THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



175 



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Irrigating a Fifty Acre Potato Field in the Huntley (Mont.) Project. 



Reclamation Service permitted these to come, and 

 then condemns them for what creation failed to do 

 for them. And by the way, this class is not loud in 

 its condemnation of the Service. They don't com- 

 prehend the conditions. 



The Reclamation Service attempts to regulate 

 our whole system of farming by saying when and 

 how much we shall water. We can not plan our 

 labor to advantage ; neither can we water when it 

 Miits our plans, and sometimes, when the crop 

 needs it. 



As an example of the kind of experts in the 

 Service, the following- will illustrate: Mr. A. calls 

 for water out of rotation, and says his crop is suffer- 

 ing. The Reclamation Service sends out two ex- 

 perts, who, with shovels dig into the soil to examine 

 moisture content. They know all about irrigation, 

 and farming, too. The farmer saw the crop wilting 

 and the foliage burning in the fierce sun heat. But 

 he has not yet learned much about irrigation, and 

 less about farming. And it is a sure thing the 

 Service will never concede he does know anything 

 ri< long as it can get Congress to believe their side 

 of the business and thus keep in existence a system 



to give jobs to a host 

 of boys, who are not 

 half qualified for the 

 work. 



Our water service 

 is costing much more 

 than we were led to be- 

 lieve it would, but 

 there is no effort being 

 made to reduce it, and 

 it is being increased 

 without any regard to 

 our ability to pay. We 

 were told that main- 

 tenance and operation 

 expenses would drop 

 from sixty to forty 

 cents per acre very 



Frederick J. Cox 



President of the Huntley 

 Waters Users' Association 



soon. We are now paying one dollar per acre, and 

 I am informed that is much less than half of what 

 the expense actually is. 



The construction was never completed and much 

 of it was cheaply done. The structures were generally 

 wood. These are now being replaced by concrete. 

 If they had been made of concrete in the first place 

 we would have been saved a large expense. Some of 

 this woodwork is good for one to three years yet, but 

 it is being removed, causing us more expense. 



Many, very many mistakes are made by the ex- 

 perts and we pay the bills with no power to dismiss 

 them for carelessness and incompetency. 



It seems that the Department of the Interior 

 from the first has limited the size of the homestead 

 to what will enable a family to exist and then con- 

 cludes that is the proper size to support a family. 

 Then in order to prevent the head of the family from 

 getting above a mere existence, he may not buy an 

 adjoining homestead until he pays all his water right 

 charges on his land. How then are we to keep the 

 boys and girls on the farm, milk cows and raise sugar 

 beets? Intelligent bays and girls refuse to stand all 

 day with their noses between their knees or crawl 

 on hands and knees all day thinning sugar beets. 



Still the farmer is expected to build modern 

 houses and barns, put in furnace heat, light and wa- 

 ter and labor saving machinery, and perhaps buy an 

 automobile. Why shouldn't he? He has been buying 

 autos for the Reclamation Service experts to ride in 

 when they come to his place to dig for moisture con- 

 tent, and to do "joy riding*" 



One may not fully appreciate this condition un- 

 til he attempts to farm a forty acre unit. When 

 clearing and grading the surface, forty acres is enough 

 to begin with. But when it is once in proper condi- 

 tion to irrigate properly, he discovers that his horse 

 force and implements that will do his work to best ad- 

 vantage, could just as well operate another forty 

 acre unit. This would give the older boy an oppor- 

 tunity to be a farmer, but the father may not buy 

 another forty except tinder very onerous conditions. 



