A Drowned Empire 



99 



subdivide the reclaimed tracts into 

 farm units of from 5 to 160 acres. 

 It is now recognized that the mini- 

 mum unit of 40 acres, under the 

 irrigation act, is, under certain 

 conditions of great fertility and 

 productivity of soil, far in excess 

 of what constitutes an adequate 

 area for a farm home, where a 

 man may make a comfortable liv- 

 ing for himself and family. The 

 cost of the drainage construction is 

 to be charged against the land re- 

 claimed, as under the irrigation 

 act, and is to be repaid into the 

 drainage fund in not to exceed ten 

 annual installments. To secure 

 this repayment the government is 

 to have a first and paramount lien 

 on the land. Where other than 

 public lands are reclaimed the loan 

 of the money from the drainage 

 fund is to be upon the bonds of 

 the state, the municipality, or 

 drainage district and secured by 

 lien on the lands. There is to be 

 no commutation of homesteads in 

 case of the reclamation of public 

 lands. 



The bill is thus seen to closely 

 follow the general principles un- 

 derlying the irrigation act — the 

 money is obtained from the sale of 

 government lands, so that the ap- 

 propriation is automatic ; the fund, 

 through the return to it of the cost 

 of construction by the land-own- 

 ers, becomes a revolving one, and 

 most of the details of execution 

 are left to the Secretary of the In- 

 terior. 



Under this measure national drainage 

 would begin existence with not less than 

 six million dollars, the receipts from the 

 sales of lands in the states included under 

 it having been from 1901 to June 30 

 1907, $5,813,258. Since the Secretary 

 of the Interior is not restricted in making 

 requirements for the repayment of the 

 cost of construction, it is probable that in 

 such cheap reclamation work as is esti- 

 mated for in the Mud Lake district, 

 where the cost will be less than $3 per 

 acre, he will provide for the repayment 

 to the fund in a shorter period than the 



TOPOGRAPHER AT WORK IN TULE SWAMP OE SACRA- 

 MENTO VAEEEY, CALIFORNIA 



maximum 10 years. In this event the 

 money would be available for a second 

 use in possibly five years from the com- 

 pletion of the project and settlement oi 

 the land. 



To save a person from drowning calls 

 for more or less heroism in every case. 

 To win from the realm of the powerful 

 Water King a flooded and perishing em- 

 pire as large as that of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, and so furnish homes for men, 

 women, and children, requires careful 

 study, intelligent direction, and unceasing 

 labor. 



