Marcus A. Smith was a Senator from Arizona who favored the damming. He stated that he loved natural beauty as much as anyone else and could sympathize with the defenders of the valley. But he was for the damming because "...we all love the sound of whispering winds amid the trees...the wail of a hungry baby will make us forget it....as we try to minister to its wants." - Wilderness and the American Mind by Roderick Nash
This point proved that few senators were for the dam because they disliked the wilderness.