WHEN PEACE COMES THE FUTURE OF THE WEST WILL, AS ALWAYS, DEPEND UPON THE VISION AND DARING OF ITS PEOPLE

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ANNUAL PRECIPI'tATION 2 TO 30 INCHI!:S ANNUAL PRECIPITATION 30 TO eo INCHES

U. S. Weather Bwreau

WHEN PEACE COMES THE FUTURE OF THE WEST WILL, AS ALWAYS, DEPEND UPON THE VISION AND DARING OF ITS PEOPLE

DEDICATED TO THE TASK OF PROVIDING ADEQUATE WATER FOR A PROFITABLE AND DIVERSIFIED IRRIGATION AGRICULTURE IN WESTERN AMERICA-AN EXPAN·

SION OF WAP. FOOD PRODUCTION THROUGH MORE IRRIGATION-THE CREATION OF NEW FARM OPPORTUNITlES AND THE STABILIZATION OF DROUGHT AREAS.

Bring Your Ideas to the 13th Annual Meeting-Denver-Nov. 15, 16, 17

VOL. VIII, NO. 18 1119 NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING. WASHINGTON 4. D. C. Septmeb€lr 25, 1944

SPEC IAL TO AlIL MEMBERS:

RECL.AMATION INTERES'l'S WILL FACE MANY }~ROBLEHS AT DENVER NOVEI1BER 15-16-17

We are making excellent pro~ress

.

in the war agninst Hitler. V-Day in Europe is not fur off. Soon we will be shifting our weight to tho other foot as we swing tho knockout blow, to Japan. What then1 A Post-War World staring us in the face. Two things will be neededs peacetime employment, and a broad agrioultural bas~ upon whioh to build and maintain the Amerioan ec·)nomy at a level that will permit 0. high stand8.rd of living and !:l.n orderly liquidation of our national debt. Many students of the s ubj ect agree ^th':lt preparati ons for e. quick expuns ion of our western irrigated lands may then be one of the greatest post-war assets of this nation.

How nearly are we prepared for this post-war task? What new laws or new amendments to old laws are nS6ded to gGt us rendy? How many orgnnizational bottlenecks must yet be broken to permit an enlarged Recla.mation Construction Program to pass through the presc:::1t i'ed8r&.1. Efwhiilery smoothly and without tmnecessary stoppage1 What snould individual states do tv get their houses in order to carry th~ir sharo of the task of expediting the Recl~~~tion Program?

These ^andnumerous other ~uestions r:lust be rais'ed and answered between now and November

17

when the Denver Convention is scheduled to adjourn. Better plan now to make early transportation and hotel ^res^~^rv~tions. Headquarters will bo at the Shirley-Savoy Hotel as usual.

!'1I8S0TJRI RIVER GOVERNORS T.A..hrp, COnSTRUCTIVE ACTION

On August

5

and

6

at their Ooahe. meet:ng, the Gov0rnors of the ~J.ssouri River Bas:'n States took constructive action to bring about ^e. proper integratiJn of the

Bur~au' s a:.i.d the A"t'myt s plans for the development of the i'1issouri River Basin.

Th~ir' rec.cmrnende:cions arG p"t'inted in ~ho upper left hllnd corner of the a.ttached p a3<9 reprud'wlct i or. of the Congressional Rec(\rd Appendix. You will find it very in·ceresting.

~.2..o3EVELT RECOI11~mDS AllTHORITIES FOR MISSOURI, COLUMBIA, AND AJ{KA1'!S~r{ERS

·On September 21 in e. letter to Congress, President Roose'V'elt, using for a spring- boa:r"'d the attached Resolution. of the MisGC)uri Ejver states Committee and e. covEring

let~::er from Govern or Sharpe, plumped for a. Missouri Valley Authority patterned after the T.if .A. He also again suggested the establisrunent of Regional Authorities for

the Columbia River watershed and for the ~\rkansas River ·watershod.

