THE RECLAMATION OF THE WEST* 



By F. H. Newell, 



In Charge op the Hydrographic Branch and Chief Engineer of the 

 Reclamation Service, U. S. Geological Survey. 



CONGRESS, in the spring of 1902, 

 following the recommendations 

 made by President Roosevelt in 

 his first message, took up the matter of 

 the reclamation of the arid West and 

 on the 17th of June, a day celebrated in 

 American history, the President signed 

 the bill known as the reclamation law, 

 setting aside the proceeds from the dis- 

 posal of public lauds in thirteen western 

 states and three territories for the con- 

 struction of irrigation works. At that 

 time the matter attracted little attention 

 other than from those who were inter- 

 ested in the measure. It was thought 

 to be simply a western scheme which 

 had been successfully lobbied through 

 against the opposition of the leaders of 

 both parties. As time has gone on the 

 people of the country have begun to 

 appreciate more and more the impor- 

 tance of the law not only to the West 

 but to the country as a whole. It is 

 now appreciated that if that law is well 

 administered it will mean much to the 

 future development of our country and 

 a complete change in some physical and 

 economic features. 



As geographers we are interested in 

 the development of the country and in 

 the changes that take place, and as citi- 

 zens of the United States we are con- 

 cerned in seeing that every resource is 

 put to its best use, and that the country 

 is developed to the fullest possible ex- 

 tent. The object of the reclamation 

 law is primarily to put the public domain 

 into the hands of small land owners — 

 men who live upon the land, support 

 themselves, make prosperous homes, 

 and become purchasers of the goods 

 manufactured in the East and the cotton 



raised in the South. At the same time 

 this is to be done in such a way that it 

 will not become a burden to the tax- 

 payers. 



The money for the reclamation fund 

 is from the disposal of public lands in 

 the West. This money is returned 

 again to the fund by repayment by the 

 persons who are directly benefited. 

 This matter of refunding is one of the 

 most essential features of the law. 

 Many considered this provision as triv- 

 ial, but the more the effect of the law 

 is studied the more thoroughly is it 

 demonstrated that this repayment is one 

 of the best safeguards of the law, keep- 

 ing the administration clean and busi- 

 ness-like. The requirement that each 

 project must be worth what it costs is a 

 safeguard both in public and in private 

 undertakings. Attacks upon the law 

 have been made under the misconcep- 

 tion that the eastern farmer is taxed to 

 make western farms valuable, and that 

 the government will be victimized by 

 the lands passing into the hands of great 

 corporations. These attacks would not 

 be made if the men who utter them 

 would read the law. It is carefully 

 guarded in every respect, putting the 

 lands into the hands of small owners 

 and refunding to the treasury the cost 

 of reclaiming the land. 



This matter of irrigation and of 

 western reclamation is by no means 

 new. It has been discussed most thor- 

 oughly and persistently by one of our 

 prominent members now gone before, 

 John Wesley Powell. ' ' The Major, ' ' as 

 we all called him, in his early years 

 made extensive explorations in the 

 West, studying its topography, geog- 



*An address before the National Geographic Society, November 6, 1903. 



