362 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



agree to pay any increased charges which may be 

 fixed as the result of the project revaluations. 

 Those who can handle their payments within the 

 ten years allowed under the original Reclamation 

 Act will pay such an amount as is provided in their 

 present contracts. 



No one can say offhand just what the increases 

 in charges will amount to, but that they are liable 

 to be very large is conceded on all sides. It is a 

 well known fact that the costs of practically all the 

 projects were underestimated and the area of irri- 

 gable land, suitable for agricultural purposes, was 

 overestimated. 



The Secretary's notice also announces that in 

 the future there shall be two classes of water pay- 

 ments those for construction and those for opera- 

 tion and maintenance. This seems to eliminate the 

 betterment charges, which have been used by the 

 Reclamation Service to cover excessive additional 

 charges in some projects. 



Secretary Lane should be commended for his 

 recognition of the present contracts and for his 

 elimination of the betterment "joker." He must 

 also be commended for stating his order plainly and 

 clearly something exceedingly rare in Reclama- 

 tion Service documents. 



The Secretary's two orders, the first concern- 

 ing the revaluation boards, and this second one in 

 regard to water payments, are both so general in 

 terms that there is much of conditions which he 

 must meet and comply with at which the settler 

 can only guess. 



The price which he must pay for an extension 

 of time in which to pay for his water, is but one of 

 the riddles. 



It is therefore to the interest of every Water 

 User that he become thoroughly acquainted with 

 conditions, the Secretary's plans and the purposes 

 of the revaluation, as it concerns him, before he 

 rushes in madly and agrees to abandon his present 

 contract. The Reclamation Service can and should 

 do much to enlighten the settlers. The Water Users' 

 Associations should make it their business. to in- 

 form each settler fully upon these great questions. 



In order that the associations can do this in a 

 competent manner there should be a conference of 

 delegates from the various projects, at which the 

 revaluation and the extension bill could be fully 

 discussed. Secretary Lane, Comptroller Ryan, 

 Legal Adviser King and the supervisory board on 

 revaluations should be invited to attend and to 

 elucidate fully their plans. The Water Users must 

 be fully informed that each may know how to act 

 for his best interests. 



I earnestly urge an early meeting of the Na- 

 tional Federation of Water Users' Associations and 

 of the unaffiliated associations and various other 

 organizations of Water Users at an early date. 

 Ogden, Utah, has offered to entertain such a meet- 

 ing. The Executive Committee of the National 

 Federation has had some correspondence concern- 

 ing a date for such a meeting, but none has yet 

 been set. 



What do you think about it, Mr. Federal 

 Water User? Stir up your local association and 

 your fellow Water Users. We must act now or ac- 

 cept whatever conditions the Department of the 

 Interior and the Reclamation Service chooses to 

 impose upon us. 



RAISES CORN FOR SILAGE IN THE UNCOMPAHGRE 



DJ. SCHAMBACH is the hero of the hour on 

 the Uncompahgre project in Colorado. Not 

 only has Mr. Schambach erected the first metal 

 silo in the project, but he has also raised 30 acres 

 of corn this year. The silo has a capacity of 305 

 tons, and the cornfield is expected to furnish food 

 for sixty cows for a period of nine months. 



More corn will be planted next spring by other 

 farmers and a number of silos will be erected as 

 the result of Mr. Schambach's experiments. 



"The silo is the solution of the dairy business 

 in the Uncompahgre valley," said Mr. Schambach. 

 "I have studied the dairy business for a number of 

 years for the purpose of finding out why the dairy- 

 man as a rule usually went broke unless he got out 

 of the business before such a calamity befell him. 

 I soon became convinced that one of the principal 

 troubles was in the feed. In the first place, it cost 

 the dairyman too much, and in the second place, 

 the kind of feed being used did not bring the maxi- 

 mum results. No dry feed can take the place as 

 a milk producer of the green food, and I soon con- 

 cluded that the silo represents in a large measure 

 the difference between success and failure in the 

 dairy businss." 



DO STATES OR U. S. OWN WATER ? 



The transcript of a case which is expected to 

 settle the question of whether the federal govern- 

 ment or the various states own the unappropriated 

 waters within their boundaries has been filed in the 

 Colorado Supreme Court by Ethelbert Ward, spe- 

 cial assistant to the attorney-general of the United 

 States. 



The suit is called the "United States, plaintiff 

 in error, versus the Palisade Irrigation District 

 Company and others." It began in 1908, growing 

 out of a dispute over the waters of the Grand river. 



The government claims that it withdrew, in 

 connection with the Grand valley reclamation proj- 

 ect, 1,200 feet of these waters from further appro- 

 priation in 1902. Since that time further appropri- 

 tions were made by private companies under the 

 state laws. 



The United States brought suit at Grand Junc- 

 tion against the state in 1912, and was awarded a 

 priority dating from 1908. This did not satisfy the 

 federal authorities, who claimed a priority of right 

 over the water dating from 1902. 



