The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1905-05-17
Voice Of
the People
An Open Letter.
Wapato, Wash, May 10, 'O5.

Hon w. l.. Jones-Dear Sir: As
the talk Of the irrigation engineers
seems to be about over--for I can't
see how they can keep it up much
lOnger-it becomes the privilege Of
an outsider to say his opinions in the
matter.
Evidently great mistake was
made in the original bill in allowing
so much latitude in the expenditure
of this money. / think you will
agree with me in this; and it then
follows that the best thing to do is
to correct this defect as soon as pos
sible. There ought to be by this
time enough dissatisfied members of
congress to be able to agree on some
plan whereby this money won't go
out in talk, as it now seems to be
doing Who ever knew govern
ment engineer to do much but talk
and draw his salary? AS | came up
the Columbia river twenty-eight
years ago they were blasting out the
boulders at the foot of the Cascades,
and 1t was twenty years before a
steamboat could get up the river, and
the cost was twice what it should
have been. This is fair sample of
what we may expect under the irri-
CATION act. for they now give out
that nothing will be done this year
in the Palouse project. 1t seems to
me that they are all the time striv-
ing after the impossible, for they ask
that something be done towards maxi
ing reservoir of Lake Couer de
Alene. a thing that is not likely of
accomplishment because of the dam
ages that would result, and again
the Big Bend project, with it's TWEEN
ty-eight miles of tunnel is frequently
mentioned, although they are care
ful not to say anything about the
twenty-eight miles of tunnel 1t
would be better for the state of
Washington to lose the 40 per cent
of the reclamation fund if at the
same time we could get rid of the
gang of harpies with which we are
now afflicted, amend the law and
turn over the money to the state.
Then we can get something done in
the way of water storage | am a
firm believer in the practiCability of
this storage business, but | don't be-
lieve it policy to try and raise Lake
Cnelan one hundred and ten feet.
This would be too much of a good
thing.
The future prosperity of the Yak
ina valley is dependent on this stor-
age business, and not on who shall
dig few miles of canal and dis
tribute the water through it. ] do
not advocate giving anything to the
Washington Irrigation company, for
think they have all that they can
attend to. But with the example of
the state of Oregon before us, where
they furnish land and water for
$14.7o per acre. it seems as though
the poor settler should have a cheap
er arrangement than $40 per acre,
as the Washington Irrigation COM
pany proposes. ] cant see why the
state should have $40 per acre for
the Carey act land, and cant see
why conserving the water of any
given region should be hitched to an
irrigation project. ] suppose this is
according to the law, and if so it
should be changed, because the con-
serving is sometimes needed where
there is no possible chance for an ir-
rigation project. An amendment to
the law whereby % per cent of the
fund contributed by any state could
be applied to the conserving of the
moisture without any return to the
fund would be about the thing for
Washington. There is altogether too
much of the revolving fund idea in
reclamation act and the sooner a part
of it can be eliminated the better.
GEO. S. HEATON.