The Florence tribune., 1900-02-17

A@he eo ce OSuenteu oelhS maiHiy Tn | public ownership, there is no means under present laws by which a private company could realize the full benefit | of their improvements.
 3. Arizona being Territory, the | water right is entirely under national | jurisdiction; the only material private lien on the right is the right of the Indians, who are wards of the Govern ment, and this is essentially Govern ment right. The objection applicable i'll some of the States, that the juris- diction of water rights is entirely in the hands of the State and would pro- duce conflict of authority, does not apply here.
 4. The Government, being the owner of more land under the canal than can ever be watered by it, can entirely control the appropriation of the values which will be created by the construction of reservoir and can entirely recoup itself for all expenses incurried and thus discharge it's obliga- tions of honor with 10 expenditure ex- cept the utilization ofits own natural resources. It is not proposition for the Government to expe1d money for the benefit of private individuals nor of any particular section, aud hence is not comparable with river and harbor Improvements, although the general benefits are So comparable, as homes will be furnished at low rates to thousands of industrious people, who will come from all parts of the country, and forbidding desert will be trans formed into rich. oasis and large community will be thus practically added to the domain of the United States.
 5. Gila River rises in New Mexico. As the main body of the basin is in Arizona, interstate complications might arise in the future in case the reservoir were constructed by private orlocal enterprise. With these ques- tions the National Government only is competent to cope. Thus, from all points of view there is every reason why this reservoir should be con- structed by the National Government and no reason why it should not, while it is not only mpracticable but eminently inadvisable for private enterprise to carry out the project.
 6. Owing to the cratic nature of the Gila River less than per cent of it's water near Florence is now being used for irrigation, and the areas now irrigated suffer intensely from sum mer droughts.
 FINANCIAL SUMMARY OF RESULTS. Total water supply to be. delivered to the point of diversion from
 San Carlos reservoir for irrigation
 each year r................a aere-feet.. 24l,s96 Ultimate requirement. for Indians
 ..........................,.........do. do. 4O.OOO Remainder available for irrigation
 of public domain or private lands
 ............................acr .acre-feet.. 2O1, ,sss Assume duty of water of aere-feet
 or 2I inches in depth used each
 year each irrigated acre; this would permit the irrigation of lands outside the reservation to
 the extent of................a of acres. 100, ,698 There are Ssg.2 .2i1 acres of arid public
 land in the district to be supplied
 from this system. Assume thatthe
 water is given to the Indians with
 out cost to the Government and
 that these 100,59s acres must pay
 the total cost of the works. then
 the necessary charge per acre for
 tbe remaining water rights to be
 sold would be e........................ Sl024 It is believed that the public lands
 with this water right could at this
 rate. be sold within year. If 5000 Indians have to be fed by the
 Government at a cost per ration
 per day of 10 cents, the annual ex-
 penses would be. ................... slO9, 300 The capitalization of slO9,5O0 at per
 cent would represent the practical
 permanent expense of ffeeding these
 tribes. This is equivalent to per
 manent Government debt, which
 would be liquidated by this con
 struction, S2, ,737 300 The value of the 10e,79s acres of irri-