, 1921-06-23
ALLOWS PROJECT
Commissioner Spry of
General Laid Office
Assures Gov. Carey
that Government
will Endorse Sara.
toga Project

S~
h following interview taken
from Mondays Cheyenne Tribune
Will prove OF interest to u readers:
That in Commissioner William
spry OF the general land office the
west has a friend and that he ia al
most as much interested in Wyoming
as In his own state OF Utah, develop
ed from the conference of Governor
Robert D. Carey. and Mr.. Spry, held
at the Brown Palace hotel at Den
yer Saturday. Ex-Governor Joseph
NJ. Carey. a lifelong friend of the
commissioner and governor of Wyo-
ming when the latter was governor
OF Utah. took part in the conference.
as did also State Land Commissioner
A. Baker and Clair Gordon in charge
or the general land office work in
Wyoming.
Mr.. Spry accorded the Wyoming
OFFICIALS a cordial reception and gave
them first consideration on his ar
rival in Denver, ahead Of the many
Colorado and other matters clamor-
ing for attention. At the conference
the North Platte river water supply
situation, which was gone over bv
Governor Carey with Director Davis
va 50 Stl NlCe last
month, was taken up.
Mr.. Spry, himself a man oS wide
experience in irrigation matters in
his " state, not only agreed to
allow the Sierra Madre project In
the upper valley near Saratoga, to
the approval OF which Director
Davis has withdrawn his objection,
thus %disposing of that l~ong-contest-
ed and m~eritOriOus project in favor
OF the state and establishing a favor
able precedent. but in addition he
pledged Governor Carey his active
support and in the development Of
projects in the North Platte valley
in Wyoming.
The commissioner is a firm be-
lever in the right of the states to
the control Of the appropriation and
use OF their waters for irrigation. He
was specially interested in the pre-
sentatiOn Of the proposed project in
Bates Hole. neal Casper, and prom
ised his active cooperation with the
state and the reclamation service in
getting this project under way.
Among some OF the other impor-
tant matters taken up at the confer
ence were:
Certain withdra walls in western
Wyoming in which Mr.. Spry agreed
to take action looking to the re-
StOratiOn of the lands to settlement
so that ex-Service men and others de-
string to settle on these lands could
have opportunity to enter them: a
broader Interpretation Of the public
land laws. especially those relating
to desert entries and enlarged home
stead entries. where good faith and
an honest intention to comply with
the law is established; complications
arising in Wyoming from operation
of enlarged homestead and oil leas-
ing laws in some Of the oil fields of
the state; adjustment of the royal
ties accruing to the state from the
oil leasing and working out a plan
so hat the states proportion of the
royalties may be paid oftener than
at the end of the government fiscal
year as now contemplated, thus Civ
ing the state the immediate use of
the money.
Mr.. Spry agreed to work out this
last-named plan if it could be done
under the lease law. AS the law
reads. some doubt seems to exist as
to whether this money may be paid
the state oftener than at the close
of the government fiscal year.
Delayed patents on many thousand
acres of state selections in Wyoming
are withheld by the government on
account of various withdra walls. The
United States supreme court having
held in the so-called Ridgely case
that the title to a selection vests in
, the state when the original selec-
ton is filed and cannot be impaired
or affected by subsequent withdraw
al of any kind. the commissioner
assured Governor Carey that steps
suspended selections and issue I'M
restricted title to h state. 1t is
estimated that the value of the min
erals to which the state will now re-
ceive title under the court decision
n Mr.. Spry's action is great and
their potential value much greater.
Policy Gets Results
Governor Carey returned to Wyo-
ming highly elated over the confer
ence and feeling not only hat his
policy inaugurated, OF f~ace-to-face
talks and frequent conferences and
threshing out Wyoming matters with
land. reclamation and other govern
ment officials. Ia getting results, but
also that in William Spry as COM
missioner OF the general land office
the west has a broad, fair and UNDER
standing westerner who is going to
see that the west gets a square deal
In his important department.. and
who seems to be taking more in
terest In Wyoming matters than in
any other state, excepting possibly
his own.