[Telegram.] DENVER, COLO., May 18, 1909. Hon. R. A. BALLINGER, Guggenheim has wired concerning appointment Reclamation Service. Would it be possible to make salary $4,000, with headquarters Denver? If so, will come to Washington for conference. JOHN F. VIVIAN. [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, May 19, 1909. No. Salary at present not exceeding three thousand and expenses. Headquarters Washington, with general field duties as settlement agent. R. A. BALLINGER, Secretary. Personal] Hon. R. A. BALLINGER, HEADQUARTERS REPUBLICAN STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF COLORADO, Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. SECRETARY: I want to thank you for your promptness in replying to my telegram. I do not want you to think that I do not fully appreciate the efforts made by you to secure me a position in your department. I really wish it were so I could have taken the position, but as I am not very well fixed in this world's goods, and have two boys to send to college next year, you can readily see that I could not consistently accept a $3,000 position in Washington. If I felt that I could, I should have been only too glad to have taken this position, as I know the relations could not have been but pleasant and harmonious between us. Confidentially, a big effort has been made by some of my enemies in the party to get me out of the State of Colorado, and knowing this to be true, I have not felt like acceding to this feeling unless it was to my financial benefit. However, I had called a meeting of the executive committee of the Republican state central committee and placed the matter squarely before them, and they unanimously requested me to decline the position and 3854 to at once open up Republican state headquarters and organize for the next campaign. I want you to know that I appreciate your efforts in this matter, and if at any time I can be of service to you or the administration, command me. With kind regards, I remain, Sincerely, yours, JOHN F. VIVIAN, Chairman. MAY 27, 1909. MY DEAR MR. VIVIAN: Your letter of May 24, in regard to the position of settlement agent of the Reclamation Service, just at hand. I very much regret that you did not deem it expedient to accept the position. With kind regards, I remain, Very truly, yours, Mr. JOHN F. VIVIAN, P. O. Box 850, Denver, Colo. R. A. BALLINGER. L. W. Stockman, engineer, and Otto Brackman, bookkeeper, resigned to accept materially better paying positions, crippling organization. Immediate confirmation recommended; promotions urgent. SAVAGE. 3661 Correspondence and documents relating to Klamath project. CHIEF ENGINEer, U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: Your board of consulting engineers appointed for the Klamath project has fully reviewed the plans and estimates submitted by the project engineer, detailed and revised reports of which are transmitted herewith, and begs leave to report as follows: The total irrigable area under the Klamath project is 236,401 acres net, divided as follows: Public lands (45 per cent). Acres. 106,929 129, 472 236, 401 Of this area, 90,000 acres, or 38 per cent, are in California, and 146,401 acres, or 62 per cent, are in Oregon. We believe the charges for this project should be proportioned on this ratio between these States. Physical reasons exist for the apportionment of cost against this project. The upper valleys in the project will necessarily be under a reservoir system. The province of these reservoirs will be both that of supplying irrigation water to these valleys and also to prevent storm waters passing into Tule Lake, which lake it is proposed to drain. The upper valley lands, in our judgment, should pay 50 per cent of the cost of these storage works, the balance of the cost of storage to be assessed against the lake beds. Klamath Basin proper will be irrigated from the upper Klamath Lake and can naturally be more economically irrigated than other portions of the project. We believe that these lands should be given the benefit therefor. The Tule Lake bed is a sink or depression, from which it is proposed to cut off the water supply, thus permitting of the partial drying up of the lake by evaporation. These lands, therefore, receive a double service, for which it is considered proper they should adequately pay. For this reason 50 per cent of the charges for the construction of the storage works above referred to have been made against the lake-bed lands. As the lands in the bed of this lake are all public, new settlers can afford to pay a higher water rate thereon than they could do for private lands, which first must be purchased and, in addition, the water right paid for. We therefore have classified these charges as follows: This provides for a system of irrigation and drainage canals for the entire area. Water supply is ample. The lands are fertile and require irrigation. The climatic conditions permit of growing staple crops. Maps of the project have previously been sent to the chief engineer. The people are anxious to obtain irrigation under the provisions of the reclamation act. The State of Oregon is the greatest contributor to the reclamation fund, and the State of California is fifth on the list. Private water rights have been carefully considered by the engineers. Options have been obtained and submitted with a preliminary report under date of April 14, 1905, on the Klamath Falls Irrigation Company and on the Little Klamath Water Distribution Company. These canals