PRESIDENT'S LETTER TO IRRIGATION 



CONGRESS 



A Notable Document on Government 

 Work in Forestry and Irrigation 



To the Officers and Members of 

 the Irrigation Congress, 



Boise, Idaho : 



Operations under the Reclamation 

 Act, which I signed on June 17, 1902, 

 have been carried on energetically dur- 

 ing the four years since that date. The 

 Reclamation Service, consisting of 

 over 400 skilled engineers and experts 

 in various lines, has been organized, 

 and it is now handling the work with 

 rapidity and effectiveness. Construc- 

 tion is already well advanced on 

 twenty-three great enterprises in the 

 arid States and Territories. Over 1,- 

 000,000 acres of land have been laid 

 out for irrigation, and of this 200,000 

 acres are now under ditch ; 800 miles 

 of canals and ditches and 30,000 feet 

 of tunnel have been completed ; and 

 16,000,000 cubic yards of earth and 

 3,000,000 cubic yards of rock have 

 been moved. Detailed topographic 

 surveys have been extended over 10,- 

 000 square miles of country within 

 which the reclamation work is located, 

 and 20,000 miles of level lines have 

 been run. Three hundred buildings, 

 including offices and sleeping quarters 

 for workmen, have been erected by the 

 Reclamation Service, and about an 

 equal number by the contractors. Over 

 10,000 men and about 5,000 horses are 

 at present employed. 



The period of general surveys and 

 examinations for projects is past. Ef- 

 fort is now concentrated in getting the 

 water upon a sufficient area of irrigable 

 land in each project to put it on a reve- 

 nue-producing basis. To bring all the 

 projects to this point will require up- 

 wards of $40,000,000, which amount, 

 it is estimated, will be available from 

 the receipts from the disposal of public 

 lands for the years 1 901 -1908. 



We may well congratulate ourselves 

 upon the rapid progress already made, 

 and rejoice that the infancy of the 

 work has been safely passed. But 

 we must not forget that there are 

 dangers and difficulties still ahead, and 

 that only unbroken vigilance, effici- 

 ency, integrity, and good sense will 

 suffice to prevent disaster. There is 

 now no question as to where the work 

 shall be done, how it shall be done, or 

 the precise way in which the expendi- 

 tures shall be made. All that is set- 

 tled. There remains , however, the 

 critical question of how best to utilize 

 the reclaimed lands by putting them 

 into the hands of actual cultivators 

 and home-makers, who will return the 

 original outlay in annual installments 

 paid back into the reclamation fund ; 

 the question of seeing that the lands 

 are used for homes, and not for pur- 

 poses of speculation or for the build- 

 ing up of large fortunes. 



This question is by no means simple. 

 It is easy to make plans and spend 

 money. During the time when the 

 Government is making a great invest- 

 ment like this, the men in charge are 

 praised and the rapid progress is com- 

 mended. But when the time comes 

 for the Government to demand the re- 

 fund of the investment under the terms 

 of the law, then the law itself will be 

 put to the test, and the quality of its 

 administration will appear. 



The pressing danger just now 

 springs from the desire of nearly every 

 man to get and hold as much land as 

 he can, whether he can handle it profit- 

 ably or not, and whether or not it is 

 for the interest of the community that 

 he should have it. The prosperity of 

 the present irrigated areas came from 

 the subdivision of the land and the 

 consequent intensive cultivation. With 



