The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1911-01-04
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4. 1911.
THEORY AND PRACTICE.

A San dispatch says tn8t
the settlement of lands made available
for irrigation is moi proceeding as
rapidly as one might wish, according
to w. L. Rockwell of the United
States department of agriculture, who
is an expert in irrigation engineering
and has been stationed by the govern.
ment at San Antonio. The cause, he
said, is largely due to the fact that
too little attention is being paid to the
farm side of irrigation. In the great
haste to render an increasing area
available, the attention is drawn from
the farm toward the millions placed in
high dams, costly mountain tunnels
and expensive canal systems. He gives
it as his opinion that fields of alfalfa
and grain, orchards and whey ards,
attr act a great deal more than expen.
sive and magnificent irrigation struc.
lures.
One reason why the national irriga-
ton districts are not attr actipg set
tiers as fast as was expected, Is the
fact that the government in many
cases is not carrying out its original
agreement with the farmers who took
up lands under federal control. That,
however, is not dwelt upon by the gov
ernment agents. In q letter sent this
week to the secretary of the interior
approving the report OF the special
board of army engineers as to the ap-
portionment Of the go, 600, 600 fund
provided by congress recently, Presi.
dent Taft said:
1.-THE actual cost Of completed work
has almost invariably exceeded the
original estimates and In the case of
some structures has been two or three
times as large. This increase in cost
has been the cause of much discomfort
among settlers. 1t was partly due to
Q general increase in the cost of labor
and materials, partly to underesti.
mates and an insufficient allowance
for contingencies, and partly to the
necessity of doing more work than
originally contemplated"
The settlers on the lower Yellow.
stone project in the extreme eastern
part of this state have come to realize
all this. Induced to enter into an
agreement under which they were to
pay for water estimated at $50 an
acre, they find that the charge will be
very materially more. Because Of a
poor year they know they will not be
able to meet the payments as agreed
upon and have appealed to the inter-
Tor department for relief. There il
nothing in the letter OF the president
that indicates such relief will be
granted. Perhaps when the president
submits his message on the subject
next month he will make recommen-
dations that will cover the emergency,
but he does not intimate that he will.
The government should make every
concession possible to the settlers up.
On its various projects, particularly
where through 1.-The fault Of its own
agents IL gave out estimates that
proved to be altogether too low. In
the end the land mustspay the full cost
of these great irrigation systems, but
where the government was at fault it
should do all in it's power to make
such payments possible by the origi.
nal settlers. If some relief is not ex-
tended the settlers on the lower Vel
lowstone project, not q few Of them
will suffer great loss and perhaps lose
their holdings which will go to men
ready to take advantage Of their nee.
essities.
In the utilization of irrigation sys-
TENS planned by the government there
appears to be a wide difference be.
tween theory and practice.-Butt In.
ter Mountain.