportation to General Taylor as more feasible because of difficult sandy roads. Our Government gave Madero large contracts to transport the baggage and supplies of Taylor's army to Monterey and Saltillo, by which he accumulated a considerable fortune. After the war he received large concessions from the Mexican Government.

The family was very prolific, Francisco I having twelve or thirteen children, Francisco II about the same number, and Francisco III, presidential candidate, having many, as did nearly all his brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts. When the revolution against Diaz broke out, the Madero family embraced four or five hundred souls, nearly all more or less wealthy. Madero II was a Diaz supporter, as were about half his brothers. The rest were adherents of Madero III. The family is now dispersed and many have died.

I was personally acquainted with Francisco Madero III, and his father, Madero, Jr., was an extreme agitator similar to our Debs. The greatest qualification friends in each case claimed for their candidates for the presidency was that they had been confined in jail by their two countries for violations of laws!

Mr. Madero stated in all sincerity that he hoped to be to his country what Washington was to mine. I never met Mr. Debs, but I dare say he had similar ambitions and with about the same reason! Debs received relatively as many American votes when candidate for president as Madero did when he claimed election.

Our assistance given to such men as Madero, Orosco, and Villa in driving Diaz, the greatest ruler Mexico ever had, from his tranquil government to exile, set back for fifty years the advancement that Diaz had given in his twenty-seven years of authority. Until Mexico discovers another such noble man as Diaz, it will never have the tranquil and stable government it had. Some day Mexico will erect a monument to his memory as resplendent as that of Guatemozin or Montezuma. Were it not that our country is now so absorbed in the greater war in Europe, our jingoes might ere this have caused another war of conquest, subjugation and exploitation in Mexico.

I also knew Huerta personally. A graduate of their military academy, an officer of forty years' service in the army, I do not believe it possible that he had guilty knowledge of Madero's murder.

EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF THE WATERS OF THE RIO GRANDE

Because settlements in Colorado and New Mexico appropriated so much water from the Rio Grande in the flood season the river ran dry before it passed through the arid region around El Paso. Thus grapevines and fruit trees perished, and because it was impossible to cultivate vegetables, wheat, corn and other cereals, the settlers on both sides of the river were abandoning the country. In 1888, the city council of El Paso asked me to devise some remedy for their distress.

I recommended the construction of a dam three miles above the city, where the formation in the valley gave ample room for immense water storage. At the council's request I went to Washington and presented a statement of their distress to the Secretary of State.

I saw Mr. Bayard on the 9th of December, and on the 10th, at his request, presented the following communication:

EBBITT HOUSE,
Washington, D. C., December 10, 1888.

SIR: Agreeable to promise at our interview this a.m.,
I have the honor to submit the following general outline of my
projected scheme for an international dam and water storage in
the Rio Grande River, near El Paso, Tex., for the control of the
annual floods and the preservation of the national boundary to
the Gulf, and for other purposes.

The Rio Grande, 1,800 miles long, rises from an unusual number
of tributaries in the very high altitudes of southern Colorado
and northern New Mexico, where the rain and snowfall is
extraordinary, and the ice formed therefrom in the long winter
enormous. As it flows southward the precipitation gradually
decreases for 600 miles, when the Mexican boundary is reached
at El Paso, Tex., where there is neither snow nor ice, and but
8 inches annual rainfall; from thence 1,200 miles south to the
Gulf of Mexico the rainfall is only sufficient to compensate for
the loss by evaporation (which latter is very great), and for
these reasons the river has but few tributaries and no increase
of flow below El Paso.

The annual floods, caused by the melting of snow and ice in the
mountains, take place in May and last for about seventy-five
days, during which period the average flow may be estimated at
200 yards in width by 2 yards in depth, with a velocity of 5
miles per hour, although in recurring periods of about seven
years it is much greater. During the remaining two hundred and
ninety days of the year the average flow is perhaps not over
30 yards wide by 1 yard deep, with the same velocity; and in
the same recurring periods, in the intervals between the high
tides, the river goes dry for months, as it is at this time--or
at least has no current, with not enough water in the pools to
float the fish.

There is at present popular opinion that this want of water
comes from its diversion by the numerous irrigating canals
lately taken out in Colorado and New Mexico, and while it is
problematical what effect this may have, if any, I am of the
opinion that most of this water returns to the stream again,
either through the atmosphere, by evaporation and precipitation,
or by the earth, through overflow and drainage, as from personal
observation I know that these seasons of flood and drought were
of about the same character thirty years ago.