Psyc.hologically, the President's recommendations are well timed to force existing federa 1 ag6noies and oongressional OO:':lm:i.tteAs concerned with the two Missouri River proposals into some collaborative action satisfactory to the affected states.

OFFICERS O. S. WARDEN. PRESIDENT ORA BUNDY. FIRST VICE·PRESIDENT ROBERT W. SAWYER. SECOND VICE.PRESIDENT J. A. FORD. TREASURER

F. 0 HAGlE. SECRETARY·MANAGER

HUGO B. FARMER. YUMA. ARIZONA J. R. FAUVER. EXETER. CALIFORNIA CLIFFORD H. STONE. DENVER. COLORADO N. V. SHARP. FILER. IDAHO

E. PORTER AHRENS. SCANDIA. KANSAS O. S, WARDEN. GREAT FALLS. MONTANA

H. D. STRUNK. McCOOK. NEBRASKA A. M. SMITH. CARSON CITY. NEVADA E. W. BOWEN. TUCUMCARI. NEW MEXICO HARRY E. POLK. WILLISTON. NORTH DAKOTA FRANK RAAB. GEARY. OKLAHOMA

ROBERT W. SAWYER. BEND. OREGON MILLARD G. SCOTT. PIERRE. SOUTH DAKOTA MILTON E. DANIEL. BRECKENRIDGE. TEXAS ORA BUNDY. OGDEN. UTAH

J. A. FORD. SPOKANE. WASHINGTON W. F. WILKERSON. CASPER. WYOMING

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VOL. VIII, NO. 18 -- Page 2 September

25, 191.14

ttWESTBRN CONSTRUCTION NEHS" FAVORS BU!rE~ PLAN ON MISSOURI RIVER

Also on tQ.e encloaed pa.ge from the Coneressional Record you will find a story by Congressman Barrett of: ·r'1yoming which incorporates an editoria.l tha.t appeared in the Julv issue of "\-/estern Construction Uew3^t1• After careful study of the Pick Pla.n of' the" Army, and the Sloa.n Plan of the ^Burl3au, "Western Construction News^tt says t

tilt is the studied opinion of this magazine, devoted RS it is to a non-political a.nd unbi f.\sed program of devolopment of all tho .. West that the proposal of the Bureau of ReoJ_~a.tion shC)uld be adopted and placed under oonstruction, and the. t a permanen'c policy rec ognizing

agricultural and domestic uses of water o.S its highest purpose in the West be pursued."

HEARINGS ON BUREAU OF R~~CLA.MA:'IOrl' S SLOaH PLAN FOR J'USSOURI RIVER DEVELOPMENT Beginning September 26 a Senate 11'1' ·I.gati,)n Sub-committee,. ohairman.ad by Senator Of Mahoney of Wyoming, will st~rt hearings on S.

1915

authorizing initial ~onstruc

tion of the Bureau of Reclam€l:t.ion plan as ontlined in Senate Dooument No. 191. The Sub-cornrni ttee is composed of Senators 0 'Mahoney of Wyoming. ~YJOCarran of._ Nevada, Hatch of New j1exico, !'lillikin of Colorado, and Gurney of South. Dakota . ... .

THE HATER CONSERVATION CONFERENCE IN CHICAGO _.

.

On September

7

and 8 at the Stevens Hotel in Chioago, one hunored ·twenty-three official water representa.tives frorr1 ·twenty-nine states came together at the ce.11 of four widely separated groups to sea how ne~rly they could agree upon .. amendments to the pending Ri ver-Ha.rbor nnd J:i'lood Control Bills. Senator O'tMahonay' of Wyoming, and Senator Millikin of Colorado addressed the Conferenoe and served ~s·advisors to the Dra rting Cormn ttee. Senator Butler of Nebre.~lca and Congressmm 'Case of South. Do.koto.

also took part in the Conference.

On September 19, Senat0r O'r1aho!1ey inserted a. copy of the Confo·ren.o&~Prqoeedings

'in the Congressional Record. A reprint frcm the Congressional Record is pnolosed for your information, use, and action. Additi('nal oopies are availabl.9 upcn~request.

