The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-08-04
REAVIS'S BIG SCH EME
AN IRRIGATION PLAN M WHICH HE
HOPES TO MAKE MILLIONS.
Dams Hundreds of Feet in Length,
Huge Reservoirs and a Citrus Belt
Earlier Than California.
Santa Fe Letter in St. Louis elobe-pemo-

| Santa Fe Letter in st. Louis Globe-Demo-
/ crat.
| What manner of man Is this James Addi-
son Reavis? He paralyzed a Territory and
set ii back in growth a dozen years. He
enlisted in his service the ablest lawyers Of
| the country He all but fastened on the
government a Judgment of between $500. 900
and $1,000 co., He touched men like Coils
p. Huntington, the Southern Pacific mag
nate, for means to carry on his campaign
| as claimant And. finally, he made the gov
eminent spend $4,000. and gave lawyers and
experts months of the most difficult work
in three countries to run him down. Short
| " before he was forced to trial by the re-
! fusal of the Court OF Private Land Claims
| to longer delay the trial Of the Peralta
grant, Reavis wrote to Matt e. Reynolds,
the United States district attorney:
my counsel have all resigned the case
| simply because 1t was impossible for them
| to break off long-standing engagements in
| order to dance attendance at your caprice.
| Then shall / suffer in a~case Of equity
wherein the government has been the tres
passer the intimidator, the suborner, the
| falsifier. the perjurer. the incendiary. and,
| last, but not least, the server OF Mammon,
| the only responsible agent created by
| statute with an eye single TO justice. justice
to an outraged, down-trodden. conquered
and souls to its care, and, too, in a civilized
| age when the cruelties OF war are followed
| by the balm or Gileadg'
Reavis, on the maternal side, is the great
| grandson of a once famous Nissourian,
| known far and wide as Corn Taylor. Mr..
Taylor lived in Cooper county. He owned
| trail Missouri He raised enormous crops Of
corn on his farms. II was his custom to
| crib the corn and let it remain two or three
or four years until there was a short crop
| and the price went UP. Then he unloaded
| at the top OF the market. This custom.
pursued with great success through long
| life. brought upon him the name of Corn"
| Taylor.
Reavis has traced his genealogy on his
At a time when he expected to establish
his rights as Baron Of Arizona" to an es-
tate Of 12.7OO,OOO acres. he took occasion to
II am partly Welsh and partly Spanish"
| he said recently. "In early times the Span
ish pirates settled on the coast of Wales.
married there and raised families. 1 come
| OF that stock. The name was originally
| spelled R-i-v-a-s. That was Spanish for
pirate.
ANOTHER BIG SCHEME.
| Since the close OF the trial. resulting in
| the claim to the Peralta grant being de-
| MED. Reavis has given little attention to
that matter. 1t is doubtful II he takes an
appeal to the Supreme Court. A project be-
| side which the barony Of Arizona was a
| trifing matter engages him.
You remember" he remarked. as he I'M
rolled several blue prints. that just before
the trial closed in the Land Court said
that so far as the grant was concerned
| didn't care snap of my fingers for II;
| that If it was confirmed to me it would be
an incumbrance on me the balance of my
G NJ mn N
Mr.. Reavis held up the blue prints of the
water system of 'the Casa Blanca I'M
THE capitalists who. are interested with
| me in this enterprise" he continued ARE
very glad to have the grant beaten and the
land disposed Of under United States laws.
They feel that way because there is great
deal more for us in the development of
water system and in the sale OF water
rights than could possibly have been made
| if we had obtained title to the land"
This rather astonishing overture Reavis
proceeded to make clear:
Il will show you"' h5 said, H"why 1t is to
our interest to defeat this grant If we got
the grant it would have been impossible to
compel people to take the water when they
had bought land from us. They could have
bought the land and let it lie unimproved
as long as they pleased. Now, consider
how ii will be with the land under govern
ment control as part OF the public domain.
| acres. To obtain his title he must spend So
an acre each year for FIVE years under the
has spent SIS an acre in improving his land
he'll not abandon work, on Ii in order to
take up and improve other land near him.
We are interested in the land being i'm
proved, so that we can, sell the water to the
landholder. For that reason much pre-
fer the grant should be- defeated and the
land taken up under the desert land law
But that isn't saying will not carry the
case to the United States Supreme Court"
With that plausible explanation Reavis
unfolded the most fascinating irrigation en-
tprDriSo entered
engineer or capitalist The gift OF state
ment which this man possesses is almost
beyond comprehension 1t is only after
hearing him talk that one can comprehend
his remarkable success in enlisting the
services of the ablest lawyers and the
financial backing of the most conservative
moneyed men in the Peralta grant When
the government experts came back from
Mexico loaded down with evidence of for
gerry and fraud. they met in Denver for
Iner private secretary of Reavis. and told
him what they had found
by thunder" said the ex-secretary, eff
that man gets hold of You and talks to
that everything you found in Mexico is all
wrong" ~ enc -
SOME OF HIS CLAIMS.
Reavis and those associated with him
have if he may be believed, obtained pos
session of natural dam sites and water
locations which will enable them to es-
tablish an irrigation system beside which
all existing systems are insignificant.
When L stated in my testimony that 1
had taken UP this water Individually"
said Reavis. II meant as against the title
to the grant That title holds in my wife.
and she Is not included with me in this
water development The water has been
taken up by people who live under the
flow and who are in this enterprise with
me. They have joined me and made the
locations under the United States laws
We have covered the reservoir sites. These
are natural locations. have never seen
anything to compare with the natural ad-
vantages these sites offer. l don't believe
there is anywhere else what will compare
with these. / have made it my business
to investigate thoroughly the water sys-
TENS of this country. / have also given
careful attention to the water systems of
Mexico and Spain. There has never been
anything conceived that approached this
plan of ours. / don't believe there is so
much valuable land which can he brought
under water anywhere in the world. No
grants encroach upon this field of ours,
and we are glad of it,, because. as said.
we believe the land laws of the United
States are better to work under with a
water system than grants would be- We