After leaving the mountains the river passes through low valleys
of bottom lands from 1 to 12 miles wide and from 4 to 8 feet
above low-water level, of a light, sandy alluvium formed during
annual overflows by sedimentary deposits from silt, which the
water always carries in a greater or less degree.

In meandering along the Texan bank of the river as a land
surveyor, from the New Mexican line to a point below Fort
Quitman, in 1858, 1859, and 1860, I observed that the deposit
was from one-half inch to 3 inches annually, that during the
floods the bed of the river was constantly changing by erosion
and deposit, and that in regular cycles it shifted from one
of its firm rocky or clay banks to the other, as the deposits
had raised the side of the valley through which it then flowed
above the level of the opposite side. Generally this change
took place slowly, by erosion and deposit of matter entirely in
suspension; but frequently hundreds of acres would be passed
in a single day by a cut-off in a bend of one channel, and
sometimes the bed would suddenly change from one firm bank to
the other, a distance of perhaps 20 miles in length by 6 in
width. For instance, when surveying "El Canutillo," a valley a
short distance above El Paso, the river was moving westward, and
about the middle of the valley, which was some 6 miles wide.
Old Mexicans who had lived in the vicinity informed me that in
1821 the river ran close along the eastern bluff, where its bed
was plainly to be seen, as was also a less plainly outlined bed
along the bluffs on the opposite side, where the river flows
at this date, and gives evidence of returning abruptly to the
eastern bluffs again at the next greatest high tide, to its old
channel along the bed of the track of the Santa Fe Railroad.

In another case, more recent and extensive, in the great valley
below El Paso, some 12 miles in width and 20 miles long, the
river, as was plainly evident at the time I was surveying the
land, had made a sudden change from the bluffs on the eastern or
Texan side to the western or Mexican side of the valley.

Mexicans who had been residents continuously in that vicinity
informed me that this change took place in 1842.

Again, in 1884, in this vicinity, the river swept suddenly
from the Mexican side, crossed the Southern Pacific Railroad,
and destroyed both track and bed for a distance of 15 miles,
stopping traffic for a period of three months and causing the
removal of the road to hills above the valley.

Though these are the most extensive changes that came within
my personal observation, similar ones are being made annually,
from El Paso to the Gulf, which not only prevent the settlement
and development of such of the lands as are sufficiently above
the overflow (were the banks and boundaries secure), but by
reason of the river being the national boundary between the
United States and Mexico for over 1,200 miles, cause fatal
embarrassments to the citizens and officials of both Republics
in fixing boundaries and titles to lands, in preventing
smuggling, collecting customs, and in the legal punishment of
all crimes and misdemeanors committed near the supposed boundary
line, it being easy at almost any point in its great length to
produce evidence sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt in the
minds of the jurors as to which side of the line the arrest was
made or the act committed.

At the last session of Congress the House passed a joint
resolution (No. 112) requesting the President to appoint
a commission, in conjunction with a similar one from the
Republic of Mexico, to consider the matter above referred to.
While surveying these lands in 1858, and prospecting for a
crossing of the Rio Grande for the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific
Railroad, which was then projected--and in fact in course of
construction--I examined the pass about three miles above the
present city of El Paso, and discovered that it had solid rock
bed and walls, the latter but about 400 feet apart, and that
the valley above which came close down to the spur of the Rocky
Mountains which crossed the river and formed the pass was from
4 to 8 miles wide, with a fall of about 4 feet to the mile, so
that it would be an easy matter to build a dam in this pass and
create an immense lake.

The water coming through this pass for ages has deposited at its
lower end a great mass of rocks, over which is formed rapids
with about 12 feet fall, and the aborigines of prehistoric ages
made use of this to carry the water on to the lands below, no
one knows how long ago, but it is known that the Mexicans have
used it for two hundred years under most disadvantageous and
unsatisfactory circumstances.

I have witnessed, each succeeding year, hundreds of Mexicans
piling loose stones on the top of this drift of rocks to raise
the level to that carried away by the floods of the preceding
year; and it has been estimated by a Federal engineer sent from
the City of Mexico, that, had the labor thus expended been
reduced to silver, the dam could have been built of the solid
metal. The difficulty has been and always will be that there is
neither bed rock nor solid earth in the bottom or banks, each
being composed of quicksand.

