Arizona vs California

Historical Note

During the first half of the twentieth century, water rights disputes pertaining to interstate streams were settled in two ways:  interstate treaties or Supreme Court ruling.  Allocation of Colorado River waters have long been disputed by the western states dependent on the waterway.  In the 1920s, the rapidly growing Colorado River basin states attempted to allocate the river's flow.  Displeased with the outcome of the interstate treaty (known as the Colorado River Compact of 1922) and following several attempts to come to an agreement, Arizona went to the Supreme Court seeking redress. 

Arizona's first appeal to the Court in October 1930, requested that the Court find the Boulder Canyon Act unconstitutional.  In an eight to one ruling in May 1931 the Justices ruled that the Boulder Canyon Act was indeed constitutional and did not infringe upon Arizona's rights. 

In February 1934, Arizona requested that the Court perpetuate (certify for future use) testimony from members of the Colorado River Commission.  This testimony pertained to the allocation of some one million acre feet of water left in question by Article III(b) of the Colorado River Compact.  Arizona attorneys believed they could eventually show, through the perpetuated testimony, that the million acre feet was originally intended for their state by the Colorado River Commission. 

Arizona again appealed to the Court in November 1935 and asked for a determination of the state's "equitable share" of the Colorado's water.  Denying the litigants an interpretation on the case, the case was thrown out in May 1936. 

In February 1944, the United States signed a treaty guaranteeing Mexico one and a half million acre feet.  Three weeks later, in an attempt to legally claim some of the Colorado's water, Arizona ratified the Colorado River Compact.  However, until Bureau of Reclamation dams controlled and distributed the river's flow, allocations outlined by the compact could not guarantee Arizona its share of the water.  The upper Colorado basin states met, in conjunction with other western states in yet another attempt to resolve the allocation problems.  Eventually, Congress approved an upper basin pact that Arizonans realized, when combined with California's needs, could leave their state without sufficient water.  Again, Arizona turned to the Supreme Court.

The suit filed by Arizona in 1952 would turn out to be one of the longest and most debated cases in the High Court's history.  All total, it lasted eleven years, required the testimony of approximately 340 witnesses, employed the services of nearly fifty attorneys, and cost roughly $5 million.  The list of original litigants, Arizona and California, grew to include New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, and the United States of America representing some twenty-five Indian tribes.  The Court assigned a Special Master to "take evidence, find facts, state conclusions of law, and recommend a decree."  George Haight, the case's first Special Master was succeeded by Simon H. Rifkind upon Haight's death (speculated by some to have been brought on by the rigors of the case). 

The Supreme Court Justices announced their decision on June 3, 1963.  The ruling, in favor of Arizona, was based on the Boulder Canyon Act, not the compact of 1922.  By referencing the Boulder Canyon Act, the Court stated that Arizona was entitled to its tributaries, and therefore authorized to use the one million acre feet disputed by California.   The decision also implied there was a third method of determining allocation of interstate streams, Congressional designation through legislation.  With its tributaries and the 2.8 million acre feet from the Colorado, Arizona had, through the Court's ruling, acquired nearly all it had set out to gain in the 1920s. 

Summary

Record Group 95, Arizona v. California:  Records Pertaining to the Supreme Court Case, documents the litigation pertaining to water allocation of the Colorado River from the 1952-1963 case.  Material from earlier Supreme Court cases involving Arizona, California, and Colorado Basin States is almost entirely absent from this record group. 

Comprising of forty-eight cubic feet and two oversize boxes of material, the majority of the records are legal exhibits, briefs, memoranda, and reports.  The collection does contain a small number of files, photographs, and print material.  Documents in RG 95 range from 1890 to 1967, with most of the earliest items being photostat reproductions and the bulk of materials dating from the 1950s through the early 1960s. 

The records are arranged in seventeen subgroups.  Many of the subgroups are further divided into series.

Subgroup List

1. Court Transcripts
2. Newspaper Clippings
3. Applications for Water Permit
4. Arizona Case Material
5. California Case Material
6. Defendant’s (Non-California) Case Material
7. Special Master’s Exhibits
8. U. S. Case Material
9. Arizona v. California Briefs and Memoranda
10. Supporting Court Cases
11. Hearing Proceedings
12. Reports
13. Colorado River Organization Minutes
14. Photographs
15. Charles Carson Files
16. Arizona Colorado River Commission
17. Studies

Subgroup Descriptions

This subgroup contains three series: transcripts from the Supreme Court Transcript Corrections and Index of Trial Transcripts.  The seven cubic feet of material in this series date from 1954 to 1962, with the bulk of it dated 1957 and 1958.

