THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



265 



tains and the John Day country. There is also 

 an item of $65,000 west extension investigations 

 charged against this project. The settlers asked the 

 removal of these two charges. 



Under the head of general expense was found 

 a charge of $64,000 for maintaining the Portland, 

 Chicago and Washington offices. It was contended 

 that much of this was needless expense. 



In all, nearly $500,000 needless and worthless 

 expenditures have been listed. 



The Board of Review on the Belle Fourche 

 project in South Dakota will resume its sessions 

 again this month. In a letter to the editor of this 

 department, O. E. Farnham, secretary of the Belle 

 Fourche Valley Water Users' Association, says : 



"We went into the review under protest, and 

 protested against being charged with the expense. 

 But were advised that Secretary Lane proposed to 

 proceed with the 

 review whether 

 w e participated 

 therein or not. 



"I have read 

 the findings of 

 Carlsbad Board 

 with consider- 

 able interest, and 

 the proceedings 

 ought to be of 

 considerable aid 

 to other associa- 

 tions in present- 

 ing their case. 

 We are expect- 

 ing to make a 

 very thorough 

 and exhaustive 

 investigation into 

 expenditures on 

 the Belle Fourche 

 project. Our 

 case has not 

 developed, how- 

 ever, sufficiently 

 to permit of any 

 particular com- 

 ments at this 

 time. Presume 

 that we shall 



request a finding by the board that the main works 

 be considered as public internal improvements, owned 

 and controlled by the Government, and should be held 

 in perpetual ownership and control by the Federal 

 Government, and the cost thereof charged to the 

 Government, leaving only the distributing system 

 to be paid for by the water users, and the cost to 

 represent the cost of the water-right. It has been 

 suggested that perhaps the Government might be 

 justified in collecting from the owners of the water 

 rights 1,aken out on said project a nominal rate of 

 interest on the cost of the main works, which, in 

 time, say, 50 years, would return to the fund the 

 entire amount expended, or properly expended, as 

 found by the board. It is our purpose, as a basis 

 for these findings, to determine the proper cost of 

 each structure connected with the project." 



Commenting upon the majority decision of the 

 Reclamation Board on the Carlsbad (New Mexico) 

 project, as published in the June issue of THE IRRI- 

 GATION AGE, the Montrose (Colo.) Enterprise, pub- 

 lished on the Uncompahgre project, says: 



"Having listened to some of the testimony pre- 

 sented at the recent sitting of the review board 

 for the Uncompahgre project, we have come to 

 the conclusion that the situation on the Carlsbad 

 project is not nearly so gloomy as the report pic- 

 tures it. And on the other hand it is quite prob- 

 able that the conditions are not so bright as the 

 minority will picture it. A picture about half way 

 between, although somewhat drab in color, would 

 probably be a picture nearer the truth. 



"The human equation has entered, to a remark- 

 able extent, into the testimony which has been 

 given at the board of review hearings. The natural 



impression being 

 that the darker 

 that picture could 

 be painted as to 

 conditions on the 

 Reclamation 

 projects the 

 greater the 

 chances to se- 

 cure concessions 

 from the Gov- 

 ernment in con- 

 nection with the 

 charges against 

 the land for the 

 cost of the proj- 

 ect, there has 

 been an almost 

 irresistible i n - 

 centive to bear 

 down heavy on 

 the gloomy side. 

 Having a goodly 

 sized axe to 

 grind, we of the 

 Reclamation 

 projects have 

 proceeded to 

 make what we 

 have considered 

 as the most of 

 our opportunities for grinding the same. 



"Not that we have necessarily indulged in any 

 falsehoods, however, for there is a dark side to a 

 great many things of life, including trying to make 

 a living under Reclamation projects. Our sin, if 

 if be a sin, has not been in out and out prevari- 

 cating, but rather in the tendency to dwell at too 

 great length on the gloomy side, to the exclusion 

 of the brighter side, for there is a bright side as 

 well as a dark side. 



"If we would arrive at the truth as to condi- 

 tions on our particular project, for instance, it 

 would be a good idea to take the optimism of our 

 boomiest days and place them on one side, and then 

 take the pessimism of the testimony presented be- 

 fore the board of review, and then draw a line half 

 way between the two as a means for arriving at a 



A peach orchard in the Mimbres valley of Xew Mexico. Courtesy of The Earth. 



