202 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



stated in the numerous manifestos that have been issued 

 to the public, to be all the way from forty acres to 160, 

 depending upon the quality of the land (and presum- 

 ably how well the settler stands with the official in 

 charge,'for it is entirely discretionary with him), and the 

 amount of water to be allowed each user is also to be 

 determined, not by the user nor by the requirements of 

 his land or the character of the crop he raises, but by 

 the official in charge and at his discretion and plea-sure, 

 as he is supposed to be an "expert" in such matters, 

 having just passed an academic civil service examina- 

 tion in botany, astronomy and civil government at Wash- 

 ington, although he may never have seen an irrigating 

 ditch in his life. The settler is further required to 

 be a perpetual occupant and a personal cultivator of 

 his land and under no circumstance can he own or 

 hold any land that may be in excess of the amount 

 fixed by the reclamation officials, or that he does not 

 personally occupy and cultivate, and should he at any 

 time decide to sell his land (and if he should, by any 

 reason whatever, be incapacitated for occupying or culti- 

 vating his land he would be compelled to sell it) he 

 could not go into the market and sell it to the highest 

 bidder, but he would have to find some one that would 

 agree to personally occupy it and cultivate it, other- 

 wise his sale would be void. A failure to. comply with 

 any of the numberless regulations governing the occu- 

 pancy of the land under the Government irrigation sys- 

 tems that are to be controlled by the Reclamation Bureau 

 implies the foreclosure of the lien held by the Govern- 

 ment and the forfeiture of ownership. There are so 

 many othr requirements and prohibitive conditions, 

 as set forth in the numerous proclamations issued by 

 the Reclamation Bureau, that it would seem that these 

 Government projects were to become practically penal 

 settlements. 



While Snake River is a stream of considerable im- 

 portance and during the greater part of the year carries 

 enough water to supply all of the irrigation ditches 

 depending upon it now constructed, yet there are times 

 when the supply is short and insufficient to meet the 

 requirements of the land already reclaimed, therefore 

 the question of paramount importance to all concerned, 

 both in existing systems and in projected systems, is 

 the development of additional water supply, especially 

 during the low water period. 



This is also the case in almost every section of 

 the irrigated West. The crying need is "more water." 

 There is no difficulty in securing all the money neces- 

 sary to construct ditches where it can be shown that 

 there is a sufficient area of suitable land contiguous 

 to reliable water supply that would justify the expend- 

 iture. 



It was generally supposed that the Government 

 Reclamation Bureau would address itself at once to 

 the consideration of this most important and far-reach- 

 ing problem the conservation and storage of the flood 

 waters and this was undoubtedly the idea and belief 

 of those chiefly responsible for the Reclamation Enact- 

 ment. Instead of this we find the time and energies 

 of those charged with the responsibility of executing 

 the law chiefly engaged in petty competition with local 

 and private institutions, in laying out townsites, selling 

 town lots, planning electric lighting plants and street 

 car systems and promoting private interests and operat- 

 ing press and advertising agencies. The lavish use of 



the columns of the country press and the prostitution 

 of the news agencies have for the time being beguiled 

 the public, but this can not last. There are some cap- 

 able and brainy men connected with the Reclamation 

 Bureau, but as a rule such men are modest and will 

 ta-ke time to reveal them. They would undoubtedly 

 comprehend the scope and opportunity of this institu- 

 tion and if given a chance would give it the standing 

 and dignity that it is entitled to in the estimation of 

 the public. 



According to the published statements of the Re- 

 clamation Bureau $1,600,000 have been appropriated for 

 the construction of the Minidoka irrigation system, and 

 to inaugurate this undertaking it became necessary to 

 strangle a "private enterprise" for which all prelimi- 

 nary preparation had been made, including financing. 

 For the Malheur project $2,700,000 have been appro- 

 priated to reclaim less than 90,000 acres, and to make 

 room for this undertaking it became necessary to stifle 

 another "private enterprise" that had planned to reclaim 

 140,000 acres of the same territory at an estimated ex- 

 penditure of over $300,000 less than the Government 

 has appropriated. For the Boise-Payette project $1,- 

 300,000 have been appropriated for enlarging an exist- 

 ing ditch that covers much more land than there is 

 water in the river to supply. Had this vast sum .of 

 over $5,000,000 been devoted to the storage of the flood 

 water either at the head of Snake River or on the upper 

 reaches of the Boise River, or divided between these 

 streams it is more than probable that enough additional 

 water supply could have been developed to have re- 

 claimed three acres of land where one can be reclaimed" 

 under the present apportionment of this expenditure. 



The appropriation and utilization of this additional 

 supply of water might have been left with all pro- 

 priety and assurance to the owners of the land to be- 

 reclaimed and at no expense whatever to the Govern- 

 ment, and moreover, there would be obviated under- 

 such an arrangement all likelihood of conflict between 

 the Federal and State authorities over the adminis- 

 trative control of the distributing ditch systems. 



To those not familiar with the inner workings of 

 the Reclamation Service the much-vaunted Boise-Pay- 

 ette project presents some features that are as peculiar 

 as they are dubious. The scheme is laid principally 

 in the Boise Valley. A district that is supplied with 

 ditches galore, but is short on water. The scheme con- 

 templates the relinquishment of scores of well-improved 

 profit-producing farms, with long-standing legally-estab- 

 lished water rights that are exceedingly valuable, being 

 operated under customs and laws that are well under- 

 stood and recognized, and the acceptance in lieu thereof 

 of a minimum unit of land, the ownership of which 

 is conditioned on the perpetual occupation and personal 

 cultivation by the owner and with a water right that 

 is as uncertain in tenure as it is indefinite in quantity 

 and manner of use, and to be operated according to 

 the dictation and discretion of an alien agent and to 

 be prorated and placed upon the same footing as farms 

 that are yet to be carved out of the sagebrush plain, 

 which the owners of such farms are expected to do 

 without a murmur of protest for the glory of the Re- 

 clamation Service and the benefit of a coterie of land 

 speculators that are trying to "get rich quick" through 

 the popularity of the Government reclamation idea. 

 Considering the strenuous and persistent efforts that. 



