My Problem with the Cap Tony Magana 1203521353 To The Honorable Lyndon B Johnson: Hello Mr.

President my name is Thomas Whitley. I supported you as the leader of our country after Kennedy was assassinated but I gave my presidential vote to Goldwater mainly for his views on minimizing the role of government and of unnecessary legislation although it was quickly obvious to most Republicans that we were on the losing side of the election. After the conspiratorial death of Kennedy you were a beacon of stability and an unwavering pillar of support for America and most of the Republics Democratic ideals. The Latter Day Saints value the ideals of this country and are proud to be purporting evedince in the divine mandate of Manifest Destiny. In fact with the help of the Anglo territories from Phoenix to Snowflake the Latter Day Saints made our Arizona counties what they are today I am writing you this letter today because of a number of grievances my community of farming families and I have with the Central Arizona Project. I love being an American but I have to say, and as an American I have the right to say, there is something fundamentally flawed in the western US concerning the way we waste all the sparse resources around us today to better facilitate the economic future of a city or a town that may just disappear again into the dry arid desert before anyone is aware of the catastrophic loss. The entire landscape of the areas that once sustained us would become the truly God forsaken lands of myth told about the arid wasteland once called the western Frontier without any trace of the resources that gave its once small community the ability to survive under the hot desert Sun. While our city becomes more and more populated with experiences unpleasant to every one of the five senses politicians hear

only the words that praise their wise decisions in the midst of such industrial progress. They hear not the voices that plead for common sense planning and development in the middle if a hostile and inhospitable environment. The costly side of expansion in the desert is one that will take its toll on the land, the citizens, the resources, and all social cohesive aspects necessary to the survival of the communities. Look at what happens when these methods of expansion are employed. Did Rome survive? Is the literal Babylon still watering the hanging gardens? No to the Prophet Joseph Smith once the balance of nature was upset it was Hell for the entire community LDS or gentile. at the moment due to the impending Central Arizona Project. The Central Arizona Project may seem like a good idea but it will leave our community plagued with complications. Central Arizona Project is not a good idea but before I can give the reasons this project will inevitably end in the over-utilization and eventual complete consumption of the Wests seemingly abundant but entirely limited water resources I must express the internal component that fuels my communities recent discontent with the hydroelectric dam and the accompanying water relocation system. Arizona is not only our home it is Gods gift to our very pious and loving faith. When god decided to forsake the Indian with dispossession, disease, death and the daunting intellect and might of the white man, He blessed the Latter Day Saints with new and moderately livable land in the Western frontier. Sgift complexity of the it is necessary to inform you of my roots to the Arizona Frontier. I currently reside in Tempe but my family owns land in Snowflake Arizona as well. My grandfather was a good friend of Estrus Snow and William Flake.

My grandfather John Whitley was a part of the Mormon community known as the United Order. The United Order was most prominent during the end of the nineteenth century in the Little Colorado region. Times were tough for my grandfather his wives and there eleven children. From what my grandfather said nobody really owned anything in the United Order. It was truly an experiment in communal living (A History 194.). My grandfather taught me a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of communal living. John eventually became disgusted with life in the United Order and decided to leave with William Flake, Estrus Snow and all their wives and children in search of a better life (A History 195.) My Grandfather eventually settled in Snowflake and was given one city plot and two farm plots the same as everybody else in the community (A History 194.) My grandfather told me this was a perfect amount of land for a small group of people. Luckily the community of Snowflake is still maintainable because of its small size. My father John Jr. eventually left the community of Snowflake to escape violence at the hands of gentiles (A History 194.) Eventually he made his way to Tempe which is where I live today. When my father John Jr. first arrived in the Phoenix Metro area the land was undergoing a massive drought (The Big 163.) In fact from the mid 1890s to about 1905 our community went from 128,000 acres to 97,000 acres of irrigable land. As a result of the drought farmers lost a quarter of all irrigable land. This sent my mother and father into a deep depression for a long time. My father boasted about that the National Reclamation Act of 1902. He claimed it was one of the best things to ever happen to our community of farmers (SRP.) President Theodore

