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Re: Raker Act

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avatar Raker Act
April 25, 2008 08:55PM
HETCH HETCHY RESERVOIR SITE

HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS
UNITED STATES SENATE SIXTY-THIRD CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION ON H. R. 7207

AN ACT GRANTING TO THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
CERTAIN RIGHTS OF WAY IN, OVER, AND THROUGH CERTAIN
PUBLIC LANDS, THE YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, AND
STANISLAUS NATIONAL FOREST, AND CERTAIN LANDS
IN THE YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, THE STANISLAUS
NATIONAL FOREST, AND THE PUBLIC
LANDS IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1913

.S25A5
1913d
COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS.
HENRY L. MYERS, Montana, Chairman.
MARCUS A. SMITH, Arizona.
CHARLES S. THOMAS, Colorado.
JOSEPH T. ROBINSON, Arkansas.
WILLIAM H. THOMPSON, Kansas.
KEY PITTMAN, Nevada.
JOSEPH E. RANSDELL, Louisiana.
WILLIAM HUGHES, New Jersey.
GEORGE E. CHAMBERLAIN, Oregon.
REED SMOOT, Utah.
CLARENCE D. CLARK, Wyoming.
JOHN D. WORKS, California.
ALBERT A. FALL, New Mexico.
GEORGE W. NORRIS, Nebraska.
THOMAS STERLING, South Dakota
Charles W. Draper,Clerk.
HETCH HETCHY RESERVOIR SITE.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1913.
Committee on Public Lands,
United States Senate,
Washington, D.C.
Present: Senators Myers (chairman), Thomas, Thompson, Pittman, Ransdell, Hughes, Chamberlain, and Norris.
The Chairman. The committee has assembled for the purpose of considering H. R. 7207, which is as follows:
[H. R. 7207, Sixty-third Congress, first session.]

AN ACT Granting to the city and county of San Francisco certain rights of way in, over and through certain public lands, the Yosemite National Park, and Stanislaus National Forest, and certain lands in the Yosemite National Park, the Stanislaus National Forest, and the public lands in the State of California, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby granted to the city and country of San Francisco, a municipal corporation in the State of California, all necessary rights of way along such locations and of such width, not to exceed two hundred and fifty feet, as in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior may be required for the purposes of this act, in, over, and through the public lands of the United States in the counties of Tuolumne, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, and Alameda, in the State of California, and in, over, and through the Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest, or portions thereof, lying within the said counties, for the purpose of constructing, operating, and maintaining aqueducts, canals, ditches, pipes, pipe lines, flumes, tunnels, and conduits for conveying water for domestic purposes and uses to the city and county of San Francisco and such other municipalities and water districts as, with the consent of the city and county of San Francisco, or in accordance with the laws of the State of California in force at the time application is made, may hereafter participate in the beneficial use of the rights and privileges granted by this act: for the purpose of constructing, operating, and maintaining power and electric plants, poles, and lines for generation and sale and distribution of electric energy; also for the purpose of constructing, operating, and maintaining telephone and telegraph lines, for the purpose of constructing, operating, and maintaining roads, trails, bridges, tramways, railroads, and other means of locomotion, transportation, and communication, such as may be necessary or proper in the construction, maintenance, and operation of the works constructed by the grantee herein; together with such lands in the Hetch Hetchy Valley and Lake Eleanor Basin within the Yosemite National Park, and the Cherry Valley within the Stanislaus National Forest, irrespective of the width or extent of said lands, as may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior to be actually necessary for surface or underground reservoirs, diverting and storage dams; together with such lands as the Secretary of the Interior may determine to be actually necessary for power houses, and all other structures or buildings necessary or properly incident to the construction, operation, and maintenance of said water-power and electric plants, telephone and telegraph lines, and such means of locomotion, transportation, and communication as may be established; together with the right to take, free of cost, from the public lands, the Yosemite National Park, and the Stanislaus National Forest adjacent to its right of way, within such distance as the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture may determine, stone, earth, gravel, sand, tufa, and other materials of like character actually necessary to be used in the construction, operation, and repair of its said water-power and electric plants, its said telephone and telegraph lines, and its said means of locomotion, transportation, or communication, under such conditions and regulations as may be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, within their respective jurisdictions for the protection of the public lands, the Yosemite National Park, and the Stanislaus National Forest:

Provided, That said grantee shall file, as hereinafter provided, a map or maps showing the boundaries, location, and extent of said proposed rights of way and lands for the purposes hereinabove set forth:

Provided further, That the Secretary of the Interior shall approve no location or change of location in the national forests unless said location or change of location shall have been approved in writing by the Secretary of Agriculture.