In other places in the valley temporary willow dams 1 or 2
feet high are made at convenient places, and the water carried
several miles below on to the lands that are above the usual
overflow; but these dams are carried away annually and have to
be rebuilt, and frequently the river bed moves miles away from
the mouth of the ditch or acequia, rendering it useless; but
even if these difficulties in carrying the water from the bed of
the river to the lands are overcome in the usual manner, it is
evident that by reason of a great overflow, say, every seventh
year, and a dry river in a like period, no system of irrigation
for the Rio Grande can prove satisfactory that does not embrace
a grand storage system sufficient both to restrain, to a great
extent, at least, the tidal flow and maintain a constant annual
flow, especially since the great immigration and settlement in
its valley is constantly doubling the demand for water.

Being on leave of absence in the city of El Paso recently,
where I was a citizen before the war, having surveyed the first
plat of the town and being well known to most of its citizens, I
was invited by the city council to submit to it a plan for water
supply and irrigation that would overcome the difficulties above
referred to.

It at once occurred to me that as the Rio Grande was the joint
property of the two nations, and especially as the Mexicans
had used its waters since time when "the memory of man runneth
not to the contrary," that any plan to be acceptable and
satisfactory must be international in character, and the works,
both before and after completion, under the joint federal
control of the two nations, the more so as riparian rights in
this country, so far as regards irrigation, are not well defined
by law, and could be best brought about in this instance by
treaty stipulations between the two countries.

The matter of restraining the tidal flow by storing the water,
and thus protect the constantly changing national boundary,
occurred to me--if it could be introduced into the project--as
likely to secure encouragement and substantial aid in money from
both governments.

And further, that El Paso, being now a city of over 11,000
population, and having every prospect of being a large
manufacturing city at no distant day--there being no place
within 500 miles likely to compete with it--the subject of water
power ought also to enter into the problem, which of necessity
is of such vast proportions as to require all incidental aid
possible to attach to it to insure its success.

It will be apparent, from what has been written, that the Rio
Grande is one of the first magnitude, not only in length and
breadth, but for short annual periods in devastating flow of
waters, and that its general characteristics, as compared with
other rivers with reference to irrigation, are so abnormal as to
require different or more heroic treatment.

I therefore projected a scheme which may be briefly outlined as
follows:

To build a strong dam of stones and cement--say, 60 feet
high--in the pass before referred to, and by submerging about
60,000 acres of land now subject to overflow and of little
comparative value, create a vast lake 15 miles long by 7 wide,
with a probable storage capacity of 4,000,000,000 cubic yards of
water; place gates on each side of the river in the dam at the
50-foot level for waste-weirs and irrigating canals to supply
each side of the river and keep up a flow in its bed which would
bring the water in the canals 70 feet above the streets in the
cities of El Paso and Juarez, respectively.

The gates at the 50-foot level would give an available reserve
of water of 10 feet over the entire surface of the lake--over
2,000,000,000 cubic yards--which would be exhausted during the
long season of little flow for the purposes of irrigation and
other needs, as well as maintaining a constant stream in the
river beds so arranged as to exhaust the reserve about the
period of annual flood, which would be checked and held in
reserve for the next season of little flow, and in this manner
produce a comparatively constant and unvarying flow of water
for each entire year below the dam, redeeming many times the
number of acres submerged above in the lake from overflow below,
and fixing permanently the national boundary, the banks of the
river, as well as the boundaries and titles to private lands,
and making it an easy matter to collect duties and prevent
smuggling, detect crimes and misdemeanors generally, arrest and
punish criminals, as it is along other national boundaries.

The assumed flow given for the 75 days of high-water will give
about 6,500,000,000 cubic yards, and that for the remaining
290 days 1,500,000,000, making an aggregate annual flow of
8,000,000,000 cubic yards. If we allow 2,000,000,000 of this
for loss by evaporation and other wastes, which former in
this dry atmosphere is very great, perhaps 80 inches, we have
6,000,000,000 cubic yards remaining. This should be divided
into three equal parts, one for each side of the river, for
irrigation and other needs, and the third for overflow, through
water motors, to furnish power to the future manufacturing
cities on each side and to maintain a constant flow in the river
below to the Gulf, as would no doubt be demanded by the people
there as their right ere they would permit the scheme to be
carried out.

The 2,000,000,000 cubic yards falling a distance of 50 feet
over the dam, estimating the weight of a cubic yard of water
at 500 pounds, and 1 horse-power the energy required to lift
33,000 pounds 1 foot in a minute, would expend energy equal
to over 10,000 horse-power for 8 hours every day in the year,
and produce a constant stream in the bed of the river 26 yards
wide by 1 foot deep, running with a velocity of 5 miles per
hour, to say nothing of the probability that the greater part
of the other two-thirds would find its way again to the river
bed through the earth and air, the whole flowing in a steady,
continuous stream to the mouth of the river, to be used as
required at any season of the year, instead of, as is now the
case, three-fourths of the entire mass of the annual flow going
rapidly to the Gulf in the short period of 75 days untaxed.

