Notes and Correspondence. 



323 



to restrict the meaning to the mere interest of the public in the 

 park as such, it surely would have used specific words to show 

 that intent. At the time the act was passed there was no authority 

 of law for the granting of privileges of this character in the 

 Yosemite National Park. Congress recognized the interest of 

 the public in the utihzation of the great water resources of the 

 park and specifically gave power to the Secretary of the Interior 

 to permit such use. The proviso was evidently added merely as 

 a reminder that he should weigh well the public interest both in 

 and out of the park before making his decision. 



The present water supply of the city of San Francisco is both 

 inadequate and unsatisfactory. This fact has been known for a 

 number of years and has led to a very extensive consideration 

 of the various possible sources of supply. The search for water 

 for the city has been prosecuted from two diametrically opposite 

 points of view. On the one side the water companies, interested 

 in supplying the city with water for their own profit, have taken 

 advantage of the long delay since it was first proposed to bring 

 water from the Yosemite to San Francisco to look up and get 

 control, so far as they could, of the available sources in order 

 to sell them to the city. On the other hand both the National 

 Government and the city of San Francisco have made careful 

 study of the possible sources of supply for the city. Four or 

 five years ago the Hydrographic Branch of the Geological Sur- 

 vey, after a careful examination b> engineers of character and 

 ability, reached the conclusion that the Tuolumne River offered 

 a desirable and available supply for the city. The same con- 

 clusion was reached by the engineers of the city of San Fran- 

 cisco after years of exhaustive investigation. 



I appreciate keenly the interest of the public in preserving the 

 natural wonders of the park and am unwilling that the Hetch 

 Hetchy Valley site should be developed until the needs of the 

 city are greater than can be supplied from the Lake Eleanor site 

 when developed to its full capacity. Domestic use, however, 

 especially for a municipal supply, is the highest use to which water 

 and available storage basins therefor can be put. Recognizing 

 this, the city has expressed a wilhngness to regard the public 

 interest in the Hetch Hetchy Valley and defer its use as long 

 as possible. 



The next great use of water and water resources is irrigation. 

 There are in the San Joaquin Valley two large irrigation dis- 

 tricts, the Turlock and Modesto, which have already appropriated 

 under State law 2,350 second feet of the normal flow of water 

 through Lake Eleanor and Hetch Hetchy. The representatives 

 of these districts protested strongly against the granting of the 

 permit to San Francisco, being fearful that the future complete 

 development of these irrigation communities would be materially 

 hampered by the city's use of water. After repeated conferences, 

 however, with the representatives of these irrigation districts I 

 believe their rights can be fully safeguarded, provided certain 

 definite stipulations to protect the irrigators are entered into by 

 the city. Fortunately the city can agree to this, and the interest 

 of the two users will not conflict. On the contrary, the city 

 in developing its water supply will, to a considerable extent, help 

 the irrigation districts in their further development. 



