540 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



December 



Dike 



Building 

 at Yuma 



No work has been done on Divis- 

 ions 9 and 10. To complete the con- 

 tract it will require one hundred and 

 fifty teams. 



Work on the government camp at 

 Wyncote is well under way, and dur- 

 ing the comnig month it is expected 

 that all of the buildings and sewer sys- 

 tems will be completed. 



The Secretary of the In- 

 terior has authorized the 

 U. S. Reclamation Ser- 

 vice to proceed by force account to 

 construct a portion of the great dike 

 which is to be a part of the Yuma pro- 

 ject, Arizona and California. 



This authorization was given as the 

 result of an injunction, which was 

 granted by the owners of land upon 

 which the dike is to be built, against 

 the contractors. As the land involved 

 was patented subsequent to October, 

 1888, it is subject to the right of way 

 for canal construction by the author- 

 ity of the United States, and the gov- 

 ernment, therefore, cannot be enjoined 

 for the construction of a canal with 

 dike protection therefor. 



The work of the contractors will be 

 diminished to the extent of the work 

 performed by the government. The 

 land owners are represented in Wash- 

 ington by former Senator George H. 

 Turner, of Washington. 

 Future The question of labor 



Supply ? u PP!y in the arid West 



is one of the most se- 

 rious matters now confronting the en- 

 gineers of the Reclamation Service. A 

 number of small contractors have al- 

 ready failed because of the difficulty 

 of obtaining labor, and others are on 

 the verge of failure because they can- 

 not obtain a sufficient number of 

 workmen; nor are they able to secure 

 the services of competent sub-contrac- 

 tors and foremen. 



When the contractors are not able 

 to keep up with the work it becomes 

 necessary for the Reclamation Service 

 to step in and push the work them- 

 selves, and to pay if necessary larger 

 wages for good men. As a result of 

 the enormous increase of railroad con- 



struction, laborers are not only very 

 scarce, but very independent, and drift 

 about from place to place after brief 

 stops on each job. At all the labor 

 centers extra inducements are being 

 offered for good men. Car load after 

 carload of laborers is started for the 

 West, and every effort made to de- 

 liver the men, but in spite of great 

 vigilance many of the men succeed in 

 getting away before the destination is 

 reached. They have enjoyed their lit- 

 tle picnic and are not hankering for 

 the real work. Some of them actually 

 stay a few days and then drift on, 

 while a very few 7 remain on the job 

 and appear to take a human interest 

 in it. 



One very difficult item to cope with 

 in government work out in the arid 

 region is the eight-hour provision, es- 

 pecially during the long hot days. 

 Every man who is exercising moder- 

 ately out in the sun with his attention 

 distracted from the heat gets along 

 with a reasonable degree of comfort, 

 and it is only when he is compelled to 

 sit around that he begins to appre- 

 ciate the conditions. The long hours 

 of enforced idleness, with absolutely 

 nothing to do, away from every 

 amusement, causes the men to think 

 of little except drink, and in spite of 

 every reasonable precaution bad liquor 

 gets into every camp. 



Many of the best workmen insist 

 that under these conditions they would 

 prefer to work longer hours and keep 

 occupied except during the time need- 

 ed for eating and sleeping. Having 

 no home to go to and no place to stay 

 except in the crowded bunk house, 

 they quickly get discouraged. 



Its an ill flood that does 

 no one good in southern 

 California. The keen- 

 ness with which the desert dweller 

 goes after water was never better il- 

 lustrated than in a recent case before 

 one of the Departments. 



Tt is the case of a number of settlers 

 filing upon the waters of a slough, 

 which was formed by the recent dis- 

 astrous floods on the Colorado River, 



Peculiar 



Flood 



Results 