have been using water for irrigation for over fifteen years. We have also a tentative agreement with the owners of the Carr ranch for the Clear Lake reservoir site, including water and riparian rights on Clear and Tule lakes. These agreements have been approved by the water users' association, and, as we understand, also by the chief engineer and the Secretary of the 3662 Interior. These are the main water rights involved by this project. These canals now irrigate 12,000 acres. The Klamath Canal Company, organized May 18, 1904, has spent about $100,000 on irrigation and construction works for the irrigation of 30,000 acres of land in the Klamath Basin. They propose diverting water from Upper Klamath Lake, but the Department of Justice has obtained a temporary injunction against them, as this will be an unauthorized interference with interstate navigable waters. The final hearing on this injunction will be held May 24, 1905. We have persistently tried to reach an agreement with this company, notwithstanding that we can not use the works they have built. They ask $200,000 for a sale of all their interests, and, in order to prevent delay and discord, we have offered to recommend the payment to them of $150,000 for these rights. This offer the company has declined. We can not consistently recommend further negotiations with them. We have, however, inserted a figure in our estimate of $150,000 for any contingencies which may grow out of this situation. This project is necessarily an interstate or national problem, owing to the navigable interstate character of the rivers and lakes involved. Both the States of Oregon and California and the United States Congress have passed the necessary legislation for the construction of this project and the disposal of the irrigated lands. Our estimate provides for the preservation and maintenance of all essential navigation interests. We therefore recommend that an allotment of funds sufficient for the construction of this project as outlined above should be made, and that the supervising engineer be instructed to prepare his plans and final estimates for the completion of the work; also that the landowners be informed that before construction can begin practically all private landowners must sign agreements with the Klamath Water Users' Association, which has been duly organized under the laws of Oregon. As surveys have not yet been made looking toward the irrigation of arid lands either in Shasta Valley or in Butte Valley, we can not now make recommendations concerning this possible portion of the projects. The works so far considered, however, have been so planned as to permit of the expansion of the project to cover these areas, if in the future it is deemed desirable. Yours, very truly, GEO. Y. WISNER. 3654 STATE OF OREGON, County of Klamath, ss: I, J. B. Griffith, being first duly sworn, depose and say that I am a resident of Klamath County, State of Oregon, and own land under the Klamath project and am a stock subscriber to the Klamath Water Users' Association; that before subscribing for stock in the said association I was assured by the engineers of the United States Reclamation Service that water under the Klamath project would cost ($18.60) eighteen and 60/100 dollars per acre, and not over ($20.00) twenty dollars per acre under any circumstances; that I was present on the 26th day of November, 1904, in the Houston Opera House, in Klamath Falls, Oregon, at which time and place Mr. F. H. Newell, for the United States Reclamation Service, spoke to the people concerning the Klamath project; that in response to certain questions asked of him during said speech as to the cost per acre under the Klamath project, the said Mr. F. H. Newell assured the people that water under the United States Reclamation Service for the Klamath project would cost ($18.60) eighteen and 60/100 dollars per acre, and that in no event would it cost more than ($20.00) twenty dollars per acre; I further depose and say that previous to and at the time of the first appearance of the United States reclamation engineers on the Klamath project I was owner of about 192 acres bordering on Lost River, and that by the use of a water wheel in said river I was irrigating approximately 150 acres of my land; that upon the determination of the representatives of the United States Government that this project would be approved and government irrigation works be constructed, Mr. T. H. Humphreys, project engineer, conferred with me in regard to giving up my right to the use of the waters of Lost River and signing my land to the Klamath Water Users' Association for government irrigation; that the said T. H. Humphreys stated to me that the cost of the water under the United States Reclamation Service would be $18.60 per acre, the cost being proportioned as follows: $10.85 per acre as expense of main canal and $7.75 per acre as expense of drainage and laterals; the said T. H. Humphreys, in behalf of the United States, offering to pay me the cost apportioned to the main 3655 canal, $10.85 per acre for the 150 acres of land irrigated by me by said wheel in Lost River, it being considered the benefits I would receive by the construction of the drainage system and the lateral system would repay me for that part of the total cost apportioned to same, $7.75; that after some negotiation I accepted settlement on that basis and entered into contract to waive all rights to the use of water from the said Lost River and to sign all my land to the