The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-12-31
LAND BOARD HAS
DONE GREAT WORK
Big State Projects Progress
Rapidly During the Year
That Closes Today.
HATCHT0WN DAM FINISHED
PIUTE RESERVOIR SITE STARTED
AND WORK DONE cHEAPLY.

The state board of land commission
ers, together with the state engineer,
are just winding UP one of the most
SUCCESSFUL years In the matter Of pre-
paflng for population of lands that
have been desert. The land board,
so rapidly that the work is engaging
the attention of a widening corps or
workers, has two state projects under
dlEect supervision, while the state en-
ever, is experimenting the actual CON
struction OF these two projects.
Sehind the irrigation of lands and
their opening Tor settlement and Gull
tivatiOn is a story of state building
which extends really farther than the
state officials themselves and Orlgl-
mates in the demands of the public for
more room, While Uncle sam tne
Watchful OVerseer of his domain, col
labOrates with individual states to ere
ate more fertility in the soil and re-
claim areas that have long been re-
garded as utter waste.
The functions of the state land board
are so wide In their scope that every
acre of public land in the state comes
under its direct supervision making
that institution the biggest landlord
and the most cOnsiderate in the mat
ter Of rentals and terms The restric-
lions placed upon prospective settlers
are far less discOuraging than those
placed by individual owners who rent
or lease their lands. and it is for that
reason that the state finds little trOu-
bic IN dispOslng Of its vast acreage.
Al that the state gets a fair profit
from its own investment and the in
ducement offered settlers rebounds to
the benefit of both parties concerned.
But not until 1909, the thirteenth
year OF statehood. has the state land
board had under its own supervision
the actual construction of a project
that will result in the irrigation of
thousands of acres Of heretofore arid
waste.
In the first place, the enabling act
for Utah contained a provision whereby
the government set aside 500 600 acres
of land In this state for reservoir
land grant fund. The proceeds of the
sale of this land. according to the pro-
vision, was to be used by the state In
constructing reservoirs for storing wa
ter to be used on land selected by the
state. and later to be sold to settlers
at so much per acre, with the actual
cost of irrigation added to the cost of
In 1905 there was a tremendous
amount of money in the fund re-
Ceived from the sales of land by the
state. and il was under the admins
tratiOn of Governor Cutler that he and
the state land board decided to lend
this money al per cent interest and
build reservoirs and lrrigate lands. The
theory was that the Investment would
not only increase the taxable property
Of the state, but ii would bring inter-
est on the money invested.
with this Idea IN view. the members
of the land board secured the state for
reservoir sites, and after looking over
a number of them, decided that the site
at HatchtOWn, seVenty-fiVe miles
south of Marysvale, i'm Garfield county,
and near the headWaters of the SEWER
river, was the most available at that
time At that place q dam had been
partly built but it was washed out.
such men as Supreme Judge w. N.
McCarty, District Judge j. F. Chides-
ter Senator Warren SeVE. Thomas SeVN
and others urged the state TO build
reservoir there and guaranteed its sue
cess.
The land which would be benefited
by the building of a reservoir at Hatch
town is about twenty -five miles down
the river, a tract of 5000 acres, al
though the construction of a reservoir
near the headwaters would permit the