474 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



WYOMING. 



Wyoming, the first State to enact Carey Act legislation, passed its 

 law of acceptance in 1895. Details of procedure in the matter of car- 

 rying out construction and settlement in this State and in Idaho are 

 almost identical. The requirement that the State engineer not only 

 approve the company's application for permit to appropriate water, 

 but that he act as a technical judge uj)on the feasibility of all projects, 

 more than anything else has served to make Carey Act development 

 in Wyoming and Idaho stable and practically free of failures. No 

 project is approved unless there is an ample supply of water assured, 

 and as the system is in reality built for and its cost borne by the set- 

 tler only permanent and enduring construction is permitted. Con- 

 trol of the works is turned over to the settlers when 70 to 90 per cent 

 of the land is sold, and the system is thereafter operated and main- 

 tained through an organization of the settlers as stockholders. 



The State sells the land for 50 cents per acre, one-half payable 

 at the time of entry and the balance when final proof is made, the 

 purchaser being required to contract with the company for his water 

 right before he is allowed to enter his land. 



Pj'actically all of the larger irrigation development in Wyoming 

 has been brought about by operations under the Carey Act, as this 

 act affords the only means of safe investment of large amounts of 

 capital in irrigation enterprises. The original grant of 1,000,000 

 acres has been segregated by the State under various projects, and 

 the grant of the second 1,000,000 acres is nearly half gone, the segre- 

 gations made and applied for covering at the present time an area 

 of approximately 1,400,000 acres. The rate of development in Wyo- 

 ming has been much more uniform than in Idaho. In the latter 

 State the greatest development has occurred since 1900, 42 of its 46 

 projects having been initiated since that year. Thirty-six segrega- 

 tion lists had been approved in Wyoming up to and including the 

 year 1906 ; 18 segregations were approved in the next two years, and 

 26 segregations have been received and approved during the last two 

 years, giving a far more regular development to Wj^oming's recla- 

 mation than to that of Idaho. 



The following summary and table present figures on Carey-Act 

 operations in Wyoming from their beginning to the present : 



SUMMARY. 



Total area granted to State acres__ 2, 000. 000 



Total area of segregations do 1,390,065 



Area of reclaimed laud sold to settlers do 130, 000 



Estimated cost of reclaiming lands now segregated $19, 707, 127 



Received by State as proceeds from land ssiles $39, 333 



Average cost of reclamation, per acre $15 



Highest price charged for water right, per acre $65 



Lowest price charged for water right, per acre $10 



Number of projects now being developed 63 