WATER C01TFERENCE CONTINUING CO!1MITTEE CAUJ!;D TO t1E~"T IN DE~WER

Attorney General Alban J. Parker of Ver:nont, Chairman of··the' Conterence •. and Chairman of the Continuing or Interim Corroni ttee of the Confereno-e.·· has· oallt;~d his committee to oonve~e in Denver, Colorado on November

14,

^{a day-in}a~vance of the annual me~ting of the Na.tional Reolnma tion Assooiation. The pers-onnel .. of" the Continu- ing Co:rrni ttee is as follows: Al b~Ul ^c.":. P;lr1~er, Chairman, Vermont; Clifford D. Stone, ColoradoJ J9.rles H. Allen, Pennsylvania; Ph: ':.ip Shutler, Vermont; John D. McCall, Texas; W. R.Bailey, California; E. W. Risinc:., Idaho; L. H. Sothoron, .. Mar/land;

Hugh Denny, MisS) uri, and F. O. Hagie, Washington, D. C.

WHAT A..tm THE FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES OF TEE ASSOCIATION'S LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES?

It'or several yaars there has been an increa3ing amount of discuss.ion .among- -members of the Legislative Committee to the effect that thoy wero not given ample opportunity to serve the Association. Just what has been the basis for sueh .. discuasion is not wholly clea.r to the w~iter, but it is ob~ious that at least a part of the disoussion sterns fro:n a misconoeption of the oonsti tutiono.l duties and respons.ihilities of the Legislative CommittGo.

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VO~. VIII, NO. 18 -- F~ge

3

September

25. 1944

Reoent oonferences with members of the committee indicate that a.t least some members believe the Legislative Committ06 should outline the Association's legi~lativG

program, a task novl delegated to the Reoolutions Commi ttee i others believe that the committee was named to write legislation. Most legislation today is drafted by a government depa.rtment, by Congress, by small interested groups, or by 8.l1y combina- tion of the above.

The writer reoalls a discussion of the ·sa.me subject during the first four or fIve years of the Associationts existenoe, which resulted in the present constitutional provision which reads a.s follows:

"The committee on Legislation shall cooperato in securing tho enact- ment of legislation proposed by the Associat..:i on, for enactr:1ent,

(1) by the Gongress of the United States; or, (2) by the Legislatures of the several sta.tes represented in the Nationa.l Reolamation Associa ...

tion.n

The presentation of the muttGr in this bullf.:tin is for the purpose of inviti,:1g discussion in t,.~e hope of clearing the atmosphEJre and crystallizing sentiment toward perfecting our organizatione.l procedure. It can be said that, in view of the impor··

tanca of the Legislative Committ(-)o, gref.lt caro should be given by each state in -che sele-Jtion of its representative on the Committee.

~ EXCESS LAND LIMITATION CONrrROVEJ~SY

It now appears that ^Olle of the pr:)blems th.at will confront the Irrigation and Reclama.tion Inter('sts of the West when they meet in convention at Denver in Novenber will be whEit changes, if any, should be made in the basi'c reolama.tion law which now restricts to one hundred sixty acres the amount of land that the Buroau of Reclamu- tion can supply with water undf}r a single ownership.

. In dealing with the problem it must be remembered t hat when the excess land fea- ture of the reclamation law ^WI3.S enacted, Congress was thinking in terms of furr:i3h- inr; a water supply to rnw undeveloped public land. Congress ^VIlaS not thinking then, as now, of fur!lishing ^0. supplementary water supply to nearly ten million acrAS of land already irrit~nted by private capitfll, which h(1,s been under intensive cultivation fer e. generation or mere, and which now requires a ~uppleT!lental water supply of ten or twelve inches per year to insure maximum production, or to permit the far~er

to shift from extensivo tc intensive farning.

