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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Mr. M. E. Hall, hydrographer in charge of the 

 stream gauging work in the Southern States, has spent 

 years in the study of the behavior of southern rivers. 

 His supervision of this work insures a careful collection 

 of reliable data. 



The demands upon the Survey for the results of 

 its investigations in other sections and for the initiation 

 of similar work elsewhere have increased enormously 

 in recent years. These requests by their scope indicate 

 a proper appreciation of the value of the work of the 

 Survey and furnish proof of the need of its continu- 

 ance and extension. They are not only from those in- 

 terested in large enterprises looking to the utilization 

 of water power, but from the municipalities along the 

 streams whose growth has made the question of water 

 supply a paramount one, and from districts in which 

 truck farming has become a prominent industry. 



The publication of the results of the hydrographic 

 investigations has been followed quickly by the installa- 

 tion of power plants on streams and discharge of which 

 has been found by the Survey to be ample. Many nota- 

 ble cases might be cited in this connection as illustrating 

 the importance and economic value of the data obtained 

 by the hydrographers, working either in co-operation 

 with state governments or along the Survey has sur- 

 veyed and mapped hundreds of rivers, and for a term 

 of years has kept accurate records, of their fluctuations 

 and flow. This work in a large measure has been re- 

 sponsible for the progress in the East and South of the 

 manufacturing interests. 



FIGHTING FOR HELPLESS SETTLERS. 



Major Fred. R. Reed Arraigns Reclamation Service. 



"Yes, I seem to have matched a fight against the 

 whole reclamation service with the entire press bureau 

 at its command," said Major Fred. Reed to a Boise 

 (Idaho) Capital News reporter, "but as it is a fight 

 in the interest of a large number of American citizens, 

 who have been misled by the representatives of the Amer- 

 ican Government, I shall continue the fight until some- 

 thing is accomplished, for there is right to my side of 

 the controversy. 



"That tract of country embraced in the Minidoka 

 project consists of upward of 125,000 acres of land, 

 through which Snake River runs. All this was first 

 withdrawn from entry when the project was first pro- 

 posed. Private parties wanted to irrigate the land, but 

 the reclamation service took it away from them and ad- 

 vertised to the world what it was going to do. They 

 have opened the country to settlement and the people 

 accepted the invitation of the Government and went in 

 there, taking up the farm units of eighty acres each, 

 with the understanding that the lands on the north side 

 of the river were to be watered by the gravity system, 

 while those on the south side, except about 10,000 acres, 

 were to be supplied through a pumping system. The 

 great engineers of the great Government represented 

 that the plan was 'feasible and that the work would be 

 done, and $1,300,000 was set aside for this purpose. 



"After the settlers had taken the lands and made 

 improvements, spending all their money, ranging from 

 $600 to $1,000 each, they are suddenly informed that 

 the reclamation engineers have changed their plans 



and that these 'foolish settlers' can have no water for 

 many years, if ever. 



"Because I don't approve of such a bunco game on 

 the part of the reclamation service, and have endeavored 

 to do something in the interests of the settlers who en- 

 deavored in good faith to secure homes for themselves 

 in the Government project, Mr. Newell and his press 

 bureau accuse me of trying to use this means of boom- 

 ing a town for the purpose of selling town lots. 



"This is about as logical an argument as the head 

 of the reclamation service is capable of making. Most 

 men would refrain from publishing statements that the 

 settlers surrounding their town were to fail through 

 the action of the Government in failing to carry out its 

 agreements with them, until they could dispose of their 

 holdings. We secured the Burley townsite on some pat- 

 ented lands, and are making a town there regardless of 

 the Government water. We are preparing to water the 

 town through a pumping plant. A large carbine factory 

 is being established that will give employment to a great 

 many men; a railroad is to be built this season from 

 Burley to the county seat at Oakley; the Short Line 

 engineers are surveying the new cutoff to Malad, which 

 will shorten the distance to Salt Lake seventy-two miles. 

 These and other projected enterprises will make the 

 city, regardless of what the Government does, and the 

 town, which is now only second to Twin Falls, will take 

 care of itself. 



"Neither I nor any of my kinsfolk have any claims 

 on the lands which the reclamation service have robbed 

 of the water promised when the settlers were invited to 

 go there, so they can not say that this is a personal 

 fight. It is one of principle, in the interests of the set- 

 tlers who have been betrayed by the officers of the Gov- 

 ernment which they have been raised to believe in. 



"The reclamation service located three towns on 

 the north side of the river, which will be built, some 

 time. That we presumed to go onto deeded land and 

 start a town outside of their jurisdiction seemed to 

 have brought down their wrath, but that can't be helped. 



"A circular from the general land office of Janu- 

 ary 26 states that all of the entries in the Minidoka 

 project have been settled upon by bona fide settlers, but 

 half of these can receive no water within any reasonable 

 time, nor will the reclamation service give any informa- 

 tion on the subject. In fact, if anyone has ever received 

 the first bit of reliable information of any kind from 

 the reclamation service, that fact has escaped me. All 

 that I have ever heard of their accomplishments has 

 been in the way of banquets, blue prints and Trail con.' 

 They have never reclaimed an acre of land, and there 

 is no telling whether or not they ever will until the 

 department has been placed in the hands of men who 

 are competent to make practical plans and carry them 

 out in a practical way. If this can be brought about, 

 deserving settlers will no longer be misled into sacri- 

 ficing all that they have in their efforts to secure homes, 

 and we will all see some good results from the efforts 

 I am making against the unbusinesslike, over-theoretical 

 methods so. far pursued." 



Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 

 1 year, and the Primer of Irrigation 



