1942: Reclamation

The year 1942 should be noteworthy in the annals of reclamation, not so much for specific tasks accomplished as for the definition which war has given to reclamation and its function. It would be altogether too easy, but equally misleading, to dismiss the subject with the statement that appropriations have been cut, new projects have been deferred for the duration, and the Bureau of Reclamation has been reduced to the status of a maintenance force. Upkeep of the huge reclamation plant and completion of vital projects, notably in the Central Valley of California, are its primary responsibilities, but it is powerless to plan new projects at a time when the nation and its Government must plan solely to win a war.

Such an appraisal of 1942 may be accurate, but it is incomplete, for in relinquishing its planning function, the Bureau has established its place in our economy. It is a peacetime activity which acquires special importance during the troughs of the business cycle. Reclamation became especially prominent in the thirties because it provided jobs — but not non-productive jobs of the notorious leaf-raking type. Quite the contrary. Reclamation is the government in business, and the business is that of utilizing water. Water for power, for irrigation and for domestic use has a cash value, and the finished reclamation projects are revenue-producing businesses which, for the most part, could not have been attempted by private capital. It is necessary that all the dams, aqueducts, canals, and power plants be maintained at top efficiency, but it is appropriate that new projects be suspended.

The pause in reclamation progress gives us an opportunity to appraise its value. In 1942 there were twenty-eight hydroelectric plants in operation on seventeen different projects. These plants were located in eleven of the western states. At the end of the year they had an installed capacity in excess of 1,500,000 kilowatts; and if actual appropriations can be utilized for planned installations, more than 2,000,000 kilowatts will be available by the end of 1943 — over 2,500,000 at the close of 1944. Already much of this power is at work on war matériel. The magnesium plant at Las Vegas, Nev., uses one-quarter of the installed capacity of Boulder Dam, thirty miles away. The expansion of old and the creation of new war industries in California, Oregon, and Washington have been made possible solely by the visionary plans of reclamation engineers in the economically grim thirties. Compared with the installed capacity of all private and public power projects in the country, the amount furnished by the power plants of the Bureau of Reclamation is small, but it is critical. Reclamation also supplies water to 75,000 farms, assuring the fertility of 2,300,000 acres and providing supplementing water supplies on 2,200,000 acres more. These figures are small in the national total, but once again they are important at a time when every pound of sugar from sugar beets, every side of beef, every pound of wool must be counted, and even rationed.

Reclamation is expensive. It is the marginal business of reclaiming submarginal lands for economic use. As a private enterprise it would be condemned as too hazardous an economic risk. As a public enterprise, reclamation has been vindicated by the war, which reveals its dual role — peacetime employment on planned projects, war and peacetime use of unreclaimed natural resources. It may reasonably be hoped that the Bureau will be prepared to resume a sound program of constructive work when peace brings to us the acute problems of rehabilitation.

1941: Reclamation

During 1941 the government's program of reclamation suffered little if any modification or disruption as a direct consequence of the United States' preoccupation with national defense. Indeed, a perusal of the articles in the Bureau of Reclamation's monthly publication, The Reclamation Era, reveals a detachment which, on first thought, may seem like Nero in Rome, but which becomes thoroughly understandable when one recalls the magnitude of modern reclamation activities. A project unfinished is no more useful than a project unstarted, and Congress has consistently appropriated sufficient money to complete entire projects or major units of involved regional plans. For this reason 1941 witnessed steady progress on plans made months, and even years earlier. Though an outsider may feel that the Bureau is annoyingly smug and complacent, its achievements can and should command admiration.

The Central Valley Project in California was one of the major activities of the year just past, and its importance in the state's agricultural economy is obvious. A century ago the Central Valley was an incongruous patchwork of desert and swamp, maltreated by the early gold-seeking settlers. With permanent occupancy, interest shifted to the raising of cattle and grain, and as irrigation was more extensively applied, two facts became apparent: the Valley had far greater economic possibilities in diversified agriculture than in stock raising; and there was not enough water to go around. The Central Valley Project is an imaginative engineering effort to achieve a richer economy through the shrewd management of the available water supply in the Sacramento River system. Water control will also minimize the serious flood hazards in the Valley, check salt water encroachment in the channels of the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta, and provide hydroelectric energy for diversified use. In the San Joaquin drainage area, the Friant dam and reservoir, scheduled for completion in 1943, will supply the dry and hot acres of Kern County with water, and the Shasta dam and reservoir are their counterpart in the upper Sacramento at the opposite end of the Valley. Already the Contra Costa Canal is delivering water to the little industrial city of Pittsburg and to the orchards and vineyards near Oakley; 30 miles of railroad have been relocated to make way for the Shasta dam and reservoir; and both dams are rising rapidly as 1942 opens.

