Arizona republican., 1911-03-19

devise and promote any means look ing to q betterment of the deplorably bad conditions This committee was an additional factor 10 the board or water storage commissioners. and act ed in harmony with it.
 Of this committee thirteen mem bers were designated as an executive committee to take up and deal inn mediately with the details of any plan or project that might seem favorable
 Soon after the approval of the rec lamation act plan for the aSsOcia- ton of all the water users in the valley and a combination of their ef- forts to secure the benefits of the national irrigation act was made pub lie A meeting of the conference com mittee was held in August, 1902, to which this plan was submitted lt was referred to the executive commit tee for consideration and report. Then began the somewhat lab0rious. and then apparently difficult. task of har- monizing and uniting all the thereto- fore discordant elements in the valley into an effective organization. The executive committee met at frequent intervals. sometimes daily. over con siderable periods Ql time from Sep tember. 1902 until February, 1903 In that time the executive committee drafted articles Of incorporation for proposed water users association and reported it to the general com mittee. with recommendation that they be adopted by the land owners. The general committee approved the report
 There was then inaugurated an ac- tive campaign among the land own CTS to secure their approval Of the proposed organization By the early fall of 1903 this work had so far progressed that the owners of nearly 20O,0OO acres of lands had assented tn the proposed organization. and be- came members of the Salt River Valley Water Users assOciation"- enough to induce the government to undertake the construction of what was then called the TOnto dam
 At that time the construction only of the dam was contemplated. and that of a heighth some twenty feet less than that finally determined upon.
 The government had early made known that it's policy would be not to purchase or otherwise acquire any canals held in private ownership. SO that. of course. the cost of distribu- tive system was not included in the first estimates of the cost of the project Nor was the construction of the Granite Reef dam at first con templated or considered in the csti- mates of cost.
 The government having determined upon the construction of the Tonto dam, a contract was made between the government and the Water Users association. whereby the members of the association became the beneficiar- ies of the reclamation act; this was done in the spring of 1904.
 Later the government having modi- fled it's policy of not purchasing ca nals heretofore held in private own ership. negotiations began and were finally consummated for the purchase of all the canals on the north side of the river. and practically all on the south side except the Tempe canal As necessary adjunct to the dis tributive system the government con- StiuNlth tit 'fidhllt INcti udlll- AS st still further expansion of the project there are now planned. and the con- struction and installation of which is about to be undertaken. works for the generation of several thousand horsepower of electrical energy.
 And now the hopes of those men. who have in season and out of sea son unremittingly and with splendid enthusiasm labored to that end. are on the eve of magnificent realization
 We have not undertaken detailed statement. nor aimed al the exact chronology or sequence of the events that preceded and accompanied the progress of this great enterprise. nor here entered into any description of the work itself
 We cannot, however, refrain from