434 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 5 



for this latter dam is now expected to be within 1 or 2 percent of 

 the actual expenditure. 



Congress was petitioned by Secretary Work to commence con- 

 struction of the high dam, but several years of legislative disputes, 

 both State and National, intervened before the Swing-Johnson bill 

 became the Boulder Canyon Project Act (ch. 42, 45 Stat. 1057) and 

 was signed by President Coolidge on December 21, 1928. Important 

 qualifications in the act were: 



1. The purposes of the construction were flood control, improvement of 

 navigation, and storage and delivery of water for irrigation and domestic 

 uses. 



2. Appropriations were to be made not to exceed $165,000,000, of which 

 amount $126,500,000 were allotted to the dam and power plant, and $38,500,000 

 for the AU-American Canal to the Imperial Valley. 



3. No appropriations were to be made until contracts for power were signed, 

 providing for repayment within 50 years of all charges, and interest, for 

 construction of the dam and power plant. 



4. Expenditures for building the All- American Canal were to be repaid by 

 the landowners on a prorated basis of the acres of land receiving water. 



5. All of the seven States of the Colorado River Basin were required to 

 ratify tlie Colorado River compact, or, if this were not done in 6 months, the 

 compact was to be ratified by California and five other States, before con- 

 struction could proceed. 



6. California was to agree that the use of water iu that State from the 

 Colorado River should not exceed 4,400,000 acre-feet, plus not more than one- 

 half of any excess water unapportioned by the compact. 



Conferences were called by Secretary of Interior Eay Lyman 

 Wilbur with all parties interested in obtaining electric power from 

 the power plant, and as a result, contracts were signed with the 

 city of Los Angeles, Southern California Edison Co., and the Met- 

 ropolitan Water District of Southern California, whereby all con- 

 struction charges, and interest, would be repaid within a period of 

 50 years after the first power was generated. Allocations of firm 

 power were : 



Percent 



State of Arizona 18 



State of Nevada 18 



Metropolitan Water District 36 



Smaller municipalities 6 



City of Los Angeles 13 



Southern California Edison Co 9 



All secondary energy was allocated to the Metropolitan Water 

 District. Firm power available throughout the year was to be sold 

 to the contractors at generator voltage for $0.00163 per kilowatt- 

 hour and secondary power, available when reservoir conditions per- 

 mitted, at $0.0005 per kilowatt-hour. 



All State legislatures, except Arizona, ratified the Colorado River 

 compact, and on July 3, 1930, President Hoover signed the second 



