412 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



ern Idaho, and was followed by W. W. Farrell, of St. 

 Joe, Idaho, who told of his troubles when a water power 

 company had flooded his land by the construction of a 

 dam. During his talk, an effort was made to proceed with 

 the outlined program, but there was immediate objection 

 and Mr. Farrell was allowed to continue at length. 



Interest centered in the address by ex-Governor Good- 

 ing of Idaho on "The Development of Idaho Under the 

 Carey Act." The speaker averred that much of the pres- 

 ent irrigation work in his state had resulted from this law, 

 and through it there had been interested such aggressive 

 investors and builders as Frank Buhl, of Sharon, Pa., 

 Kuhn Bros., of Pittsburgh, J. G. White & Co., of New 

 York, and Trowbridge & Never, of Chicago, to whom he 

 gave high commendation for their activity. The tone of 

 the inquiry, at the conclusion of his paper, indicated the 

 interest that it had awakened. 



Mr. Fairweather, California: If I understood you 

 right, Governor, the water rights cost $25 to $55. 



Mr. Gooding: $55 per acre. 



Mr. Fairweather: And the owner has ten years to 

 pay for it? 



Mr. Gooding: Ten years to pay for it. 



Mr. Fairweather: What is the actual annual tax 

 outside of that and the running expense? You did not 

 give any figures on that. 



Mr. Gooding: I should be very glad if I had a little 

 more time to tell you something about the Carey Act. 

 The success of the Carey Act lies in the fact that every 

 acre under the Carey Act proposition must pay its share 

 of the burden of the development of the project; that is, 

 building the canal, reservoirs and all other expenses con- 

 nected with it. Every acre must pay its share of maintenance. 

 And also, whether it is in cultivation or not, it must pay its 

 share of maintenance for the operation of the canal. The 

 conditions of the contracts have been that only that land 

 that was in cultivation bore the expense. But in the 

 last four years all new contracts made state that every 

 acre bears its share of the burden of operation, and that 

 is at the rate of thirty-five cents an acre; that is the price. 



Mr. Ross, Washington: I want to ask the Governor 

 if in the irrigation of these lands, they require the pay- 

 ment of this tax that is not under irrigation. For in- 

 stance, if one files on 160 acres of land and only has eighty 

 acres of it under cultivation, if he expects to pay pro rata, 

 or is the annual maintenance put on the entire tract? 



Mr. Gooding: If I understand, the question you asked 

 me is whether he pays if it is too high to be irrigated. 



Mr. Ross: No, if it is under the project. 



Mr. Gooding: If it is under the project and can be 

 irrigated, every acre must pay its share of maintenance. 

 So far as possible, we have to shut out speculation under 

 the Carey Act in Idaho. 



Mr. Bond, Ohio : Governor, as a seeker for informa- 

 tion, I would like to inquire upon what the different 

 charges of construction upon the various projects is based; 

 if it is computed on their construction charge or upon the 

 desirability of the land? 



Mr. Gooding: No, on the construction alone. The 

 engineer is ordered by the State Land Board to make an 

 exhaustive report showing the cost of construction, water 

 supply and all those things, nad upon that and other in- 

 formation which the Land Board can gather the price 

 per acre charged. That is the basis upon which these 

 companies take up the work and agree to furnish water, 

 putting it within half a mile, making it available within 

 half a mile of any legal subdivision and it is upon that that 

 the Board and the company agree upon the price, upon a 

 thorough investigation and report by the state engineer. 

 I will say that our Carey Act projects as a whole have 

 been built upon this plan. 



Mr. Fairweather: One thing further, as to the ad- 

 ministration. I understand that final proof can be made 

 within six months after water is there. 



Mr. Gooding: Yes, when the water is available the 

 company notifies the state when the water will be avail- 

 able in its ditches. The state in turn notifies the settler 

 The company also notifies him, as far as it is concerned, 

 but the settler then must make settlement in six months. 

