East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-11-13

The East Umatilla national irri8a~
ton project, upon which such strong
hopes have been placed by the people
of this county has been rejected by the
secretary of the interior, because of q
lack of funds with which to complete
the work, it is claimed.
A special from Washington says that
Secretary Hitchcock has rejected this
project, as well as the Okanogan and
Tieton projects in Washington, plead
ing a lack of funds, in extenuation of
his action.
All of thees irrigation projects have
been highly recommended by the re-
clamation engineers and are perfectly
feasible and would furnish homes for
several thousand people, but they
must wait for funds to accumulate
before being undertaken by the gov
ernment.
Hitchcock declares that he has now
allotted all the available reclamation
fund. with s3,O00,00O in excess. and
that it would n0t be good iudgIrei" 80
accept any more projects until n.ore
funds have accumulated.
He believes the projects now accept
ed should be completed so results will
be coming in from them, in order to
swell the fund for other new projects
Secretary Hitchcock has Just made O
ruling that hereafter 81 per cent of
all reclamation funds will be expended
in the state in which such funds orig
mate. Had this rule been adopted In
., ,f ,l,
Oregon would now be entitled TO the
immediate expenditure of $2,500,0Oe
since she has contributed nearly $5,-
0000 since the law went into effect
Washington would be entitled to over
81, 900, 900, whereas she has not re-
ceived a cent as yet, and Oregon II
only assured of the expenditure of "a
100000 on the klamath project.
This decision of Hitchcock to reject
the Umatilla project does not mean
that it is abandoned, however. The
estimates of the engineers have been
filed with the secretary and the pro-
ject is feasible, and will be undertaken
when sufficient funds have accumu-
| lated to justify the work of construc-
ton.
The project comprises about Is, 900
acres north of Echo, and contemplates
a reservoir and canals OF considerable
magnitude. 1t would be directly trib-
utary to this city and Echo and means
large new settlement In the county.
Furnish Project Assured.
The Furnish irrigation project.
which is now under way in the vicin-
ity of the East Umatilla government
project will be rushed to completion
as rapidly as possible.
Mr.. Furnish stated to the East Orc
gonian today that the failure of the
government to take up the East Una
ttlla project did not affect his project
in any way and that a large number
of men and teams are now at work
upon his bitches.
This project will virtually reclaim
more land than was to be reclaimed
by the government project, since the
government survey for the main canal
was lower than the Furnish ditch and
did not include nor would not cover
land that can be recovered by the
Furnish project
The land under the Furnish ditch
is a much heavier soil than is found
under any OF the large irrigation pro-
Jects In this part of the state and suf-
ficient water will be secured to re-
claim 1t thoroughly and permanently.
The climate is adapted to all kinds
OF fruits, grains, vegetables and
grasses and It promises to be one of
the most populous portions of Umatills
county when settlement once begins
upon II.