IRRIGATION 



89 



made upon areas wliich could not be reached by water at reasonable cost, 

 or wliere many years Avould elapse before extension of the system would 

 cover the area. 



The need of this re(iuirement of settlement is based upon the funda- 

 mental conception of the objects of the act. Tt is not only simply to re- 

 claim the land. This may add to the material prosperity of a few. l)ut it 

 does not produce citizenshi]). Unless settlement is recpiired, a man in a 

 neig-hboring- state may take up a desirable farm, have it irrigated at the 

 expense of the o-overnment, put a tenant upon it, and thus defeat the prin- 

 cipal motive of the law, namely, the development of a self-supporting 

 citizenship. 



Another of the novel features of the Reclamation Act is that limiting the 

 area of the reclaimed land to the acreage Avhich, in the opinion of the 



,^,.^im 



i^'te*- 



Headworks Poplar River Unit, Fort Peck Project. 



secretary, may be reasonably required for the support of a family. Nearly 

 every settler desires to obtain as much land as he can, because 

 As to the of the hope of obtaining the unearned increment in value of 

 Size of the this land. As a consequence, nearly everyone attempts to hold 

 Farm Unit, at least i6o acres and to scatter his improvements over the 

 entire area. He even tries to hold additional land in the name 

 of some near relative or friend. The result is that, witli scanty capital, he 

 s not able to level and sul)due all of the land and bring it to a profitable 

 state of cultixation. Tl frequently happens that a man who would be pros- 

 perous on 40 acres fails on 160 acres, because of inability to nmke the pay- 

 ments on a large area wdicn only a small area is being cultivated. The result 

 is not only disastrous to him l)ut to the project as a whole, and to the 

 object of the law in that he is unable to produce profitable crops and this 

 deprives others of the benefits that would accrue if he made his payments 



There's health and wealth in Montana. 



