THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



151 



also, at the same time, give the state in which such 

 irrigation or drainage works are situated full control of 

 such land, as is done under the Carey Act and also rhakc 

 land that has been filed on, but on which final proof has 

 not been made liable for the costs per acre, eqtfal with 

 deeded land? 



The same also could be made applicable to land that 

 requires draining and would eliminate the possibility of 

 grafters and financial pirates getting control of land 

 under any proposed irrigation or drainage works and 

 give to investors a safe form of investing funds and would 

 also prevent the operation of any fraudulent or "wild 

 cat" schemes, that is now possible under the present 

 system. 



I have had the following scheme in my mind for some 

 time and have been prompted to write you, after reading 

 in the Chicago papers some time ago, that the Secretary 

 of the Interior contemplated making some new rulings 

 regarding public land. The system I would propose to 

 be followed would be, to form irrigation or drainage dis- 

 tricts, as under the present law. After the formation of 

 any such districts and a petition signed by the majority 

 of the land holders or entrymen in any such districts and 

 directed to the state engineer, who shall, upon presenta- 

 tion of any such petition, make or cause, to be made 

 by himself or the engineer or engineers of the county 

 or counties in which such irrigation or drainage works 

 are situated, an immediate survey of said districts and 

 shall, upon the completion of such survey of any such 

 irrigation or drainage works, report to the secretary of 

 state the costs of the survey and estimate of the 

 costs of construction of any such contemplated irriga- 

 tion or drainage works; whereupon the secretary of state 

 shall authorize and empower the directors of any such 

 contemplated irrigation or drainage districts to issue bonds 

 to be collected as other taxes are collected and signed 

 by the president of such irrigation or drainage districts 

 and countersigned by the treasurer of the state in which 

 such districts are situated. Said bonds to be redeemed 

 by the state treasurer or the treasurer of the county or 

 counties in which such irrigation or drainage works are 

 situated. Yours very truly, 



C. M. DARLING. 



THANK YOU, MR. CONDREN. 



Laredo, Texas, February 3, 1912. 

 Mr. D. H. Anderson, 



Chicago, 111. 



Dear Sir : I am a reader of your paper, THE IRRIGATION 

 AGE. and find it very interesting reading. I look for it like 

 I do for my daily paper. In your paper I read a. letter 

 from a Mr. Boyce on South America and am very much 

 interested in that country and have written him a letter 

 and enclosed it with this one. I wish you would see that 

 he gets it. 



If there is, at any time, anything that I can do for you 

 in this country don't hesitate to ask me, as it would be a 

 pleasure to serve you. Thanking you in advance, I am 

 Very truly yours, 



A. J. CONDREN, 



Laredo, Texas. 



Illustration of Badge Used at First National Irrigation Congress Held 

 at Deming, New Mexico, 1893. 



Secretary of the Interior Fisher has vetoed the scheme 

 which the Pacific Reclamation Company, with offices in 

 Salt Lake City, was promoting. This company applied 

 for the segregation of 25,000 acres of land under the 

 Carey Act, but investigation showed that they had water 

 sufficient for only 10.000 acres. The application was cut 

 down to meet the water supply, but the company pro- 

 ceeded to try to sell 25,000 acres with inadequate water 

 supply. Secretary Fisher thereupon threatened to deny 

 the company any lands under the Carey Act and this 

 probably will put an end to the scheme. 



Xoah Allen of Brownsville, Texas, is promoting the or- 

 ganization of an irrigation system to embrace 50,000 acres, and 

 proposes to construct a dam across Nueces river about 

 seven miles from Cotulla, to be about 75 to 100 feet high 

 and about 300 feet long. 



Intensive Cultivation in the Arkansas Valley, Colorado. 