Sec. 2. That within three years after the passage of this act said grantee shall file with the registers of the United States land offices, in the districts where said rights of way or lands are located, a map or maps showing the boundaries, locations, and extent of said proposed rights of way and lands required for the purposes stated in section one of this act; but no permanent construction work shall be commenced on said land until such map or maps shall have been filed as herein provided and approved by the Secretary of the Interior:

Provided, however, That any changes of location of any of said rights of way or lands may be made by said grantee before the final completion of any of said work permitted in section on hereof, by filing such additional map or maps as may be necessary to show such changes of location, said additional map or maps to be filed in the same manner as the original map or maps; but no change of location shall become valid until approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and the approval by the Secretary of the Interior of said map or maps showing changes of location of said rights of way or lands shall operate as an abandonment by the city and county of San Francisco to the extent of such change or changes of any of the rights of way or lands indicated on the original maps:

And provided further, That any rights inuring to the grantee under this act shall, on the approval of the map and maps referred to herein by the Secretary of the Interior, relate back to the date of the filing of said map or maps with the register of the United States Land Office as provided herein, or to the date of the filing of such maps as they may be copies of as provided for herein:

And provided further, That with reference to any map or maps heretofore filed by said city and county of San Francisco or its grantor with any officer of the Department of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture, and approved by said department, the provisions hereof will be considered complied with by the filing by said grantee of copies of any of such map or maps with the register of the United States Land Office as provided for herein, which said map or maps and locations shall as in all other cases be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.

Sec. 3. That the rights of way hereby granted shall not be effective over any lands upon which homestead, mining, or other existing valid claim or claims shall have been filed or made and which now in law constitute prior rights to any claim of the grantee until said grantee shall have purchased such portion or portions of such homestead, mining, or other existing valid claims as it may require for right-of-way purposes and other purposes herein set forth, and shall have procured proper relinquishments of such portion or portions of such claims, or acquired title by due process of law and just compensation paid to said entrymen or claimants, and caused proper evidence of such fact to be filed with the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and the right of such entrymen or claimants to sell and of said grantee to purchase such portion or portions of such claims are hereby granted:

Provided, however, That this act shall not apply to any lands embraced in rights of way heretofore approved under any act of Congress for the benefit of any parties other than said grantee or its predecessors in interest.

Sec. 4. That the said grantee shall conform to all regulations adopted and prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior governing the Yosemite National Park and by the Secretary of Agriculture governing the Stanislaus National Forest, and shall not take, cut, or destroy any timber within the Yosemite National Park or the Stanislaus National Forest, except such as may be actually necessary in order to construct, repair, and operate it said reservoirs, dams, power plants, water power and electric works, and other structures above mentioned, but no timber shall be cut or removed from lands outside of the right of way until designated by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, respectively; and it shall pay to the United States the full value of all timber and wood cut, injured, or destroyed on or adjacent to any of the rights of way and lands, as required by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture:

Provided, That no timber shall be cut by the grantee in the Yosemite National Park except from land to be submerged or which constitutes an actual obstruction to the right or rights of way or to any road or trail provided in this act:

Provided further, That for and in consideration of the rights and privileges hereby granted to it the said grantee shall construct and maintain in good repair such bridges or other practicable crossings over its rights of way within the Stanislaus National Forest as may be prescribed in writing by the Secretary of Agriculture, and elsewhere on public lands along the line of said works, and with in the Yosemite National Park as may be prescribed in writing by the Secretary of the Interior; and said grantee shall, as said waterworks are completed, if directed in writing by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, construct and maintain along each side of said right of way a lawful fence of such character as may be prescribed by the proper Secretary, with such suitable lanes or crossings as the aforesaid officers shall prescribe:

And provided further, That the said grantee shall clear its rights of way within the Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest and over any public land of any dbris or inflammable material as directed by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, respectively; and said grantee shall permit any road or trail which it may construct over the public lands, the Yosemite National Park, or the Stanislaus National Forest to be freely used by the officials of the Government and by the public, and shall permit officials of the Government, for official business only, the free use of any telephone or telegraph lines, or equipment, or railroads that it may construct and maintain within the Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest, or on the public lands, together with the right to connect with any such telephone or telegraph lines private telephone wires for the exclusive use of said Government officials:

And provided further, That all reservoirs, dams, conduits, power plants, water power and electric works, bridges, fences, and other structures not of a temporary character shall be sightly and of suitable exterior design and finish so as to harmonize with the surrounding landscape and its use as a park; and for this purpose all plans and designs shall be submitted for approval to the Secretary of the Interior.

Sec 5. That all lands over which the rights of way mentioned in this act shall pass shall be disposed of only subject to such easements:

Provided, however, That the construction of the aforesaid works shall be prosecuted diligently, and no cessation of such construction shall continue for a period of three consecutive years, and in the event that the Secretary of the Interior shall find and determine that there has not been diligent prosecution of the work or of some integral and essential part thereof, or that there has been a cessation of such construction for a period of three consecutive years, then he may declare forfeited all rights of the grantee herein as to that part of the works not constructed, and request the Attorney General, on behalf of the United States, to commence suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California for the purpose of procuring a judgment declaring all such rights to that part of the works no constructed to be forfeited to the United States, and upon such request it shall be the duty of the said Attorney General to cause to be commenced and prosecuted to a final judgment such suit:

Provided further, That the Secretary of the Interior shall make no such finding and take no such action if he shall find that the construction or progress of the works has been delayed or prevented by the act of God or the public enemy, or by engineering or other difficulties that could not have been reasonably foreseen and overcome, or by other special or peculiar difficulties beyond the control of the said grantee:

Provided further, That in the exercise of the rights granted by this act the grantee shall at all times comply with the regulations herein authorized, and in the event of any material departure therefrom the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, respectively, may take such action as may be necessary in the courts or otherwise to enforce such regulations.

Sec. 6. That the grantee is prohibited from ever selling or letting to any corporation or individual, except a municipality or a municipal water district or irrigation district, the right to sell or sublet the water or the electric energy sold or given to it or him by the said grantee:

Provided, That the rights hereby granted shall not be sold, assigned, or transferred to any private person, corporation, or association, and in case of any attempt to so sell, assign, transfer, or convey, this grant shall revert to the Government of the United States.

Sec. 7. That for and in consideration of the grant by the United States as provided for in this act the said grantee shall assign, free of cost to the United States, all roads and trails built under the provisions hereof; and further, after the expiration of five years from the passage of this act the grantee shall pay to the United States the sum of $15,000 annually for a period of ten years, beginning with the expiration of the five-year period before mentioned, and for the next ten years following $20,000 annually, and for the remainder of the term of the grant shall, unless in the discretion of Congress the annual charge should be increased or diminished pay the sum of $30,000 annually, said sums to be paid on the first day of July of each year. Until otherwise provided by Congress, said sums shall be kept in a separate fund by the United States to be applied to the building and maintenance of roads and trails and other improvements in the Yosemite National Park and other national parks in the State of California. The Secretary of the Interior shall designate the uses to be made of sums paid under the provisions of this section under the conditions specified herein.

Sec. 8. That the word "grantee" as used herein shall be understood as meaning the city and county of San Francisco and such other municipalities or water district or water districts as may, with the consent of the city and county of San Francisco or in accordance with the laws of the State of California, hereafter participate in or succeed to the beneficial rights and privileges granted by this act.

Sec. 9. That this grant is made to the said grantee subject to the observance on the part of the grantee of all the conditions hereinbefore and hereinafter enumerated:

(a) That upon the completion of the Hetch Hetchy Dam or the Lake Eleanor Dam, in the Yosemite National Park, by the grantee, as herein specified, and upon the commencement of the use of any reservoirs thereby created by said grantee as a source of water supply for said grantee, the following sanitary regulations shall be made effective within the watershed above and around said reservoir sites so used by said grantee:

First. No human excrement, garbage, or other refuse shall be placed in the waters of any reservoir or stream or within three hundred feet thereof.