 He can make final proof and get a patent for the land in 

 thirty days. The state has not required any long residence, be- 

 cause we found it was not needed. I think nothing demon- 



strates that better than the fact of the great development 

 that we have had in Idaho under the Carey Act. I think I 

 am safe in saying although I do not like to make com- 

 parisons that on the south side, the Twin Falls project, 

 we have more people and more values in dollars and cents 

 than the general government has got on all its irrigation 

 projects in every state of the union where they required 

 five years residence. I have not overdrawn it very much, 

 and we may have the best of it by considerable. I have 

 underestimated when I have said that on the Twin Falls 

 tract, where there was not a dollar of taxable property 

 four or five years ago, they have a valuation here now, 

 of $25,000,000. I have underestimated it. They have a 

 foundation for values of more than $100,000,000. 



Mr. Fairweather: After the settler has received his 

 patent from the state, subject to the lien of the water 

 company, can he secure a loan upon his entry secured by 

 second mortgage? 



Mr. Gooding: Yes, we are doing that. He has an 

 equity in the land, of course. It may be all the way from 

 $10 up to $100 and as high as $300 or $400 "dollars an 

 acre. They are loaning a great deal of money on all the 

 old irrigation projects, that is, on the Idaho Carey Act 

 projects. The Idaho work commenced about the same 

 time as that of the general government. 



R. H. Thompson, city engineer of Seattle, gave a 

 technical address on "Pumping for Irrigation" and was 

 followed by J. S. Dennis, of the Canadian-Pacific railroad 

 on "Irrigation and Irrigation Development in Canada." 



FRIDAY MORNING-. 



E. B. Kienz, secretary of the Niles Chamber of Com- 

 merce, Niles, Cal., opened the session with a well pre- 

 pared paper on "Irrigation by Deep Well Pumping," 

 the plan now in operation in this section of the state. 

 In his discussion, he indicated the problems confronting 

 deep well plan and gave instructive facts concerning mod- 

 ern methods. 



Other addresses relating to deep waterways were given 

 by Col. John I. Martin, of St. Louis and Prof. W. D. 

 Lyman, Whitman College, Wash., and John L. Mathews. 



Discussion resulted from the report of the com- 

 mittee on resolution but there were no changes from the 

 document as submitted as follows: 



Resolved, That the homestead law should be amended 

 so that the entryman upon public land under a government 

 project shall not be required to establish residence thereon 

 before the government is prepared to furnish him water: 

 and that the Honorable Secretary of the Interior be re- 

 quested to recommend such an amendment in his forthcom- 

 ing annual report. 



Whereas, The amount of money now available or likely 

 hereafter to become available under the reclamation act is 

 inadequate to reclaim the arid lands of the Union, 



Resolved, That the president of this congress is author- 

 ized to memorialize the congress and the President of the 

 United States to augment the reclamation fund by an annual 

 appropriation of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) for the 

 period of five years, for use under the provisions of the re- 

 clamation act. to be converted back into the national treasury 

 in due time by the home builders. 



We urge legislation to the end that mortgagees who in 

 good faith have been compelled to foreclose their liens on 

 lands within the limits of such irrigation projects may have 

 a reasonable time after acquiring title to such lands under 

 foreclosure proceedings to dispose of the same to qualified 

 person?, under the reclamation act. 



Resolved, That we memorialize the Federal government 

 immediately to inaugurate drainage measures for the re- 

 clamation of the swamp land and overflow lands of the Union 

 in the interest of public health and the creation of homes, and 

 we urge the co-operation of the state and Federal govern- 

 ment to this end. 



Resolved, That the better utilization of our waters for 

 water supply, irrigation, navigation and power, demands a 

 unification of the various administrative agencies of the 

 government having charge of the federal regulation and con- 

 trol of water and waterways into a single agency; there- 

 fore, we urge upon the congress of the United States legis- 

 lation looking to the early creation of such agency. 



Resolved, That the congress be requested to enact a 

 law providing for the immediate survey and estimates of the 

 cost of reclamation of submerged lands, where the work is 

 International in character, or where part of the territory 

 has been withdrawn from sale by the Federal government, 

 or lies along the banks of navigable lakes and streams. 



Resolved, That the National Irrigation Congress co-oper- 

 ate with the several sections interested to bring about broad, 

 comprehensive, yet conservative legislation whereby drainage, 

 deep waterways, and forest conservation, together with the 

 pressing needs of irrigation may be provided during the 

 coming session of congress by bond issue; such bonds to be 

 issued in small denominations bearing a low rate of Inter- 