Klamath Water Users' Association for government irrigation, payment to be made to me of $10.85 per acre for the 150 acres then being irrigated by me by said wheel in Lost River; this payment to me of the $10.85 per acre being understood to be the cost per acre for the construction of the main canal, I accepting the benefits to be derived by me from the construction of the drainage system and laterals as consideration for that part of the cost apportioned to them, namely, $7.75 per acre, and I by virtue of a contract with the Klamath Water Users' Association agreeing to pay the cost apportioned to my land for the construction of the irrigation system, which was at all times during these negotiations represented to me to be $18.60 per acre; it was only by virtue of the above stated settlement and representations that I signed my land for government irrigation. J. B. GRIFFITH. Subscribed and sworn to this 2nd day of January, 1909, before me, a notary public in and for the State of Oregon. [SEAL.] STATE OF OREGON, County of Klamath, ss: CLAUDE P. CHASTAIN. I, S. B. Low, being first duly sworn, depose and say that I am resident of Klamath County, Oregon, of lawful age, and a water user under the first unit of the Klamath project; that I kept time on the government men employed in baling hay on my ranch about 7 miles from Klamath Falls, and that it was as follows: October 11, 1907, 4 men, 2 teams, day. That during said time men were paid $3 per day and that a team was worth, including its keep, about $2 per day, and that the cost of baling said hay was about $6 per ton; that about 39 tons were baled by the men during the time set forth; that the same hay could have been baled at a maximum cost of $3 per ton; that the cost of baling was about double what it should have cost. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 12th day of January, 1909. S. B. Low. RICHARD SHORE SMITH, STATE OF OREGON, County of Klamath, ss: I, R. A. Emmett, being first duly sworn, depose and say that I am a stock subscriber of the Klamath Water Users' Association; that I was present in the opera house in Klamath Falls, Oregon, when F. H. Newell spoke to the people concerning the Klamath project; that I had talked with Engineer T. H. Humphreys, stating that we wanted to know the limit of the cost per acre under the project; that while Mr. F. H. Newell was speaking Mr. Humphreys whispered to me that if I wanted 3656 to know the cost per acre to ask Mr. Newell, and you will get the information. I asked Mr. Newell during his public speech what would be the cost per acre, and he replied it would not be less than $10 nor more than $20 per acre. I also state that I understood then and at all times that it covered all costs until the ditch was turned over to the Klamath Water Users' Association. With this understanding I signed up my land to the said association. R. A. EMMETT. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 21st day of January, 1909. Notary Public for Oregon. STATE OF OREGON, County of Klamath, ss: I, S. B. Low, being first duly sworn, depose and say that I am a resident of Klamath County, State of Oregon, and own land under the Klamath project, and am a stock subscriber to the Klamath Water Users' Association; that I signed my land to the said association for government irrigation, with the understanding that the cost of water under the United States Reclamation Service would be $18.60 per acre, and that in no event would the cost be more than $20.00 per acre; that it was only upon this understanding that I signed my land to the said association for government irrigation. (Signed) S. B. Low. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 12th day of January, 1909. [SEAL.] (Signed) CLAUDE P. CHASTAIN, STATE OF OREGON, County of Klamath, ss: I, B. S. Grigsby, being first duly sworn, depose and say that I am a resident of Klamath County, State of Oregon, and a landowner under the Klamath project and a stock subscriber to the Klamath Water Users' Association, that before subscribing my land to the said association for government irrigation I attended a public meeting held in Houston's Opera House, Klamath Falls, Oregon, where F. H. Newell, for the U. S. Reclamation Service, addressed the people in regard to the Klamath project; that in the course of his remarks the said F. H. Newell stated that water under the Klamath project would cost more than ten and less than twenty dollars per acre. B. S. GRIGSBY. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 30th day of December, 1908. CLAUDE P. CHASTAIN, STATE OF OREGON, County of Klamath, ss: I, S. B. Low, being first duly sworn, depose and say that I signed up my land to the Brown-Hawkins Co. before the Government Reclamation Service entered the Klamath project; that before finally canceling the contract with the above-named company and signing up to the Klamath Water Users' Association, the said company agreed to furnish me with water for a period of ten years at the agreed price of $15.00 per acre, paying at the rate of $1.50 per year, without interest, provided they could get 60,000 acres signed up to the said company; that at the end of ten years the ditch was to be turned over to the water users, and all structures were to be concrete and steel, the said company reserving to themselves all power they might develop and also the right to navigate the main canal. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 12th day of January, 1909. [SEAL.] S. B. Low. RICHARD SHORE SMITH. |