Series 1: Transcripts
For the most part each volume contains a day's worth of proceedings, with some days being broken up into a.m. and p.m. volumes.  The cover of each volume lists the volume number, session, date, and inclusive page numbers.  The transcripts are arranged in numerical order by volume number, therefore chronologically.  Dates for these items are from1954-1962, with the bulk dating from 1957 and 1958.

Series 2: Transcript Corrections 
This small series of eight folders contains proposed transcript corrections.  These pages were originally housed in three, 3-ring binders.  Individual pages are in numerical order with some pages missing.  Presumably the missing pages were free of corrections.

Series 3: Index of Trial Transcripts 
There are also five folders in this series.  Apparently part of a larger, alphabetical index, only "S" through "Z" are present.  A note on one of the folders reads:  "Index of Trial Transcript, Gove Allen's Work."  Similar material is located in RG 141 (AISC Records), box 82 and contains "L" through "R."  RG 141 also contains an index of the AZ v. CA case and appears to correspond with the transcripts in this collection (RG 95), see RG 141, Box 16.

This subgroup consists of approximately eight cubic feet and dates from 1918 to 1967.  The series has been dived into Colorado River Clippings, Central Arizona Project Clippings, and Miscellaneous Clippings.  Most of the articles are dated and arranged in reverse chronological order within folders; following the method used by the documents' compilers.

Articles dealing with the Central Arizona Project (CAP) are from the early 1950s to the mid-1960s.  The Miscellaneous newsclippings deal with the Sierra Club, dating from 1965 to 1967, and clippings from the Congressional Record.

The clippings should be useful to researchers by providing a wide scope of opinions since the clippings seem to come from across Arizona.  Material relating to early Arizona and California water disputes, Boulder Dam, Fred Colter, Arizona Government is present.  Many of the articles contain photographs that could be helpful to researchers.

There are approximately four cubic feet of material in this subgroup.  Nearly three cubic feet is arranged alphabetically by Arizona county.  Within each county grouping, records were in no apparent order.  Items were kept in the order in which they were found.  There is about half a cubic foot of material labeled "Certificates of Water Rights" and about one cubic foot of unlabeled, loose applications of various types ("Application for Water Rights," "Application to Build a Reservoir," etc.)  Some of the loose materials have notes attached making reference to application numbers on the forms.  These remain attached to their respective documents. 

Sereis 1: Black Binders
The contents of nearly eighty, three-ring binders comprise this series.  The material likely came from the AISC's Legal Office and served as reference material for Arizona's legal contingent for the Supreme Court case.  Contents of the sub-series includes indexes of Arizona's, California's, and the other state's cases, testimony, exhibits from the litigants, items relating to the Special Master, memoranda,  and Indian case material.  Arrangement of items follows the original order of the binders. References in the various indices seem to correspond with the Court Transcripts in this collection. 

Series 2: Arizona Exhibits
Items in this series total four cubic feet and are arranged, when possible in numerical order according to the exhibit number assigned by the Court or legal team.  Miscellaneous and un-numbered items fall towards the end of the sub-series.  Many of the exhibits (items) are reports pertaining to past disputes, legal actions, hearings, scientific data, minutes, etc. dealing with the Colorado River dispute. 

The first few items in the series consist of bound, gray volumes of Arizona's exhibits, organized in numerical order.  Researchers will likely find these volumes easier to use than the individual items from which the exhibits were taken.  The seventh volume contains an Index for all the Plaintiff's (Arizona) exhibits.  However, in many instances, the gray volumes reflect only a portion of a report, used as evidence.  For a contextual placement of the exhibits, researchers may want to consult the full reports contained in folders within this sub-series.  A preface to the Index of the seven volumes reads:

"This bound set of the exhibits offered during the course of the trial by Complainant, State of Arizona, has been prepared for the convenience of the Court and counsel.  Pursuant to the suggestion of the Special Master, certain exhibits have been omitted where they were bulky or the cost of reproduction does not warrant their inclusion.  Such omissions are indicated in the body of this set. 

Certain numbers were omitted and not assigned to exhibits.  Such unassigned numbers are indicated in the index contained herein.

The date on which each exhibit was marked for identification and the page of the transcript where marked are indicated in the index and on the face of each exhibit.  The same is true of the date and transcript page where an exhibit was admitted in evidence.  In those cases where an exhibit was marked for identification but not received in evidence no date or transcript page appears indicating admission in evidence.

The numbers appearing under the columns headed "Iden." and "Evid." in the index, refer to the pages of the transcript where the various exhibits were marked for identification or received in evidence.  The same is true of the page numbers following "Iden." or "Adm." appearing on the face of each exhibit."

Series 3: Originals for Reproduction
This material consists of one cubic foot and are the original items used to print the gray exhibit volumes listed earlier in this series.  Items were kept grouped together and roughly each folder contains the contents of the original shipping envelopes.  Material within each folder is in the order it was in in the envelope, which is numerical order of the exhibits. 