Estimating the amount of water required for annual irrigation
at 20 inches, the water reserved for that purpose would be
sufficient for 100,000 acres on each side of the river--all that
could be reclaimed from the desert for 100 miles below.

To carry out this project I recommended to the people on each
side of the Rio Grande that they petition to the executive
authority of their respective nations for the creation of a
joint commission to draw up the necessary treaty stipulations
to protect the work and the rights of all interested in them,
the fundamental feature of which should certainly be that each
nation should have the right to divert no more than one-third of
the flow at any period, and that one-third of the flow should be
maintained in the bed of the river; and that this international
commission have charge and control of the work after completion
as well as during construction.

That the legislative authorities of the two nations be asked to
appropriate, after complete investigation and estimates have
been made, money sufficient to complete the work, probably
$100,000 for the dam proper, $100,000 for the condemnation of
the 50,000 acres of land to be submerged, and $100,000 for the
removal of some 15 miles of the road-bed of the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe Railroad to bluffs above the old bed of the river,
where the track now lies, subject to annual damage, and sooner
or later total destruction, unless removed.

It will also be apparent that the waters of this great lake will
be clear and fresh, the silt held in suspension in the current
of the river being precipitated as soon as it enters the still
water of the lake, doing away with the great trouble and expense
now necessary in keeping the canals and ditches cleansed of
sedimentary deposits, and a further great benefit derived from
using water reduced in temperature by exposure for months in
a warm climate far below that used in the early spring, which
comes in three days from snow and ice and is immediately applied
to the young and tender sprouting plants, chilling and checking
their growth.

I know of no point in the Rio Grande between Albuquerque and the
Gulf of Mexico where nature has provided both the natural basin
and rim for a lake of such great dimensions, for, indeed, it
can be made 100 feet deep if desired, and it may be questioned
whether a depth of 60 feet, with 10 feet reserve to draw from,
will afford sufficient storage to control perfectly the tide at
its highest flow.

This project was well received by the people and has been
earnestly discussed in the public press of the locality ever
since with general approbation and a disposition to endeavor
to carry it out as quickly as possible. The only question
exciting any general distrust is that the sedimentary deposit
in the lake, it is held by some, will shorten the life of the
reservoir by filling the lake at such an early period as to
render the scheme of doubtful expediency, and opinions differ
very widely upon this subject, which is, indeed, a problematical
one, and can only be determined, even approximately, by actual
measurements of a great majority of the annual flow, for the
quantity of sediment changes with flow and season.

That the bed of the river will eventually be filled, of course,
is only a matter of time, but whether in fifteen or one hundred
and fifty years can only be ascertained by prolonged, actual
measurements; but even if filled in the near future it seems
to me that the difficulty may be overcome by raising the dam,
unless, indeed, that should be required too often.

The matter has already been referred to Major Powell, chief of
the Geological Survey, who has sent Captain Clarence Dutton,
of his Department, to El Paso to investigate and report on the
feasibility of the scheme; but as the initial steps, should it
be pronounced feasible, must come from your Department in the
nature of international treaty stipulations, I have thought it
proper to thus early acquaint you with the grand project.

I beg to refer you to Hon. Mr. Lanham, member of Congress from
Texas, who is acquainted with me personally and my projected
scheme.

ANSON MILLS,
_Major Tenth Cavalry, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel,
United States Army_.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE,
Washington, D. C.

In April, 1888, at the instance of Major Powell, I had received orders from the War Department to report to the commanding officer at Fort Bliss, with instructions to lend whatever aid I could to the Interior Department and its Geological Survey party, investigating the redemption of irrigable lands in the Rio Grande Valley.

Major Powell also wrote, asking me to act as advisory agent of the survey, and to give it my opinions and advice regarding this work, as well as to supervise a gauge station they were to construct for measuring the annual river flow, evaporation, etc.

The Geological Survey was authorized to investigate the feasibility of reclaiming arid lands by dams and water storage. Colonel E. S. Nettleton, of Denver, Colorado, was appointed supervising engineer of the southwestern district, and I was appointed his assistant, as supervising engineer of the district of El Paso, with money to employ engineers and other assistants to make plans and estimates for the proposed international dam at El Paso. With Mr. W. W. Follett, one of the best hydraulic engineers in the United States as my aid, I proceeded to carry out the work as speedily as possible. The Senate Committee on Irrigation, of which Senator Stewart was Chairman, intended to visit El Paso later and examine the location, plans, specifications and estimates, so that, if approved, they could recommend an appropriation to construct it.

