Creator
Percy V. Long
Recipient
Walter L. Fisher
Transcription
(COPY)CITY ATTORNEYSan FranciscoJanuary 20th, 1913Hon. Walter L. Fisher,Secretary of the Interior.Washington D. C.Sir:-Mr. Maruden Hanson, City Engineer of this City, has handed as a copy of your letter to him of January 5th in which you request the City of San Francisco to indicate the matters it desires to present to you (other than these of an engineering sharneter) with regard to the pending order to show cause why the permit for the use of the Heteh Hatehy Valley as a reservoir should not be revoked, and the manner in which the City desires to present such facts. You also inquire in your letter as to the submission of reports on specific aeureos of water supply new under investigation, I understand from Mr. Hanson that he has replied to the latter portion of your letter and has advised you that a number of such reports have been submitted to the Board of Engineers since your letter was written.The City of San Francisco has engaged Mr. John R. Freeman of Providence, Rhode Island, as Consulting Engineer in this entire matter. Mr. Freeman has requested me to obtain and submit to him certain data upon the correlated engineering and legal problems involved, which he desires to use as an aid in enabling him to rench06314
-8-his Own conclusions,Several engineers and their employees have been engaged in obtaining and compiling this data for several months past and it is expected that it will all be completed before the end of the present month, at which time I expect to forward the name to Mr. Freeman and it will doubtless be submitted by him to the Board of Engineers shortly thereafter. The City expects to be governed by Mr. Freeman's conclusions and judgement as to the presentation of this enss in response to the order to show cause. Replying to the other inquiries contained in your letter, which have been referred to me by Mr. Manson, permit me to statesThe considerations, to which reference was made at the bearing before the Board of Engineers and upon which the City desires to introduce evidence, are, in general, as follows:1. Public sentiment, both in San Francisco and in the other municipalities around the Bay of San Francisco in favor of a course of water supply from the mountaine in preferences is any nearby or filtered scuree and the advantages of such a source of supply as a public asset.2. The plans of the cities surrounding the Bay of San Francisco for co-operation; (a) in the formation of a metropollian water district somewhat similar to that heretofore established in and surrounding Beston; and (b) in the formation of one city government which is popularly known as Greater San Francisco.06314
-3-3. The desire of all of the communities about the Bay of San Francisco far co-operation in the joint use of the Hetch Hetchy source of water supply as supplemental to the water at present furnished from nearby sources.4. Pending plans of the communities on both sides of the Bay as to the acquisition of the plants and properties of the water companies which are new furnishing those communities with water.5. The probable future demands upon the water supply of the communities around the Bay of San Francisco in view of future increase in population and commercial and industrial development in the State of California.6. The injurious effects upon nearby communities of tho permanent withdrawal from local lands of large and increasing quantities of water; (a) in robbing such lands of the water necessary for their continued possible use for agricultural purposes; (b) in depriving each communities of population and industries to which they would naturally be entitled if the lands which are now withdrawn from use, other than as watersheds, were opened for agricultural and other development.The above is a general statements of the more important matters upon which the City desires to introduce further evidence. I do not understand that you desire at this time a particular statement of the exact character of the evidence.On July 1st, 1911, at the conclusion of tho hearing before the Board of Engineers on the morning of that day, I wired you,06314
-4-making reference to the desire of the City to introduce evidence upon the matters above referred to and suggested that the whole record could be brought before you best by supplementing the testimony before the Board of Army Engineers by further testimony to be taken before a United States Commissioner appointed by you for that purpose. Your reply to that request on July 18th was to the effect that you preferred to postpone decision thereon until after conference with the Army Engineering and interested Parties.I new respectfully renew the suggestion made in my wire of July 1st, 1911. The cities of Oakland, Berkeley, and Alamoda are vitally interested in the pending order to show cause and the future use of the Hetch Hetchy Valley and a number of their citizens desire to submit evidence of the character above indicated. In addition to such evidence the City of San Francisco, through my office, has a considerable amount of testimony which it would like to introduce. It occurs to me that it will be a saving of time to yourself, as well as well as a great convenience and saving of expense to this City and the witnesses to be produced, if the evidence referred to could be token here before the Standing Master in Chancery of the United States Circuit Court or some other Commissioner to be selected by you.Respectfully yours,(Sgd) Perey V. Long,City Attorney,06314
Location
San Francisco
Date Original
1912 Jan 20
Source
Original letter dimensions: 26.5 x 20.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Long, Percy V., "Letter from Percy V. Long to Walter L. Fisher, 1912 Jan 20." (1912). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 6213.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/6213
Resource Identifier
muir20_0785-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 20, Image 0785
Collection Identifier
Online finding aid for the microform version of the John Muir Correspondence http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0w1031nc
Copyright Status
Copyright status unknown
Copyright Statement
Some letters written to John Muir may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Owning Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Pages
4 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