Series 1: California Exhibits
Similar to the bound, gray volumes among the Arizona exhibits, California's bound, green volumes include the exhibits used by that state's legal team during the Supreme Court case.  There are 25 volumes and an Index in this series.  Exhibits within each volume are tabbed and clearly marked. 

Series 2: California Findings, Conclusions, and Bound Briefs
There are ten volumes in this series.  Each volume contains conclusions of law as related to several aspects of the Arizona v. California case.  Of particular interest is the volume Interstate Water Cases in the Original Jurisdiction, which provides information on other water rights disputes and litigation between states. 

Series 3: California Case Notebooks and Indexes
This material was originally housed in three-ring binders, but has been removed.  Binder contents were broken up for preservation purposes.  Most of the items are indices, presumably to the court transcript.  Material within each binder was organized alphabetically.  The alphabetical arrangement has been maintained.  Researchers will find this material useful as it provides summary information in many instances. 

Accompanying these exhibits is an index (originally contained in a black binder, and a duplicate of the Index to US Exhibits in the Arizona Case Material series, Black Binder sub-series).  Original order has been maintained, with items being transferred to folders.  Along with the numbered and submitted exhibits are exhibits not submitted.  Exhibits withheld were located at the end of the binder and were assigned temporary exhibit numbers.  These exhibits follow the numbered, submitted exhibits in the new arrangement. 

This subgroup contains two cubic feet of legal briefs and memoranda written by litigants of the Arizona v. California Supreme Court Case.  Documents are arranged in chronological order, based on Court session, which is usually by year.  Items date from 1930 through 1964, with the bulk of material dating from the 1955 to 1958.  Due to their length, the title of each document is not on the file folder.  Researchers should reference the Box Inventory, taking note of which folder [both box and folder number] contains the desired brief or memoranda. 

This subgroup contains slightly over two cubic feet of legal briefs and memoranda from court cases (other than Arizona v. California) dealing with water issues.  It appears the cases were used to support the Arizona v. California case.  Most of the cases were heard in the US Supreme Court, and date from 1906 to 1965.  Other cases were heard in US District Courts as well as Arizona Territory and State Courts.  Material is arranged into two series, Supreme Court cases and Other Courts.  Within series, items are arranged in chronological order (based on the date of a case's first hearing in court). 

This subgroup contains bound proceedings from congressional hearings with documents dating from 1890 to 1965.  The majority of documents date from the 1940s to 1965.  Present are reports dealing with the Central Arizona Project, the Colorado River, as well as proceedings from hearings concerning water rights from other parts of the country.  Items are arranged in chronological order and make up just over one cubic foot of material. 

This subgroup contains two cubic feet of reports, brochures, and other similar publications.  Subject matter ranges from official government reports to articles in Fortune magazine.  Items date from 1904 to 1965 and are arranged in chronological order. 

The approximately one cubic foot of material in this subgroup consists of bound meeting proceedings.  Organizations represented include the National Colorado River Commission and the Committees of 14 and 16 of the Colorado River Basin States.  Material has been separated into minutes of the CRC and the Committee of 14 and 16. Arranged chronologically, documents date from 1922 to 1949.

There is approximately half a cubic foot of material in this subgroup.  The photographs appear to date from the late 1950s and early 1960s.  Most of the labeled photos are of canals and rivers.  The unlabeled photos contained in developer's albums appear to be of a tour of Parker Dam and other irrigation works and canals.  The majority of photos in this series consist of aerial photos taken in 1962 of an un-named river.  These items are not labeled.   Material is arranged chronologically.

Items in this subgroup consist of material contained in file folders and material that appeared to have, at one time, been in an office file.  The five cubic feet of material consists largely of legal office files, although some reports, transcripts, tables, and correspondence are also present.  The subgroup is arranged into three series:  Labeled Files, Unlabeled Files, and Carson Files. 

Items in the Labeled Files series date from 1922 to 1963 and are arranged in chronological order, with non-dated items at the end. 

A considerable amount of the documents in this subgroup, dating from 1904 to 1965, were loose and unlabeled in boxes.  These items form the Unlabeled Files series and have been given labels when possible.  Items are in chronological order, with non-dated items at the end.  This series contains material pertaining to congressional hearings for HR 4671, various photostat copies of government reports, and water contracts.   

A small number of files, dating from 1947 to 1951, were labeled as "Old Carson Files."  These items were kept in their original order, as a series, and follow an arrangement given by Carson.  The files are likely from the office of Charles Carson, lead counsel for the Arizona Interstate Stream Commission.  (Additional Carson files can be found in RG 141, Arizona Interstate Stream Commission Records.)

There are four folders in this subgroup.  Items are receipt books and a ledger for the Arizona Colorado River Commission.  Material dates from the late 1930s to 1945.  The ledger book is oversized.

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