The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1920-05-06
STATE BOARD
TO FINANCE
LOCAL Project
Washington Reclamation Ser
vice Enters Into Contract
With Local District.
10 LIMIT LAND PRICES
Agreement Provides That State Shall
Finance, Construct and Main
tain Irrigation Project.

Reserving the right to do business
with the u. S. reclamation service
proyided federal funds become avail
able, the board Of directors of the
Kennewick Irrigation district have
: entered into a contract with the state
reclamation service of Washington
for the financing and construction of
the Kennewick high line which en-
braces about 10000 acres of high class
agricultural lands.
The contract was signed as a re-
sult of Director Chandler's recent
visit to this city and a conference in
Olympia Friday between members of
the state reclamation board and the
directors and attorney of the dis
trict.
Under the terms of the contract
the service agrees to at once make
an investigation Of the project to de-
termine it's feasibility. As the u. S.
service has already made Complete
surveys and passed upon the feasibil-
ity Of the project, the states investi-
CATION will probably not extend be-
ycnd an investigation and verifca-
ton Of the governments figures. The
gist of the contract is contained in
/. the following provision: The SER
vice agrees to assume and undertake
the financing, supervision and regu-
lation, operation and maintenance,
and Of the settlement Of the project,
and to carry on such work as expedi-
tinously as possible, and is given full
power and authority so to do for a
period of ten years, so far as possible
under the irrigation laws of the state.
This will include authority to arrange
for the sale of the district bonds, to
survey and complete the design of ir-
rigation works for the construction
Of the project, to award contracts for
construction work, to arrange for con-
tracts with land owners limiting the
sale price of lands until after fully
improved"
In the concluding paragraph the
contract provides that the state will
not be obligated to carry out the con-
tract unless it can bind the land
owners to fix the maximum sale price
Of raw lands at $50 an acre. This
clause is inserted to hasten actual de-
velopment of the lands Of the pro-
jecS and to head off speculation in
raw lands.
This contract does not mean that
the state is to furnish the money with
which to construct the project as
there are no funds from which this
amount can be drawn. It means that
the state will find market for the
districts bonds and in so doing will
probably guarantee the interest on
these bonds, which will greatly faci-
hate the sale and bring a better bid
than the district could possibly. Sc
cure should it attempt to undertake
the financing. sFi
To the end that the district may
not sacrifice its chances of having the
project constructed by the govern
ment, the contract carries provi-
non that in the event the u. S. recla-
nation funds become available, the
district is to be released from the
contract provided the state has not
already completed financial arrange
ments.
With reports from Washington, d.
u. indicating that the proposed ap-
propriations for western reclamation
viii probably die as part OF the
soldiers bonus bill, directors OF the
dstrict are Of the, opinion that Ken
nswick's project will be well under
way and possible completed under the
"ate's supervision before funds be-
some available for any new projects
In the west. III I@