Rocky Ford enterprise., 1898-05-12
RECLAMATION OF ARID LANDS.
House Bin Practically . Rsvision of Pres
Ont LAWS on the subject.


House Bln Practically Rsvision of Pres.
snt Laws on the subject
The favorable report OF the House
committee on public lands on the re-
clamatiOn OF arid lands says the blu
Is practically revision OF the present
laws relating to the reclamation of the
arid lands, remedying those parts of
the existing law 80 that the states can
avail themselves OF the benefits and
provisions OF the same.
''rhe Carey act. which grants 1,OOO.-
900 acres Of land TO each state upon
their reclamation. has been In exist
ence now for five years." says the re-
port. ''and yet only one state In the
Union has deemed It wise to proceed
to reclaim lands under the same. The
conditions and requirements under the
Carey act have been so difficult and
numerous that no state except Wyom-
Ing has deemed II to Its advantage tn
undertake the reclamation of any land
Hereunder. In Wyoming only In one
instance has any actual work been
done under the Carey net, and that
was to reclaim about GO,OOO acres OF
land.
zone of the difficulties under the
Carey net has been the requirement
that the secrctaryof the interior should
approve the map of the lands sought
to be irrigated before 1t could be seq
rcgatcd from the public domain. The
operation OF that provision has been
that as soon as state contemplated
asking for the segregation OF n body OF
land private parties with speculative
tendencies would file homestead claims
upon the same. desiring thereby to
avail themselves of the improvements
contemplated by the state. In order
to prevent such locations this bill pro-
vides that upon the filing In the local
land office by the governor Of IN appli-
cation for the temporary segregation
OF the tract of land which the state
proposes to reclaim Immediately, with
out the approval OF any one. the land
sought to be reclaimed shall be with
drawn from private entry for the pc
riod Of six months. and II the state
follows UP the application the land
shall be withdrawn from entry during
the construction OF the works neces-
sary to reclaim the land.
'rhe Carey act In direct terms re-
quires the state to get the money with
which TO reclaim the land from the
sale of water rights to settlers. The
laws Of the state of Colorado do not
recognize water rights In any canal or
reservoir company. II treats them SIM
ply as common carriers and entitled
to reasonable remuneration for carry
ing the water. 1t has made the sell
ing of water rights by the owners OF
reservoirs and irrigating companies a
felony. The state therefore could not
do what Its own laws prohibit others
from doing.
"rhe Carey act adopts us It's defini-
tiOn of arid lands. desert lands. and
the interior department has construed
that to mean that II any kind of tree
or shrub grows on land 1t Is not des-
crt land. In the arid region there are
several species of trees that grow up
on land which can not produce agri-
cultural crops without irrigation. The
mesquite wood and. the grease wood
are low bushes that will grow on alb
sOlutely desert land. This bill de-
fines arid lands to be those which can
generally produce agricultural crops
only by artificial irrigation, which In
our Judgment and in the Judgment of
the interior department is n much bet
ter definition.
This bill gives the period of ten
years after the approval of the maps
and plans by the secretary of the i'll
terror within which to cause the tract
VI ~ ne
Under the present law there is but five
years more time within which state
can avail itself of the Carey act. The
work necessary to be done in order to
reclaim large tracts of land Is very
great. 1t involves the construction OF
enormous reservoirs for the storage of
water. and for the construction of
large canals to conduct that water to
the land sought to be reclaimed. As
hundrdeds of thousands of dollars will
have to be spent in each of these ell
terprises, and as the selection of sites
for reservoirs. the drafting of plans,
and the approval of the officers of the
government must necessarily be slow,
1t is deemed that ten years is not too
long time within which to produce
reclamation of the lands. There has
been consultation held with the state
engineers of most of the arid land
states, and they have approved the
general features of this bill"
The report proceeds to discuss the
question of cessiOn to the states or the
alternative proposition of the govern
ment undertaking the task of recla-
nation. the latter plan being dismissed
as imprnctlcable. The report con-
cludes: ''The arid lands are of 10 val
ue to the United States: nothing can
be raised upon the same; if they were
offered for sale by the government
they would not bring 10 cents an ncre;
yet they are in fact the most fertile
lands to be found anywhere in the
world If water is only supplied for
their cultivation.
ut is not infrequent to find that If
ty or sixty bushels of wheat per acre
are raised on these arid lands when ir-
rigated: yet without irrigation they are
pnrched and burned and of no value.
BY the reclamation of these lands
great wealth will be added to the
Union. Tint same wealth will supply
taxes for the support of the state and
national governments and help to