power company by the condemnation suit now
in court, it is proposed to operate the gates of the dam at
all times so as to maintain the Lake at the highest level
consistent with the maintenance of a desirable shore-line and the
conservation of water for the public utilities. It is proposed
never to draw the Lake below the previous low-water mark or to
allow it to rise as high as the previous high-water mark, at
which low and high limits damage in some degree was done to one
or another's interests at the Lake.

The regulation proposed by the Government provides for
recognition and protection of all rights in and to the waters
and shores of Lake Tahoe, including the rights of the general
public and of the lovers of natural beauty everywhere, and it
is believed that the charms, as well as the utilities, of this
paragon of lakes can more safely be entrusted to a permanent
government agency than to any single private interest.

A few additions to Mr. Cole's lucid statement will help the general
reader to a fuller comprehension of the difficulty as between the
States of Nevada and California. It will be recalled that Lake Tahoe
has an area of about 193 square miles, of which 78 square miles are in
the counties of Washoe, Ormsby and Douglas, Nevada, the remaining 115
square miles being in Placer and El Dorado Counties, California.

Because of this fact, that nearly two-thirds of the superficial area
of the Lake is in California, the people of California claim that they
have the natural and inherent right to control, even to determining of
its disposal at least nearly two-thirds of the water of the Lake.

The situation, however, is further complicated by the fact that the
only outlet to the Lake is in California near Tahoe City, in Placer
County, into the Truckee River, which meanders for some miles in a
northeasterly course until it leaves California, enters Nevada, passes
through the important city of Reno, and finally empties into Pyramid
Lake, which practically has no outlet.

In response to the claim of California, the people of Nevada, in which
it appears they are backed up by the U.S. Reclamation Service, contend
that Nature has already determined whither the overflow waters of
Lake Tahoe shall go. That, while they do not wish in the slightest
to restrict the proper use of the waters of the Truckee River by the
dwellers upon that river, they insist that no