THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



199 



Board of Review recommended 

 strongly that the government keep its 

 promise, act in good faith, that it was 

 morally bound to furnish water at 

 $30 per acre. The settlers' faith in 

 the government has been rudely 

 shaken. They have been looking to 

 Secretary Lane, as a Western man, 

 who understands the situation, for 

 help and justice and to insure them 

 the ownership of their homes, but so 

 far without result. 



The stumbling block appeared to 

 be the interpretation of the law that 

 all expenditures must be returned to 

 the government. How is this to be 

 accomplished when, as is the case 

 in the North Dakota project, the total 

 value of all the irrigated farms is 

 less than half the government ex- 

 penditure? The farmers could lose 

 their homes, be made bankrupt, and 

 even then but half the cost would 

 be returned. The idea of returning 

 every expenditure to the government 

 has been carried out to such an ex- 

 tent that items have been charged to 

 the settlers in no way connected with 

 thfir lands. 



The Fort Shaw division of the Sun 

 River project is in very bad shape, 

 water-logged and alkalied in every 

 part: its fate, is sealed unless supplied 

 ru'ckly with drainage ditches. A 

 good dry farming country has been 

 ruined by too much water and alkali. 



The Huntley project in southern 

 Montana is in fine shape, as a rule, 

 thanks to private enterprise building 

 a beet sugar factory near at hand. 

 The settlers here are very prosper- 

 ous and well able to return the cost 

 of the project to the government. 

 There is, however, 20 per cent of the 

 land, in this project composed of a 

 greasewood gumbo soil, incapable of 

 producing a crop by any means so 

 far determined. Settler after settler 

 has gone broke in an endeavor to 

 farm these lands. It is the duty of 

 the government to determine some 

 method by which crops can be raised 

 on this soil before allowing further 

 disastrous settlement. 



On the Shoshone project in north- 

 ern Wyoming the cost of water is ex- 

 cessive. This, coupled with expen- 

 sive ditches to counteract alkali and 

 water-logging of the land, makes it 

 necessary that the farmer have a long 

 time in which to make payments and 

 other sensible help pertinent to his 

 business. Charges such as that of 

 the automobile road through Sho- 

 shone canyon to Yellowstone Park 

 should be eliminated when the proj- 

 ect had already supplied all the roads 

 necessary for those concerned. The 

 cost and method of payments on this 

 project should be made fair and rea- 

 sonable. 



In addition to the above hard con- 



ditions for the pioneer settler to over- 

 come and get started, it must be 

 borne in mind that he has been 

 obliged to pay 10 and 12 per cent for 

 most of the money borrowed. When 

 one considers the uncertain, unbusi- 

 ness-like attitude of the government, 

 the above loans are undesirable even 

 at the rate given, dry farm loans be- 

 ing better security. 



The Reclamation Service is busily 

 occupied with construction work and 

 doing its work well, but even if it 

 were organized for agricultural work, 

 proper laws would have to be enacted 

 in order to permit of any success. 

 The question arises, Why does not 

 the agricultural department do this 

 work? The problem is getting to be 

 a very serious matter as time passes; 

 the government is making a failure of 

 this business, which is entirely un- 

 necessary. If it is too ignorant to 

 devise suitable conditions itself, let it 

 copy after foreign countries where 

 success has been achieved by the in- 

 troduction of common sense business 

 methods. Publicity seems the only 

 way left to start the solution of the 

 problem involved. We cannot ex- 

 nect Congress to pass the necessary 

 legislation until it has been thorough- 

 ly impressed with the conditions ex- 

 isting on these projects. Legislation 

 to help the pioneer settler is the main 

 thing to be considered. 



IRRIGATION TO BE HELPED BY FARM LOAN LAW 



Colorado's irrigation district problems may soon 

 be in a fair way for a permanent solution as a' result 

 of the new farm loan law and the establishment of 

 the twelve land banks. 



The question of what will be the policy of the 

 board in reference to these district lands has been 

 one of the most important subjects discussed in 

 Denver in connection with the new law. Some of 

 those who have investigated the law say that it pro- 

 vides a way for taking individual farms from irriga- 

 tion district mortgages so that federal bank loans 

 may be made upon them. Some others, however, do 

 not construe the law in that way. 



"The board doesn't know exactly what will be 

 done in regard to irrigation district lands," said 

 Claud De Baun, representative of the treasury de- 

 partment. "The matter will be taken up with coun- 

 sel immediately upon the return of the board to 

 Washington. If the law does not offer any relief the 

 board will lay the matter before the reclamation 

 department, or congress, in an effort to work out a 

 plan which will permit farmers whose lands are 

 mortgaged for irrigation bonds to receive some profit 

 from the law. 



"The object of the law is to help the farmer. At 

 the same time it is essential that the security of the 

 bondholders shall be maintained and it will be neces- 

 sary for them to have first mortgages on land which 

 is worth twice the amount of the loan." 



Frank N. Briggs, president of the Interstate 

 Trust Company, takes the position that the law pro- 

 vides a way for the irrigation districts to come under 

 its benefits by depositing the bonds of the district 



with a trustee so as to permit the farm loan mortgage 

 to come under the irrigation district mortgage. 



Members of the board said today that they 

 would like to hear more on this subject because it 

 is their intention to look into it thoroughly in an 

 effort to find a way for helping the Western states. 

 The question already has been brought to the at- 

 tention of the board several times, it was stated. 



Colorado has some of its most valuable lands 

 tied up in irrigation districts, where the irrigation 

 companies have gone on the financial shoals and 

 left a cloud upon the title to the land or water 

 rights. Some method of straightening out these 

 difficulties and enabling the farmers to establish 

 themselves on a firmer foundation may be one of the 

 direct effects of the establishment of a land bank 

 in this district. 



SEEK TO CONTROL COLORADO RIVER 



R. M. Priest, an engineer of the Reclamation. 

 Service, and a corps of assistants, are investigating 

 the tributaries of the Grand river and seeking res- 

 ervoir sites by which the flood waters of the Colo- 

 rado river may be controlled. 



It is proposed to stop the annual rampage of 

 the river, which causes thousands of dollars in dam- 

 age by storing the flood waters in immense res- 

 ervoirs, which also will be released as needed for 

 irrigation. This will mean the trebling of the irri- 

 gated area of the Colorado river basin. 



Another party will survey the drainage area of 

 the Green river and select suitable reservoir sites. 



