184 



CONGRESS. (IRRIGATION.) 



ment in the employment of its machinery of gov- 

 ernment to force values and utility in land by a 

 stupendous outlay to control the elements by 

 conquering nature's course, thereby exerting gov- 

 ernment powers in fields that should be exploited 

 and will be exploited by State and private enter- 

 prises as fast and as far and as prudently as the 

 needs of the people and localities may require. 



" It is aimed to deter the slow but steady tide 

 of immigration now setting in from the North to 

 the rich mining-fields of Tennessee, Alabama, and 

 the South; to check those who, from my State 

 and others, go South to find your sweet Southern 

 hospitality and reach your blooming fields, and, 

 mingling with you, give a force for the future 

 that no arid region irrigated in the world can 

 compare with the results of this combination, 

 and no States can rank your Southern States in 

 the industrial development thereby produced." 

 . Several able speeches were made for and 

 against the bill, its advocates dwelling on the 

 necessity of controlling and guiding our rivers 

 and streams, and the advantage of developing 

 vast tracts of land now worthless, and its oppo- 

 nents insisting on the unfairness of the measure, 

 the dangerous powers granted, the difficulty of 

 the task undertaken and those indirectly in- 

 volved, and the lack of constitutional authority. 



The vote on the passage of the measure was 

 146 yeas to 55 nays, not present 18, not vot- 

 ing 132. 



The bill was approved by the President June 

 17, 1902; and the text of it is as follows: 



" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 

 Representatives of the United States of America 

 in Congress assembled, That all moneys received 

 from the sale and disposal of public lands in 

 Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, 

 Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North 

 Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, 

 Washington, and Wyoming, beginning with the 

 fiscal year ending June 30, 1901, including the 

 surplus of fees and commissions in excess of al- 

 lowances to registers and receivers, and except- 

 ing the 5 per centum of the proceeds of the sales 

 of public lands in the above States set aside by 

 law for educational and other* purposes, shall 

 be, and the same are hereby, reserved, set aside, 

 and appropriated as a special fund in the Treas- 

 ury to be known as the ' reclamation fund,' to 

 be used in the examination and survey for and 

 the construction and maintenance of irrigation 

 works for the storage, diversion, and develop- 

 ment of waters for the reclamation of arid and 

 semiarid lands in the said States and Territories, 

 and for the payment of all other expenditures 

 provided for in this act: Provided, That in case 

 the receipts from the sale and disposal of public 

 lands other than those realized from the sale and 

 disposal of lands referred to in this section are 

 insufficient to meet the requirements for the sup- 

 port of agricultural colleges in the several States 

 and Territories, under the act of Aug. 30, 1890, 

 entitled ' An Act to apply a portion of the pro- 

 ceeds of the public lands to the more complete 

 endowment and support of the colleges for the 

 benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts, es- 

 tablished under the provisions of an act of Con- 

 gress approved July 2, 1862,' the deficiency, if 

 any, in the sum necessary for the support of the 

 said colleges shall be provided for from any 

 moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropri- 

 ated. 



' SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior is 

 hereby authorized and directed to make examina- 

 tions and surveys for, and to locate and con- 

 struct, as herein provided, irrigation works for 



the storage, diversion, and development of waters, 

 including artesian wells, and to report to Con- 

 gress at the beginning of each regular session as 

 to the results of such examinations and surveys, 

 giving estimates of cost of all contemplated 

 works, the quantity and location of the lands 

 which can be irrigated therefrom, and all facts 

 relative to the practicability of each irrigation 

 project; also the cost of works in process of con- 

 struction as well as of those which have been 

 completed. 



" SEC. 3. That the Secretary of the Interior 

 shall, before giving the public notice provided 

 for in section 4 of this act, withdraw from public 

 entry the lands required for any irrigation works 

 contemplated under the provisions of this act, 

 and shall restore to public entry any of the 

 lands so withdrawn when, in his judgment, such 

 lands are not required for the purposes of this 

 act; and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby 

 authorized, at or immediately prior to the time 

 of beginning the surveys for any contemplated 

 irrigation works, to withdraw from entry, ex- 

 cept under the homestead laws, any public lands 

 believed to be susceptible of irrigation from said 

 works: Provided, That all lands entered and en- 

 tries made under the homestead laws within 

 areas so withdrawn during such withdrawal shall 

 be subject to all the provisions, limitations, 

 charges, and conditions of this act; that said sur- 

 veys shall be prosecuted diligently to completion, 

 and upon the completion thereof, and of the nec- 

 essary maps, plans, and estimates of cost, the 

 Secretary of the Interior shall determine whether 

 or not said project is practicable and advisable, 

 and if determined to be impracticable or unadvisa- 

 ble he shall thereupon restore said lands to entry; 

 that public lands which it is proposed to irrigate 

 by means of any contemplated works shall be 

 subject to entry only under the provisions of the 

 homestead laws in tracts of not less than 40 nor 

 more than 160 acres, and shall be subject to the 

 limitations, charges, terms, and conditions herein 

 provided: Provided, That the commutation pro- 

 visions of the homestead laws shall not apply to 

 entries made under this act. 



" SEC. 4. That upon the determination by the 

 Secretary of the Interior that any irrigation proj- 

 ect is practicable, he may cause to be let con- 

 tracts for the construction of the same, in such 

 portions or sections as it may be practicable to 

 construct and complete as parts of the whole 

 project, providing the necessary funds for such 

 portions or sections are available in the reclama- 

 tion fund, and thereupon he shall give public 

 notice of the lands irrigable under such project, 

 and limit of area per entry, which limit shall rep- 

 resent the acreage which, in the opinion of the 

 Secretary, may be reasonably required for the 

 support of a family upon the lands in question ; 

 also of the charges which shall be made per acre 

 upon the said entries, and upon lands in private 

 ownership which may be irrigated by the waters 

 of the said irrigation project, and the number of 

 annual instalments, not exceeding 10, in which 

 such charges shall be paid and the time when 

 such payments shall commence. The said 

 charges shall be determined with a view of re- 

 turning to the reclamation fund the estimated 

 cost of constmction of the project, and shall be 

 apportioned equitably: Provided, That in all con- 

 struction work eight hours shall constitute a 

 day's work, and no Mongolian labor shall be em- 

 ployed thereon. 



" SEC. 5. That the entryman upon lands to be 

 irrigated by such works shall, in addition to 

 compliance with the homestead laws, reclaim at 



