500 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1919. 
and giving rise to towns, villages, and characteristic civilizations of 
their own. This condition stimulates the civic conscience and atten- 
tion to public affairs of common interest, so that the local govern- 
ments that grow up under such conditions are usually of a superior 
order and controlled by a superior intelligence on the part of the 
population living thereunder. 
ARE PROJECT SETTLERS PERMANENT? 
In order to determine to what degree settlement on reclamation 
projects is permanent, an investigation was made in 1919 of a num- 
ber of representative projects: 
Five of the projects selected for investigation, namely, Huntley, 
Minidoka, North Platte, Shoshone, and Umatilla, were thought to 
have experienced unusually trying conditions for the settlers, and 
one—Boise—was thought to have been quite favorable. Letters were 
sent to the project managers of these six projects asking the number 
of original settlers still in possession and the number of transfers 
made by other settlers, together with any proper explanations. 
Although the figures are probably not infallible, they are as nearly 
correct as possible. The margin of error is doubtless small in any 
case. The chance for greatest variation is in the number given for 
total farm units, because these are constantly changing and subdi- 
viding. 
One of the projects—Minidoka—was also checked up by consult- 
ing the tract books in the General Land Office in Washington. 
Following is a tabulation from the reports received : 
Settlers still 
in posses- 
Total _|sion or whO| poy cent of Total |Number of 
Project. number of | have satis- total number of| settlers per 
farm units.| fied home- x settlers. | farm unit. 
stead re- 
quirements. 
IBxaytstey, dts ElaVoy SAR ees oe ee co seboaee se 1,107 987 89.1 1, 273 1.14 
Huntley, Montana... 2-2-2 252.2 - 2-222. 589 383 65. 0 839 1. 42 
Minidoka idaho. {iso uee tr oo atk ecle 1, 609 299 55. 8 2,709 1. 68 
North Platte, Nebraska-Wyoming........- 1,337 723 54.0 2,155 1.61 
Shoshone, Wyoming.....-.-.-------------- 609 405 66.5 902 1. 48 
Wimatilla) Oreroneeee- ste anes ee eae eee 196 136 69.3 289 1.47 
Notal. MscGeiacee sas cease eae 5, 447 3, 533 65. 2 8, 167 1. 49 
A difference will be noted between the total number of farm units 
for each project and the total number as listed in the annual reports 
of the Reclamation Service. The figures given above exclude farms 
on private and State land inside the projects and farm units which 
have not been entered upon, except in the case of North Platte, which 
