84 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Grand Junction, on the Truckee-Carson project in 

 Nevada, and elsewhere, as well, there is need of 

 immediate action, and it is to be hoped that the 

 reclaimed land which is being lost will be definitely 

 and permanently reclaimed by Government help in 

 the matter of drainage. 



Team (at least) 300 



Wagon and tools 600 



Dr.. Elwood Mead had occasion to 

 The Orland outline in detail his plan of rural 

 Experiment credits in connection with the cele- 

 Will Be Tried bration held at Orland, California, 

 Out in June in March. For it is on the extension 

 lands of this project that an effort 

 will be made to give the settler a lifting hand. 



About a thousand water-users had gathered to 

 hear the remarks of Dr. Mead, and his reception 

 was gratifying to say the least. It remains now 

 for Congress and Secretary Lane to give their ap- 

 proval, and this should be forthcoming, for there 

 is an evident intent in Washington to make the 

 reclamation projects successful. 



In a nutshell, the plan is to give the buyer ap- 

 proximately thirty years to pay for two-thirds or 

 three-fourths of his irrigated farm, and the rate of 

 interest is to be about 4j^ per cent, although even 

 6 per cent would be safe. One-third or one-quarter 

 is to be paid in cash. 



An editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle 

 sums up the situation forcibly. Here is an extract 

 from it well worth perusal : 



"Possibly the Orland reclamation district fur- 

 nishes the best example. The owners of the land 

 are under contract with the Government to fix a 

 price for their land which settlers can and will pay. 

 They are exceedingly anxious to do so, for they 

 must pay assessments whether the land is occu- 

 pied or not. Some of the land is mortgaged, and 

 between paying interest and assesments for the 

 irrigation system, the burden of carrying the prop- 

 erty is heavy. It is said to be excellent land. Here, 

 then, are willing settlers. The problem is what a 

 willing buyer can afford to pay. 



"To begin with, there are things which are not 

 land which must be paid for before there can be 

 use of the land. The irrigation system will prob- 

 ably cost $60 an acre, and leveling, on the average, 

 $25 an acre. Then there are buildings, animals and 

 equipment. 



"The cost of a forty-acre farm in an irrigated 

 district, complete and ready to operate, would be 

 about as follows: 



Irrigation system $2,400 



Leveling (average) 1,000 



House 800 



Domestic water supply 200 



Barn and other outbuildings .... 700 



Total $6,000 



"That is $150 an acre without the land, and 

 includes no animals except the team. Nor does it 

 include any fencing or seed. The question is how 

 much, after paying for all this, one can afford to 

 pay for the land. That must be determined by the 

 price the buyer can get for the products of the land 

 by the sale of annual crops. If he goes into the 

 fruit business, there will be large additional ex- 

 penditure, a delay of some years before getting any 

 returns, and great uncertainty about the net returns 

 when he gets them. They may be very large or 

 very little indeed. If the settler pays $50 an acre 

 for the land, his farm will cost him $200 an acre, 

 or $8,000. 



"If he has the money, is willing to work hard, 

 and likes his surroundings, he had better buy at 

 that price. He will be sure of a good living and, if 

 he is that kind of a man, of saving something each 

 year. 



"The problem is to find out how small a pay- 

 ment a good young farmer can make and safely 

 run in debt for the balance. If he pays down $2,000, 

 he will owe $6,000. Efforts are being made to find 

 a way by which the buyer owing $6,000 may pay 

 interest and principal by paying 6 per cent, or $360 

 a year, for 31 y? years. 



"That would probably be a safe bargain. With 

 any less time or any longer payments there would 

 be risk of default. There must be a margin of safety 

 to take care of sickness or other misfortune." 



One of the most important, if not 

 Oregon's Big the most important, events of the 

 Conference month in irrigation development, 

 Was Not a was the great two days' meeting 

 Great Success held at Salem, Oregon, March 9 



and 10. The meeting was called for 

 the purpose of organizing a campaign which would 

 eventuate in the adoption of a system of state rural 

 credits and state aid for irrigation projects. That 

 it failed of its main purpose is to be regretted. The 

 Portland Oregonian, in its issue of March 15, had 

 this to say of the outcome, for its immediate result 

 was to seriously endanger the inauguration of the 

 greatly needed north unit of the Deschutes project : 

 "The failure of the conference to indorse a con- 

 servative plan for uniting all parts of the state in 

 the work of agricultural development was not, per- 

 haps, the worst feature. The specious arguments 

 presented by some at the conference against the 

 essential worth of reclamation in Oregon have pro- 



