The Irish standard., 1910-12-31
TAFT BOOSTS
RECLAMATION
APPROVES OF ARM, ENGINEERS
REPORT RECOMMENDING
APPoRTIokMENr.
VARIOUS WESTERN PROJECTS
S20,oo0,000 10 Thereby Made Available
Board Says Structures Are
Weil Designed and
Built.

Washington, Dec. 81. President
Taft has approved the report of the
special board of army engineers, rec
ommending the apportionment of the
new $20,0OO,000 fund provided by
congress among the following recla-
nation projects in the West:
Salt River, Ariz., s495,O00; Yuma,
Ariz., and California, s1,20O,Oo0; Grand
Valley, s1,000,OO0; Uncompahgre, Col,
$1,500,000; Payette-Boise, Idaho, ST..
100000; Milk River, Mont, $1,ooo,00o;
North Platte, Wyo., and Nebraska,
100000; Truckee-Carson, New, ST.
$4,000; Rio Grande, N. NJ, Texas and
Mexico, $4,500.O00; Umatilla, Ore,
$325,00O; klamath, Oregon and Cali
fornia, 100000; Strawberry Valley,
Utah, $2,272,000; Sunny Side and Tie.
ton, Wash, $1,250,O0O and 1865 900, re-
spectively. Total, $2O,OO0,O00. The
$2o,0o0,o00 is to be spent within the
next five years and the interest on the
loan is to be charged against the
projects
Orland, CAL; Carlsbad. N. NJ; Mon.
do, N. M; Garden City, Kan; Kitti.
tas Wapata anu Benton, units of the
Yakima, Wash, project. For the fol-
lowing existing reclamation projects
the board of engineers, in the report
approved by the president, recon.
mends allotments from the general
reclamation fund:
Missouri pumping, N. D.; Belle
Fourche, S. D.; Shoshone, Wyo; Min.
idoka, Idaho; Huntley, Mont; Sun
River, Mont; Lower Yellowstone,
Mont; Okanogan, Wash.
Approval Is Qualified.
In his letter to the secretary of the
interior approving the report, Presi.
dent Taft says in part:
Il hereby approve the report of
the board of engineers concerning the
reclamation projects to which they
have made allotmen from the $780,
100000 loan, but this approval, so far
as the amounts of the allotment are
concerned, is not final and absolute,
but is subject to change by adjust
ment of the amount as may be neces.
sary for the intelligent prosecution of
the work.
"You are authorized to call upon
the secretary Of the treasury to issue
the certificates of Indebtedness needed
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 its report on the reclamation
work, the engineers board says in
part:
'The engineering structures of the
various projects are, as whole, we'll
designed and we'll built. Some of them,
as the Pathfinder dam, the Shoshone
dam, the Roosevelt dam and the Cum
nison tunnel, are monuments reflect
ing great credit on both designer and
builder.
Modern irrigation being relative.
1y new art in this country, much free
dom was allowed in the design Of
minor structures. Standard designs
of the simple, satisfactory type should
be adopted in future for all minor
structures.
1.-THE most uncertain feature of
nearly all the projects is the water
supply. This is under state control.
Where the water rights have been adj
Indicated, the rights Of the United
States are well defined, but elsewhere
they are uncertain.
1T is recommended that, wherever
possible, steps be taken to secure an
early adjudication of water rights.
'"The actual cost Of completed work
has almost invariably exceeded the
original estimates, and in some cases
being two or three times as large. This
increase has been the cause Of much
of the discomfort among the settlers.
1t was partly due to a general in
crease in the cost of labor and mate.
rails and partly to under estimates"
Under existing regulations, the 70
port sets forth, the construction charg.
es must be returned to the reclama.
ton fund in 10 equal annual payments.
This, it Is said, is regarded as q
hardship by the settlers on some prof.
ects, who express a desire for series
Of graduated construction payments
increasing from / per cent or 2 per
cent the first year to IA per cont or
is per cent the tenth year. Should
this suggestion be generally adopted,
It is pointed out, It would mean a de.
lay of several years in the return of
the first half of the Investment and
. corresponding delay in the compile.
ton Of other work.
g.. Brainerd Block FIre-swept.
proinord hoo &o7-EYro o1,t&~A A.