134 OUR USE OF THE LAND 



Also on the good side of the reclaimed land ledger are the 

 many successful drainage projects in the Lake states partial' 

 larly. In addition to this, there are the large irrigation projects 

 like Boulder Dam, Grand Coulee, and the All American Canal. 

 These huge works of the Bureau of Reclamation are literally 

 turning deserts into fields as fertile as Iowa bottom land. As 

 more of our surrmarginal land is turned back into range and 

 forest, these reclaimed areas will be ready to receive those who 

 have been dispossessed by the dust storms and the gullies and 

 the droughts. 



In the end, whether or not reclamation is a good thing comes 

 down to a matter of bookkeeping. Any project is profitable 

 if the sum of the costs is less than the sum of the profits. The 

 great problem in bookkeeping is what are true costs, and what 

 profits should go to pay those costs? 



It is expected that the Green Mountain Reservoir irriga- 

 tion project will cost $44,000,000. Suppose that because of 

 bad markets or crop failures the people who use the water 

 from this project are able to repay but $43,000,000 over a 

 period of twenty years. To an accountant this would mean 

 that the Green Mountain Reservoir showed a loss of $ 1 ,000,000. 

 Now assume that this project provided irrigated land for 100 

 farm families from the dust bowl country to the east. Had 

 these farmers remained on their wind-blown land they would 

 have had to receive $1,000,000 in relief funds during a twenty- 

 year period. At the same time, the land of these farmers would 

 within the twenty years be completely ruined if they remained 

 on it. Assuming the very low value of $10 an acre for this 

 land, and also assuming that each farmer had 200 acres, this 

 would be a loss of $200,000. By providing a place for these 

 farmers on the irrigated land, the losses of $1,200,000 would 

 be saved. If these savings were added to the profits of the 

 reclamation project, it would not show a loss. The decision of 

 whether or not reclamation projects are worth while depends 



