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OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS TH O M A S A . CAMPBELL PRESIDENT SPENCER L. BUTTERFIELD VICE PRESIDENT W ILLIAM COULTHARD SEC'Y-TREAS. HARRY E. MILLER E. O T T O UNDERHILL JAM ES C ASHM AN JO H N BUNCH LAS VEGAS VALLEY WATER DISTRICT 9 0 0 S O U T H 5 T H S T R E E T LAS VEGAS, NEVADA T E L E P H O N E 5 9 2 0 April 11, 1953 P . ? . B O X 1 4 4 B M r. A . E. Cahlan Las Vegas Review Journal 737 North Main Street Las Vegas, Nevada Dear A l: C The enclosed material w ill serve to bring you right up-to-date on the status of the negotia­tions for purchase of the Las Vegas Land & Water Company system by the District. It is a little disconcerting, to say the least, that the Union Pacific people should take the position that the District Is responsible for a delay in bringing the negotiations to a final conclusion. Here are the facts: As long ago as the middle of last August, a definite understanding was reached between the Water Company and the District for purchase of the local water system at a base price of j Q $2 ,500,000. T p A t the instance and request of the Union Pacific officials and attorneys, the District formalized its offer of $2,500,000 in an official communication dated August 25, 1952. The Union Pacific people "played around" with the matter until the middle o f i S f e t w h e n they submitted to the District for execution a re-draft of the August 25 offer to purchase. P The District very cheerfully cooperated with the Union Pacific and executed the substitute offer on October 15, 1952. From that time until the latter part of January the Union Pacific people again "sat on" the proposal to purchase. O nce again they submitted an amplified and completely revised pur­chase offer for the District to execute and submit. O nce more the District cooperated. " Y " ° n January 31, 1953, the District executed the third offer to purchase. Thereafter there was another long wait until March 23 when the Union Pacific attorneys sub­mitted what they styled a "preliminary first draft" of the final agreement. This was dated March 16 but did not arrive in Las Vegas until March 23. |t was noJ Posable for the District's counsel and engineers to get together for conference until last Tuesday, April 7 . O n the following day, April 8 , Attorney Franklin Hamilton of the law offices of O 'M e lve n y & Myers wrote per the enclosed letter of that date and forwarded 13 pages