East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-09-08

The army engineers, they came and
they saw. What they will do re-
mains to be seen, but IL they accept
advice that was freely and frankly
given at Hermiston last evening, they
will order that the land lying under
the project extension be conquered.
That there is good hope wor the ex-
tension being undertaken is indicated
by the remark of Col. Langfitt,
spokesman for the engineers last
evening, that the chief question re-
garding the practicability of the ex-
tension has to do with how great q
reclamation charge the land will bear.
He was assured by numerous speak
ers that the land is such that 1t will
be worth reclaiming, no matter what
the cost may be.
AS stated yesterday the board of
army engineers arrived at Hermiston
on train No. yesterday morning. The
entire day was passed by members of
the party in visiting the land lying
under the proposed extension, in view
ing the reservoir and damsite, the
headgate of the feed canal for the
Umatilla project, the Cold springs
dam and the land lying under the
present project. 1t was after dark
when the days trip was finished and
the party again reached Hermiston.
Meanwhile many had gathered in
the west end metropolis FOR the pur-
pose Of meeting the members Of the
party and attending the banquet ar
ranged in honor of the engineers by
80 and 40 business and professional
men were in the delegation from
Pendleton and most Of this number
made the trip to Hermiston on the
motor car. Prominent men were also
in attendance from Echo, Stanfield,
Umatilla and other points.
The Banquet.
At $3.50 an elaborate course BAN
quet was served in the dining room
OF the Hotel oregon and the capacity
of the room was taxed, so large was
the number of guests. The banquet
was served by the ladies of Hermis-
ton and was of such a character as to
bring forth strong praise from those
who partook thereof.
Col. Raley, Toastmaster.
AT the speaking which was taken
up after cigars had been passed
around, Colonel J. H. Raley acted as
toastmaster. He opened the discus
sion of the evening with a reminis-
cence of the first irrigation enterprise
ever launched in the west end Of the
county.
Congressman w. r. Ellis was next
called upon and devoted most Of his
time to an explanation of the repeal
OF section nine of the reclamation act.
Section nine was the clause of the law
which required that money collected
from a state be expended within that
state. AS explained by Judge Ellis,
the repeal passed the house because
of the fact that some states contrib
uting to the reclamation fund have no
feasible projects yet, while the old
law was in force the senators and
congressman from those states kept
insisting that work be undertaken
within their states.
Irrigation Brings People.
Senator C. J. Smith was the second
speaker called for and in brief man.
ner he outlined the intense need of
more irrigation in this section. He
pointed out that during the past ten
or twenty years the wheat section of
this county has been on the standstill
or upon the retrograde with respect
to population and development. Dur
ing the past ten years the population
of the wheat section has decreased and.
the fact that the county population is
now slightly greater than in 1900 is
due to the adoption of irrigation
within the county.
Hon. Wallace McCamant of Port
land made an able argument in be-
half Of the extension of the project and
upheld the doctrine that natural re-
sources belong primarily to the peo-
pie residing within the territory where
these resources abound.
]. T. Hinkle was introduced as the
father of the Hinkle project and dis
cussed at some length the possibilities
of irrigation in the west end. He
urged that the engineers look with ia
yor upon the extension.
Col. Langfitt.
In the absence of Brigadier Gener-
al Marshall who was unable to at
tend the banquet and remained In his