Exemption of the one hundred sixty acre limitation cla.use in the re-ole.mation law has been granted by Congress on two or three projects where the purpos8 of the pro-

ject was to furnish supplemental water to old established irrigated areas. The present issue is raised in connection with the Centra.l Valley Projel}t of California, where approximately four-fifths of the land to be served has been under intensive cultivation for several generations; only a.bout one-fifth of the land'is awaiting its first irrigation water. No public lc.nd is involved. The issue is further com- plicated in Calif0rni!J. by the fact th0.t possibly close to half of the present

irrigation in the valley is done by ,?umping from an underground supply that has been receding annually. The proposed proje6t will restore these under .... ground levels, as well as furnish a new surface supply.

The debate in this instance sta.rtod over a..'1 amendment offered by CongreSSi:lan Alfred Elliott of Cal ifornia to the Rivers and Harbors Bill (H.R. 3961) now pending

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VOL. VIII,

NO.

18 -- Page

4

^September

^{25, 1944}

before the Senate. The Elliott Amendment provides as follows: "The excess la.nd provision 'of the FAderal Recla.m&tion Laws shall not bo ~pplica.ble to lands which will rocei ve' ~ water supply from the Central Valley ProJect. ft The Elliot~ amendment was countered by a bill (S. 1948) written by some Interior Department extremists and introduced as a courtesy by Senutor Hutoh of New Mexioo. This bill provided fer Federal acquisition of the lands to be benefited, th~ir division into family size farms, and their resale and resettlement under federa.l auspices to prospective f9.r:11 families. Hearings on the subject by e. Senp-to Irrigation and Reolamntion Sub- con1P.littee resulted in th~:; IDf.l.rsho.lling of all witnesses of both schools of thought, and the generation of more heat than light on tho subject. No compromise was proposed by either side. The extremists' viewpoint appoars to have lost a few old followers and to have gained no new ones. In the absence of any oompromise proposal~

those favoring the Elliott A."nendmont are sitting tight tc have the entire project exoluded from the Exoess Land Provision of the Reclamation Act.

So far as we can find, this AssoclatiDn has never taken ¹¹ position on the subject. We have no intention of doing so now, but since the Bureau's post-wa.r program contempla.tes provid iug a. supplementa.l W9.tel~ supply to nearly 10. 000, 000 acres

throughout the seventeen western states, we feel tha.t wha.tev~r solution is found should, if possible, be applicable to the above post-wnr projects throughout the West. To be a. real solution it must 1:Ie ac\~eptable to the present fa.rmers of these nearly 10,000,000 acres which are to be benefited, and it must also be equally acoeptable to n Conbress which will be asked to appropriate a billion or more

dollars of interest-free money. We feel certain that the present irriga.tion f.armers of the West will net e.c(~ept the extreme Interior Department proposa.l. We doubt that Congress will long appropriate interest-free money if it can he shown that too great a percenta.ge of the benefits may be going to large land owners.

The problem should be faoed fairly and frankly by all friends of Irrigation everywhere. The ultimate solution must be ~_n the national interest1 The future of Irrigation depends upon finding the correct answer to this problem'

FOH:il1

Ene los ur () S ( 2 )

Lespectfully submitted, F. O. Ha,gie,

Secretary-Manager ^.I

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RESOLUTION OF THII MISSOURI RIVER STATES Iowa, vitally affect the economic life and

COMMITrEE TO SEC'OaE A BABIN-WIDE DE'" r>lans for future development of the entire CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

VELOPMENT PLAN Missouri River Basin.

We, the Governors of the States in the Mis- 7. That to develop 'the basin fully and for

souri River Basin, namely: Colorado, Wyo- the greatest beneflt of its citizens, both pres- APPENDIX

ming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, ent and future, and for the grea.test beneflt Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri, and to the United States of America, the Con-

the members of the Missouri River States gress of the United States' should recognize the House should read this report, and Committee, meeting at Omaha, Nebr., on now the problem in its entirety as it affects I . .