Another boon to California is the All-American Canal, which is designed to divert Colorado River water 20 miles north of Yuma, Ariz., bringing it across the desert and sand dune country of southern California just north of the international boundary, and delivering it to the Imperial Valley. It was believed that an all-American canal would reduce uncertainties in deliveries and would eliminate several physical and political difficulties in comparison with the old canal, 60 miles of which lie wholly within Mexico. But an American-controlled canal is not without its problems. The earthquake of May 18, 1940, disrupted service in the old canal and especially on the laterals; and although the All-American Canal suffered only minor damage, the earthquake hazard is one that must be reckoned with. Already sand is drifting into the canal at several points, and floods have caused some damage. Clearly, maintenance costs threaten to be heavy, but the financial stake is large and it is confidently believed the agricultural returns will warrant the expense when, early this year, the Imperial Valley in California receives all its water via this route. Since April water has been delivered to the laterals at Allison Heading, and in June a third reach of the canal went into use when water started flowing into the Central Main.

Much more could be written regarding the Parker Dam, the Klamath Project, the Deschute Project, the Yakima Project, the Grand Coulee Dam and other reclamation activities which directly benefit the West Coast states, but they all exemplify the thoroughness and engineering skill with which the Bureau of Reclamation has carried on each item in its ambitious program. Of greater importance are projects which affect the Great Basin and the Great Plains.

The Colorado-Big Thompson Project got under way with the boring of a 13-mile tunnel beneath the Continental Divide. The tunnel lies almost wholly within the Rocky Mountain National Park, crossing the park on a line situated 3 miles north of Longs Peak. For some time the project has aroused controversy, partly because it seemingly desecrates one of our National Parks, and partly because it may have unfortunate consequences in lowering the level of Grand Lake, whose waters it will tap and divert to the Big Thompson River. Grand Lake is one of the feeders of the North Fork of Colorado River, and it is difficult to gauge the effect of diversion on downstream irrigation projects in Arizona and California. It is obvious that Colorado River water has but little agricultural use until it has gone hundreds of miles beyond the confines of the state of Colorado, whereas the Colorado Piedmont can undergo no further economic development unless new supplies of water are utilized. Obvious benefits to the communities, farms, and ranches north of Denver were given more weight than problematic harm 600 to 700 miles downstream; conservationists were appeased by placing the tunnel portals just outside the limits of Rocky Mountain National Park, and only a few of Colorado's own residents suffered—property owners on the shore of Grand Lake.

The Colorado-Big Thompson Project is one of several which promise to help the drought-ridden acres of the Great Plains. Near Williston, N. D., just east of the Montana line, the Buford-Trenton Project is designed to rehabilitate a small area in one of the 'Dust Bowls' at the considerable cost of $10,000 per farm. But each farm will be a real farm, and as the first of the Great Plains relief projects, the experiment may be watched with interest. Also significant because of its location in the sub-humid section of the Plains is the Altus Project, which will impond water in the Wichita Mountains to give the town of Altus, Okla., a water supply and its inhabitants a more diversified agricultural economy. There is slow realization of the reclamation needs of good farm lands which lie precariously close to that shifting and shadowy line of 20-inch rainfall, and the translation of this dawning realization into action is one of 1941's significant developments.

As it has come to all phases of American life, war has now descended upon the Bureau of Reclamation. During 1941 it suffered losses of staff to other Government departments engaged in more urgent defense activities. Priorities and shortages of materials are beginning to make themselves felt in its operations. Appropriations may soon lapse in 1942, although it seems probable that the Bureau may be permitted to carry through its program of stepping up the capacity of hydroelectric plants operating on reclamation projects from the present 1,559,000 kw. to slightly more than 3,000,000 (scheduled for 1944). We may expect to get returns from reclamation both in power and in crops to help us in our war effort, but it looks as if new reclamation projects will fall into the category of post-war activities—they have but a secondary place in the stupendous program on which we are now embarked..

1940: Reclamation

Fundamentally the purpose of reclamation is to relieve population pressure. In the United States the pressure of people migrating from wasted lands in the South, from rocky hill-country in the Northeast, and from devastated acres in the Plains, has greatly stimulated reclamation projects in the decade which has just ended. In all but one major reclamation project in the Eastern Hemisphere, the more energetic but peaceful governments have reclaimed land from deserts, swamps, and even from the sea, to provide overcrowded and underfed populations with land and with food. Only in the Sudan has extensive irrigation been undertaken primarily as a commercial venture, the benefits of which do not extend to an impoverished nation.

