Water and Power
for
San Francisco
from
Hetch-Hetchy Valley
in
Yosemite National Park
by
MARTIN S. VILAS, A. M.,
Member of the
Bars of California, Vermont and Washington.
Copyrighted 1915 by
Martin Samuel Vilas
UNSOLICITED STATEMENTS
Of U. S. Senator Elect and Ex-Mayor Phelan,
Congressman Raker and San Francisco
Officials as to this Article
Washington, D. C., March 14, 1914.
I can assure you that your clean, clear presentation of the matter was admirable and much appreciated.
John E. Raker.
(Member of Congress from California and author of the Raker Bill).
San Francisco, Cal., February 4, 1914.
I think it was a valuable contribution to the data on that subject and indicates a considerable study upon your part.
Andrew J. Gallagher.
(Member of Board of Supervisors, City of San Francisco).
San Francisco, Cal., February 2, 1914.
I read your article in the Chronicle on Hetch Hetchy and want to compliment you on the thoroughness with which you handled the subject.
J. S. Dunnigan.
(Clerk, Board of Supervisors, City of San Francisco).
San Francisco, Cal., January 29, 1914.
I ... feel that you are entitled to considerable praise for the concise and clear manner in which you have covered a very comprehensive subject.
Wm. McCarthy.
(Member of Board of Supervisors, City of San Francisco).
San Francisco, Cal., January 29, 1914.
I read with much interest and satisfaction your very comprehensive and accurate article on the Hetch-Hetchy.
James D. Phelan.
(Ex-Mayor of San Francisco and U. S. Senator elect from California).
San Francisco, Cal., January 26, 1914.
I beg to compliment you on the clearness and conciseness with which you have stated many of the controversial points involved in same. I have had so much of it in the past year and I had to take up so many angles of the conflict that your resumé is decidedly refreshing.
M. M. O’Shaughnessy.
(City Engineer, City of San Francisco).
San Francisco, Cal., January 29, 1914.
... I beg to say to you in person what I long since wrote to the editor of the Chronicle. I stated to him that the article was a very valuable contribution to the literature on the Hetch-Hetchy subject, and was the best general exposition of the case that I had read in any newspaper and that, furthermore, the article was practically free from error. I have long since added it to my scrap book.
Alexander T. Vogelsang.
(Member of Board of Supervisors, City of San Francisco, and member of law firm of Vogelsang & Brown).
San Francisco, Cal., February 6, 1914.
I consider it the best resumé of the Hetch-Hetchy scheme that has been written. I sent to the Chronicle for ten more copies after reading it in order that I might use it in the future.
I trust that the article will have a very wide circulation, for it cannot but help convince every fair minded individual not only that San Francisco’s application for rights has not been hastily considered but fair play demanded the grant.
Speaking for myself, I thank you very much for your kindly interest in the matter and for your very careful and comprehensive article.
Percy V. Long.
(City Attorney of the City of San Francisco).
Hon. James D. Phelan, Ex-Mayor of San Francisco and U. S. Senator from California.
One of the men most conspicuous in obtaining water and power for San Francisco from Hetch Hetchy Valley.
Hon. James Rolph, Jr., Mayor of San Francisco, Cal.
One of the men most conspicuous in obtaining water and power for San Francisco from Hetch Hetchy Valley.
HOW THE RAKER BILL AFFECTS YOSEMITE
NATIONAL PARK, SAN FRANCISCO,
AND THE REST OF
CALIFORNIA
Facts Regarding Mountain Supply
History of City’s Fight for Pure and Adequate Water
BENEFITS TO BE DERIVED
Bay Counties and Irrigation Districts Provided for In National Grant
By MARTIN S. VILAS
The Raker Bill, named for John E. Raker of Modoc county, Cal., a member of Congress, was reported unanimously by the House Committee on the Public Lands at the special session of Congress in the summer of 1913, after a hearing occupying several days, and under its recommendation passed the House. This bill was reported favorably by the Senate Committee on the Public Lands, and, after a hard fought contest, occupying a week on the floor of the Senate, passed that body December 6th, 1913, by a vote of 43 to 25. It received the approval of President Wilson and became a law on December 19, 1913.
The enactment of this bill ended a continuous effort on the part of San Francisco, covering a period of many years, to obtain the legal right to take water from Hetch-Hetchy. It marked the end of a contest, spirited and hard fought, which was participated in by the magazines and press the country over, and in which the great majority of publications outside of California opposed the plan of San Francisco.
As this legislation affords legal opportunity for a water project primarily for domestic use, which is in itself a signal and notable work of engineering; as it affects vitally and strongly the irrigation interests of a state having a length of about 775 miles and a land surface greater than the combined areas of the six New England States, of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Ohio—a State which James Bryce characterized as an empire within itself; as it gives a State a very important easement, likely to be enduring, in a national park sharing alone with the great Yellowstone National Park in distinctiveness and notoriety; as it is designed to provide the legal means of furnishing water and much power for the next 100 years for a rapidly growing metropolitan section, now more numerously peopled than any other west of Chicago, the Raker Bill and its accessories are of national interest.
For the foregoing reasons inquiry is made:
First—What is Hetch-Hetchy, and what, if any, are the present holdings and interests of San Francisco in the Yosemite National Park?
Second—What is the Raker Bill?
Third—What will be the operative effects of the Raker Bill on San Francisco and the rest of California outside the Yosemite National Park?
Fourth—What will be the operative effects of the Raker Bill on the Yosemite National Park?