Roosevelt saw how much farmers in Arizona needed a sustainable source of water and did his best to ensure that funds were properly appropriated for that reason. The Roosevelt Dam was godsend to our people. The Dam gave our community the peace of mind necessary to continue farming. The boom our economy felt during and after World War 1 is something we still cant thank the government enough for implementing. We know that Arizona would not be the thriving metropolitan city it is today without the help of dams and hydroelectricity (The Big 166.) All the farmers in the Salt River Valley Waters Association eventually paid for the Salt River Project (The Big 166.) The whole community of the Salt River Valley Water Users Association gathered behind lobbyists to help bring the Central Arizona Project into fruition and now that it is almost here we realize the folly of our ways. Although we pushed the Federal Reclamation Service to help us through this time of uncertainty we now realize that the Central Arizona Project may do a disservice to our community. We dont mean to sound ungrateful but our community has been made privy to all kinds of information that has changed our mind about the Central Arizona Project. Economists say we cannot afford the water that will come from the hydraulic canal (The Big 163.) If we are unable to pay for the water that we use what good is it to us? I dont mean to sound offensive but what is the point in having a system of water that someone else owns? If farmers dont have the capability to payback the project than the project will never be successful. We use a very simple system of logic which dictates that if a person cannot pay something back they should never borrow it in the first place. I can see a future where people are arguing over

water rights because of the Central Arizona Project. If my community cannot payback their share of the water I foresee us fighting over the water as well. Another problem is that the Central Arizona Project may bring Mexicans and others. We have seen this problem perpetuated in other areas. As soon as word gets out that a project of this magnitude is under construction you can expect to see the worst of every race coming into Arizona trying to earn money while they bring down our quality of living. The community of Mormons I represent do not want to see our lovely white piece of desert infiltrated with colored people of any variety (Environmental.) I have lived in Tempe all my life and I would hate to see the region lose its luster simply because some Mexican lives nearby while he is working on digging ditches for the Central Arizona Project. Most important reason why my community and I feel that the Central Arizona Project is not a good idea has to do with the work of John Wesley Powell. John Wesley Powell spent his entire life studying various Mormon communities trying to understand how a fruitful farming community could be maintained and work successfully in the desert (Cadillac.) Powell was friends with my great grandfather Daniel Whitley for a time. Powell studied and surveyed much of the western United States while searching for the best way to maintain a community out in the desert (Cadillac.) Unfortunately we do not quite fit the mold of a sustainable community set forth by Powell. Powell said that the only way an agricultural community could thrive in the desert was to keep the community small and tight-knit (Cadillac.) People have to watch out for each other. As sure as I am writing you this letter today I can say that our community here in Arizona watches out

for each other. We make sure that no one is lacking and if one mans crops suffer from drought the entire community will help with whatever they can get together. Powell also said that a community can only survive if they adhere to the restrictions set forth by their own resources (Cadillac.) I feel this is what surely will spell doom for my community. We have been finding new and inventive ways to manipulate the water resources around us. The Salt River Project is prime example of mans ability to manipulate the resources around him. The Salt River Project brought Arizona a huge boon in cotton and helped make Arizona one of the best places to live in today (The Big 163.) At what point do we say enough is enough? It seems that for everything we have gained we have also lost a lot. We have to come up with new and monetarily ever increasing ways to battle the war for water against our state. It seems as though there might have been something to what John Wesley Powell was trying to tell us. John Wesley Powell stated that if you try and bring in water from an outside source you will eventually run out of water from that source as well (Cadillac.) It seems this may be a true precursor of what will eventually befall our community. If we take so much water from the Colorado River to help agriculture what will we do once the Colorado River dries up? Eventually we will syphon out all the resources from this planet and what will we do when there is nothing left to pilfer from the Earth? I think John Wesley Powell was well aware of this fact. It seems that Powell was trying to warn western America. Powell would go before congress and tell them that their acquisition of resources would have dire consequences in the future (Cadillac). Congress would not listen, maybe we should pay more attention to Powell and the information he spent his life researching.

The reason why I contacted you today Mr. President is because I feel that my community is facing a problem likened to no other. If the Central Arizona Project is allowed to continue this could mean certain doom for my community, myself included. Our livelihood in this community depends on our ability to farm and to maintain an independent living gained from agriculture. If either of these two factors is taken away from us it will surely be a regressive experience for all parties involved. Can you imagine your neighborhood full of Mexicans without any water to farm of even drink? It would be a society full of the worst despotism imaginable. A society filled with poverty, greed and a huge immigration crisis. Every night when I close my eyes I am flooded with visions of Mexicans in my neighborhood begging for work. I beg you Mr. President please dont let that happen!

Bibliography B. Bolin Environmental Justice Studies in the Phoenix Metro Area M. Reisner, (1993) Cadillac Desert. New York: Penguin.

T. Sheridan (1995) Arizona: A History. Tucson: University of Arizona Press (187-203)

The Big Canal The Political Ecology of the Central Arizona Project. Sheridan T. Sheridan (1995) Arizona: A History. Tucson: University of Arizona Press

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