THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Reclamation Service 

 Weivs 



The Secretary of the Interior has awarded contracts 

 for furnishing cement for use in connection with Government 

 irrigation projects as follows: 



Kansas Portland Cement Company, Independence, 

 Kan., 5,000 barrels for use on the Payette-Boise project, 

 Idaho, at $1 per barrel f. o. b. cars at Independence; 



The Marqtiette Cetflent Company, of La Salle, 111., 

 12,000 barrels for South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana 

 projects, at 88 cents per barrel f. o. b. cars at La Salle. 



The Secretary of the Interior, as a result of his recent 

 inspection of conditions on the ground in the Truckee- 

 Carson irrigation project, Nevada, has issued an order 

 largely in the interest of the settlers, tending to simplify 

 matters and save uncertainty and annoyance especially as 

 regards the way in which payments are to be made. 



In future the payments of the charges, instead of be- 

 ing required to be made at the Land Office at Carson 

 City, Nev., can be made to the Special Fiscal Agent, of 

 the Reclamation Service located at Fallon. The local land' 

 office for this project is at Carson City, Nev., a distance 

 of nearly seventy-five miles by rail and involving a day's 

 time for the round trip from Fallon. Most of the irriga- 

 tors find it impossible to make the round trip from their 

 homes in one day. It is therefore a source of considerable 

 expense and inconvenience to the irrigator to require him 

 to make payment at the land office. 



The Secretary has also decided to increase the charge 

 to $30 per acre, to take effect on and after January 1, 1908, 

 He has given the present settlers and those who settle 

 before this date the preference of a lower rate, but the 

 success of the project justifies an increased payment on 

 the part of those who longer delay. 



On and after that date all applications for homestead 

 entry on the land open for settlement in this project must 

 be accompanied by an application for water right and by 

 the first payment on the charge of $3 per acre of irrigable 

 land. The charge for operation and maintenance of 40 

 cents per are of irrigable land is in addition to this. The 

 payment of this first installment of $3.40 per acre is made 

 a condition of acceptance of the entry. Applications for 

 water rights for land in private ownership filed on or after 

 January 1, 1908, must likewise be accompanied by the first 

 installment of $3.40 per acre of irrigable land. 



For all land filed upon in any year on or before June 

 15, and for application for water rights for. land in private 

 ownership filed on or before the same date, the charges 

 will be collected for that irrigation season. When the 

 filing is made after June 15 in any year, the amount paid 

 on account of operation and maintenance will be a credit 

 on account of the installment for the next year. 



In regard to raising the charge to $30 per acre the 

 estimate was made for the land first reclaimed and were 

 prepared at a time when materials and labor were much 

 cheaper than at present. Since that time the cost of con- 

 struction has become greater, with the result that the 

 greater part of the necessary cost for storage to protect 

 the water supply for the new lands must be in addition 

 to the first estimate. It has therefore been necessary to 

 have a new estimate of the cost of construction. This 

 goes into effect on all applications for water rights made 

 subsequent to the date announced. 



The increase in the charge for construction is neces- 

 sary and wise, not only because of this new estimate of 

 the construction cost, but also because it is a just and 

 reasonable matter to require future settlers to. pay a 

 greater charge than those who have heretofore settled 

 upon the land. The early settlers found a barren and 

 nearly unoccupied country with few neighbors or roads. 

 They were more than twenty miles from a railroad and 

 there was only a small town with little market for their 



products and meager accommodations for furnishing sup- 

 plies. 



A railroad has now been extended onto the heart of 

 the project, the towns have greatly increased in popula- 

 tion and furnish much better opportunities for purcnasing 

 necessary supplies and for disposing of produce. Many 

 farms are now occupied and the means of travel are much 

 better than in the beginning. New settlers are finding 

 more favorable financial and social conditions than the 

 first settlers, the conditions of life are easier and profitable 

 occupations abound. 



The requirement that all applications for homestead 

 entry on and after January 1, 1908, and for water rights 

 on private lands must be accompanied by the first pay- 

 ment of the charges, $3.40 per acre of irrigable land, has 

 been demonstrated by experience to be a necessity in order 

 to prevent speculative filings and to secure bona fide 

 settlers. The holders of private lands are likewise sub- 

 ject to the increased charge and the requirements of first 

 payment, in justice to those who have made prompt appli- 

 cation for a water right, and also to prevent the holding 

 of such lands unirrigated fpr an indefinite period for spec- 

 ulative purposes. 



It has been shown that when a homesteader is re- 

 quired to make a payment in advance, his interest in the 

 land is sufficient to overcome the discouragements of the 

 first few years, and he is, far more likely to become a suc- 

 cessful farmer. For the best interests of the project in 

 securing the cultivation of the land and to prevent as far 

 as practicable the making of speculative entries, the re- 

 quirement of a first payment at the time of entry has been 

 found to be essential. This has been demonstrated by 

 the experience of all private enterprise and by successful 

 operations under the Carey Act. 



The requirement that for all lands filed upon in any 

 year on or before June 15, and for water right applica- 

 tions for land in private ownership so filed, the charges 

 for operation and maintenance shall be payable for that 

 irrigating season, is in the interest of farmers, as the 

 farmer who enters land on or -before June 15 will have 

 sufficient time in which to prepare the land and raise at 

 least one crop during that season. For applications filed 

 later in the year there is no reduction in payment, but 

 there is a credit allowed on the charge for operation and 

 maintenance for the next year. 



The Secretary of the Interior has canceled the award 

 of sale of timber around Lakes Clealum, Kacheese and 

 Kachelus, Washington, recently made to the Cascade 

 Lumber Company, of North Yakima, Wash., and the tim- 

 ber is to be readvertised either by lump sum bids for the 

 timber around each lake or by scaling, as may be decided 

 upon hereafter. 



On April 7 bids were advertised for sale of timber 

 around these lakes, and also around Bumping lake, involv- 

 ing about 63,000,000 feet of timber, 2,000 telephone poles, 

 and 20,000 railroad ties. The bids were to be submitted 

 by schedule of which there were four, one for each lake. 

 The bids were received, but one of the companies inserted 

 a stipulation intended to further explain the intent of the 

 specifications, and various questions were raised. 



In view of these questions the Secretary of the In- 

 terior has rejected all bids and will dispose of the timber 

 as above stated. 



The Secretary of the Interior has executed contract 

 with Roebling's Sons & Co., of Trenton, N. J., for fur- 

 nishing approximately 685,000 pounds of copper wire re- 

 quired for the transmission line and other purposes in 

 connection with the Salt river irrigation project, Arizona. 

 The contract price is 15^4 cents per pound. 



It is estimated that the recent drop in copper has 

 saved the Government approximately $100,000 on this one 

 transmission line. 



The Interior officials are wrestling with a problem 

 brought up by a clever scheme on the part of settlers to 

 obtain large land damages from a new railroad being built 

 in southern Idaho. 



The plan of operation is for the settlers who have 

 taken up 160-acre homestead claims to settle with the rail- 

 road right of way agent at the best terms obtainable. 

 Having done this the company has then proceeded to con- 

 struct the road. As construction proceeds, however, it is 