Zuider Zee Project.

Reclamation is, then, a program of peaceful conquest, as the Dutch recognized in the Zuider Zee project; and they jocularly referred to it as their new 'imperialism.' One of the dramatic episodes of 1940 was provided by the German invasion of Holland in May, for it brought into painful juxtaposition the German policy of occupation by force and the Dutch policy of occupation by peace. And it very nearly wrecked twenty years of reclamation labor and investment. In 1920, following a disastrous North Sea storm which broke dikes and inundated 32,000 acres of lowland, the Dutch embarked upon an ambitious but shrewd engineering program, by means of which they planned to transform the Zuider Zee into 550,000 acres of farmland, a large (270,000-acre) fresh water lake which will provide irrigation water and constant canal levels, and a highway over a 26-mile ocean wall connecting Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague with the northeastern provinces. The main dike or sea-wall was finished, pumps had evacuated much of the salt water, canals and sluices were in operation, and farmers were just beginning to move in when the Germans came. Although none of the engineering structures were destroyed during the invasion, fruition of the project has been seriously retarded; but when and if peace again returns to Europe, the Dutch will have under full agricultural utilization the largest tract of land which has ever been wrested from the sea.

Reclamation in the United States.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Hemisphere reclamation has come virtually to a full stop, for public money is needed to reduce population pressure by annihilation rather than by the creation of more arable lands. Only in the Americas, and chiefly in the United States, are reclamation projects continuing unabated; and so far as can be observed from official reports issued by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, the only notice which has been accorded the international emergency is to be found in a ruling to the effect that the Bureau is a defense unit of the government, and that its expert engineering personnel may not be raided by other government agencies. Reclamation, apparently, will continue undisturbed through the present emergency, unless the expanding program of national defense robs the Department of the Interior of its appropriations for salvaging the country's deserts.

For some years past the Bureau of Reclamation has been pre-occupied with the desert, and a glance at a map of Federal irrigation projects reveals the fact that reclamation activities start in the Great Plains, far to the west of the twenty-inch rainfall line, which roughly coincides with the 98th degree of longitude; they culminate in the intermountain valleys of the Rocky Mountains System and end in the West in the interior lowlands between the Sierra Nevada-Cascade System and the Pacific Coast Ranges.

Just east of the Great Plains in the eastern Dakotas, eastern Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and adjacent states lies a subhumid region in which the rainfall deficiency is slight and usually cyclic. Notwithstanding the fact that this broad strip of marginal land comprises a large fraction of the nation's corn and wheat belts, it is being abandoned to its precarious fate so far as the Bureau of Reclamation is concerned. The reasons why 200,000 farms and 10,000,000 people are being left to the whims of the mid-continent climate are best explained by E. B. Debler, hydraulic engineer of the Bureau, in a statement to a special Congressional committee investigating interstate migration of destitute citizens: 'While water resources are plentiful, . . . irrigation projects are not justified as they would be deserted between drought periods and their rehabilitation in times of need would be too slow . . . and too costly.'

In the Southeastern states the Department of Agriculture is wrestling with one of the country's most acute agricultural problems. An impoverished and badly managed soil has produced an unbalanced economy and an impoverished farm population. Drainage of nearby coastal lowlands would provide new farmland of high fertility, relieve the overworked soils of the Piedmont and alleviate some of the poverty; but there is not a single Federal reclamation project east of the Mississippi River. Reclaiming the desert is a far more spectacular job, which provides some wonderful statistics: the world's longest, largest, and highest dams have been built; the biggest power generators in the world have been installed in the largest power plant in the world; new engineering problems have been overcome, startling techniques have been developed. But the Bureau of Reclamation can sum up its own achievements in the following excerpts from the Reclamation Era: 'The engineering work of the Bureau has brought water, power, and light to western areas with a population of 4,500,000. One million farmers and townspeople gain their livelihood from Federally irrigated land. . . . Completion of the current construction program will double the number of people benefited. . . . Although new lands irrigated by Federal projects in 38 years represent only one per cent of the total cropped area of the United States, they contribute materially to the welfare of a large section of the population. . . . 52,500 irrigated farms . . . 258 cities and towns . . . 904,000 persons . . . All these benefits from Reclamation . . . make Reclamation a builder of the Nation.'

