Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-02-09

possible benefit and the ultimate
goal should be the greatest procura-
BILE economic returns and human
benefits for the entire region"
Arguments on Rule.
Even agricultural interests are di-
vided on the pros and cons of re-
gional authorities as opposed to OPP
GRAFTON by established federal agen-
cies. For instance, in agricultural
sections where there is plentiful
rainfall along the lower Missouri
and water resources are adequate,
opposition is voiced as Subsidized
competition" by the extension of ir-
rigation. Public opinion is Joined in
industrial areas with the railroads
in opposing the development of new
competing waterways.
One basic objection to operation
by the reclamation bureau has
come from large land owners and
ranchers Of the west and north
west. Under the law governing the
bureau of reclamation, this agency
cannot propose irrigation for more
than 100 acres of land for any one
person. Another objection is that
all reclamation projects must be
self-liquidating over a period of ap-
proximately 40 years. In contrast,
the statutes governing IVA give go
years or more for liquidation and
regional authority likely would not
be hamstrung by the limitation of
acreage proviso.
In a recent pronouncement how
ever, Harry W. Bashore, commits
sioner of the reclamation bureau
said: "We continue to stand on the
basic policy that the bureau will
support the principle of relatively
small family farms as one of the
foundations of American agriculture
and rural social life. On new land
which is brought under irrigation
for the first. time, we shall insist
that the undeveloped property be
parcelled in lots of not more than
16O acres"
Forms Shrink in Size.
During the past 20 years the aver
age size farm or ranch in the states
of the Missouri basin have in
creased, rather than diminished in
size, due largely to the decrease in
population. For instance, in 1920,
the average size farm in Montana
was 480 acres, in Wyoming was
749 acres and in Nebraska it was
339 acres. By 1910 the farms had
increased to 82l acres, 1856 acres
and 39l acres, respectively.
Dust bowls, droughts, floods have
driven farmers and ranchers from
the plains states during the past
decade. Net loss of population in
the period from 1880 to 1910 in the
seven plains states was 3O2,3l4. In
the Missouri-Souris area of North
Dakota, strictly rural farm area,
28.7 per cent of the population
moved out, equal to 1000 families
of five each. The financial loss en-
tailed by this shift of population
in at least four of these states is
reflected in abandoned farms, aban-
doned towns and unused proper
ties. 1t is further reflected in in
crease of size and congestion in the
three larger cities of the basin, Den
yer, Omaha and Kansas City.
These Benefits Expected.
The agreed plan of the reclama-
ton bureau and the army engineers
is intended to do these things:
1-Provide navigation and food
control on the river from its mouth
to Sioux City, a distance Of about
$50 miles, by construction Of levees
and revetments to provide a chan
mel 6 feet deep and 300 feet wide.
aConstruct SO reservoirs and
dams with a combined capacity of
45,70O,00O acre feet Of water, IAN
acre-foot is water a foot deep over
one acre.) This is more than the
annual average flow Of the river at
its mouth. These reservoirs are to
be constructed to withhold water
along the main tributaries including
the Yellowstone, the Big Horn, the
Belle Fourche, the Cheyenne, the
North Platte, the Republican, the
Smoky Hill and along the main
stream. w..