The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-06-23
UTAH COUNTY
GETS THE WATER
Politics Cut a Dangerous Figure N
National Irrigation.
HOW THE SCHEME WORKS
WHOLE STATE PAYS TRIBUTE TO
REED SHOOTS HOME.

Rational aid TO irrigation must
IN come through Senator Reed SmOOt
and not through the secretary of
the interior, the reclamation service and
/ the geological survey This is the ex-
! Pensive lesson that is to be hammered
/ into the heads of the Utah taxpayers.
If the men who were at work in the
| interest Of irrigation had paid their
! respects to Senator Reed SmoOt in the
/ first place instead of ignoring him and
I going directly TO the mead of the in
/ terror department, the face of nature
/ would present a radically different ap-
peaUance in the state
Before the crash came there was
| Otah commission to look after the in
Z teTeSts of the state along irrigation
lines This commission was composed
of State Engineer A. r. Doremus, W.
h. White of MaTysvale Harden Ben
mon Of Nernal and Joseph A. West OF
I Ogden The commission had employed
FTaHElin 5 Richards of Salt Lake as
special counsel because of his intimate
knowledge of irrigation and of irriga-
/ ton law. These men blocked out
plan under which the water of Bear
river and Bear lake, Weber river, Utah
I ldke- DUchesne river and strawberry
river was to be utilized; $4,000 acres of
arid and semi-aTid land was to be re-
deemed and made fruitful within easy
reach Of good markets; the whole state
was to be benefited.
All the Skies Were Erignt.
This scheme met with enthusiastic
favor among the government irrigation
] Il "a
. that every branch of the proposition
was feasible from an engineering stand
point work enough was done among
I those holding primary rights to the
water To demonstrate that all these diff
ficuitieS could be easily overcome; it
was asserted over and over again by
men high in the government service
that Utah presented by all odds the
best field in the entire west for the car
Tylng out of large irrigation projects;
the money needed was considered no
obstacle as the work would extend over
period of ten years, and in that time
upward Of $40. 100000 would flow into
the national treasury and be available
for irrigation work. Citizens were led
10 believe that the contracts were to
be let for the actual work of cOnstruc-
ton.
Just at this time when the skies were
brightest Attorney Franklin s Rich
ards and State Engineer a. F D0remus
made a triD TO Washington Neither
was in politics and both were working
arduOusly for help for the entire state
of Utah They made the blunder of go
ing first to the secretary of the interior
and the men in charge of this particular
branch OF government work. They were
well received and highly cOmplimented
for their intimate knowledge Of their
subject and their ability in solving the
problems presented
Where Politics Flows in.
1t must have occurred TO somebody at
some stage of the game that d political
pull was needed to get government aid
10 irrigation as well as facts. figures
and d reasonable proposition To the
final conference in Washington Senator
Reed SmOOt, Senator Thomas Kearns
and Congressman Joseph Howell were
invited. They were present. The whole
magnificent scheme was gone over in
all its details. II was punctured by
one sentence from the lips of the apOs-
Ex-senator.
Il am not prepared to take action in
this matter don't know how it's go
ing TO affect my county.
That settled it At that minute the
effort began to shove everything else
aside in order that Utah county. the
home county of Senator Reed SmoOt
might flourish through government aid.
In an Incredibly short time il was an
nOUnced through the reclamation Serv-
ice officers that the Utah lake project
was not feasible In some mysterious
way these subSeTvient officials got the
impression that the working out of the
Utah lake project might in some intan-
glble way injUTe Utah cOunty-the home
of Senator SncOt-byNreduCing the area
Of the lake. Immediately great engi-
Ueering difficulties were discovered and
the Utah lake project was set down as
practically. impossible. BY a peculiar
coincidence at the identical time that
the Utah lake project was found to be
impossible il WAS discovered that the
simplest and easiest project in the
whole state of Utah was the impouud-
ing Of the waters of the Stra wberry
river on the east side of the Wasatch
mountains. the boring of a tunnel 10000
feet long through the mountains and
. the irrigation of tract of land vari-
ouSly estimated at from 5000 TO $1,000
acres in Utah county, the home of Sen
atOr SmOOt
BY another peculiar coincidence il
was discovered about the same time
that State Engineer a. F. DOTemUs.
who had spent the best years of his
life in the service. knew nothing about
irrigation. He was removed and re
tired to his home in Salt Lake, while
Caleb Tanner. city engineer of Provo,
Senator Reed Shoots home city. was
given his place Engineer Tanner is
enthusiastic over the Strawberry prof.
eCt. as is also George L. Swendsen.
who has charge of the government
work in the state under Engineer +.
H Newell
Some of the aDologists for this sys-
TEN of political irrigation assert that
Utahs share of the national irrigation
fund does not Justify the extensive
work blocked out by the state COM
mission. 1t seems to have taken over
three years to make this discovery.
Utah. il appears. is to get 81. coo. 900 for
the Utah county project within six
years from the time the irrigation law
went into effect. while Nevada on the
west has already received s.. see 900. and
Idaho on the north is TO receive s.. 500
eco more on the Minidoka project
alone. and much more on the Boise
and Payette projects.
Some Water Will Seep.
The plea is made that Utah has paid
/ into the reclamation fund but $500 600.
and this Is put forth as clinching rea-
son why all the government aid ex-
tended the state must be concentrated
in Senator Reed Shoots home county
OF course, the citizens of Utah county
I are generous enough to say that Salt
Lake county and directly the whole
state viii be benefited by bringing the
water of the Strawberry INTO Utah
county. Much Of the water viii seep.
they assert and their bOsoms swell
with generous emotions as they say it
much OF the water viii seep down
into Utah lake after il has been spread
upon the dry land in the southern part