In the face of this laudable record, it is unkind to recall that there are 2,000,000 farms and 10,000,000 persons in the subhumid corn and wheat belt, struggling toward recovery after several years of drought and dust, despite the fact that 'water resources are plentiful.' A $500,000,000 investment would provide irrigation for most of the better farms in this region against an investment of $380,000,000 in 52,500 farms and 904,000 people.

Although practical considerations of this kind must come to mind, they cannot detract from the magnificent projects which have recently been completed or are nearing completion. Except for additional power installations and some supplementary but distinctly minor extensions, the Boulder Canyon project is now finished and in full operation, and the Parker Dam power project is progressing rapidly. The Grand Coulee project in Washington will receive $19,000,000 during the current fiscal year, which will very nearly bring it to completion. The most ambitious undertaking is now in the Central Valley of California, and $28,600,000 will be utilized here in 1940-41. In all, the Bureau of Reclamation is working on 24 projects in a dozen western states, and the work is being prosecuted with a skill and an efficiency which has excited the admiration of the engineering profession and the imagination of the public. Only the relative value and the geography of the projects which have been, and are being, sponsored can be challenged. Even if it be granted that the purpose of reclamation from its start in 1902 was to do something with western desert lands, the crucial problems of the established farm populations seem to demand some compromise and concession. See also CONSERVATION.

1939: Reclamation

Reclamation progress continues to be largely a report of work by the Bureau of Reclamation. Great strides are being made in a tremendous construction program. Nine major dams were completed in 1938, 4 in 1939, and 12 are under construction. Six important canals and other works were finished in 1939, 7 others are under way. The total capacity of Bureau reservoirs is now about 67,000,000 acre-feet, including Shasta and Grand Coulee dams. Actual reservoir storage has grown from 7,000,000 acre feet in 1933 to 36,000,000 in 1939. These figures are an indication of the increased security now provided for agriculture in the semi-arid areas.

Systematic planning continues, including topographic and aerial mapping, stream flow and rain and snowfall studies, geological investigations for new canal and dam sites, land classification and soil surveys. Much greater attention is being paid today to investigations of all kinds. Weed and erosion control, studies of soils, duty of water, drainage of irrigated lands, etc., are in progress. Abandonment of several hundred thousand acres of once-irrigated land, mostly in private projects, due to inadequate water supplies, cultivation of poor soils, improper drainage, etc., has stimulated these efforts.

Engineering has also made great advances, and the Bureau of Reclamation laboratories in Denver are remarkable for achievements in research in hydraulics, soil mechanics, building materials, designing and testing of dam and canal structures, machinery, etc. The engineering profession and private builders are acknowledging their indebtedness to this laboratory, begun ten years ago to aid construction of Boulder Dam.

Projects.

In a survey of recent progress, three outstanding projects claim consideration, the Lower Colorado River development, the Central Valley Project in California, and Grand Coulee, on the Columbia River in Washington.

Since the first of these, the Lower Colorado River Development, is nearing completion, a review of its full scope seems appropriate. The three major features are Boulder Dam and power plant, Parker Dam and Colorado River Aqueduct, and Imperial Dam and All-American Canal. Boulder Dam was completed in 1936 at a cost of $120,000,000, to be repaid in 50 years, it is planned, by power sales. It is 726' high, 1,244' long, and has a capacity of 30,500,000 acre feet in Lake Mead, 115 miles long. The dam is the highest in the world, the reservoir the largest. The purpose is to regulate the flow of the Colorado River, one of the largest and most turbulent of American rivers, which has in the past wreaked havoc in Imperial Valley. A controlled water supply is now provided for the Valley, and for several smaller projects in Arizona. The huge power plant, largest in the world, with an ultimate installed capacity of 1,835,000 H.P. (860,000 installed to date), will find its chief markets in the Los Angeles area, and in pumping water from the river at Parker Dam (completed in 1938) and 242 miles through the Aqueduct over the mountains and deserts to the Los Angeles Reservoir.

The Aqueduct open-cut, siphon and tunnel, completed in 1939 after 7 years' work, will add a much needed water supply for this area. At present 270,000 gallons a minute flow to the coast — less than half the ultimate capacity. The water is mostly for municipal use, but some will be available for irrigation. Parker Dam, 'the deepest dam in the world,' extends 235 feet below the river bed, has a total height of 320 feet, length of 800 feet and capacity of 800,000 acre-feet. Funds for both came from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, partly through PWA funds, with supervision by the Reclamation Bureau.

