272 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



June 



disposed of under the provisions of 

 the recent townsite act of April 16, 

 1906. 



The necessity for this legislation is 

 due to the fact that the Commissioner 

 of the General Land Office had no 

 funds available for the disposition of 

 certain townsites withdrawn under the 

 Minidoka project in pursuance of a 

 proclamation of the President under 

 these sections of the Revised Statutes. 

 Bills have been introduced at the pres- 

 ent session of Congress for the neces- 

 sary appropriations, but have not yet 

 passed and there was much urgency 

 for the disposition of these townsites. 



Section 4 provides that in two of the 

 townsites on the Minidoka project, 

 which had been withdrawn, namely, 

 Heyburn and Rupert, settlers who 

 have established themselves thereon 

 prior to March 5, 1906, in permanent 

 buildings not easily moved, shall be 

 permitted to purchase the lots built 

 upon at an appraised valuation for 

 cash. 



The conference report adds a pro- 

 vision that the limitation of townsites 

 in connection with reclamation pro- 

 jects in the recent act of April 16, 

 1906, to 160 acres, shall be repealed. 

 This will enable the Secretary of the 

 Interior to make withdrawals of town- 

 sites of such size as in his opinion 

 the public interest may require. 



A townsite of 160 acres is very 

 small for such large areas as are in- 

 volved in a number of projects, when 

 the country was not settled upon at the 

 time of the beginning of the project. 

 The proposed modification of the 

 townsite act will enable the Secretary 

 of the Interior to provide adequate 

 townsite facilities in many cases 

 where, under the act as it now stands, 

 townsites of 160 acres would be en- 

 tirely insufficient. 



Section 5 provides that desert land 

 entrymen, whose lands may be in- 

 cluded in a reclamation project, and 

 who may be directly or indirectly 

 hindered or prevented from making 

 improvements and reclaiming the 

 lands under the desert land act, shall 



be allowed an extension of time equal 

 to the loss on account of such hin- 

 drance. It also provides that desert 

 land entrymen within reclamation 

 projects which are undertaken shall 

 relinquish all lands embraced within 

 the entry in excess of 160 acres, and 

 as to such 160 acres they may make 

 final proof and obtain patent upon 

 compliance with the terms of the Re- 

 clamation Act. The section, how- 

 ever, does not require a desert land 

 entryman, who owns a water right and 

 reclaims the land embraced in his en- 

 try, to accept the conditions of the 

 Reclamation Act. 



The Representatives of the House 

 and Senate having agreed upon this 

 bill and the report having been adopt- 

 ed by the Senate, it is probable that it 

 will likewise be adopted by the House 

 and may therefore soon become a law. 



While there may be features in this 

 act that cannot be regarded as legis- 

 lation of the wisest character, yet there 

 are many provisions corrective of the 

 defects in previous acts which are 

 very valuable, and will undoubtedly 

 aid in the successful application of the 

 Reclamation Act to the construction of 

 projects and the reclamation of the 

 desert lands. 



A copy of the act as agreed upon 

 by the conferees follows : 



An Act providing for the subdi- 

 vision of lands entered under the Re- 

 clamation Act, and for other purposes. 



Be it enacted by the Senate and 

 House of Representatives of the 

 United States of America in Congress 

 assembled, That whenever, in the 

 opinion of the Secretary of the In- 

 terior, by reason of market conditions 

 and the special fitness of the soil and 

 climate for the growth of fruit and 

 garden produce, a lesser area than 

 forty acres may be sufficient for the 

 support of a family on lands to be 

 irrigated under the provisions of the 

 Act of June 17, 1902, known as the 

 Reclamation Act, he may fix a lesser 

 area than forty acres as the minimum 

 entrv and mav establish farm units of 



