East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-04-05

On the 30th of this month the board
of consulting engineers of the United
States reclamation service will meet
In Pendleton for the purpose Of acting
on the plans presented by John T.
Whistler on the Umatilla and the NAL
heur projects. 1t is the rule for the
board to meet at points as near as
possible to where the proposed work
is to be done in order to allow of the
fullest investigation possible, and by
meeting here the engineers will have
all the plans and data of the local
office at their disposal and will also
be SO that they may make a personal
inspeCtio of the lands to be re-
claimed.
While 1t is not definitely known
what men will constitute the board
that will meet here, 1t is probable
that they will be A. p. Davis assistant
chief engineer; ID. c. Henny, consult
ing engineer for oregon and Washing
ton; A. ]. Wiley, consulting engineer
fer Idaho. Washington, oregon and
Wyoming, and Jonn r. Whistler dis
trict engineer for Oregon. 1t is also
pAODoDiS NhaN W IL l1ilSlBllt GltNAl iNdl
expert for the Pacific coast will be
present to advise.
According to Mr.. Whistler the first
three men mentioned above will be the
deciding power of the board, he him
self acting more as an informant than
as a member of the board.
Act First on Malheur Project.
The principal object of the coming
meeting of the consulting board, ac-
cording to Mr.. Whistler, is to act on
the report to be made by himself on
the Malheur project. This matter will
be taken up first and disposed of.
However, it is possible that the board
may have time to investigate the
Umatilla project at the same meeting,
but should they not be able to do so
the board will meet again within
short time for that purpose.
The prospects for any immediate
work on the Umatilla project do not
appear to be very bright. The re-
demption fund available makes 1t i'm
practicable generally to undertake
more than one large project in state
III Ollt lllllts anu apparently llt MAI
heur project has some advantages
over the one near here for first place.
However, the Malheur people may lose
through the selfishness and narrow
mindedness of the military road com
pany, which has title to thousands of
acres of land in that valley. Thus
far they have refused to enter the
Water Users association, which is re-
quired by the department before work
is undertaken where private land will
be reclaimed. Should they persist in
their course the Malheur project may
be set aside as a result, and in that
event there will be strong hope for
the Umatilla project
Several Sources of Water.
However, the project here is not
without its dilemmas also, and strange
to say the thing most likely to cause
delay is the fact that the land may be
reclaimed from too many sources. 1t
is said that water may be taken from
the Umatilla river for storage in the
reservoir near Tub Springs, or 1t may
be brought across Gillian county from
the John Day river, and a much
larger body of land reclaimed.
Reclamation men do not like to al
low river to run to waste in an
arid region, and this is what the John
Day must forever do unless its wa
ters can be diverted I'm the above
manner. While the plan to use its
waters on the land in this county
may seem far-fetched to some, it is
said to be possible, although the pro-
ject would cost $S,OOO,O00 or more
to construct.
One reason why the John Day
scheme is favored is because it is