Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1911-01-12

fourche, S. D.; Shoshone, Wyo.; Min
idoka, Idaho; Huntley. Mont; Sun
ny River, Mont; Tower, Yellowstone,
Mont; Okanegan. Wash.
In his letter TO the secretary OF
the interior providing the report ~
the engineers President Taft says in
part;
Il hereby approve the report Of
the board of engineers IN respect to
the reclamation projects, to which
they have made allotments from the
S2O,OOO,OO0 loan; but this approval,
so far as the a4.otments are concern
ed. is not final and absolute, but is
intended to be subject 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 is
sue the certificates of Indebtedness
needed to furnish the funds in ac-
cordance with the allotment recon-
mended 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 re-
sponsive to the direction Of the law,
but was drawn at my request and for
my information. hereby approve and
when congress reconvenes in January
shall submit a message to the two
houses transmitting the report an
nouncing my approval for the adop-
ton of the enabling legislative mea-
sures recommended by the board"
In its comprehensive report on the
reclamation work in general, the en-
ginee board says in part.
"The engineering structures of the
various projects are, as whole, well
designed and well built Some of
them, as the Pathfinder dam, the
Shoshone dam, the Roosevelt dam,
and the Gunnison tunnel are monu-
ments rejecting great credit on both
designer and builder"
Modern irrigation being a rela-
lively new art in this country, much
freeom was Above the local engin-
eedrs in the design of minor struc-
lures. While this was a wise polity
in the early stage of the work, it has
resulted in some complicated and un-
necessary expensive structures. With
the present knowledge of the compar-
alive merits of the different types il
is believed that standard designed OF
simplest. satisfactory type should be
adopted for all minor structures.
1.-The most uncertain feature Of
nearly all the projects is the water
supply. This. under state control
puts the status of the reclamation
service upon the same relation to tn,
state as a private individual or cor
poration.
where the water rights have beer
adjudicated, the rights of the United
States are we'll defined. but elsewhere
they are natural and may prove to be
materially different from that as
sumed.
1T is recommended that wherever
possible steps be taken to secure al
early adjudication of water rights OF
all projects where such adjudication
have not yet been made, and tina
pending such action. expenditures b.
kept within the probable rights o
the United States.
1.-The actual cost of completed worl
has almost invariably exceeded tn
original estimates. and in the case .
some structures has been two or tire
times as large.
This increase in cost has been tn
cause Of much of the disconten
T among settlers. 1t was partly due {
a general increase in the cost of labo
Z and materials. partly to underest'
, mates and an insufficient allowanc
= for contingencies, and partly to tn
O. necessity OF doing more work tina
Z was originally contemplated.
Under existing relations" the re
ports set forth, "the constructor
= charges must be returned to the re
clamation fund in 10 equal payment
, This. it is said, is regarded as a hare
b. ship by the settlers on some project
: who express a desire for a series
4 graduated construction payments il
= creasing from to . per cent the fir
e year to per cent or 10 per cent tn