THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



73 



One of the most serious complaints corn- 

 Modify ing from the irrigation districts arises 

 Rules Under from the holding from year to year in- 

 Undeveloped definitely, under contemplated projects, 

 Reclamation vast bodies of land, no provision being 

 Projects. made for new private irrigation plants. 

 Notwithstanding section 3 of the Act of 

 June 17, 1902, provides that: "Said surveys shall be 

 prosecuted diligently to completion," and "if deter- 

 mined to be impracticable or unadvisable" the Secre- 

 tary of the interior "shall thereupon restore said lands 

 to entry," the decision upon the practicability, largely 

 we believe because of the lack of adequate funds, is 

 year after year left an open question. 



Vast bodies are being held withdrawn from entry 

 under the Desert Act, and placed under such regula- 

 tions governing homestead entries, as to practically dis- 

 bar settlement. Several such nebulous projects have 

 been held three, four and five years, with no immediate 

 prospect of construction. There is an urgent need for 

 a reasonable modification of the rules, and an unques- 

 tioned need of greater funds for the service. A gen- 

 tleman whom we recently met, in speaking of districts 

 where these rules were particularly obstructive in the 

 development of that section, has stated the case as fol- 

 lows: 



"All of the lands under these various reclamation 

 projects are held subject to. the future establishment of 

 the works, whether it be accomplished in one or more 

 years, and every tract so withdrawn must eventually 

 pay its full pro rata of the cost of construction. These 

 projects may not be undertaken for several years. The 

 two mentioned have been held for three and five years 

 respectively, not a stroke of work having yet been done 

 and no possibility of anything being done for possibly 

 another five years. The utter inadequacy of the funds 

 at the disposal of the service makes it practically cer- 

 tain nothing can be done in that time. 



"A very large portion of these withdrawn areas 

 for reclamation are also held under forest withdrawals, 

 the settler thus being subjected to the requirements of 

 three different departments. He cannot live upon and 

 cultivate the land without water. Within six months he 

 must begin residence and cultivation. If he fails, an 

 agent from one of three departments reports his entry 

 for cancellation. He must therefore either immediately 

 establish a pumping plant, the feasibility of which he 

 cannot decide without a large outlay of money and 

 much time ; or he must dig a ditch for several miles at a 

 cost of from $1,000 to possibly ten times that amount. 



"Often, and as is usually the case, he is not finan- 

 cially able to do this alone, but must combine with 

 others in the construction of the ditch or pumping plant. 

 The conditions surrounding the land selected, together 

 with restrictive rules of the different deparments, make 



it difficult if not impossible to induce other settlers to 

 apply at the same time for lands in that vicinity. The 

 result almost invariably is that he will not file an ap- 

 plication. 



"If he finally constructs his plant by the expendi- 

 ture of several thousand dollars in time or money, he 

 does so with the full knowledge that when the proposed 

 reclamation project is established, he will be required to 

 purchase water from the government works at from 

 probably $25' to $30 per acre, abandoning his plant and 

 all it has cost for construction. It is a total loss. 



"During all of this interval of from 3 to 10 years 

 he has lived in an isolated situation, perhaps miles 

 from the nearest neighbor, probably with no schools or 

 churches, hampered by poor roads in a sparsely settled 

 country. If he by chance located within the Forest 

 Eeserve, his cattle, sheep and horses cannot run at large, 

 as has been the privilege of the settlers from the earliest 

 times. He must pay the annual charges of that service ; 

 must herd his stock to prevent their straying, or he 

 must fence his own land. To secure posts he must drive 

 25 to 30 miles over rough mountainous roads, climb- 

 ing steep grades to an altitude of 9,000 or 10,000 feet 

 to reach the timber. (It will be noted there are no trees 

 on these forest reserves.) His trip requires a man with 

 four or six horses for from three to five days to secure 

 a load. The forest service are now charging him 8 cents 

 apiece for every post he secures under these adverse 

 conditions, where it ^s impossible to obtain them from' 

 any other source at a less price than the cost thus forced 

 upon him of from 25 to 30 cents. 



"These are actual conditions, and the results are 

 shown by the records, viz. : That while there have 

 been hundreds and thousands of inquiries from home- 

 seekers, a great number having gone over the lands 

 stated they were highly pleased with the locations; the 

 great majority have refused to make application, how- 

 ever, under the conditions imposed. Here in a country 

 with a rich and fertile soil, and with a delightful clim- 

 ate, where every inducement ought to be extended by the 

 government to the homeseeker, scarcely a score of en- 

 tries have been made and perfected since the Eeclama- 

 tion and Forest withdrawals were extended over these 

 agricultural lands. 



"Before such withdrawals these sections were being 

 rapidly turned into beautiful homes and thriving towns, 

 upward of 350,000 acres of land having been patented 

 during the past twenty to thirty years. This region 

 might easily support a population of many thousands. 

 But what citizen would now seek to secure a home in 

 this desert country under the conditions imposed. The 

 results speak for themselves. I have asked this ques- 

 tion of at least a hundred men, not one of whom has 

 answered in the affirmative. You wouldn't, nor would I. 



"While the provisions of the Act of June 17, 1902, 



