File No. 711.1216M/153.

The Mexican Ambassador to the Secretary of State.

[Translation.]
No. 381.]

Excellency: Referring to previous correspondence, I have the honor to inform your excellency that according to a telegram from the department of foreign relations just received by me, the Government of Mexico agrees not to have recourse to the treaty, and that a simple exchange of notes between this embassy and your Department [Page 547] will be sufficient to authorize the construction on Mexican territory of the protective works on the Colorado River which may be necessary to prevent the flooding of said river on the territory of the so-called Imperial Valley.

As fundamental bases for the said agreement my Government proposes the following conditions:

(1)
The protective works on the Colorado River shall be constructed by the Colorado River Land Co., owner of the land on which the works are to be erected.
(2)
The said protective works to be made in accordance with the surveys and plans that the inspector appointed by the department of fomento may approve.
(3)
In constructing the said works the rights of the riparian owners on both banks and of the persons to whom the Government of Mexico may have granted permits or concessions for the use of the waters of the Colorado River shall be safeguarded.
(4)
The Government of Mexico does not guarantee the result of said works, nor will it accept any responsibility in the matter, either as to private persons or the Government of the United States.
(5)
The Government of the United States, although it should give pecuniary or other aid to the Colorado River Land Co., shall not acquire thereby nor by this agreement any right of ownership or easement or any other right over any portion of the territory or over the said works that may be executed on Mexican territory the real rights and all other rights to which spring from the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the Government of Mexico.
(6)
The Executive shall propose to the Mexican Congress the free entry of such material as may be needed for the construction of the protective works the object of said agreement.

Therefore, if your excellency’s Government accepts the foregoing propositions, I shall hasten to so report to my Government in order to put the said agreement into final shape.

I beg [etc.],

F. L. de la Barra.