While engaged in this investigation an apparently unrelated incident occurred which had a most unfortunate effect upon our labors.

The Secretary of War, Mr. Proctor, ordered me to Fort Selden.

Here an irrigation company, represented by Mr. W. H. H. Llewellyn, held a revocable license to construct a canal through the Selden Reservation. The Mexican citizens, assembled in force with arms, had forbidden the workmen to construct the canal, and I was to make a thorough investigation as to the trouble, and report to the Secretary personally in Washington.

After two days investigation I found the canal company charter authorized them to build their canal through and over the community canals of the settlements along the river, in use for over one hundred years, and compel the Mexican farmers to pay water rent for new canals. The farmers, having prior right to the use of the water, objected.

In Washington, the Secretary proposed a hearing on February 2, 1889, and asked a written report from me, to be read at the meeting, in which I recommended the license be revoked.

Senator Reagan, of Texas, the delegate from New Mexico, Mr. Llewellyn, and many others interested, were present at the meeting. After reading my report and a full hearing of both sides, the Secretary revoked the license and instructed the commanding officer of Selden to remove Llewellyn's workmen from the reservation. Mr. Llewellyn grew violently angry at me, and on my return to the hotel I found the following note:

THE EBBITT HOUSE,
Washington, D. C.,
Feb. 2nd, 1890.
DEAR MAJOR:

I have wired Messrs. Davis and Morehead to have their people
keep out, that if there is no new ditch at Las Cruces there will
be no new dam at El Paso.

W. H. H. LLEWELLYN.

Davis and Morehead advocated the El Paso dam.

When the committee reached El Paso, August 20, 1889, Major Powell, Colonel Nettleton, Mr. Follett and I explained our plans in detail. They and the members from that district and Mr. Lanham, who was much interested in the project, all approved.

Meanwhile the Mexican Government demanded compensation from the United States for the appropriation by American citizens of the waters of the Rio Grande, to which Mexico claimed prior right. A bill was introduced in both Houses of Congress making an appropriation for the construction of the El Paso dam by the United States, provided Mexico relinquished all claims for indemnity in return for half the water to be stored.

This bill was thoroughly discussed in both Houses of Congress during the session of 1889 and 1890, and was apparently satisfactory to all parties concerned, and it was generally supposed that it would pass. On April 26, 1890, having finished the duties required of me, the War Department relieved me and I rejoined my regiment.

When it was evident the United States was committed to building a dam at El Paso and dividing the water with Mexico, Dr. Nathan Boyd, of New Mexico, obtained a charter from New Mexico to build a similar dam at Elephant Butte, one hundred and twenty-five miles above El Paso, with the apparent intention of holding up the waters of the Rio Grande and the United States Government and compelling it to supply water to Mexico through his company. (See Colonel Engledue's address to the stockholders of Boyd's company, p. 343, vol. 2, Boundary Commission Proceedings.)

The Mexican Government protested in 1896, stating that before they could accept their share of the water to be stored by the proposed international dam at El Paso, as indemnity for their loss of water taken out on the upper river, investigations should ascertain whether there would be sufficient water in the Rio Grande to supply both dams. If not, measures should be taken to restrain the projectors of the Elephant Butte dam from using waters to which Mexicans had prior right.

This protest was referred to me by the Secretary of State, who asked my opinion.

I reported that in my opinion that it would be unsafe to rely on a sufficient flow to restore to Mexico the water to which she claimed prior right unless the Elephant Butte corporation could be restrained from the use of such water. Suit was instituted by the Attorney General to enjoin the company. So began a contest which lasted for many years, going three times to the Supreme Court of the United States, before the Elephant Butte Company was permanently enjoined from constructing their dam.

These complications delayed both projects for several years. A protocol, dated May 6, 1896, between the Secretary of State, Richard Olney, and Ambassador Romero, directed F. Javier Osorno and myself, Boundary Commissioners for Mexico and the United States, to continue the investigation and report on the following matters:

First, the amount of Rio Grande water taken by the irrigation canals constructed in the United States.

Second, the average amount of water in the river, year by year, before and since the construction of the irrigation canals.

Third, the most feasible method of so regulating the river as to secure to each country and its inhabitants their legal and equitable rights and interests in said water.

