484 BEPOET OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



NEVADA. 



The law under which the Carey Act operations are conducted in 

 Nevada at present was passed March 23, 1909. This law requires the 

 State land register to examine all lists and proposals and " ascertain 

 if they compl}^ with the regulations of the Department of the In- 

 terior and rules of the State land office.*' If so, they are submitted 

 to the State engineer, who is required to report on the feasibility of 

 the project as a whole, the adequacy of the proposed water supply, 

 the "reasonableness" of the proposed cost of construction, and the 

 character of the land to be reclaimed. If such report can not be made 

 from the data presented by the investor, the State engineer is author- 

 ized to make the necessary investigations in the field. Upon receiv- 

 ing a favorable report from the State engineer the State land register 

 is required to request the selection on behalf of the State of the lands 

 applied for. It is the polic}'^ of the State engineer, under the pro- 

 visions of the act of Congress of March 15, 1910, permitting tempo- 

 rary withdrawals for one year pending surveys and investigations, 

 to recommend all applications for withdrawal where a cursory ex- 

 amination reveals the probability^ of there being a sufficient water sup- 

 ply available. Before recommending segi'egation at the end of the 

 period of temporary withdrawal, howeA^er, the State engineer re- 

 quires that under his direction the applicant shall make such neces- 

 sary surveys and investigations as are necessary for the making of 

 definite recommendations. The law is most meager in essential de- 

 tails, and provides only in a general way for the administration of the 

 provisions of the national act. The entire responsibility of preserv- 

 ing the welfare of the public, the settler, and the investor is placed 

 upon the State engineer alone, and is a burden too great for one man, 

 especially when such burden is in addition to the regular duties of 

 his office. In this essential at least the Nevada law needs early modi- 

 fication. Other States have found that carefully drawn legislation 

 and effective administration are important factors in promoting 

 Carey Act development and insuring its success. Nevada should 

 profit by this experience and pass the legislation needed to insure 

 steady and permanent development of its desert lands. 



The value of the Carey Act in promoting the development of desert 

 lands has not yet been fully realized by Nevada. No active recla- 

 mation or settlement has as yet taken place, and such projects as have 

 been initiated are only in their preliminary stages. The first lists 

 submitted for approval by the State were all rejected by the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior on the ground that the segregations applied for. 

 consisting of only 160 to 360 acres, were too small to bring them 

 within the intent of the act, it being held that the entiy of such 



