Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1904-07-18
IRRIGATION IN THE DAKoTAs.
Consulting Engineer Of the Reciama-
ton Service Returns from Trip
Through the Dakotas.

ton Service RETURNS from Trip
Through the Dakotas.
Washington, July 1S.-Morris Bien,
consulting engineer in the irrigation
service, has just returned from a trip
to North and South Dakota, where he
looked over the land withdrawn from
entry under the various projects,
The project most advanced is the
Belle Fourche in South Dakota, for
which large area has been segre-
gated. Mr.. Bien's chief business III
connection with this work was to help
water-users' association and draft the
necessary agreements preliminary to
the work of improvement.
"The first of these agreements, on
which the owners were working when
left South Dakota, binds them to
take the water to be furnished by the
government" said Mr.. Bien. much
of the land under the proposed Belle
Fourche ditch is in private ownership,
and the government must know in ad-
vance how many of these owners will
take the water. Such as will not sign
this agreement will be left out, and
the canal will be extended a mile, Or
several miles, until it reaches govern
ment land. There is plenty of the lat
ter in that region, and there will be
no difficulty in disposing of the water
when it is turned into the canal
"Under the laws no person can own
more than 100 acres of irrigated land,
and those who now possess more will
have to dispose of the surplus. There
may be some objection to this by big
landowners, but they won't get any
water for their excess lands, so they
will have to come in and agree to the
governments terms. understand
that this first agreement will soon be
ready for submission to the secretary
of the interior.
Later on the landholders will, as
an association, be required to sub
scribe to another agreement that they
will take the water for ten years, and
that they will pay for their holdings
at the rate prescribed by the govern
ment It has been estimated that the
cost Of the Belle Fourche project will
be $40 an acre, the total scattered
over ten years. The water users will
give what amounts to a mortgage on
their land for that time, which will be
released and returned to them when
all the payments are made"
Mr. Bien said the owners of the
land in the Fort Buford, N. D., project
are ready to form water users as
ISOLATION, such as has been organized
in South Dakota, but that they hardly
know how to go about it. Someone
will be sent from Washington to help
them, and to explain fully what is
needed by the government.
It is expected that contracts for the
construction of the Belle Fouche and
Fort Buford projects will be let as
soon as all the agreements are ap-
proved by the secretary of the interior
AS to the Mouse river project in North
Dakota, Mr. Bien said that was simply
in a preliminary stage, and nothing
definite will be known about it until
the reconnaissance surveys are COM
pleted.
One difficulty which Mr.. Bien en-
countered was lack of enthusiasm on
the part of landowners. Rain has
been abundant for the past three or
four years and crops have been raised
without the aid of irrigation. Conse-
quently the settlers do not see the
need of artificial water supply.
FORT YATES ITEMS.