Arizona republican., 1912-03-05
Dwight B. Heard Relates Many Matters of Vast Interest to Farmers
 of Valley.
TELLS STORY
 OF RECLAMATION
Status of Land Owners Case at Washington Is Dealt With In a
 Clear Manner.

Relative to story from The Re- publican's Washington correspondent. published in this paper this morning, the following statement regarding the present status of reclamation affairs. is made by Dwight B. Heard. one of the valleys best known business men:
 March f. 1912. Mr $. w. Higley. President,
 The Arizona Republican.
 Phoenix. Ariz.
 My dear Mir Higley:-
 l notice a report in the morning Re- publican from your special Washing ton correspondent. re atIve to state mtnts recently made by MT. John P. Orme and Mr D. r. Jones before the house committee on irrigation in ro- aarG to the need of an extension Of the t'rle of payment for the Salt River PrC iect As my name apears in this article -snd the holdings which l rep resent are referred to, it occurs to me as proper that I should present through your paper the facts in the case.
 I cannot but feel that there is some misunderstanding on the part of your correspondent as it is hard for me to believe that MT Orme and Mir. Jones would stand sponsor for certain state ments made.
 \ short time since l wrote NIT. Orme relative to the pans for the cOmple- tlDn of the South Side canal by vari- ou.s members of the Salt River Valley Water Users association that the water for which they have so long been waiting might without further de lay. be delivered to their lands 1 have just received a reply from Mir. Orme to this letter and as in this letter he treats of the matter of the extension desired. which is of general interest, I herewith quote his letter as follows: Washington. D. C.. Feb. 27, 1912. MT. D B Heard.
 Phoenix, arizona.
 Dear Sir
 '.I received your communication yes terday. filed petition and form # contract with NIT. F. II. Newell who is very much in favor of working ont a plan whereby the farmers can go on and complete the canal system. He StNS llldl iN iS NtlN ububNiul tA dHN more money will be allotted to or project.
 Mir Newell is opposed to any eX- tension of time upon any other pro- ject but the senators and congress- men all seem tc be favorable to an eN- tension of twenty years. We appeared before. the house committee of the i:r;- gation. l was upon the stand one hour and a half They went into every de tail of our project. They all seemed willing to report bill favorable If the extension l saw MT. Newlands, also Senator Nixon. who agreed to call the senate committee together on Saturday. to hear our testimony. It looks bright for an extension of time if the department of the interior does not oppose it too hard.
 '.I filed all of my papers upon the different propositions with Mir. Newell who is very busy going over them so that he will make his recommendation for the secretary of the interior presume that by Thursday he will he ready to make his recommendation to | the secretary l cannot say how long | 1t will take the secretary to make his [ investigation. so cannot say how long l will be detained here. The weather | is very cold and disa greeable and l
 am feeling well. Am working hard | with the senate and house to give us | an extension of time. Mir. Hayden IS giving us his entire time and assist ance in our undertaking.
 | Yours very truly. | .JoHN P ORME' | I assume that in the article in this i mornings paper when I am referred 1 to. with Dr. Chandler. as one of the | large holders. the interest of the Bart | lett Heard Land & Cattle company. of which I am vice-president and general manager. are referred to. l As new residents of the valley may | not be cOnversant with the facts m the case beg to state that the entire holdings of the Bartlett heard Land & l Cattle company. with the exception Of | so acres were acquired several years | before the passage of the reclamation act in 1902. and that since the passage of the act we have bought no real es- i tate except this S0-acre tract which was purchased solely for the purpose | ot arranging for the uniform distribu- | tion of water under the San Francisco canal.
 | As is we'll known tO old residents of the valley, the water rights for our lands are among the oldest in this sec tion and all of our irrigable lands are today in a high state of cultivation. As is generally known it had been the intention of Mir. Bartlett and my self ro make of our properties a large