Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-02-28
EXPLAINS ATTITUDE
TAKEN BY COMPANY

not scheming to invade the priority
rights OF settlers in connection with the
reclaiming OF the Big Lost River pro-
| ject. W. A. Watts, secretary of the
Utah Construction company has given
out statement showing the company's
attitude. 1t is as follows:
II am sorry that politics has been in
jected into this matter. The problem
is not political In any sense, but
wholly financial and Industrial
| 1T is a mistake to say that the Utah
Construction company is scheming to
invade the priority rights OF the set
tiers. Our company could not do that
II 1t would. because all priority rights
have been adjudicated in the courts al
ready, and nothing that we could do
could e: peril those rights in any way.
There are settlers. however. who have
gone upon the land since the project
was taken over by the Utah Construc-
tion company and some of these are
claiming priority rights. They have
no such rights and there Is no way
under the law in which We could re-
cognize such rights. There Is a mis-
taken notion on this point, not only
among many Of the settlers but with
the public as we'll.
Short Water Supply.
There is another point on which the
compan.- has found it impossible to
Weld. It was demanded that the com
pany bind itself to furnish the two
inches OF water to the acre and make
itself responsible for all shortage in
case of an unusually dry year--that
undo such circumstances the company
oil !.
feels that the settlers should share this
loss II the shortage OF water can in no
way be traced to the negligence or 9th :
er shortcomings OF the company.
There is $1,000 acres Of land in the
poject as we have mapped it out. We
are convinced that there will always he
an abundance of water for that acreage
and we are going ahead on that line.
To Pass on Maekay Dam.
| LAS 10 the Mackay dam everything
connected with il must he passed upon
; by the state engineer acting for the
state land board, and nothing Of ours
need he accepted unit It fully meets
tho approval Of the engineer We hav,
. gone still further and have said tina
we were perfectly willing TO have the
: town OF Mackay select an engineer &c
represent its interests in the construc
ton OF thi dam, and we th;rk that
fair proposition. The reservoir al
planned will hold 10000 acre feet o
i water when full, and this with the 9th
:, err water available, we consider abund
I ant to take care OF all the demands tina
could he possibly made under our con
q tract with the state land board.
I When Settlers Take Charge.
= "All that our company can do Is T.
u complete the construction work ant
turn the project over to the settler
> whom 81 per cent OF the payments 70
the water rights have been made. I
is therefore as much to our interest a.
y it could be to anyone else TO see TO !
that the work is properly done and tina
: the settlers will be put in position t,
m ct their obligations. That IS tn
. only way in which we can get our mon
ey back.
Under the contract tho settlers ar
5 to pay $40 an acre for water and the
q are TO get two inches Of water 10 tn
acre n the contract Is sustained"
e Speaking of the conditions on tn
e project Mr. Watts said: THE situa
s ton is badly complicated by the FAC
that Mackay and the proposed reser
= voir are in Custer county while all tn
e land to be irrigated is in Blaine an
q jefferson. For this reason Mackay an
> Custer county can derive no diree
q benefit a II from the completion o tn
project while Arco and other town
u lower down on the river will be i'm
u mensely benefited"
~ ID