THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



119 



RECLAMATION FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE 



SETTLER 



By Edward Gillette, Chairmen Board of Review, Northern Division. 



The cultivation of new land so as 

 to bring it to a high state of produc- 

 tion has been the great work of our 

 people from the time of the first set- 

 tlers on our eastern shores up to the 

 present time, and will continue so to 

 be for many generations to come. 



The privations and work of all these 

 settlers have been much the same. 

 The first settlers had to provide shel- 

 ter and prepare the land for crops, 

 and until a harvest was made game 

 in the forest and sea food constituted 

 their living. The settler of today is 

 doing the same thing over again. The 

 operation is taking place in the in- 

 terior remote from sea food; a few 

 fish in the streams and jack rabbits 

 on the plains are the means of exist- 

 ence for many a pioneer until his land 

 is made to produce a crop. Upon a 

 close investigation it would be diffi- 

 cult to determine whether the first or 

 the present settlers have endured the 

 greater hardship. The earliest set- 

 tlers banded together and helped each 

 other; in union there was preserva- 

 tion. Today it is everyone for him- 

 self, except in Mormon colonies, 

 where the welfare of each member is 

 looked after as far as necessities go, 

 and helping each other is- a principle 

 to be thoroughly carried out. This is 

 the cause of the Mormons being uni- 

 formly successful as pioneers. 



Many a settler on our treeless arid 

 and alkali plains with a rude mud hut 

 for shelter, a crude fireplace where 

 corn cakes are baked on stones, has 

 been happy in the possession of a box 

 of cartridges with which he could pro- 

 cure a few rabbits; even the bad alkali 

 water does not discourage him. Com- 

 pare this with the good water, trees 

 with which to build cabins, game and 

 sea food available for the first settlers 

 of the country, and we conclude that 

 the hardy pioneers of the present day 

 would have survived the ordeal of de- 

 veloping a new country better than 

 our Pilgrim Fathers who had little 

 experience in this work. Our western 

 settler loves the bright sunshine and 

 invigorating air of our arid plains: to 

 him the wet weather, gloomy skies 

 and lack of vigor in the atmosphere of 

 the eastern country is very depressing. 

 It is fortunate that people as a rule 

 become attached to Mother Earth 

 wherever fate has cast their lot. 



Some of this work of development 

 is being performed through a bureau 

 of the Interior Department, desig- 

 nated as the U. S. Reclamation Serv- 

 ice. The hardships, privations and 

 necessities of the settlers on these 

 projects in order to make farms pro- 

 ductive enough to support a family, 

 are little understood by the govern- 

 ment, and it does not know or real- 

 ize fully the deplorable conditions ex- 

 isting or what is necessary to elimi- 

 nate them. Opinions by learned ex- 

 pert irrigationists do not give results 

 desired; these can only be obtained by 



a thorough consultation with the set- 

 tlers themselves and an intimate 

 knowledge of their condition. In no 

 other way can this problem be solved 

 in a right manner. The watchword 

 must be eternal investigation for the 

 greater success. 



Three classes of farmers go west: 

 the comparatively wealthy farmer 

 who always buys a farm more or less 

 improved; the second, who has from 

 a few hundred to a few thousand dol- 

 lars; and the third with practically 

 nothing, who simply files a homestead 

 on the public land. Reclamation 

 projects are settled by the second 

 class. 



The Reclamation Service was or- 

 ganized more in reference to what 

 kind of a bill Congress would pass, 

 deferring to the demands of eastern 

 congressmen and senators, rather 

 than the practicable settlement of the 

 lands required. Accepting this as a 

 fact and considering the scant knowl- 

 edge of irrigation possessed at that 

 time by those in power, the results 

 obtained to date are better than could 

 have been reasonably expected. 



The value of irrigation is so great 

 and important to our country that 

 deference to eastern opinion as to the 

 provisions of its organization were no 

 doubt justified, in order that the gov- 

 ernment should take up this busi- 

 ness; the quicker the better, for this 

 question can be solved in no other 

 way. In other words, it is a national 

 question, not a local one. The rec- 

 lamation service has apparently made 

 a mistake in not making a ruling 

 point of the proposition that the suc- 

 cess of its settlers is the proper gauge 

 by which to measure its own success. 

 It has been too well satisfied with 

 the publicity and praise given its con- 

 struction work and what benefits fu- 

 ture generations would derive from 

 the same and neglecting the success 

 of its pioneer farmers, the main spring 

 of the works. 



The funds to carry on this work 

 were to come from the sale of public 

 lands and were to be expended ac- 

 cording to the amount received in 

 each state. The result of this provi- 

 sion was that in one state supplying 

 the greatest revenue, little or no irri- 

 gation was practicable. The service 

 went over this territory, as one ex- 

 pressed it, "with a fine tooth comb 

 to discover an irrigation project." 

 Two projects were finally selected, 

 one involving a pumping plant and 

 being more than less experimental, 

 the other for the greater part being 

 in an adjoining state. This latter, lo- 

 cated in a semi-arid region, was al- 

 ready settled to a great extent by well 

 to do farmers whom the service offi- 

 cials finally persuaded to mortgage 

 their farms and improvements for the 

 project, on the ground that their busi- 

 ness would be benefited thereby and 

 under no circumstances could or 



would the cost exceed a certain price 

 per acre. Under these circumstances, 

 as distinctly understood and ex- 

 pressed by both parties to the con- 

 tract as possible, the farmers mort- 

 gaged their property to the govern- 

 ment. 



Before this project was completed, 

 it was found out that the cost would 

 be more than double that given the 

 farmers and would wipe out all their 

 interest in the land and improvements, 

 if collection of costs was attempted. 

 It killed all idea of their being able 

 to borrow a dollar on their farms 

 from any source. As regards the 

 pumping plant, three times the total 

 value of the improved farms under 

 this project would have to be col- 

 lected in order to return the full cost. 

 It is simply, childish under these cir- 

 cumstances for anyone to talk about 

 returning the full cost to the gov- 

 ernment, as it does not exist. 



It is extremely doubtful, in a court 

 of equity, if the government could 

 make its case good and confiscate the 

 lands and improvements of the farm- 

 ers involved, and, what would be the 

 result if it did? The government 

 could not dispose of this property to 

 anyone for more than its value, but 

 would simply be placed in a worse 

 condition. Delay means waste. The 

 only sensible or right thing for the 

 government to do under these cir- 

 cumstances is to make a reasonable 

 building charge for what the land 

 will stand; by all means keep faith with 

 the farmers as regards promises made, 

 wipe out the absolutely unrecover- 

 able loss, and do business as any other 

 concern would have to do under the 

 circumstances and save further loss. 

 To allow present conditions to con- 

 tinue is reprehensible; that which has 

 passed has much to atone for of a 

 mitigating nature. 



The Board of Army Engineers ap- 

 pointed some five or six years ago 

 by the government to investigate its 

 irrigation projects reported that 

 "there would be a considerable loss 

 to the reclamation fund" from both 

 these projects.. 



The cost of irrigation works in the 

 West comes nearer being uniform 

 than the value of water to the land: 

 in some cases the water has increased 

 the value of the land several times 

 the cost, but the government get? back 

 nothing* beyond the bare cost; in 

 cases where the cost of the works 

 exceed the added value of the land, 

 there is no remedy, and the govern- 

 ment is in the position of trying to 

 get something for nothing in col- 

 lecting this excessive cost. A pri- 

 vate concern would have made a rea- 

 sonable profit on the water where 

 such could have been made and thus 

 provided for a loss where the cost 

 would not be collected. To not do 

 this was in one case to throw away 

 all the profit, as a rule to speculators, 



