THE IRRIGATION AGE.. 



171 



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A .Oopnrjc ment Devoiod to fcho 

 Interests of the Farmers on the 



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EDITED BY GEORGE J. SCHARSCHUC 



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SETTLERS WATCH REVALUATIONS CLOSELY 



REVALUATION of the Federal Irrigation proj- 

 ects is under way. What the outcome will be 

 only a Biblical prophet could foretell. 



One thing seems certain. The settlers are thor- 

 oughly awakened. They are determined not to ac- 

 cept any increase in charges for their water rights 

 over the figures fixed in their contracts with the 

 government. Precautions have been taken already 

 on several of the projects to prevent any such 

 action, or at least to pave the way for court fights 

 against any attempt to raise the water charges. 



After refusing for months to accept the new 

 Twenty-Year law, the directors of the Belle 

 Fourche Valley Water Users' Association of South 

 Dakota agreed to order an election of a member of 

 the revaluation board, protecting the water users, 

 however, by the following resolution : 



"That it is expressly under- 

 stood that in appointing this __________ 



representative the individual j 

 water user and the Water 

 Users' Association are in no I 

 way bound by the findings of 

 this board ; and that neither 

 the Association nor the indi- 

 vidual water users thereby | 

 agree to any increase of con- | 

 struction or operation and 

 maintenance charges that have 

 heretofore been fixed by con- 

 tract or public notice." 



Perhaps the best idea of 

 the feelings of the settlers and 

 what they have done during 

 the past month of preliminary 

 work can be gleaned from 

 statements printed in news- 

 papers published on the va- 

 rious projects. 



Burton S. Adams, secre- 

 tary of the Lower Yellowstone 

 project in Montana and North 

 Dakota, says in the Sidney, 

 Mont., Herald: 



"Meeting of board of re- 

 view, and the Maintenance and 

 Operation Congress for the 

 Northern division of Reclama- 

 tion Projects was held in Bil- 

 lings, March 4, 5 and 6. The 



A gas engine pumping plant at Fresno, Cal. 



delegates from this project met Will R. King, mak- 

 ing our request to be permitted to go into all mat- 

 ters relating to our original contract with the Gov- 

 ernment in its relation to what this project should 

 properly return to the Government, and after three 

 sessions with him, it was decided that we would be 

 permitted to plead our contract. This is considered 

 the most important step in the review of costs of 

 the project, as there is over one and one-half mil- 

 lions of dollars involved in that matter of our legal 

 and moral rights under original contract. 



"The local board of review for this project will 

 probably begin work on or about April 1, and it is 

 important that every one that knows of anything 

 charged to this project that should not be so 

 charged, because excessive or improper for any 

 reason, should furnish the information without 

 delay, as this will be the last 

 opportunity to show the ex- 

 cessive costs that have been 

 charged to the water users." 



In an earlier communica- 

 tion to the Sidney Herald, Mr. 

 Adams says : 



"Letters will be sent to 

 each person on the Lower Yel- 

 lowstone project who was here 

 during construction, asking for 

 any definite information tend- 

 ing to show excessive cost of 

 any definite part of the works, 

 showing the time, place and 

 by whom built and the cause 

 of excessive cost, also as to any 

 items that have been improp- 

 erly charged to the project for 

 any reason, and as to any 

 works that were defective, and 

 have had to be rebuilt for any 

 reason. 



"Mr. Newell and Mr. Sav- 

 age are both removed from 

 any official connection with 

 the service, in so far as admin- 

 istration is concerned." 



Secretary Lane's selection 

 of Project Manager P. M. 

 Fogg as the Reclamation Serv- 

 ice representative on the Mini- 

 doka, Idaho, project did not 