The 80-mile All-American Canal leaves the Colorado River at Imperial Dam, 300 miles below Boulder. The first section was finished in 1938, it was virtually completed in 1939, and will be in use in 1940. It replaces an older, smaller and longer canal running much of the way through Mexico and serving also small irrigation areas there. It is chiefly a huge ditch in alluvial material, but with some rock cuts. Huge desilting works, comprising three settling basins and necessary power facilities, have been provided at Imperial Dam, the silt being sluiced back into the river below the dam. Desilting tests were conducted during 1939, and preliminary seasoning of the canal was carried forward. Imperial Dam, completed in 1938, is 45 feet high and 3,485 feet long, including appurtenant structures. When it is in operation, the 450,000 irrigated acres in Imperial Valley will be more than doubled. To accomplish this expansion, it has been necessary to build the 134-mile Coachella Branch Canal, work on which proceeded rapidly last year. It will largely replace inadequate well irrigation in Coachella Valley, and expand the irrigated area here to 182,000 acres. Total cost of the dam and canals is $38,000,000, to be repaid by irrigators.

The small Gila Project, now under construction in Arizona, will also use water from this dam, and the Yuma Project adds to Arizona's share of Colorado waters. On March 3, 1939, Arizona finally ratified the Colorado River Compact, conditional upon a new agreement with California and Nevada on distribution of water.

Grand Coulee Dam.

Work on Grand Coulee Dam, largest in the world (begun in 1933), continues. Present work is on the high dam being erected on the low foundation dam finished in December 1937. The Bureau is proceeding with an exhaustive study to guide settlement and economic development of the entire basin, including land ownership mapping, topographic and soil surveys, and estimates of domestic and agricultural water supplies. The planning will cover 2,500,000 acres of basin land, although irrigation will eventually reach 1,200,000 acres. The Anti-speculation Act of 1937, which establishes penalties for speculative selling of private lands, is a part of this careful planning for the future settlers. The Dam will cost $186,000,000, and irrigation features $208,000,000.

Central Valley Project.

The future of California's great valley, with its 1,000,000 population and 3,000,000 acres of irrigated land, depends upon the successful completion of the $170,000,000 Central Valley Project. Federal aid was sought because 400,000 acres of land are threatened with a water shortage, 40,000 or more being already abandoned. Shasta Dam was begun late in 1938, and in November 1939, work started on the smaller Friant Dam across the San Joaquin River. Work also proceeded on the Contra Costa Canal.

Minor projects are under way east of the Rockies in the Milk, Yellowstone, Big Horn, Canadian and Pecos River basins, but the major works here are on the North and South Platte Rivers. The Kendrick Project (North Platte in Wyoming), designed to irrigate the Casper region and add to water supplies for older projects on the Wyoming-Nebraska border, includes Pathfinder and Seminoe Dams; two great structures to conserve water and create electric power (completed in 1935 and 1939), and Alcova Dam (completed 1938), to divert water for the Casper area.

The Colorado-Big Thompson Project, initiated last year, will tap extensive water supplies in the Colorado River headwaters, store them high in the Rockies, and lead them through a 13-mile tunnel under the Continental Divide to the South Platte Basin, where over 600,000 acres of old irrigation lands will receive an increased supply of about 20 per cent. Construction so far has been confined to dams west of the Divide.

The Rio Grande remains a major problem. Serious water deficiencies in privately irrigated lands in the lower valley near the Gulf have marked recent years. Dependence has been on stream diversion, but the river ceased flowing three times during 1938. Plans are under way for small storage basins, but large control works on the main river appear to be greatly needed. Considerable flow, especially in flood time, originates far below Elephant Butte Dam, the last control point. The problem is now more acute, because Mexico is claiming part of the water and is bringing several thousand more acres here under cultivation each year.

In New Mexico, Elephant Butte Dam is being supplemented by the newly completed Caballo Dam downstream. When it was decided to generate power at Elephant Butte, it was quickly evident that steady flow of water through the turbines was necessary to maintain an adequate amount of firm power, but this aim, as the Bureau recognized, conflicted with the need to store irrigation water; hence Caballo Dam was built for the latter function. This problem has been raised sharply by critics of the Marshall Ford Dam in the Texas Colorado River. High dams can serve both purposes better than low dams, yet even Boulder's firm power estimates are only  the installed capacity. On May 31, 1939, Congress approved the Rio Grande compact between Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

Completion of Bartlett Dam in Arizona in May, 1939 marks the full development of Salt River project in Arizona, increasing the water supply and aiding flood protection. In the Upper Colorado Basin of Utah and Colorado there have been only minor constructions this past year, largely storage reservoirs to supplement water supplies of several operating projects. Much research is proceeding on future plans, however. In Salt Lake Basin, also, storage facilities are being provided for several important older projects.

