Arizona republican., 1911-08-13
UNIFORMED
MUCKRAKER
Writes Freely Of Govern
ment irrigation Project
ENGINEERS HEARD FROM
Refute Writer'S Statements
Concerning Failure of
Well Irrigation = Dates
Mixed-Indians not Suf-
fering by Government.

An editorial in the August IL edi-
tion of Golfers Weekly, entitled An
other Pima Indian Steal brings a
charge against the Southern Pacific
to the effect that the directors of
the company are asking for a right
of way through Box Canyon from
the government in order to use the
canyon as a reservoir.
The waters impOunded in this
reservoir, provided a right of way
could be secured, and the dam erect
ed, would be used in irrigating $780,
.000 acres of land, according to Col
.liers, land which constitutes the
choicest section that could be water
ed from a reservoir in the Box Cany-
on. This land is at present included
in the government reservation of
the Pima and MaricOpa Indians, and
the editor states that the proceeds
of the sale of the 10000 acres
would be used by the government
in defraying the expense of COM
pleting the well system of irrigation
along the ella. The editorial writer
says with perfect assurance, that
We'll irrigation is not successful"
A natural wave of feeling for the
rights of the poor Indian" has been
aroused in some quarters. and a
feeling of indignation over the crown
ing abuse of depriving the Indians
of their choicest lands to put in a
faulty system of irrigation on an
other part of their possessions, has
caused some persons to doubt the
good intentions of the. government.
The editorial concludes For the pro-
lection Of four thousand Indians.
who have already suffered shame
fully, the government should in
vestigate this matter thoroughly"
A reporter of The Republican yes
terday interviewed a number of Of
ficials of the United States Recla-
nation Service, and from the history
of the governments work for the
Maricopa and Pima Indians, it is
evident that the government has
less need to investigate the matter
than has the editor Of
Golfers.
When asked to give a short synOp-
the ella river, and to tell whether
well irrigation had proved success
full, c. II. Fitch, project engineer of
the Salt River Project, said last
night:
When the condition of the
Indian lands was first brought to
the attention of the government, it
was found that the Indians had no
water rights on the Gila river Set
tiers farther up the stream had filed
on the water, and Indians were not
accustomed to going through the legal
procedure of filing on their water
rights. So sort of triangular con-
tract was made several years ago
between the Indian Department, on
one side, and the United States Re-
clamation Service, and the Salt River
Valley Water Users Association on
the other, by which the Indians were
to bear their proportiOnate share of
power to get the water on
their lands
The Indians paid 100000 on ac-
count to reimburse the Reclamation
Service. and appropriation was made
for the construction OF canals, later
ais, and wells to irrigate 10000 acres
of land This work has been done
under the direction of the Reclama-
ton Service and its engineers. a
large canal, several miles in length,
was built to utilize the flood waters
of the ella river, and in order TO
provide water when there was no
flood water in the river, it was
planned to put down ten or more
wells. Six of these wells have al
ready been completed. one is well
under way. and the other three will
be undertaken this season. The work
is now in progress.
During last spring a subdivisional
survey was made to divide the lands
into 10 acre tracts. In the near
future these lands will be allotted to
the individual Indians. In the mean
time, during 1910 and 1911. the In
acreage. The wells so
far have been very successful" .
When asked if the water contained
alkali in such quantities as to ruin
the land it was pumped to irrigate
Mr.. Fitch replied: Il cannot recall
the exact analysis of the water, but
remember that / have had several
glasses of ii, and / found it very
good drinking water, so there can't
be a dangerous amount of alkai in
IT, There is a good deal of alkali on
some of the lands. but there has
been no alkali brought from under