The Bay section is the largest urban section in California and is doing more business than any other. Its growth is rapid. San Francisco is coming into control of all her municipal utilities. The four great cities on the Bay are one in interest. They will before long probably be one in municipal government. This water power will be of tremendous commercial advantage to these cities. To desire to obtain this water power, is not sordid commercialism or base greed on the part of this section. It is an endeavor to make use of the beneficial forces of nature. It is evidence of a high state of advanced civilization. It is a manifestation of enlightened government. It is fitting and highly proper. It is a cause for praise to this city and the lesser municipalities, not for recrimination and abuse.
That the lake in Hetch-Hetchy will not add to the attractiveness of the beautiful valley is undetermined. Opinions are divided. The lake and its accessories will be the means of bringing thousands to a spot hitherto secluded, isolated and, to many, inaccessible. The highest beneficial use of nature to civilization is conservation. Were nature allowed to rest, grand and gloomy, the tall forests and virgin prairie still would lie between Plymouth Rock and the Golden Gate. The march of civilization may still go on and adopt unto itself the high forces of nature in an age of mighty progress and development, and still usually leave “for him who, in the love of nature, holds communion with her visible forms,” the tall cliff, the high waterfall, the grassy flower-strewn valley, and here and there the virgin forest.
It is easy for the sensitive, the fanciful, and the one of moods and tenses to make themselves believe that an infringement upon what they regard as proper is an outrage upon decency, and an indication that the sordid and mercenary are prevailing, and that unless all of the good and true shall rally to the defense the last bulwarks of decency will be stormed and the citadel of high purpose, noble resolve and immaculate life will be forever lost to a ruthless commercialized greed. The forces of darkness and of distortion are not in overwhelming numbers marching down the pike.
This bill is not an indication that the grisly hand of avarice and the cold hand of ambition are seizing hold of the sacred and inviolate. San Francisco may obtain this water, as good as any in the world, and sufficient for her thousands to come for the next 100 years. She may thereby obtain such water power as during the same time will cause all the wheels of industry on her great Bay to whirl and to whirr. Yet the Yosemite National Park in the entire and Hetch-Hetchy in particular will remain, visited by more than ever before, a thing of beauty and a joy unto the ages yet to be.—San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 18, 1914.