The Upper Snake River Basin of Idaho, one of the largest irrigated areas in the United States, has been one of the worst sufferers from ill-considered expansion and inadequate water supplies, with acreage sharply reduced in recent years. Here the Bureau has extensive supplementary operations under construction or planned. Island Park Dam was completed in November 1938, and American Falls Dam may be raised to almost double its capacity. On the Boise project additional canals and dams are under way, and stream flows of all branch rivers are being measured to determine their usability. In Washington, on the Yakima Project, the recently completed Roza Dam (and canals soon to be finished) will add 72,000 acres to the present total of 420,000; and further expansion is contemplated.

Congress in 1939 approved the plan of the Army Engineers to improve the Willamette River. This basin needs only supplemental irrigation, and the plans are concerned primarily with flood control, drainage, and navigation for lumber rafts. The seven flood-control reservoirs planned will provide for irrigation of 355,000 acres.

The United States Office of Indian Affairs is building several small irrigation works, some in cooperation with the Reclamation Bureau. In addition, many small streams are being impounded for livestock.

State Dams.

To summarize state efforts: the Texas Lower Colorado River Authority is concerned primarily with flood control in its present construction of two dams supplementing the Bureau's Marshall Ford Dam. One state dam is also being erected on the Brazos River. However, Nebraska's Tri-County project on the Platte River is chiefly concerned with irrigation, although power is also provided. This scheme, together with two power projects (Sutherland, completed 1935, and Columbus, 1938) constitutes Nebraska's famous 'Little TVA.' Work on the great Kingsley Dam, impounding 2,000,000 acre-feet for Tri-County irrigation, will be completed in 1940.

Great Plains Program.

The Great Plains Committee Report, released October 1938, calls for small irrigation projects in drought areas in conjunction with larger farms emphasizing live-stock production, and for further abandonment of dry-farming. The program is to be financed largely as a relief measure. Plans for the Great Plains program were completed in June 1939, and $5,000,000 was appropriated by Congress. The Buffalo Rapids Project now under construction on the Lower Yellowstone is a part of the program.

Economic, agricultural and legal angles demand further attention. Due to water shortage. South Platte areas have been forced to turn, on a small scale, from high-value crops such as sugar beets, to lower-value grain crops which not only compete to a limited extent with non-irrigated areas, but bring smaller returns. Here, as elsewhere, added water supplies will ensure production of higher-value and generally non-competitive crops.

Repayment Commission Report.

In 1938 the Repayment Commission submitted its Report, dealing with non-payment of irrigation charges, a problem of serious proportions on four projects and of lesser concern on several others. The problem is further complicated by widely varying fixed construction and annual water charges on different projects, variations due largely to differences in cost of providing water and in financing, with consequent disproportionate earnings. The Report recommends auditing of accounts, discounts for advance payments, rearrangement of payments on the basis of income, reclassification of land, research to improve agricultural methods, soil studies, marketing and other studies, and in some cases the appointment of superintendents of projects, where there are legal grounds for such action. Pending passage of a comprehensive law, a temporary relief measure was passed by Congress, May 31, 1939.

It is pertinent to add that Western States, irrigation districts and individuals cooperated fully with the Federal Government, a record which contrasts sharply with the efforts of Eastern States to restrict or prevent Federal flood-control and power plans — fact is noted without prejudice as to the reasons for the opposition.

Irrigated Acreage for New Settlement.

Irrigated acreage added last year for new settlement was small not only because most construction work completed was on older projects, but because in many cases acreage in new areas was already privately owned. The Oregon State Planning Board notes that thousands of migrants from drought areas further east are settling largely on poor land, often unirrigated, because good lands are not to be bought. The Bureau is aware of the need here, and expects that the Grand Coulee and other smaller developments of the future, especially in the Upper Colorado and Upper Snake Basins, will partially solve this problem.

Federal Appropriations for Reclamation.

Reclamation Bureau appropriations for the fiscal year 1939-40 total $65,223,000. Small sums for reclamation will also be spent by the Indian Office, the Department of Agriculture, and other Federal agencies. The work is administered by Commissioner John C. Page.

