CLASSIFICATION IN RELATION TO WATER RESOURCES. 187 



that can be successfully irrigated, or when it is learned that con- 

 structing companies are attempting to increase the area of the project 

 by selling water rights to owners of private lands and thus depriving 

 the segregated lands of a portion of the water supply necessary for 

 their complete reclamation, conferences are held with State authori- 

 ties and prompt measures are taken to insure the protection of the 

 settlers. It is hoped by such means to avoid the disastrous results 

 that have heretofore too often attended operation under the Carey 

 Act, to eliminate speculation, so far as possible, and to insure, so far 

 as the department has the power, that the settler who seeks a home 

 on segregated lands will receive a sufficient area of land with a satis- 

 factory water right at a reasonable cost. 



IBBiaATION RESEBVOIB SIXES. 



Withdrawals of sites for irrigation reservoirs under the acts of 

 June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 847), and August 24, 1912 (37 Stat., 497), 

 jire made in the same way as withdrawals of power sites whenever 

 the investigations of the Greological Survey indicate that feasible 

 locations exist. Such withdrawals are made in the interest of bona 

 fide development and to withhold from adverse possession reservoirs 

 required in connection with large irrigation projects, both public and 

 private. Modifications of the withdrawals to permit occupation and 

 use of the sites under the applicable right of way acts are made 

 when the development is warranted and applications for modification 

 are made by responsible parties. 



PBOQEStrKE TrNSEB THE SITIiAIlOES-HOICESTEAI} ACT. 



The classification of lands under the enlarged-homestead acts also 

 devolves upon the Geological Survey, the Director having been 

 instructed by the Secretary of the Interior to make recommendations 

 of lands suitable for designation thereunder. Nearly 193,000,000 

 acres of land have been designated in the States to which the pro- 

 visions of the acts apply. Of this area, approximately 157,000,000 

 acres were designated within three months after the passage of the 

 earlier acts. This result was achieved in part by the use of topo- 

 graphic maps, the accumulation of 35 years of work, in connection 

 with a large number of which unpublished land-classification sheets 

 were on file; in part by the application of available data on rainfall, 

 run-off, and stream flow ; in part by consultation with the Keclama- 

 tion Service; and in part by the cooperation of the several State 

 engineers. In spite of the uncertainty incident to rapid work cov- 

 ering large areas, later information has shown that these designa- 

 tions were in general properly made. The cancellations of erroneous 

 designations amount in the aggregate to about 615,000 acres, or less 



