SETTLERS SEEKING GOVERNMENT AID. 



POSITION OF THE RECLAMATION SERVICE BRIEFLY 

 OUTLINED SETTLERS JViUST TAKE THE INITIATIVE. 



THE operations of the engineers of 

 the Reclamation Service since the 

 passage of the irrigation act have ex- 

 cited widespread interest throughout 

 the country. In many sections of the 

 West irrigation has been developed to a 

 point where the requirements of the 

 land exceed the normal water supply, 

 and the settlers are organizing with a 

 view of securing the aid of the govern- 

 ment in the construction of immense 

 storage works to conserve the flood 

 waters now going to waste. The assist- 

 ance of the government is asked, as the 

 cost of the work is beyond the means 

 of the land-owners. In all such cases 

 the policy of the Reclamation Service 

 has been to make it clearly understood 

 that this assistance can be secured only 

 through the influence of a healthy and 

 sustained public opinion expressed in a 

 direct communication to the Secretary 

 of the Interior from the people. In 

 brief, the direct beneficiaries the actual 

 laud-owners must take the initiative 

 and organize along lines similar to those 

 followed by the settlers of Salt River 

 valley. 



It should be understood that the irri- 

 gation projects which naturally appeal 

 most to the engineers are those which 

 are free from the vexing questions of 

 private ownership of land and water. 

 Large enterprises which contemplate 

 the reclamation of vast areas of desert 

 land, yet a part of the public domain, 

 present no obstacles aside from those of 

 a purely physical or engineering char- 

 acter, while the construction of works 

 in settled communities is sure to involve 

 personal features often more trying than 



anything found in the actual work of 

 construction. 



Just now there are several irrigation 

 districts making appeals to the govern- 

 ment for assistance, in order that many 

 thousands of acres of crops may be saved 

 from partial or total loss each year by 

 reason of a scanty water supply. In 

 one of these districts, the famous valley 

 of the Uncompahgre, in Colorado, the 

 irrigators and ditch owners have per- 

 fected an organization and will present 

 a formal demand for federal aid in the 

 construction of the Gunnison tunnel. 



In Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, 

 Oregon, and other states, similar organ- 

 izations are forming ; mass meetings are 

 being held, officers elected, and details 

 considered. The rule of the Reclama- 

 tion Service in all such cases is one 

 of absolute non-interference. Upon re- 

 quest assistance is given in outlining 

 the proper form of organization required 

 by the Department before definite action 

 can be taken, but in all other essentials 

 the settlers are informed that they must 

 work out their own destiny ; that their 

 requests for aid must bear practically 

 the unanimous endorsement of the act- 

 ual property owners, and must be free 

 from suspicion of politics. 



Down in the forbidding Salton desert 

 the settlers are petitioning the govern- 

 ment to take up a stupendous work for 

 the fuller utilization of the waters of the 

 great Colorado River. To those mak- 

 ing such request, and to all others who 

 in the future may desire the govern- 

 ment's aid, the above outline of the 

 position of the Reclamation Service is 

 especially directed. 





