The Delta independent., 1903-04-24
Uncompahgre Valley
Reclamation Project.

of the uncompahgre valley must
do to insure the construction of
J the Uncompahgre tunnel and the
completion of the project by the
government that it seems desirable
that a general statement should
be made as to the present situa-
ton and what still remains to be
done. take the liberty, there
fore, of asking the courtesy of the
use of your columns for this pnr-
pose.
The Uncompahgre Valley Recla-
tion Project, to designate it by its
proper title is one of the, five in
the arid region selected by the
Secretary of the Interior as worthy
of continuation of work on plats
and estimates leading up to con-
struction.' The selection was
made without prejudice to other
projects, but for the reason that,
so far as was known, this under
taking seemed to give better as
surance of success, both for the
territory to be aided and the re-
turn of the capital that must be
advanced by the government than
any other one yet examined in the
state of Colorado.
In making this decision the
officers in authority practically say
this: "We. have concluded that
the project is a feasible one aud
we therefore make you this plain
business proposition, the only one
that we are allowed by law to
make. Under the terms of the
Reclamation act all money advanc-
ed by the government must be re-
turned in annual payments not ex-
ceeding ten, without interest, by
the people directly benefited. II
all the lands Of the Uncompahgre
valley were still vacant govern
ment lands the problem would be
a very simple one and we could 60
ahead with the construction at
once, but by far the greater part
is in the hands of private owners
and consequently you who own the
land must get together and demons
trate to us that you will repay
your due proportion of the amount
advanced. You, as the majority,
must make your own bargains for
existing canals, for in the end, you
will have to pay for them. You
must reconcile conflicting claims
for you are the parties pri,naril y
interested and eventually yon will
have to assume control of the sys-
TEN. Then, when you can come
to us and say there is our guar
antee that the money you have
advanced will be returned" and
can demonstrate to our satisfaction
that the guarantee is sufficient;
that there are no complications in
the way and that your association
is strong enough to insure the full
tillment of your pledges. then, and
no. uutil then, will VIC commence
construction. We have now done
IN m,re than our part by making the
surveys and accepting the project
from an engineering standpoint
You must now do yours and show
that it is feasible on the financial
side. Furthermore, it you cannot
reconcile your differences and give
us satisfactory evidence of gooc
faith on yonr side and of the as
surance of this return, there i,
nothing for us to do but t., with
draw, at least for the present
Tnere are plenty of localities where
these conditions can be met am
where aid is asked, to take all the
money available for reclamation
1t was the belief however, thai
these conditions could be met in
the Uncompahgre valley, that in
duceI it's selection AZ a suitable
fell for our work"
That, generally speaking. is the
situation. The government has
now done all that it can do except
to proceed with preliminary sur