Captain George McC. Derby, U. S. Engineers, was ordered to report to me, and Señor Don J. Ramon de Ibarrola, engineer on the part of Mexico, was ordered to report to Mr. Osorno.

The Commission worked diligently on this investigation until November 25, 1896, when it reported its opinion that the most feasible means of attaining the ends desired was to construct the dam and reservoir projected by Mr. Follett and myself under the investigations made by the Geological Survey, provided Mexico could be protected in some way which would prevent the taking from the Rio Grande by dams and water storage of water to which she had prior right. I was authorized by the Secretary of State to formulate with Ambassador Romero a draft of a treaty to that effect, which we accomplished, submitting copies to the Secretaries of State of both nations.

The two nations were willing to consummate the proposed treaty. Congress appeared to be ready to appropriate the necessary money but, again, the unexpected happened. Making violent charges against me to the Secretary of State, Dr. Boyd demanded that President McKinley dismiss me from the Boundary Commission or he would defeat his re-election by his control of two or three western States; and threatened to horsewhip Secretary Hay if he did not do his bidding. Mr. Wilkie, of the Secret Service, reported Dr. Boyd to be a dangerous man, so he was denied further personal conferences in the State Department. (I knew nothing of this for years afterwards.) Boyd then strove to influence Roosevelt (who had become President) against me and the international dam. Mr. Roosevelt, without consulting the Commission having the project in charge, placed it in the hands of Mr. Newell, of the Reclamation Service, with directions to build the dam at Elephant Butte. After some delay another treaty with Mexico (concerning which I, though still Mexican Boundary Commissioner, was not consulted), was effected for building the dam at Elephant Butte. By the terms of this treaty Mexico is to receive a share of the water to be stored by the dam and relinquishes all claims for indemnity for the diversion of the waters of the upper Rio Grande by American citizens.

As Llewellyn threatened, there never was a "new dam at El Paso," largely owing to himself and Boyd. After twelve years, at a cost nearly four times as great as estimated for the international dam at El Paso, the Elephant Butte dam is complete; but it is doubtful whether it will ever be of any great benefit to the valleys near El Paso because of the great distance over which the water has to be carried through arid wastes. Full details may be found in my published reports under the head of "Equitable Distributions of the Waters of the Rio Grande, Vol. 2."

JACOBO BLANCO.
F. BELTRAN Y PUGA.

(Text, 300.)]

CUNNINGHAM, HAPPER, MAILLEFERT,
CUELLAR, DABNEY, MILLS, OSORNO,
CORELLA.]

BOUNDARY COMMISSION

I have already explained how this Commission came to be formed and how I was appointed and entered upon the duties as sole Commissioner on the part of the United States (Text, 207). I have also explained the relation of the Commission to the international dam for the equitable distribution of the waters of the Rio Grande, the subsequent Commission by protocol of Commissioner Osorno and myself for the same purpose (Text, 263), and the later Commission for the equitable distribution (Text, 273).

The duty of the International Boundary Commission, briefly stated, is to apply the principles agreed upon by the two governments in the boundary treaties to the varying conditions caused by the kaleidoscopic changes in the current of the Rio Grande.

The boundary treaties of 1848 and 1853 make "the middle of" the Rio Grande the boundary, while the treaty of 1884 provides that the boundary shall "follow the center of the normal channel * * * notwithstanding any alterations in the banks or in the course" of the river "provided that such alterations be effected by natural causes through the slow and gradual erosion and deposit of alluvium and not by the abandonment of an existing river bed and the opening of a new one." Article II of this same treaty provides that "any other change, wrought by the force of the current, whether by the cutting of a new bed or when there is more than one channel by the deepening of another channel * * * shall produce no change in the dividing line."

The treaty of 1889, which established the International Boundary Commission, provides that "when owing to natural causes, any change shall take place in the bed of the Rio Grande * * * which may affect the boundary line, notice of that fact shall be given by the proper local authorities * * * on receiving which notice it shall be the duty of the said Commission to repair to the place where the change has taken place or the question has arisen, to make a personal examination of such change, to compare it with the bed of the river as it was before the change took place, as shown by the surveys, and to decide whether it has occurred through avulsion or erosion for the effects of Articles I and II of the convention of November 12, 1884."

The Commission was organized January 8, 1894, in the office of the Mexican Consul, in El Paso, as follows:

On the part of Mexico:

Jose M. Canalizo, Commissioner
Lieut. Col. E. Corella, Consulting Engineer
Salvador F. Maillefert, Secretary

On the part of the United States:

Col. Anson Mills, Commissioner
Frank B. Dabney, Consulting Engineer
John A. Happer, Secretary

The Commission recommended rules for its future government, which were approved by the Secretaries of State of both governments. Before we completed the first case referred to us, Commissioner Canalizo died, and F. Javier Osorno was appointed as his successor.

