The Indian Leader

Indian Irrigation Projects

Farming by irrigation has been practiced by the Indians under Federal auspices for at least sixty years. Many of the Indian projects did not receive formal approval by Congress or the Secretary of the Interior, but were commenced as incidents to the agricultural development of the reservation.

Laws authorizing expenditures for Indian irrigation date back to 1867, when Congress appropriated $50,000 for the expense of collecting and locating the Colorado River Indians on a reservation in Arizona. This appropriation included the expense of constructing a canal to divert the waters of the Colorado River. Since that time, Congress has regularly enacted laws establishing and maintaining in all about 150 Indian irrigation projects.

Only about 17 of these undertakings, however, may be classed as major projects.

About $26,000,000 has been expended for irrigation on Indian reservations, which makes the average construction cost per acre for these 687,428 irrigable acres $37 per acre.

The program of the bureau contemplates ultimately an expenditure of an additional $25,000,000 to complete projects under construction, which it is expected will give additional irrigable area of 704,397 acres.

For the present fiscal year the appropriations available for irrigation and reclamation work on Indian projects amount to $2,198,455. Of this amount, $521,955 is appropriated for operating and maintaining existing works and a total of $1,776,500 for construction work. The major portion of the latter amount is divided between two projects the San Carlos project, Arizona, $965,000 and the Flathead project, Montana, $545,000.

It is evident from the enactments of Congress that the inception of irrigation on Indian reservations grew out of the responsibility of the Government for the instruction, support, and civilization of the Indians. It may be assumed that in the beginning the proponents of the policy never contemplated expenditures of public funds for the benefit of white settlers on Indian reservations. Yet the growth of irrigation has been in this direction.

Only one-third of the irrigated land on Indian projects was farmed by Indians during the fiscal year 1926; while two-thirds of the total irrigated acreage was owned or leased by white settlers.

A study of Indian irrigation developments suggests a comparison with results secured by the Bureau of Reclamation in reclaiming arid land for white settlers. The latter organization, after about twenty-five years of operation, is prepared to irrigate 1,802,970 acres, of which 482,670 acres, or 26.77 per cent was not irrigated during the season of 1925.

The Indian Bureau, after sixty years of irrigation operations, is prepared to irrigate 687,428 acres, of which 351,799 acres, or 52.62 per cent, were farmed last year. There were 335,629 acres, or 47.38 per cent, unirrigated during the same season.

Available records do not show the extent of deterioration of constructed works, canals, etc., through continued disuse, nor the amount required to restore them. That the cost in the aggregate would be considerable is indicated by the extensive unused area, amounting to 335,629 acres.

Valuations of irrigated land on Indian projects reported to Congress in 1926 show irrigated lands valued as high as $500 an acre. Much of it has been fixed at $150, $200 and $300 an acre. On only 17 projects has the value been placed as low or lower than $50 per acre.

The field organization of the Indian Irrigation Service is divided into five districts, each in charge of a resident supervising engineer, with headquarters at Yakima, Wash.; Blackfoot, Idaho; Billings, Mont.; Los Angeles, Calif.; and Albuquerque, N. Mex., respectively. The employees comprise 288 permanent and approximately 285 temporary or irregular employees. The chief irrigation engineer is located in Washington, D. C., and his assistant is now in charge of the construction of the Coolidge Dam on the San Carlos project in Arizona.