Second. All sewage from permanent camps and hotels within the watershed shall be filtered by natural percolation through porous earth or otherwise adequately purified or destroyed.

Third. No person shall bathe, wash clothes or cooking utensils, or water stock in, ruin any way pollute, the water within the limits of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir or any reservoir constructed by the said grantee under the provisions of this grant, or in the streams leading thereto, within one mile of said reservoir; or, with reference to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, in the waters from the reservoir or waters entering the river between it and the "Early intake" of the aqueduct, pending the completion of the aqueduct between "Early intake" and the Hetch Hetchy Dam site.

Fourth. The cost of the inspection necessary to secure compliance with the sanitary regulations made a part of these conditions, which inspection shall be under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, shall be defrayed by the said grantee.

Fifth. If at any time the sanitary regulations provided for herein shall be deemed by said grantee insufficient to protect the purity of the water supply, then the said grantee shall install a filtration plant or provide other means to guard the purity of the water. No other sanitary rules or restrictions shall be demanded by or granted to the said grantee as to the use of the watershed by campers, tourists, or the occupants of hotels and cottages.

(b) That the said grantee shall recognize the prior rights of the Modesto Irrigation District and the Turlock Irrigation District as now constituted under the laws of the State of California, or as said districts may be hereafter enlarged to contain in the aggregate not to exceed three hundred thousand acres of land, to receive two thousand three hundred and fifty second-feet of the natural daily flow of the Tuolumne River, measured at the La Grange Dam, whenever the same can be beneficially used by said irrigation districts, and that the grantee shall never interfere with said rights.

(c) That whenever said irrigation districts receive at the La Grange Dam less than two thousand three hundred and fifty second-feet of water, and when it is necessary for their beneficial use to receive more water the said grantee shall release free of charge, out of the natural daily flow of the streams which it has intercepted, so much water as may be necessary for the beneficial use of said irrigation districts not exceeding an amount which, with the waters of the Tuolumne and its tributaries, will cause a flow at La Grange Dam of two thousand three hundred and fifty second-feet; and shall also recognize the rights of the said irrigation districts to the extent of four thousand second-feet of water out of the natural daily flow of the Tuolumne River for combined direct use and collection into storage reservoirs as may be provided by said irrigation districts, during the period of sixty days immediately following and including April fifteenth of each year, and shall during such period release free of charge such quantity of water as may be necessary to secure to the said irrigation districts such four thousand second-feet flow or portion thereof as the said irrigation districts are capable of beneficially directly using and storing below Jawbone Creek:

Provided. however, That at such times as the aggregate daily natural flow of the watershed of the Tuolumne and its tributaries measured at the La Grange Dam shall be less than said districts can beneficially use and less than two thousand three hundred and fifty second-feet, then and in that event the said grantee shall release, free of charge, the entire natural daily flow of the streams which it has under this grant intercepted.

(d) That the said grantee whenever the said irrigation districts desire water in excess of that to which they are entitled under the foregoing, shall on the written demand of the said irrigation districts sell to the said irrigation districts from the reservoir or reservoirs of the said grantee such amounts of stored water as may be needed for the beneficial use of the said irrigation districts at such a price as will return to the grantee the actual total costs of providing such stored water, such costs to be computed in accordance with the currently accepted practice of public cost accounting as may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior, including, however, a fair proportion of the cost to said grantee of the conduit, land, dams, and water-supply system included in the Hetch Hetchy and Lake Eleanor sites; upon the express condition, however, that the said grantee may require the said irrigation districts to purchase and pay for a minimum quantity of such stored water, and that the said grantee shall be entitled to receive compensation for a minimum quantity of stored water and shall not be required to sell and deliver to the said irrigation districts more than a maximum quantity of such stored water to be released during any calendar year:

Provided, however, That if the said irrigation districts shall develop sufficient water to meet their own needs for beneficial use and shall so notify in writing the Secretary of the Interior, the said grantee shall not be required to sell or deliver to said irrigation districts the maximum or minimum amount of stored waters hereinbefore provided for, and shall release the said districts from the obligation to pay for such stored water:

And provided further, That said grantee shall without cost to said irrigation districts return to the Tuolumne River above the La Grange Dam for the use of the said irrigation districts all surplus or waste water resulting from the development of hydroelectric energy generated by the said grantee.