Reclamation is a major factor also in outlying American possessions. Irrigation of sugar lands is important in Puerto Rico (about 100,000 acres) and Hawaii (about 130,000 acres). The Bureau is planning a project on Molokai Island, Hawaii, to irrigate 12,000 acres for growth of food crops. This is a defense measure, for Hawaii imports 63 per cent of its food, and might thus be endangered in war time.

Irrigation Acreage in India.

India continues to occupy first rank in irrigation acreage. Large-scale British Government projects, which correspond roughly to dry-land irrigation, as contrasted with wet-land or rice irrigation, total today about 32,000,000 acres, including at least two projects which far outrank American in acreage: the Sutlej River and Lloyd Barrage-Indus River Projects. Native wet-land irrigation, not always properly a part of land reclamation, totals about 30,000,000 acres.

Drainage.

Drainage of wet lands continues to lag. Indeed, in some regions, as in glaciated areas in the Lake states, and in Florida, there has recently been given a warning against excessive and indiscriminate draining as interfering with water tables, wild fowl conservation, etc. In a few places swamps once drained are being filled. On the Washington and Oregon coasts some wet lands are still being drained, and Southern states leaders are again asking for Reclamation Bureau aid in drainage projects. See also CONSERVATION.

1938: Reclamation

Land reclamation and irrigation have become factors of increasing importance in American affairs during recent years, first, because of the magnitude of the projects themselves; second, because the projects involve problems of engineering, agriculture, and economics; third, because the place of irrigation in the larger agricultural life of the nation challenges consideration; fourth, because irrigation is no longer considered in terms of isolated projects but is regarded as an important aspect of conservation of our natural resources.

Scope.

As in other fields of conservation work, many Federal agencies are concerned today with irrigation. The Bureau of Reclamation plans and supervises construction and operation. The Department of Agriculture aids the irrigation farmer through its Bureaus of Agricultural Engineering, Plant Industry, and Agricultural Economics, and its Forest Service. The work of the Farm Security Administrations also extends to irrigation enterprises. The Geological Service studies stream flows and dam sites. The Army Engineers, the PWA, and the CCC aid in financing and construction; and the National Resources Committee coordinates all conservation planning.

Function of Reclamation.

The question is repeatedly asked: When the Federal Government is advocating and promoting crop restriction, why are irrigation enterprises extended? Several reasons are advanced by proponents: First, irrigation works are an integral part of a systematic effort to control rivers and flood run-off and to reduce soil wastage, thus aiding in the conservation and wise use of water and soil resources. Second, unwise agriculture and soil erosion have destroyed millions of acres of land in humid regions, which may be partly replaced by irrigated lands. Third, the droughts of 1934 and 1936 have caused about 100,000 families to migrate farther west, and farms can be found for these people only on new irrigation enterprises. Fourth, the curve of food production in the United States is leveling off more rapidly than the population curve, and for future decades there is the definite prospect of a food shortage. Hence, development of irrigation is part of the long-range planning for the food requirements of our population.

Projects.

The Central Valley Project in California best illustrates the many varied functions for which recent projects provide: It will aid navigation, flood control, irrigation, underground water supplies which have been so depleted by pumping that many acres of irrigated land have been abandoned in the past few years; and it will control salt-water seepage in the delta, urban water supplies, reforestation, and hydroelectric power development. The project is three-fold: first, the great Shasta Dam, begun late in 1938, will impound and regulate the waters of the Upper Sacramento River; second, water will be pumped from the well-watered Sacramento section up the San Joaquin River; third, the Friant Dam on the headwaters of the San Joaquin will divert water to the southern end of the valley, where water is most lacking.

In southern California, the Bureau of Reclamation completed in 1938 the All-American Canal, to furnish, in conjunction with the storage facilities of Boulder Dam, a larger and steadier supply of water to the Imperial Valley. Its use will begin in 1939. Huge desilting works, the first of their kind, were also placed in operation here. The canal and the dam, completed in 1936, are part of a unified Lower Colorado River development, another phase of which, embracing the Parker Dam and the gigantic 242-mile Colorado Aqueduct, is designed chiefly to furnish drinking water to the Los Angeles area.

The one large area which can still be reclaimed by irrigation is the arid region of south-central Washington. Work is being pushed rapidly on the Grand Coulee Dam across the Columbia River, the largest man-made structure in the world, which will eventually furnish water for 1,200,000 acres. It will impound 10,000,000 acre-feet of water in a lake 151 miles long (Boulder Dam capacity is 30,500,000 acre-feet), supplemented by a balancing reservoir in the Coulee itself, to which water will be pumped from the river reservoir and thence fed southward to the irrigable land. The world's greatest project, however, in area irrigated (5,500,000 acres), is the recently completed Lloyd Barrage on the Indus River in India.

