The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1921-02-19
ON THE
P|TTMAN LAND ACT
Secretary of Interior Reverses
Ruling Which Would Have
Nulli6ed Law

Washington, ID. c., Feb. 10.-On
February 3rd. the Secretary of the
Interior made a ruling reversing a
ruling made by him on October s..
1920, relative to the Pittman Recla-
nation Act. which is OF great import
ance to the people of Nevada. In his
ruling on October s. he denied the
application Of Rose Mcmillan and
eighteen others for permits to pros
pect for water under the Act, and
based his decision upon the report
of the director of the Geological Sur
vey, which reports was as follows:
THAT studies OF ground water con-
ditions in the central part of Ivanpah
valley, where the land is located, in
Guiding data obtained by actual drill
ing explorations. showed that, owing
to the depth of water, pumping for
irrigation purposes was considered
impracticable, and furthermore, that
the quantity of water obtainable was
insufficient for ordinary irrigation
purposes, adding that it was his opin-
ion the region embracing the lands
had already been explored sufficiently
to demonstrate. with a reasonable
degree of certainty, that ground-wa-
ter for irrigation purposes could not
be developed. at a reasonable cost. and
that, therefore, segregation would be
useless"
The case was appealed, and on jan
uary 18th, the ruling was called to
the attention Of Senator Key Pittman
On January 18th, Senator Pittman
wrote to the land department for full
information with regard to the cases,
and on January 22nd. he received a
full reply.
On January 26th, he filed a brief
with the Secretary of the Interior pro-
testing against the decision on the
grounds hat 1t was contrary to the
spirit of the Act, and threatening in
its effect, the fullest development of
the Act. Senator Pittman, after fully
reviewing the debates leading up to
the passage of the Act, analysed 1t
most carefully. In his argument,
among other things he stated:
81 respectively call attention to the
fact that the Act specifically describes
the character of the land hat is sub
ject to the permit. If the director of
the Geological Survey had reported
that water was known to exist under
the surface of the land and in guam
titles and under conditions that it
was known that 1t would produce at
a profit agricultural crops other than
native grasses upon not less than
twenty acres of land as required un-
der Section 5 of the Act, then the
land could not be designated as the
character of land subject to permit.
THE director of the Geological
Survey, in his report in qestion, not
only declares that the land is land
that is not known to be susceptible of
successful irrigation at a reasonable
| cost from any known course of water
supply but goes further and gives it
as his opinion that there will never
be discovered and developed any
source of water supply with which to
SUCCESSFULLY irrigate the land at a rea-
| sonable cost.
ut seem that such a construction
as you have put upon the Act would
leave the applicant for the permit in
the position where, IL the director of
the Geological Survey should hold,
that he believed the land susceptible
of irrigation, 1t would not be the
character described in the Act; and
IL he held that he believed that 1t
was not susceptible of irrigation,
then the application would be refused
by the Department of the Interior.
In other words. II 1t is not irrigable,
in the opinion of the Geological Sur
vey. the applicant cannot prospect for
water; and II 1t is irrigable, in the
opinion of the Geological Survey, it
is not subject to permit.
"The very a for the bill was
hat the Government. during the past
eight a that ! have been in the
Senate. has time and time again re-
fused to appropriate money to pros
pect for water OF the public domain,
and 1t therefore becomes necessary,
II We obtained sub-surface water de-
velopment in Nevada, to offer an in
ducement to the individual to spend
and take chances on his money and
time in prospecting for and develop
ing sub-surface waters. 1t was never
the purpose of the Act to seek the