(e) That such minimum and maximum amounts of such stored water to be so released during any calendar year as hereinbefore provided and the price to be paid therefor by the said irrigation districts are to be determined and fixed by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph,

(f) That the Secretary of the Interior shall revise the maximum and minimum amounts of stored water to be supplied to said irrigation districts by said grantee as hereinbefore provided, whenever the said irrigation districts have properly developed the facilities of the Davis Reservoir of the Turlock Irrigation District and the Warner-Dallas Reservoir of the Modesto Irrigation District to the fullest practicable extent up to a development not exceeding in cost $15 per acre-foot storage capacity, and whenever additional storage has been provided by the said irrigation districts which is necessary to the economical utilization of the waters of said watershed, and also after water losses and wastes have been reduced to such reasonable minimum as will assure the economical and beneficial use of such water.

(g) That the said grantee shall not be required to furnish more than the said minimum quantity of stored water hereinbefore provided for until the said irrigation districts shall have first drawn upon their own stored water to the fullest practicable extent.

(h) That the said grantee shall not divert beyond the limits of the San Joaquin Valley and more of the waters from the Tuolumne watershed than, together with the waters which it now has or may hereafter acquire, shall be necessary for its beneficial use for domestic and other municipal purposes.

(i) That the said grantee shall, at its own expense, locate and construct, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, such weirs or other suitable structures on sites to be granted, if necessary, by the United States, for accurately measuring the flow in the said river at or above La Grange Dam and measuring the flow into and out from the reservoirs or intakes of said districts, and into and out from any reservoirs constructed by the said grantee, and at any other point on the Tuolumne River or its tributaries, which he may designate, and fit the same with water-measuring apparatus satisfactory to said Secretary and keep such hydrographic records as he may direct, such apparatus and records to be open to inspection by any interested party at any time.

(j) That by "the flow," "natural daily flow," "aggregate daily natural flow," and "what is naturally flowing," as are used herein, is meant such flow as on any given day would flow in the Tuolumne River or its tributaries if said grantee had no storage or diversion works on the said Tuolumne watershed.

(k) That when the said grantee begins the development of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir site, it shall undertake and vigorously prosecute to completion a dam at least two hundred feet high, with a foundation capable of supporting said dam when built to its greatest economic and safe height.

(l) That the said grantee shall, upon request, sell or supply to said irrigation districts, and also to the municipalities within either or both said irrigation districts, for the use of any land owner or owners therein for pumping subsurface water for drainage or irrigation, or for the actual municipal public purposes of said municipalities (which purposes shall not include sale to private persons or corporations) any excess of electrical energy which may be generated, and which may be so beneficially used by said irrigation districts or municipalities, when any such excess of electric energy may not be required for pumping the water supply for said grantee and for the actual municipal public purposes of the said grantee (which purposes shall not include sale to private persons or corporations) at such price as will actually reimburse the said grantee for developing and maintaining and tranmitting the surplus electrical energy thus sold; and no power plant shall be interposed on the line of the conduit except by the said grantee, or the lessee, as hereinafter provided, and for the purposes and within the limitations in the conditions set forth therein:

Provided, That said grantee shall satisfy the needs of the landowners in said irrigation districts for pumping subsurface water for drainage or irrigation, and the needs of the municipalities within such irrigation districts for actual municipal public purposes, after which it may dispose of any excess electrical energy for commercial purposes.