Power Installations.

Poawer installations are being made more commonly in conjunction with irrigation projects, in some cases on a huge scale, as at Boulder and Grand Coulee dams. Part of the power will be used for pumping water to farms and for rural electrification, but most will be 'exported' to urban centers. The Pacific Coast is growing rapidly in population and industrialization, and public power advocates assert that all the vast increase in power will be absorbed in a few years. Many critics, however, cannot foresee an adequate economic return for these installations.

New legislation allows part of dam costs to be assessed against power production, thus reducing the burden to be borne by irrigation farmers in repaying construction costs, which have greatly increased in recent years because most of the cheaply developed areas have been taken up by commercial and cooperative organizations. Practically all recent projects are Federal, for they are on too large a scale for private initiative. In addition, the Federal Government is being called upon to improve private enterprises and to furnish them with additional water on a cost-return basis. The Colorado — Big Thompson project, begun in 1938, will divert water from the Colorado River across the Rocky Mountains in a 13-mile tunnel to the old colonies in the South Platte Basin.

Other large works under construction are the Seminole Dam which, in conjunction with the recently-completed Alcova Dam, will furnish water for the new Kendrick project on the North Platte in Wyoming, and additional water for older enterprises downstream; and the Bartlett Dam in Arizona, to aid flood-control and water-supplies in the Salt River valley. The Vale and Owyhee projects in eastern Oregon were recently completed, and many smaller projects are under construction in several states.

Progress Made.

In recognition of the need for a more thorough study of potential irrigation areas, aerial mapping, land utilization, water-supply and soil studies, and engineering surveys are now systematically covering the western drainage basins, particularly in Idaho and the Upper Colorado watershed. Altogether, enterprises under way or planned will add 2,500,000 acres to the present Federal total of 3,000,000 and national total of 20,000,000. Yet irrigated acreage is but 2½ per cent of the total arid area, and the maximum irrigable land is only 4 per cent. These figures emphasize the limits of irrigation possibilities.

Economic Trends.

Reviewing economic trends, fertile soil and assured water supplies continue to give annual crop values averaging, per acre, 2½ times the national average, thus off-setting the higher costs of production. The crops grown are largely non-competitive with the great staples which are temporarily overproduced. Irrigation areas make no attempt to be even agriculturally self-sufficient and constitute a large market for eastern agricultural and industrial areas. Nevertheless, in consequence of low crop prices, construction repayments for 1936 and 1937 have had to be remitted or reduced, to be repaid later; but tax payments have been little in arrears, a record which contrasts favorably with adjoining range lands. In general, irrigation areas seem to be paying their way as well as, or better than, other agricultural lands, though some farms have been abandoned as uneconomic.

Financing.

The total investment to date in irrigation enterprises is about $1,200,000,000, the government share being over $430,000,000. The fund set up by the Reclamation Act has been dwindling, for repayments have not equaled new appropriations. Added funds have been secured from the general treasury and the PWA, and by recent enactment farm repayments from these funds will accrue to the Reclamation Fund. In 1938, $30,000,000 of accumulated oil royalties were also granted to the Reclamation Bureau.

Physical Problems.

Physical problems also face irrigation farmers, particularly drainage of land to prevent water-logging and accumulation of alkali. The past two years have seen increasing attention paid to the entire question of proper water-supplies, and to care of the soil, erosion control, weed control, etc.

Legal Questions.

Legal questions continue to hamper developments. Arizona has not yet ratified the Colorado River Interstate Compact. Water appropriation rights are still in process of definition and restriction. Private interests in Colorado sought to upset the Colorado-New Mexico Compact apportioning waters from the Plata River, claiming prior appropriation rights; but the compact, and the right of compact, were upheld by the Supreme Court in 1938.

Drainage.

Drainage in humid areas has not shown any marked increase recently. In Florida, small sections of the Everglades swamps are being reclaimed for tropical agriculture, as a result of an extensive drainage and levee program still under way by the Army Engineers. While acreage artificially drained greatly exceeds irrigated acreage, more attention to this question may be necessary in the future, especially in the Mississippi Delta and the coastal areas of the South. The largest project of this kind is being carried out in The Netherlands, where a program involving partial draining of the Zuider Zee will yield ultimately 500,000 acres of much-needed agricultural land. The first polders were brought under cultivation in 1937 and 1938.