328 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



service, has just returned to Washington from a some- 

 what extensive western trip. He reports great interest 

 throughout the West in the big works proposed by the 

 Government, but sounds a note of warning against 

 numerous schemes and frauds which are being foisted 

 upon various localities as a result of the great interest 

 aroused through national irrigation activities. 



"There are many instances of honest, effective and 

 legitimate irrigation works," he said, "where the settlers 

 themselves, or their capital to some extent, have gone 

 in and build the works, owning or controlling them 

 along with the reclaimed land; but I do not 

 know of any of the big private irrigation 

 schemes which are what might be called legiti- 

 mate development enterprises. They are ex- 

 ploited, probably, more for selling stock and bonds 

 than for watering land. Irrigation development can be 

 compared to mining development. The two are quite 

 similar in their methods of finance. The gold or the 

 copper mine, or the oil which has really proven a good 

 thing, is taken up and operated by its owners. It is 

 made into a close corporation proposition in every case. 

 If, on the other hand, the supply of metal or oil is 

 problematical, then it is made an attractive stock and 

 bond scheme, with glittering letterheads and artistically 

 printed circulars, and other people's money in large 

 quantities is solicited. Attempts are being made to 

 float very questionable irrigation schemes all over the 

 West. 



SCHEMES TO SELL STOCK. 



"It is singular, too," said Mr. Newell, "how many 

 men of ordinary hard business sense will go into these 

 wild-cat things. A successful grocer, for instance, if 

 he were investing his money in the grocery business, 

 would find out every detail and every 'in and out' of the 

 new business, and would make a close and advantageous 

 deal, will draw his check for some irrigation stocks or 

 bonds in the most trustful and confiding manner pay- 

 ing for an investment regarding which he knows noth- 

 ing, and which is as problematical in its returns as 

 the veriest wild-cat mine. Other people make personal 

 investigation. They go over the land to be reclaimed. 

 They see the splendid crops growing on other lands 

 which have been reclaimed, and having 'investigated' 

 they confidently invest, even though a tract of 50,000 

 acres is to be reclaimed with a water supply insufficient 

 for 5,000 acres. I am mentioning these figures ad- 

 visedly. There are instances today where irrigation 

 shares are being sold for land containing absolutely no 

 water supply at all, and which can never be irrigated, 

 but will always remain a desert. 



"The meanest and most contemptible class of sales 

 are where the promoters hold out the alluring picture 

 to the poor man of family, that he is," by his small, 

 regular contributions, buying a home for himself and 

 his family. Thousands of people in the United States 

 are making such contributions, which they might as 

 well throw into a rat hole." 



Governor Chatterton's Letter. 



THE STATE OF WYOMING, EXECUTIVE DE- 

 PARTMENT. 



CHEYENNE, August 18, 1904. 

 Fenimore Chatterton, 



Governor. 



D. H. ANDERSON, Esq., Editor, IRRIGATION AGE, 112 

 Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. : 



Dear Sir My attention has just been called to an 

 interview with Government Expert (?) Newell, pub- 



lished in the Omaha Bee, August 1st, and of which 

 the enclosed is a copy. If correctly quoted, this utter- 

 ance is an outrage coming from a man whose position 

 not his knowledge gives his words the apparent stamp 

 of authority. 



He says: "There are many instances of honest,, 

 effective and legitimate works where the settlers them- 

 selves have built the works, owning them along with 

 the reclaimed land; but I do not know of any big 

 private irrigation schemes which are what might be 

 called legitimate enterprises." 



Mr. Newell ought to know that his statement is 

 false, for there are very few instances where the set- 

 tlers themselves have reclaimed large tracts of land 

 such people have not the means. When he states that 

 he "does not know of any big private irrigation schemes 

 that are legitimate enterprises" he states what even he 

 knows to be false, for he knows that his chief, the Sec- 

 retary of the Interior, has approved many such enter- 

 prises in the State of Wyoming, and that as a result 

 there has been legitimately reclaimed 166,077 acres by 

 five'such enterprises, and that there is at this time 

 424,953 acres being rapidly and legitimately put under 

 ditch by twelve such enterprises, and all of these enter- 

 prises furnish water at a less cost per acre than will 

 the Government, acording to the estimates reported 

 by Newell under the Government plans, as now managed 

 by him. 



He says attempts are being made to float very 

 questionable irrigation schemes all over the West. This 

 is false, for there are none such in Wyoming; she is a 

 part of the West. 



He says : "There are instances where irrigation 

 shares are being sold for land containing absolutely no 

 water supply at all and which can never be irrigated, 

 but will always remain desert." He knows that such 

 a condition can not exist under the Wyoming irrigation 

 laws. 



There may be fake irrigation schemes, but they 

 are the exception and not the rule, as Newell states. 

 He should confine himself to facts, not sweeping state- 

 ments, and come forward like a man and name the 

 fakers; but no, under the influence of Maxwell, he 

 uses every effort to discredit large numbers of legiti- 

 mate enterprises by general statements. 



We of the West had hoped the National Government 

 would co-operate with us for the reclamation of the arid 

 lands, but unfortupately the department, through the 

 action of Newell, its chief irrigation officer, antago- 

 nizes every effort of our home people. We feel that 

 his statements, if he is correctly quoted, are not only 

 false, but maliciously so, and that, therefore, he should 

 be dismissed from the service. Let us have a practical 

 man in this department and stop newspaper interviews 

 containing false statements and antagonism to home en- 

 terprise. Let us have a man who can realize that up 

 to this time the entire work of reclaiming vast areas 

 from a desert condition has been by private enterprise 

 and that the Government work has only just entered 

 upon its experimental stage. Let us have a man who 

 is competent to expend Uncle Sam's irrigation funds 

 in practical works and not waste it in experimental 

 red tape. 



It is time the interested arid West took hold of 

 this matter and made a movement looking to the 

 appointment of a capable and practical man. 

 Yours very truly, 



F. CHATTERTON. 