(m) That the right of said grantee in the Tuolumne water supply to develop electric power for either municipal or commercial use is to be made conditional for twenty years following the completion of any portion of the works adapted to the generation of electrical energy, as follows: The said grantee shall, within three years from the date of completion of said portion of the works, install, operate, and maintain apparatus capable of developing and transmitting not less than ten thousand horsepower of electric power for municipal and commercial use, said ten thousand horsepower to be actually used or offered for use; and within ten years from the completion of said portion of the works not less than twenty thousand horsepower; and within fifteen years therefrom not less than thirty thousand horsepower; and within twenty years therefrom not less than sixty thousand horsepower; unless in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior the public interest will be satisfied with a lesser development. The said grantee shall develop and use hydroelectric power for the use of its people and shall, at prices to be fixed under the laws of California or, in the absence of such laws, at prices approved by the Secretary of the Interior, sell or supply such power for irrigation, pumping, or other beneficial use, said prices to be not less than will return to said grantee the actual total costs of providing and supplying said power, which costs shall be computed in accordance with the currently accepted practice of public cost accounting, as shall be determined by the Secretary of the Interior, including, however, a fair proportion of cost of conduit, lands, dams, and water-supply system; and further, said grantee shall, before using any of said water for the purposes of developing hydroelectric power, file such maps, surveys, field notes, or other data as may be required by law, and shall conform to any law existing and applicable to said subject or development of said hydroelectric power for municipal or commercial uses.

(n) That after the period of twenty years hereinbefore provided for the development, transmission, use, and sale of electric power, the Secretary of the Interior, under authorization hereby given, may require the grantee, within a time fixed by the Secretary, to develop, transmit, and use, or offer for sale, such additional power, and also such power less than sixty thousand horsepower as the grantee may have failed to develop, transmit, use, or sell, within the twenty years aforesaid, as in the judgment of said Secretary the grantee may or ought to develop under this grant, and which in his judgment the public interest demands or convenience requires; and in case of the failure of the grantee to carry out any such requirements of the Secretary of the Interior the latter is hereby authorized so to do, and he may, in such manner and form and upon such terms and conditions as he may determine, provide for the development, transmission, use, and sale of such additional power and such power not so developed, transmitted, or used by the grantee at the end of said twenty years up to sixty thousand horsepower; and for that purpose the Secretary of the Interior may take possession of and lease to such person or persons as he may designate such portion of the rights of way, structures, dams, conduits, and other property acquired or constructed by the grantee hereunder as may be necessary for the development, transmission, use, and sale of such power.

(o) That the rates of charges to be made by the grantee or by any lessee under the last preceding paragraph for the use of power for commercial purposes shall at all times conform to the laws of the State of California or, in the absence of any such statutory law, be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, and in the absence of such law no rates or charges shall be made, fixed, or collected without such approval, and the grantee shall at any time, upon the demand of the Secretary of the Interior, allow the latter or such person or persons as he may designate full and free access, right, and opportunity to examine and inspect all of the grantee's books, records, and accounts, and all the works constructed and property occupied hereunder by the grantee.

(p) That this grant is upon the further condition that the grantee shall construct on the north side of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir site a scenic road or trail, as the Secretary of the Interior may determine, above and along the proposed lake to such point as may be designated by the said Secretary, and also leading from said scenic road or trail a trail to the Tiltill Valley and to Lake Vernon, and a road or trail to Lake Eleanor and Cherry Valley via McGill Meadow; and likewise the said grantee shall build a wagon road from Hamilton or Smiths Station along the most feasible route adjacent to its proposed aqueduct from Groveland to Portulaca or Hog Ranch and into the Hetch Hetchy Dam site, and a road along the southerly slope of Smiths Peak from Hog Ranch past Harden Lake to a junction with the old Tioga Road, in section four, township one south, range twenty-one east, Mount Diablo base and meridian, and such roads and trails made necessary by this grant, and as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. Said grantee shall have the right to build and maintain such other necessary roads or trails through the public lands, for the construction and operation of its works, subject, however, to the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture in the Stanislaus National Forest, and the Secretary of the Interior in the Yosemite National Park. The said grantee shall further lay and maintain a water pipe, or otherwise provide a good and sufficient supply of water for camp purposes at the Meadow, one-third of a mile, more or less, southeasterly from the Hetch Hetchy Dam site.That all trail and road building and maintenance by the said grantee in the Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest shall be done subject to the direction and approval of the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture according to their respective jurisdictions.

(q) That the said grantee shall furnish water at cost to any authorized occupant within one mile of the reservoir and in addition to the sums provided for in section seven it shall reimburse the United States Government for the actual cost of maintenance of the above roads and trails in a condition of repair as good as when constructed.