September 28, 1894, the full Commission again met at El Paso and proceeded to an examination upon the ground of the cases of Banco de Camargo, Banco de Vela, Banco de Santa Margarita and Banco de Granjeno.

These so-called bancos were formed by a combination of "slow and gradual erosion" coupled with "avulsion" in the following manner: Where the river passes through low alluvial bottoms with banks of fragile consistency and slight fall the channel continually changes from right to left, eroding the concave bank and depositing on the convex. This occurs in low as well as high water, though the changes are more marked during high water stages. These erosions are greatest where the water in a tangent from a curve strikes the bank at an acute angle, ceasing when the angle becomes so obtuse that the water is readily deflected by the consistency of the bank. When the curve forms a circle the radius of which is dependent on the consistency of the earth and the volume and velocity of the water, erosions practically cease and the river turns upon itself in a circle and forms a "cut-off," leaving the land thus separated (called a banco) somewhat in the form of a pear or gourd, with the stem cut by the river's current at the moment of separation. (See cut of the double Banco de Santa Margarita. Proceedings Boundary Commission, Vol. I, p. 191.)

In many cases through ensuing changes in the channel an American or Mexican banco would be entirely cut off even from the river and wholly surrounded by land within the jurisdiction of the other country.

The origin of these bancos was so different from our expectations that both the Mexican Commissioner and I, after deliberate consideration, concluded that their process of formation, their form and constantly changing character, could not have been contemplated by the conventions creating the treaties of 1884 and 1889. We both suggested to our governments the reconsideration of Articles I and II of the treaty of 1884, as far as they related to these bancos, to the end that provision might be made for transferring all such bancos to the sovereignty of the United States or Mexico according as they lay on the American or Mexican side of the present river channel, without disturbing the private ownership as it might be ascertained.

This treaty was negotiated and ratified in 1905 and has since then worked to the satisfaction of both governments and resulted in the "elimination" of perhaps 75 of these bancos and the maintenance of the international boundary line in the center of the running river.

Some of the difficulties under which the Commission did much of its work on the lower Rio Grande will appear from the following incident which occurred while the Commission was considering the case of the Banco de Granjeno, near Havana.

The day before the Congressional elections in Texas the Mexican Commissioner joined our camp on the river. Coming by carriage through Havana, he observed a procession of grotesquely clad Americans and Mexicans carrying a flag and beating drums. Mr. Osorno's first experience with United States election methods, the several hundred people in the little town of not more than 20 or 30 inhabitants excited his curiosity as to where all these people had come from. As Reynoca was a large city on the Mexican side, he suspected that many of them were from Mexico. A portly Mexican, much resembling Sancho Panza and clad very much after his style, carried the flag.

The Joint Commission had summoned nine witnesses to appear at our camp the next day at 9 o'clock and testify in the case. But the witnesses did not appear.

Two hours later a messenger from the village stated the witnesses were indisposed from the excitement of the night previous and would not be over until later in the afternoon. At 4 o'clock we observed a party headed by this identical flag-bearer. Not speaking English, he addressed himself to Mr. Osorno, stating that he had been summoned as a witness.

The Commission Regulations prescribe that the witnesses shall be sworn by the Commissioner representing the country of which the witness is a citizen. Asked to state his country, the flag-bearer said he was a Mexican citizen. Mr. Osorno looked astonished.

"Then, you a Mexican citizen?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," answered Sancho Panza.

"Did not I see you at Havana in Texas, yesterday, carrying an American flag?"

"Oh, yes, sir."

"How does it come that you would carry an American flag in Texas if you are a Mexican citizen?"

"Oh, it was election time."

"Election time," said Mr. Osorno; "what have you to do with elections in Texas?"

"Oh, we all go over there for elections!"

Understanding the habits of the frontier people better than Mr. Osorno, I suggested asking if he had voted. Rather reluctantly Mr. Osorno said:

"Did you vote in Texas?"

"Oh, yes, sir."

"Well, how can you be a Mexican citizen if you vote in Texas?"

"Oh," said Sancho, "if you don't believe I am a Mexican citizen I will show you a certificate of my consul!" pulling out a paper signed by the Mexican Secretary of the Boundary Commission, formerly Mexican Consul at Brownsville, certifying he was a Mexican citizen.

