Arizona republican., 1906-01-28

a fund Of upwards or tltty thousand dollars was collected for the prelimin- ary work.
 About this time the representative from Nevada, Hon. Francis G. New lands, personally took up the question of irrigation and had surveys made of reservoir sites all over his state. He said to the legislature and to his peo- pie, I will give you these lands and rights, if you will build these works. But there was a hesitancy on their part and the work was finally dropped fdr. Newlands being left with an eX- penditure of thousands of dollars for his surveys He then came to congress with the firm conviction that if any thing was to be accomplished it must be through federal support and control. He set to work and after much labor and thought, drafted what Is now known as the Newlands bill That bill was considered in congress in 1900. At that time 1 met MT. Newlands ire quently. and every night for weeks and weeks the measure was talked over and it was finally drafted along the lines of. federal ownership and control.
 About this time occurred the death of President Mckinley and MT. Roose- welt. one of the staunchest friends and supporters Of the reclamation act came ] To the DfeSluElAiai tlldAI- N'itt O4 ili% very first things Mir. Roosevelt did was to send for the men who were inter ested in irrigation. Said he, I am go- | ing to incorporate in my first mes- l sage to congress a clause faVoring federal irrigation law; what shall say? It was the chance all had been looking for, and calling all the most l expert and capable men possible, both from Arizona and the entire west, the 1 suggestion was put into shape and i handed to the president. The idea met with approval and the Newlands bill ] was redrafted and again introduced in ! 10 the house in the form now known as the Reclamation Act.
 There was much difficulty in pre- senting the claims of national irriga { tion but the speaker finally consented after a great deal of delay that an 1 hour should be devoted to it on 8 cer- l tain day, then the friends of irrigation worked as they had never worked be- fore.
 Letters were sent broadcast from | Los Au~eles San Francisco, and all the cities of the west, to the men mak- ing the shoes the clothes in the east and selling them in the west, saying: Write to your members in congress and tell them of this matter that they may act intelligently on it. They in turn wrote to their members in congress. so ] that before the bill was brought up for discussion. the position of every mem Der was known as to whether he would vote for the bill or whether he would lnot. COntrarv to the most sanguine expectations of it's opponents the mea sure was passed on June 13, 1902, with an overwhelming majority. It was i'm mediately sent to the senate and was
 
 ] 17th of June it received the presidents signature. and the hin became a law.
 That day is q national holiday not 1 only in the east, as the anniversary of | the battle of Bunker Hill, but is also | in the west. for it is the anniversary of the beginning of this great work Tn the service we always regard 1t as such and We usually celebrate the day by the launching of some great work On last June we celebrated by turn ing for the first time, the water into the headgates and canals of the l Truckee- Carson project-the first work to be partially completed
 "The money used for the work of the reclamation service is derived chiefly from the sale of public lands. As fast as these lands are sold, the money, which is deposited in the United States i treasury. is put to the credit of the secretary of the interior, and he in turn uses it as necessary for the carrying on of the work. The money is not the property of the people of the west but is in effect loaned the people, the work is for their benefit. The amount eX- pended is to be repaid in not more than ten annual installments. The money lonce spent will come back and be turn ed over and over, for further recla- nation work On the 3Oth of last June 1 twenty million dollars had been derived from the sale of public lands, and work for that amount is laid out. We expect to receive, within the next three years, from the sale of public lands, at least ten million dollars more, so that on June 1st 1908 we expect to have an available fund of at least thirty-seven million dollars. The ob- ject is to expend the money where the most good will be done.
 "Upon the passage of the act on the 17th of June. 1902, a plan had been prepared for it's execution. This was presented to the secretary of the in terior and on July Sth. 1902, he ap- proved it with a few notifications. | Surveys had already been made, and there has been organized a corps of engineers who are thoroughly acquaint- ed with the conditions throughout the west. We had been collecting informa- tion as to the conditions and needs of the country. and it is reasonable to say we really had the work started before the passage of the act
 "The people of the Salt River Val ley. being morally certain that the law would pass, had taxed themselves and raised several thousands dollars to have surveys made and to ascertain in a general way, what might be done in
 case the Reclamation act became a flaw.
 MT Arthur P. Davis, with his as . sistants and colleagues had already surveyed and made the general esti- mates of this great project so that
 when the secretary of the interior in July 1902 had approved the plan we
 were practically ready to begin work nt nr,cn in A riznnn Al thn car,nn ti,,on