TTTK AVOIJK OF TUl] RECLAMATION SERVICE.* 



By F. H. Nkweix, 

 Chief Eni/ineer of RecUtinatioii l^crricr, I'. <s'. Gcolof/icaJ >^iirvey. 



Durinfj tlie yenv 1004 there has been a notable increase in the 

 knowledoe of the possibilities of development of the West, and a 

 long- step has been taken toAvard the realization of some of these pos- 

 sibilities by the beginning of construction of large irrigation works 

 by the Government. The funds for this purpose are furnished by 

 proceeds from the disposal of public lands in thirteen States and three 

 Territories, and the operations have been carried on by the reclama- 

 tion service under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior. 



The corps of engineers to which has been intrusted the work of 

 planning and constructing the great irrigation works has been stead- 

 ily increased and strengthened by the addition of experienced men 

 through competitiA-e civil-service examination. At the same time 

 the energies of the corps as a whole have been directed toward exam- 

 ining into the possibilities of further work, reporting details of con- 

 struction, and, toward pushing forward the operations with as great 

 speed and energy as are compatible with economy and thoroughness. 

 The work has reached the stage where, in the spring of 1005, water 

 will be put upon several thousand acres of land in Nevada, and many 

 of the larger structures of national importance will be well underway. 



In order to make choice of particular projects, it has been necessary 

 to pass in review the physical conditions of the entire West and to 

 consider from a broad standpoint the relative merits of an almost 

 infinite number of possibilities. In any one State there are to be 

 found feasible projects, large and small, and the entire reclamation 

 fund and all of the energies of its engineers could profitably be de- 

 voted to that State. It is necessary, however, under the general terms 

 of the law, to do something in each State or Territory and to expend 

 as far as practicable the major portion of the fund derived from that 

 State Avithin its boundaries, 



"An abstract of an address before the National Geographic Society, January 



y2, 1005, revised by the author and brought up to date. This article is in con- 



• tmuation of a paper i)rinted in the Smithsonian Report for 1903, pp. 827 to 841. 



373 