August 5· and 6, 1944, after hearing and con- th e peop e I 0 f th Mi e ssour i B i d th 'r as n an el am sure m so domg will be impressed ·th t t ferring with representatives of various Fed- economic destiny and that of the United WI he necessi y for assuring ade- eral agencies, including the United States States of America. quate water supplies for the development Army Engineer Corps and the United States 8. That in order to accomplish this unity of the projects in thL basin.

Bureau of Reclamation, do now firmly and of 'pprpose and action we ask the Pr.esident The editorial from the Western Con- earnestly petition the President and Con- and the Congress of the United States to au- struction News of July 1944 is as fol- gress of the United States to give force and thorize and direct the United States Army lows:

effect to the following conclUSions: engineers and t~e United States Bureau of

1. That in dealing with matters relating Reclamation to bring before the Congress RECLAMATION SUPPORTED ON MISSOURI to the waters of the Missouri River Basin it a coordinated plan, based on the proposedl Some attempt is made in the pages of this be recognized that we are dealing with one legislation and offiCial documents heretofore magazine to examine the differing programs river and one problem. mentioned which will make possible the au- proposed by the Corps of Engineers and the 2. That in approaching that problem and thorization by the Congress, now, of the Bureau of Reclamation for development and in order to serve all the people of the basin Missouri Rfver basin developmen.t program use of the waters of the Missouri River.

to the maximum possible degree and to safe- in its entirety by such amendments to legis- Surely no one will say that the planning guard their present established rights and lation now pending as are feasible from the or engineering which has been performed has th--ir future development and prosperity, standpOint of legislative procedures. in the case of either agency been inept or there can be no piecemeal legislative pro- The foregOing was 'urianimously adopted by incapable. The differences in the two plans gram. the States of' Oolorado, Wyoming,Montana', arise from the objectives sought to be 3. That there must be an over-all compre- North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, aChieved. 'The Army engineers regard !lood hensive plan and suitable legislation adopted Kans!.ls, and Missour1. The representatives control and navigation as paramount, While by the Congress of the United States which of the State of Iowa being absent at the time, the Bureau seeks use of the major portion of will accomplish that purpose. the vote of. that State was not recorded. the water for irrigation and power. In the 4. That the omnibus flood-control uill, in- Thereupon the meeting considered the end the conflict is between navigation and sofar as it deals with the Missouri River, following statement: irrigation; since flood control and power gen- furnishes the framework for flood control Nothing done in the interests of flood con- eration will eventuate to a considerable de-

tiol or navigation shall adversely affect the i

and related purposes. use of water for irrigation west of the ninety- gree from the adoption of ether plan.

5. That authorization of tp,e Bureau of sevent1.l meridian. It is the studied opinion of this magazine, Reclamation plan now before Congress and This statement was agreed to by the States devoted as it is to a nonpolitical-and un- embodied in the Senate Document 191, Sev- of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Da- biased program of development of all the enty:;:.eighth Congress, second session, is-~ec- kota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. West, that the propos,als of the Bureau of essatS to a comprehensive development of the The representatives of th,e State of Iowa Reclamation should be adopted and placed Misspuri River Basin. being absent, the vote of that State :W~S under construction, and that a permanent 6. That those provisions of the RiverS" and not recorded. The State of Missouri being policy recognizing agricultural and domestic.

Har110rs omnibus bill which relate to nal1.iga- present and represented did not choose to uses of water as its .highest purpose in the . . low Sioux Cit in in, the last-mentioned stA.tement. West be pursued .

... IIIIR~W.-~IIioIJIII~.iIIiliIilllMd ^{. . .}th~~M~·IlIiii--~. i!!!Ri~·iiiio--iiIWI ... ~7~6~Oiio,0~0~0~aiic .. r-esiiiiio~f~laiiiniiid~aiiiniiid~s-u .. piipii!l~e~miiie~n'!"'t~a~~ In making this declartion there is no in-

eclamation on e Issoun vtr sinuation that the proposals of the Pick re- EXTENSION OF REMARKS

