White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1926-10-15
kENNEWICk IRRIGATION DISTRICT
DIRECTORS ANSWER FALSE CHARGES

settlement anu ny COAucluudtlou dp- |
proximately ten miles of right of way
through some of the best orchard dis |
tricts in the Prosser territory. These |
condemnation proceedings involved
suits against the owners of nineteen
different tracts of land, nearly all of
which went to final trial The various
condemnation cases involved proper
ty having value of approximately
100000, and in addition thereto in
volved the determination of the rights
of the City of Prosser, which If al
lowed to stand as claimed would have
been fatal to the district.
During the time when the matters
just described were pending, the dis
trict had entered into contract with
the State of Washington under which
it was originally hoped that the state
might aid in the construction of the
irrigation district. When the Govern
ment urged upon us the acquisition of
the water rights and the rights of
way, the state program was entirely
abandoned, under an arrangement by
| which the state agreed to take suffi-
cient bonds of the district to enable
| it to carry on the condemnation pro-
ceedings. In that manner the district
secured the funds with which to pay
for the water rights and rights of
way thus acquired.
| In the late winter of 1923 Mr..
Moulton was requested to join with
the district counsel of the Reclama-
ton Service at Portland in the prep
aration of contract providing for the
proper handling of land in the dis
trict and for the construction of the
project That contract was substan-
TALLY completed at the time the con-
demnation proceedings were closed,
in the summer of 1928. The matter of
final execution of the contract was
under consideration by the Director
of the Reclamation Service and nego-
tiations were pending therefor be-
| tween the director and Mr.. Moulton,
as secretary, of the district, when,
early in July, 1923, the director
resigned, which resulted in COM
plete change in the organization of
the service at Washington. In the
| fall of 1923 Mr. Moulton was again
sent to Washington, accompanied by
Mr.. Rudkin, one of the members of
| the Board, for the purpose of urging
upon the department the final execu-
ton of the contract. No other divis-
ion of the Yakima Project was max
ing any effort or attempt to secure a
contract with the Government The
Kittitas division was then engaged in
an effort to secure contract for pri-
vate construction. After Mr.. A. P.
Davis, the director, was removed
other projects took up their own fight,
with the result that in the late fall
of 1923 the department decided in
favor of the Kittitas division.
In spite Of the encouragement re-
sulting from the selection of another
project for construction, the district
continued in it's effort to secure recog-
milton. In the fall of 1924 Mr.. Moul-
ton requested the department, with
the aid of Senator Jones, to cause an
economic survey to be made of the
three remaining divisions of the
Yakima Project for the purpose of de-
termining the order of construction.
That request was granted. Survey
was commenced in the spring of 1926
and it is now expected that it will
be completed about the first of Janu-
airy, 1927. 1t is the hope of the direc-
tors that~as result of that survey
this division will be selected as the
one to be preferred and the one to
be first constructed.
All the work and office expense
| connected with the efforts detailed in
. this statement has been performed
and borne by Mr. Moulton. He was
paid and accepted $500 fee for the
, original organization of the district,
Notwithstanding the fact that attor-
neys received fees for similar serv-
ices in the Yakima Valley running
from twenty-five hundred to four
, thousand dollars. During the first
sixteen months of the history of the
district Mr. Moulton was paid for
doing the secretarys work. for main
tanning the office and for performing
: all legal services necessary, amounts
: aggregating $1,000. The Board then
entered into contract with him to pay
J him $50 per month for maintaining
? the office of secretary, for performing
3 the services of secretary and for such
t legal work as might be necessary
: other than litigation. During this
t time his services took him from his
e office, outside of litigation, approx
r mately $50 days.
! Throughout the entire period OF
nine years the amount paid to him as
y compensation for his services as sec
rotary of the district and at attorney
i for the district, including all Irrigated
. matters, has averaged $142. Those
! services have included litigation
which, if conducted by outside attor
neys, would have cost the district al
Iaact coz nm M MouJton had FIJI