The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-06-06
JUGGLING WITH ARID LAND
RECLAMATION BUREAU is LIKELY
TO REJECT THE suNNYslDE
CANAL OFFER
Situation Is Strained Between Depart
msnt Officials and Chief Engineer
NewelI-stiIl Unsettled

| Reclamation officials at Washington
are still Juggling with the fate of this
state insofar as the federal irrigation
of arid lands is concerned. A
A dispatch from Washington says
that Congressman Jones has received
letter from tine reclamation service
officials announcing that if the states
selection of $1,000 acres of land in
Yakima county, under the proposed ex-
tension OF the Sunnyside canal, is ap-
proved by the secretary of the interior
the government would decline to con-
slider the offer of the Washington Irri
| CATION company to sell it's canal for
| $3.50, 1000.
This official letter from the reclama-
ton service buereau is both interesting
and important. Secretary Hitchcock,
of the interior department, who, next
| to the president himself, has more to
say about reclamation work than any
| other officer Of the government, has SO
far tacitly approved the states plan
to select $1,000 acres Of land for recla-
nation under the Carey act. or else
there is a strained situation existing
between Chief Engineer Newell and
his superior officer, the secretary of
| the interior.
The letter to Congressman Jones is
just as ambiguous and puzzling as the
majority of matter issuing from the
reclamatio service. Following is the
dispatch:
Department Is Considering.
Official information that the interior
department is considering the offer of
the Washington Irrigation company to
sell the Sunnyside canal and works to
the United States is given Congress
man Jones in letter from the officials
of the reclamation service. The fur
Their positive statement is made in the
letter that if the states selection of
land in the Yakima valley is approved
by the secretary of the interior, the
purchase of the canal by the govern.
ment could not be considered.
1T is expected that decision on the
states application to select land will
be acted on this week, when Assistant
Attorney General Campbell, who heard
State Land Commissioner Ross argu-
ment returns from his vacation"
Favors Award by State
Advices from Washington to date
have all indicated that Secretary
Hitchcock had determined to award
the state it's selection of lands under
the Carey law. This law provides that
a state can select arid lands, which are
given free of cost to the state, provided
the latter shall enter into a contract
to irrigate them within a certain pc
riod. The Washington Irrigation COM
pany stands ready to enter into this
contract with the state, having plan
ned to store the waters at the head of
the Yakima river and double the size
of the Sunnyside canal.
Just at the time the secretary of the
interior appeared to be willing to ap-
prove the states selection, the Wash
ington Irrigation company offered to
sell out to the government. Had it's
offer been accepted, the reclamation
service would undoubtedly have un-
dertaken the storage of waters in the
lakes which form the source of the
Yakima. This done, other reclamation
projects in the state would have been
shelved an indefinite period. State
Land Commissioner Ross, who has
been in Washington some weeks, has
| believed that the secretary of the in
terror would approve the states selec-
ttion.
| There are said to be no legal reasons
to prevent the state from exercising
| it's right under the Carey law. This
being true, should the reclamtion SER
vice bureau make good it's threat to
decline the offer Of theh Washington
Irrigation company, the government
| would then be in position to decide
to take up either the Palouse river pro-
ject or the Okanogan project. A de-
cision on this point is awaited with
the keenest interest in every part OF