OF

HON. FRANKA.BARRETT

OF WYOMING

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Monday, August 21, 1944 Mr. BARRETT. Mr. Speaker, under leave W extend my remarks, I insert' an editorial headed "Reclamation supported on Missouri" from the Western Construc- tion News, published in San Francisco, Calif. This ecij,torial supports the plan of the Bureau of Reclamation for the development and use of the waters of the Missouri River in the interest of the consumptive beneficial purpose whic!I is irrigation. The editorial pays a justified tribute to the work of the Corps of Engi- neers, but observes that-

The feeling does exist. that. some Army engineers are not as keenly aware of the need for careful hUSbanding of every available drop of water in the arid or semiarid Sta tel,;!

of the West as they should be.

-The Bureau of Reclamation, under the Department of the Interior, is charged with the responsibility for the conservation of every available drop of water west of the ninety-seventh meridian. for irrigation and domestic purposes·, As the editorial observes:

The proposals of the Bureau of Reclama- tion shOUld be adopted and placed under construction, I1nd that a permanent policy recognizing agricultural and domestic uses of water as its highest purpose in the West be pursued.

The proposal of the Bureau of Recla- mation is to conserve the waters of the Missouri. River for the irrigation of 4,-

water supplies for another 538,000 acres port issued by the' Corps of Engineers is tech- now irrigated but having an inadequate nically unsound or that Colonel Pick or any water supply. It offers an opportunity of his staff had any base motives in planning for the country to open a new empire, in it. The. feeling does exist that some Army which returning servicemen from the engineers are not as keenly aware of t~e need battlefields of the South Pacific and for careful husbanding of every available Europe can settle and contribute to the drop of water in the arid or semiarid States permanent development of the country. of the West as they should be.

The recent action of the Governors of It is the traditional role of the Army engi- the Missouri Basin States in recognizing neers to protect and expand the inland water- ways of the Nation, and as a corollary, in the superior claims of irrigation on the recent years, to' attend to flood-control works waters of the Missouri River reflects the as a protection to the navigable streams. In results of clear thinking on the part of these flelds,they have done splendid work, the executives of our States which are as exemplified on the Mississippi River, ~he

closest to tlle problem. Los Angeles, Calif., coastal basin, the Willam- In Chicago on September 7 and 8, a ette· Valley in Oregon, and in many other conference of representatives of some 29 places.

States will be called to consider amend- While river traffic has been of tremendous ments or modifications of the amend- importance on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, it has been much smaller in volume ment to the rivers and harbors and on the Missouri. To be sure, it has ex- flood-control bills now pending in the isted, but due to sparser population and Senate proposed by the Senators from lesser industry, has nev'er achieved the vOl- Western States. I understand that ume or the value of that on the other probably 100 representatives will be in streams. Its loss, therefore, assuming that attendance from these States, which in- it would be lost, would not be a major. ca- elude some in the New England and At- lamity; in fact, there is sorp,e doubt whether lantic seaboard and Gulf areas, as well it would be entirely eliminated under the reclamation program. At any rate, steadily as the Missouri Basin and Far West. It lowering truck and rail tariffs are removing is my hope that Qut of this conference the single factor which made water trans- will coine united .support for a construc- portation deSirable, namely, lower cost.

tive program that will meet the situation 'The opportunity for expansion of vigor- and present a solution of the problem ously productive farm lands, however, is of which is necessary to assure the use of great and constantly growing importance.

the waters· of the Missouri River and Over4,760,OOO acres of land which has never other western' streams for the highest before produced anything could be added to beneficial consumptive purpose. the farm resoutces of the Nation, and an-

other 538,000 acres now restricted in their Now available are printed copies of yield because ot inadequate water' supply Senate Document No. 191; which is the could be made completely productive. This Bureau of Reclamation's report on the magazine feels that ~n opportunity to add conservation, control, and use of water such quantities of food to' a supply which resources of the Missouri River Basin in never in our history has been completely Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Da- adequate, even without considering the de- kota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, mands of impoverished foreign nations, must Iowa, and Missouri. Every Member of not be overlooked or lightly discarded.

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