The Florence tribune., 1901-03-02
SAN CARLOS DAM Report of Committee on Irrigation On Hon. J. F. Wilson's Bill to Construct Reser-
 voir.

it slumoered until Thursday of last | week, when it was reported on favor ably. Mir. Wilson writes the TRIBUNE as follows; ''It has taken these two years to get the enterprise this far, but ono thing is certain, and that is, that this report is the very strongest evidence of the Government reclama- tion theory growing rapidly in the public. mind, because when I intro trodnced the bill and began its advocacy the almost unanimous response was but jeer. feel that know if this enterprise aad theory are prosecuted strongly it will win out before two more years, and think it will be-" Following is the
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE.
 The Committee on Irrigation of Arid Lands, having had under considera- tion the bill (H. R. S733) to authorize the construction of reservoir near San Carlos, Ariz., to provide water for the irrigation of the Saeaton Indian Reservation, aud for other purposes, and having duly considered the same, beg leave to submit the following re- port:
 Your committee fiud that the h. dians known as the Pima Indians are located on the Sacaton Indian Reserva- tion, on the Gila River, in the Terri tory of Arizona, some 20 miles below Florence, in Pinal county. They and other Indians with them, mainly de- pended upon the products of the soil coming from that reservation, are in number about 5000. These Indians from time immemorial have occupied this particular section, now known as the Sacaton Reservation, which con- tains about 50, 900 acres of land, 30, ,000 of which is the most productive soil Of the valley, and have supported themselves by agriculture by utilizing for irrigation the waters of Gila River. They have always been the friends of the American people, and at times, when the savage warrior made it dangerous for the Americans and pioneers iu that country to be there at all because of their cruel warfare, they became the defender of the white man against the fierce Apache, and their reservation was safe retreat for him; and now their chief boast is that not one of their tribe has ever stained his hands in white mans blood.
 As civilization progressed and that country became settled the lands of the Gila River have been taken up by the white settlers above this reserva- tion, who bought them from the Gov ernment, which lands carried water | rights, etc., and they have appropri- ated the waters while Indians have not sufficient water to irrigate exceeding | from one to two thousand acres Of their land in the dry seasons. With sufficient water, which they crave so much to irrigate the lands which they desire to put into cultivation and to till, these Indians would be able to cultivate and raise products of the soil sufficient to pay all of the expenses to which the Government has been put on their account, and to create sinking fund in the Treasury besides. In other words, it would take them off the expense list entirely, and that is great. The Government of the United States now has appropriated through Congress $30, ,000 for their maintenance, simply to feed them, while the other expenses which the Government must bear on their ccount amounts to about $39,CO0 year, making the expense about $70,000 every year that the Government must bear on account of these Indians, all of which would be avoided if this dam should be erected and the reservoir constructed as pro- vided in the bill.
 That it is practical and would be profitable to the Government to build this dam seems to have been established by the Governments experts who have investigated the facts concerning it. The preliminary report published in Senate Doc. No. 27, Fifty-fourth Con- gress, second session, and also in Water Supply and Irrigation Paper B, lately published by the Geological Survey, show plainly and conclusiveiy that it is practical and that it would be profitable to build this dam, and that 1t should be built and this reservoir constructed. Your comittee also find it to be an es- abolished fact that the dam when built to the height of l5O feet, which it may be, will hold when full PAT ,0OO acre feet of water, enough to cover that number of acres q foot deep. If raised 70feet higher, which it may be. it would contain $50, ,000 acre-feet. This outlay will cost little less than sl ,oo0,O00 or