Albuquerque morning journal., 1910-12-27
President Approves Report of
Army Board Apportioning
Immense Sum Provided By
Congress for Reclamation.
$4,000, 900 FOR WORK
IN RIO GRANDE VALLEY
Carlsbad and Hondo Enter
prises to Receive Only Money
Sufficient for Maintenance.
and Operation,

IBy Morning journal Special Leased Wirel
Washington, Dec. 26.-President
Taft has approved the report of the
special board Of army engineers rec
ommending the apportionment of the
new $20,00O,0OO fund, provided by
congress, among the following recla-
nation projects in the west:
Salt River Ariz., $495,000 Yuma,
Ariz., and California, $1,200,000
Grand Valley, Colo, 100000 I'm
compahgre, Colo, $1,500,000; Pay
River, Mont, $1,OOO,O00; North Platte,
Wyo., and Nebraska, $2,e00,000;
Carson, New, $1,193,000; Rio
Grande, New Mexico, Texas and Mex
leo, $4,000, 900; Umatilla, Ore, $685.
000; klamath, Ore, and California,
$500, 900; Strawberry Valley, Utah,
$2.272.000; Sunnyside and Tieton, at
Yakima, Wash, $1,250, 600, and $685.,
600. respectively.
The $20,000,000 is to be spent with
in the next five years and the inter-
est on the loan is to be charged
against the projects.
The following projects, completed
or nearing completion, carry a recon-
eral reclamation act sufficient only
for maintenance and operation;
Orland, CAL; Carlsbad. n. NJ: Hon
do, N. NJ, Gttruen City, KAN; Kit
titas, Wapata and Benton Units of
the Yakima. Wash, project.
For the following existing reclama-
ton projects the board of engineers
in the report approved by the presi-
dent. recommends allottments from
T.. Il
Missouri pumping, N. D., Bellfour-
che. S. D.; Shoshone, Wyo.; Minidoka,
Idaho; Huntley, Mont; Sun River,
Mont; Lower Yellowstone, Mont;
Okanogan, Wash.
In his letter to the secretary of the
interior approving the report of the
engineers. President Taft says in part:
II hereby approve the report of
the board of engineers in respect of
the reclamation projects, to which
they have made allottments from the
$4,000, 900 loan; but this approval,
so far as the amounts of the allott-
ments are concerned, is not final and
absolute, but is intended to be sub
ject to change by adjustment and
modification of the amounts as may
be necessary for the intelligent and
proper prosecution of the work, and
to the advantage of the service.
You are authorized to call upon
the secretary of the treasury to issue
the certificates of Indebtedness need
ed to furnish the funds in accordance
with the allotment recommended by
the board and approved by me as
the same shall be needed from time to
time in pursuance of the terms of
the act.
THE remainder of the report of
the engineers which was not respons-
i've to the direction of the law but
was drawn at my request and for my
information. I hereby approves; and
when congress reconvenes in January,
I shall submit a message to the two
houses. transmitting the report an
nouncing my approval for the same
and urging the adoption of the en-
abling legislative measures recon-
mended by the board"
In its comprehensive report on the
reclamation work in general, the en-
gineers board says, in part:
The engineering structures OF the
various projects are, as a whole, well
designed and well built. Some OF
them, as the Pathfinder dam. the |
Shoshone dam, the Roosevelt dam and !,
the Gunnison tunnel, are monuments |
reflecting great credit on both design
er and builder.
Modern irrigation being rela- |
lively new art in this country. much |
freedom was allowed the local en- |
gineers in the design of minor struc-
lures. While this was wise policy |
in the early stage of the work, 1t has
resulted in some complicated and un- |
necessarily expensive structures
With the present knowledge of the /
comparative merits of the different
types, il is believed that standard de, /
signs of the simplest satisfactory type
should be adopted for all minor struc-
lures.
The most uncertain feature of |
nearly all the projects is the water /
supply. This is under state control, |
and in the prosecution of its work
the reclamation service bears the \
same relation to the states as to pri-
Nate individual or corporation. Where
the water rights have been adJudicat-
ed, the rights of the United States
are well defined, but elsewhere they
are uncertain and may prove to be
materially different from that assum-
ed.
1T is recommended. that wherever
possible. steps be taken to secure an
early adjudication of water rights on
an projects where such adjudications
have not yet been made. and that.
pending such action. expenditures be
kept within the probable rights of
the United States.
The actual cost of completed work
mas almost invariably exceeded the \
original estimates. and in the case of
some structures has been two or three