(r) That in case the Department of the Interior is called upon, by reason of any of the above conditions, to make investigations and decisions respecting the rights, benefits, or obligations specified in this act, which investigations or decisions involve expense to the said Department of the Interior, then such expense shall be borne by said grantee.

(s) That the grantee shall file with the Secretary of the Interior, within six months after the approval of this act, its a acceptance of the terms and conditions of this grant.

(t) That the grantee herein shall convey to the United States, by proper conveyance, a good and sufficient title free from all liens and encumbrances of any nature whatever, to any and all tracts of land which are now owned by said grantee within the Yosemite National Park or that part of the national forest adjacent thereto not actually required for use under the provisions of this act, said conveyance to be approved by and filed with the Secretary of the Interior within six months after the said grantee ceases to use such lands for the purpose of construction or repair under the provisions of this act.

(u) That the city and county of San Francisco shall sell to the United States, for the use of the War Department, such water as the War Department may elect to take, and shall deliver the same through its system in or near the city of San Francisco to the mains or systems of such military reservations in that vicinity as may be designated by the Secretary of War, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe. In payment for such water and the delivery thereof the United States shall pay to the said city and county of San Francisco a rental, to be calculated at a fixed rate per one thousand gallons, said rate not to exceed the actual cost of said water to said city and county for all the water so furnished, as determined by meter measurements:

And provided further, That payment of said rental shall be made by the local disbursing officer of the War Department in the usual manner:

Provided, however, That the grantee shall at all times comply with and observe on its part all the conditions specified in this act, and in the event that the same are not reasonably complied with and carried out by the grantee, upon written request of the Secretary of the Interior, it is made the duty of the Attorney General in the name of the United States to commence all necessary suits or proceedings in the proper court having jurisdiction thereof, for the purpose of enforcing and carrying out the provisions of this act.

Sec. 10. That this grant, so far as it relates to the said irrigation district, shall be deemed and held to constitute a binding obligation upon said grantee in favor of the said irrigation districts which said districts, or either of them, may judicially enforce in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Sec. 11. That this act is a grant upon certain express conditions specifically set forth herein, and nothing herein contained shall be construed as affecting or intending to affect or in any way to interfere with the laws of the State of California relating to the control, appropriation, use, or distribution of water used in irrigation or for municipal or other uses, or any vested right acquired thereunder, and the Secretary of the Interior, in carrying out the provisions of this act, shall proceed in conformity with the laws of said State.
Passed the House of Representatives September 3, 1913.

Re: Raker Act
April 26, 2008 08:44AM
Guess it takes a lot of words to do a lot of damage ):-(





Wilderness forever,
Bruce Jensen
avatar Re: Raker Act
April 26, 2008 11:49AM
bpnjensen wrote:

> Guess it takes a lot of words to do a lot of damage ):-(

Indeed. Here's some of the result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozgLTiiBN1A

avatar Re: Raker Act
April 27, 2008 12:41PM
In light of a disaster, the above happens. The Raker act was caused by an earthquake in 1906.

We got the same wordiness after 9/11, didn't we? The left wing killed off the Patriot Act a few years later, but the Raker act is still in place.

Something to think about.
avatar Re: Raker Act
April 27, 2008 01:58PM
Vince wrote:

> Something to think about.

Being a scientist by profession (Ph.D. in Chemistry from Berkeley, 1968-1972 – OhMyGodOneOfThose!) and, hopefully, by extension, a somewhat rational and logical person, I’m having a bit of a problem understanding exactly what it is that I should be thinking about here.

I’m afraid that I’m going to have to contact the local chapter of the John Birch Society to help me out with this one. (Since I live in Orange County, that, unfortunately, isn’t nearly as difficult as it may sound.)
Re: Raker Act
April 27, 2008 02:06PM
You're not supposed to understand it; it's the old "written filibuster" process of putting in so many words that no one actually has the stamina to read through and understand it. Unless a problem arises, then someone who charges $500 and hour can read it looking for any actual meaning in there that helps his case.

It probably says, somewhere in there, that they can build an amusement park at Glacier Point; they just haven't gotten around to using that clause yet. When theyre ready to build, they'll pay the guy the $500/hr. to point out to everyone where it says it's OK to do that.
8^)





Gary
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