Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-03-27
OPERATION OF The CARY LAW.

AS many ClIlLeuS OIs 1uanO county are
becoming interested to some extent in
the irrigated lands of south Idaho we
reproduce this week from the American
Falls Press an article regarding the
Carey lands of this state.
The Carey law is an act passed by con-
gress in 1899, ceding to each of the arid
states, 1000, 900 acres of land, on con-
dition that it be irrigated and reclaimed.
When any company with proper
financial showing makes application to
the state land board for the reclamation
of tract, its with drawal from entry is
secured by the state. The state then
enters into contract with such company
for the construction of canals and
laterals, fixing the price charged for
water, the terms of payment, and the
character of the work to be done, requir-
ing heavy bond for faithful perform
ance of contract. The state, through
the state engineer, supervises the
system, thus insuring that it will have
ample capacity and be substantially built
in every way. When construction has
proceeded far enough to warrant it, the
state land board opens the land to filing.
And when the works are completed the
state procures patent from the govern
ment, upon proof of occupation and
cultivation issues patent to the settler,
subject to the claim of the company for
water.
Under the Carey law settlement upon
the land must be made within six months
from the day the entryman is notified
that water is ready for delivery on his
place. One-sixteenth of the land entered
must be cultivated the first year, and
one-eighth within three years. Final
proof may be made at any time after
one-eighth is under cultivation, and
must be made within three years. BY
having the land plowed and sowed prior
to his arrival it is possible for an entry
man to make final proof in five weeks,
but this practice is not encouraged.
Water rights on Cary land range from
$40 to $50 in Idaho, based upon the
acreage and cost of construction. This
amount is fixed by agreement between
the state and the company at the time of
entering into contract On the Ameri-
can Falls tract it is $40 and $75 per acre
payable in ten annual installments.
The first payment is S3.as per acre, the
succeeding seven payments are f. an
acre per year, the ninth and tenth pay
ments f. per acre. The state gets IS
cents per acre from the first payment
and rs cents more when final proof Is
made, making the land and water cost
the entryman $25. so per acre, or Sao. so
per acre according to location. The
$40. so land is the cheapest Carey land in
Idaho, if not in the West.
One hundred and sixty acres is all any
one can enter. There are many forty,
and some twenty-acre entries. The
average is about eighty acres.
Alfalfa, potatoes, wheat, oats, barley
and rye are the staple products. Many
large orchards of hardy winter apples
will be put out here. Small fruit of all |
kinds is easily grown, and in particularly
favored spots peaches do we'll.
There are about SO, 900 acres under the
canal, and about 900 acres are open to
entry. Accomplishments may be pur-
chased for reasonable considerations.
The canal system will be finished this
summer, SO that water should be on
every acre in time for fall sowing.
The state engineers Office has stated
that the American Falls canal is the best
constructed in the state.
The state protects the right of the
settler, and is court of last resort in all
controversies that may rise between the
company and the settler, in regard to
water service, construction, etc. The
law has worked admirably in Idaho.
When a majority of the land under
canal is sold, providing the system is
management of the system
passes to the settlers. When the last
on the water is made the
settlers have to pay only enough to keep
the canal in repair and provide for its
operating expenses.
Western people familiar with its
believe it to be the most ben
ifcent law ever passed for the West