Though Mr. Osorno was a lawyer and well versed in international law and custom, he was much perplexed but finally administered the oath. During the course of the examination of the other nine witnesses examined we found six claimed to be Mexican citizens though admitting they had voted in Texas the day before, which explained the fact that although the registered voters in that county numbered but 650, the Democratic majority footed up over 1,200!

The population along this part of the river, on both sides, speak Spanish almost exclusively, and their habits, sympathies, and general characteristics are entirely Mexican. The people are the poorest and least progressive of any I have ever seen, except the North American Indians. The extreme drought for the seven preceding years had made them poorer than for generations, and their numbers were less than for the past hundred years. Most of our witnesses were unable to tell their ages, or where they had lived during particular years. Most claimed citizenship in Mexico, but voting rights in the United States.

The jurisdiction of the Commission included a great variety of cases involving questions as to location of the boundary lines as affected by changes in the channel of the river, "elimination" of the bancos, unduly projecting jetties or other obstructions in the channel of the Rio Grande, marking of international bridges, question of artificial cut-offs in the river channel, etc., etc.

The nature of the Commission's work can perhaps best be explained by treating two important and typical cases in some detail.

The Horcon Ranch case grew out of an artificial cut-off of the river channel. The Rio Grande at the Horcon Ranch near Brownsville, Texas, formed two loops. (Cut, 288.)

The natural course of the water appeared to be about to form a cut-off at A, whereby the upper loop would have been eliminated. The result would have been to deprive the American riparian proprietors on the upper loop of the water they had theretofore enjoyed for irrigation.

Among these was the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company, which had a large pumping station at B, on the upper loop. To counteract the threatened danger the American proprietors, after vainly striving for months to prevent the cut-off at A by defensive works, dug an artificial channel at C, across the neck of the lower loop, straightening the river, relieving the pressure at A and averting the threatened disaster to the company's pumping station. This deprived Mexican riparian proprietors, on the lower loop, of the water they had been accustomed to use and to which they were entitled. The boundary treaties expressly forbid such artificial cut-offs and provide that they shall not affect the international boundary.

The Mexican Government brought the case to the Commission, which promptly held the cut-off a clear violation of the treaty. Not feeling clear as to its power to take the necessary remedial measures, the Commission reported its findings to the two governments and asked for instructions. The American State Department approved the findings, but thought the Commission had fully discharged its duty, and that subsequent proceedings should be taken in the ordinary courts. It asked the Department of Justice for an opinion. The Attorney General concurred in these views and at the instance of the State Department brought a suit in equity in the name of the United States against the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company, asking a mandatory injunction to compel the defendant company to restore the river to its original channel, or, as an alternative, for the conveyance of land in the upper loop owned by the company to the Mexican riparian proprietors so they might have a river frontage, together with the payment of compensatory damages to these proprietors and both compensatory and punitive damages to the United States.

The President of the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company, Mr. Edward C. Eliot, of St. Louis, and its general counsel, Mr. Duvall West, now a Federal District Judge, were men of the highest type. When the matter was brought to their attention they recognized the correctness of the position of the government. By agreement between the representatives of the Government and these gentlemen, the company admitted the cause of action and the truth of the material allegations in the government's bill, and submitted to the alternative relief prayed. An order was accordingly entered by the court which not only adjusted the matter to the satisfaction of the Mexican Government and the Mexican citizens interested, but brought home to the people of both countries along the river the intention and power of the two governments to live up to their treaty obligations. (For full particulars see the pamphlet published by the Boundary Commission, which gives all the important papers in the case, including the proceedings both before the Boundary Commission and before the Federal court.)

Further to illustrate the work of the Commission, I call attention to Chamizal case at El Paso, Texas. The Chamizal tract is a body of land of some 600 acres south of the channel of the Rio Grande as it ran when surveyed by Emory and Salazar in 1853 and north of the present river channel. In 1894 the Chamizal case was referred by the Mexican Foreign Office to the Commission on the complaint of one Garcia, a Mexican citizen, who claimed to own land in the Chamizal tract which had been cut off from his holdings on the Mexican side by the change in the course of the river.

The question at issue, under the provisions of the boundary treaties, as formulated by the American Commissioner and accepted by the Mexican Commissioner at the session of the Commission on November 6, 1895, was "whether or not the river in its passage moved over the land by gradual erosion from the Mexican bank and deposited on the United States bank, as described in Article I of the treaty of 1884, or by sudden avulsion, by cutting a new bed or deepening another channel than that which marked the boundary."