711.12155/461
The Ambassador in Mexico (Morrow) to
the Secretary of State
Mexico, September 9, 1930.
[Received
September 15.]
No. 2751
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my telegram
number 208 of today, 4 p.m., and to transmit herewith a copy and
translation of a draft, prepared by the Mexican Foreign Office, of a
minute to be approved by the International Boundary Commission, United
States and Mexico, in regard to the rectification of the Rio Grande
between El Paso and Box Canyon.
[Page 555]
I am also sending by air mail a copy and translation of this draft to the
American Boundary Commissioner in El Paso, for his information.
Respectfully yours,
For the Ambassador:
Arthur Bliss
Lane
Counselor of
Embassy[Enclosure—Translation]
Draft
Minute No. . . . . .
The Commission met in the offices of the Mexican Section in Ciudad
Juárez, Chihuahua, on . . . . . . ., convoked by the Mexican
Commissioner.—
The Mexican Commissioner informed the Commissioner of the United
States that the Government of Mexico is in agreement with the
recommendations contained in Minute number 129,65 and that, in order to
give definite form to the arrangement which is the basis for the
execution of the project for the rectification of the Rio Grande
(Río Bravo) in the Juárez Valley, it
desires that the points contained in the said recommendations be put
into the form of a resolution, together with the points which the
Commission may consider should be included in a Minute which,
approved by both Governments according to the practice of each,
shall legalize the execution of the (proposed) labors.
The Commissioner of the United States replied that he had similar
instructions from his Government, and consequently the Commission
proceeded to draw up the resolution in the following form:
- 1.
- –Immediately after both Governments communicate to each
other their approval, in accordance with their respective
constitutional practices, of the present Minute, they shall
proceed to the execution of the labors proposed in the joint
report of the Consulting Engineers of the International
Boundary Commission, attached to Minute number 129 of July
31, 1930, for the project which said report contains.
- 2.
- –For the execution of these labors, the order and
procedure followed should be derived from the technical
study of the question, the work being begun at the lower
end, while labors may be executed in the upper reaches of
the Valley for reasons of emergency or immediate necessity,
provided the normal work initiated in the lower section is
not interrupted.
- 3.
- –Both Governments consider that the obligations which they
mutually contract upon approving this Minute shall not be
fully met until the work is entirely completed, a period of
six years counting from the date of its initiation being
fixed for this purpose, and each [Page 556] Government having the right to demand
the continuation of the labors when these have been
interrupted for reasons other than force
majeure.
- 4.
- –The work should be executed in accordance with the
general outlines of the project contained in the joint
report of the Consulting Engineers of the International
Boundary Commission attached to Minute number 129. Should a
more thorough study of the location (el
estudio … de la localizatión) call for any change
in this project which is not fundamental, the respective
work may not (sic) be carried on
without the previous consent of the two Governments. The
work shall be suspended at the petition of either
Government, if it is proved that it is being executed under
conditions not herein stipulated or not provided in the
project which was approved.
- 5.
- –The cost of the work shall be met by both countries in
the proportion of 88%—eighty-eight per cent—for the United
States, and 12%—twelve per cent—for Mexico.
- 6.
- –In order duly to comply with the foregoing stipulation,
Mexico shall make itself responsible for the total execution
of the work along a section between Cordoba Cut and the town
of Zaragoza, the length of which shall be computed from the
data contained in the estimate presented so as to meet
exactly 12% of the total stipulated. The United States shall
be responsible for the total execution of the rest of the
work.
- 7.
- –Each Government shall acquire the portions which both the
right-of-way of the rectified channel and the lands
segregated to one or the other side of this right-of-way may
occupy in its own territory.
- 8.
- –The direction and inspection of the work shall be
entrusted to the International Boundary Commission, each
Government to employ for the execution of its share thereof
the agency (dependencia) which, under
its administrative organization, is to carry this work
out.
- 9.
- –The International Boundary Commission shall prepare maps
of the portions of land which the right-of-way of the
rectified channel may occupy, as well as of the portions to
be segregated on both sides of this channel, and within a
period of thirty days from the consummation of each cut, it
shall survey these portions of the terrain, preparing the
respective maps, and shall declare them eliminated from the
effects of Article II of the Convention of November 12,
1884, in a manner similar to that adopted by the Convention
of March 20, 1905, for the elimination of Bancos. Thus, the
center of the rectified channel shall be the international
dividing line, and the sections which, as a result of these
cuts, may fall on the Mexican side of the center of the
rectified channel shall be considered as under Mexican
sovereignty, and those on the opposite side shall be
considered under American sovereignty, each Government
reciprocally renouncing in favor of the [Page 557] other rights acquired to its
share of said sections situated on the opposite side of the center of the rectified
channel.
(N.B.—The Spanish text of the last clause is: “…
renunciando recíprocamente cada Gobierno a favor del
otro los derechos adquiridos sobre la parte de
dichas porciones situada a cada lado del eje del
cauce rectificado”—of which the literal translation
is: “… each Government reciprocally renouncing in
favor of the other the rights acquired over the part
of said portions situated on each side of the center of the rectified
channel.”)
- 10.
- –Should there be presented private or national claims
arising from the construction or conservation of the
rectified channel, or for reasons connected with the labors
of rectification, each country grants to the other
indemnification in this respect.
- 11.
- –The International Boundary Commission is charged with
keeping the rectified channel intact (la
conservatión de la integridad del cauce
rectificado), submitting to this end for the approval
of both Governments the regulations to be issued with a view
to making this conservation effective.
