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 Avhat 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 : 
Project. 
Total 
number of 
farm units. 
Settlers still 
in posses- 
sion or who 
have satis- 
fied home- 
stead re- 
quirements. 
Per cent of 
total. 
Total Number of 
namber of settlers per 
settlers, farm unit. 
Boise, Idaho 
Huntley, Montana 
Minidoka, Idaho 
North Platte, Nebraska- Wyoming 
Shoshone, Wyoming 
UmatiUa, Oregon 
Total 
1,107 
589 
1,609 
1,337 
609 
196 
987 
383 
899 
723 
405 
136 
89.1 
65.0 
55.8 
54.0 
66.5 
69.3 
5,447 
3,533 
65.2 
1,273 
839 
2,709 
2,155 
902 
289 
8,167 
1.14 
1.42 
1.68 
1.61 
1.48 
1.47 
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 
