Mr. MONDELL. Under the Fort Laramie Canal I notice that you propose the extension of the canal into Nebraska. What is the estimated cost for the coming fiscal year?

Mr. DAVIS. $300,000.

Mr. MONDELL. That is also contingent upon the formation of a district to assume the obligations?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. MONDELL. What is the state of the negotiations?

Mr. DAVIS. The last report I had, which was several months ago, they were circulating a petition calling for the organization of the district. That is the state of it now, as near as I know. I have not any doubt, however, that they will organize the district and get money for these extensions.

Mr. MONDELL. You have now under ditch about 40,000 acres in Wyoming under the Fort Laramie Canal to which you can furnish

water?

Mr. DAVIS. Not this year. We can deliver water this year with a reasonable degree of certainty to about 10,000 acres. We can not deliver the water to anyone below Springer cut this year.

Mr. MONDELL. The 40,000 that you might get under water this year has been reduced by the failure to complete Springer cut? Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

LAND IRRIGATED.

Mr. MONDELL. How much of that land will be actually irrigated this year?

Mr. DAVIS. I think eight or ten thousand acres, probably. There is a syndicate being formed at Torrington, which you may have heard of, to take about 5,000 acres of that and cultivate it on a rental basis.

Mr. MONDELL. How much do you hope to get under ditch and in a condition to supply water for the next crop season under the Fort Laramie Canal?

Mr. DAVIS. The crop season of 1919?

Mr. MONDELL. A year from now; yes, sir.

Mr. DAVIS. A little less than 20,000 acres.

Mr. MONDELL. Do you anticipate having the Springer cut completed in time for crops next year?

Mr. DAVIS. No, sir; that is impossible. With the present force they have at work, it will take them, I think, well into the summer of 1919. Mr. MONDELL. Is not that the point where the work on this project. should be speeded up?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir. It has been under contract nearly a year. Mr. MONDELL. The contractors are not living up to their contract in the matter?

Mr. DAVIS. They are not making the speed that the contract calls for. They are actively doing work with two machines, but they are not making the progress that the contract calls for.

Mr. MONDELL. Is there no way in which that can be speeded up? Mr. DAVIS. That is a pretty difficult matter to do. I do not think that there would be any advantage in suspending the contract. The contractor is working against very difficult industrial conditions. We have adopted the policy, which I think is the correct one, in the last year especially, that where a contractor is making a reasonable effort not to bear down very hard on the time limit, as a matter of common fairness and justice.

Mr. MONDELL. You do not feel confident of having more than 20,000 acres to which you can furnish water for 1919?

Mr. DAVIS. I think it is a little less than 20,000 acres.

Mr. MONDELL. Do you anticipate opening any of this land next year?

Mr. DAVIS. No, sir. That, however, is not decided. I have not given it very much thought, because it is not profitable to make plans so much ahead. It depends on the completion of the work. We will have more evidence as to the character of those works and their service, and if the canal leaks badly and needs lining, etc., as new canals frequently do, it will be a good reason for postponing the opening.

Mr. MONDELL. Do you anticipate that if you did not open a section of that land that you could secure the irrigation of a considerable portion of the country?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir. Of course the thing to do will be to open up and invite in settlers so we can get the land cultivated when the system is in shape. I think it would be impossible to open the land next year, on account of the physical conditions. The canal should be operated at least one season before any obligations are assumed concerning the delivery of water.

Mr. MONDELL. That is a splendid tract which could be very promptly brought under cultivation either through water-right contracts or entries?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. MONDELL. That is a tract on which construction should be speeded as rapidly as possible.

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir; I agree with you. That is what this appropriation contemplates.

Mr. MONDELL. What is the general condition under this project? Mr. DAVIS. It is one of prosperity and cooperation, when we consider the climatic and other topographic difficulties that the north side has had. Some of them will apply to the south side and some will not. I think the north side is one of our most creditable projects. They are doing their best and giving us little trouble. They are cooperating. The sentiment is satisfactory. When they want something else done they do not try to get it done for nothing, as they do in some other places. The general state of mind there is that they expect to pay for what they get. They are not trying to do anything else.

Mr. MONDELL. You want a reappropriation of the balance, do you? Mr. DAVIS. Yes; we want that very much.

RIO GRANDE PROJECT, TRANSFER OF APPROPRIATIONS TO.

(See p. 1259.)

TRUCKEE-CARSON PROJECT, NEVADA.

(See p. 1219.)

Mr. BYRNES. The next is the Truckee-Carson project, Nevada, "For maintenance, operation, continuation of construction, and incidental operations." You are asking for $846,000.

Mr. DAVIS. A reduction of $175,000 has been requested by the President and the Secretary of the Interior, to come out of the storage system and to be transferred to the item of the Rio Grande project, where drainage is badly needed.

Mr. BYRNES. You had $795,000 last year. spent up to this time?

How much have you

Mr. DAVIS. The expenditure up to the end of the calendar year was only 12 per cent. That is due to the inability to reach adjustments on two different items. One of them is this upper Carson unit, which we have asked to be eliminated this year. That delay still persists. The other is the matter of the drainage. We have not been able to get the necessary contracts to insure the repayments for the drainage. It is badly needed, however, and we want to be able to do that next year. There is a movement on foot to organize a district and get in line and obligate themselves to pay for the drainage. The Government ought not to put any obstruction in the way of that, of course.

The CHAIRMAN. Right at that point, Mr. Davis, practically every one of your irrigation projects, after they have existed for any length of time, becomes a drainage problem, does it not?

Mr. DAVIS. I should say that about half of them, roughly speaking? The CHAIRMAN. Do you not anticipate that there will have to be drainage on practically every project?

There are some

Mr. DAVIS. On every large valley we have; yes. exceptions, however. I do not think the Okanogan project will require drainage, but that is a small one, and the Orland project has no prospect of requiring it, but that is also a small one; the large ones, however, will generally need drainage, especially where they are very flat, so that they do not have a free escape for the water. The CHAIRMAN. Are you getting any better cooperation on the part of the users of the water in using a less quantity so as to lessen the flooding of the land?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes; the condition is improving in that respect, and on the whole we are getting cooperation in that direction. Some projects are making severe resistance to it and on many we have disagreements as to what should be done and how far we should go in the enforcement of economy. It is a case of constant pressure all the time and it is largely a matter of how tactfully it can be handled, and to do that in the way that will get cooperation and effective results we have take to it very slowly and carefully.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the general rule followed in the assessment of the expense incident to drainage?

Mr. DAVIS. Usually it is paid by the entire project, on the theory that it is due to the irrigation system as a whole, seepage from canals as well as from lands, and is not always due to excessive use of water by the irrigators. Most irrigators do use water excessively, but not all, and even when that is done it may not be the largest factor in the waterlogging. But that is the general rule, to apply it to the whole project.

STORAGE SYSTEM.

Mr. MONDELL. I notice on page 53 of your statement that for the storage system on this project you have the sum of $327,000. Where do you expect to use that?

Mr. DAVIS. $200,000 was for beginning construction on the Long Valley Reservoir of the Upper Carson unit, and we have requested that that be reduced by $175,000, and that this Long Valley Reservoir be not built.

Mr. MONDELL. The people themselves have requested delay in that construction, have they?

Mr. DAVIS. No, sir; they have not requested it, but they appear to be willing that there should be a delay, especially in view of the conditions which have been found there. We have concluded that the Long Valley Reservoir is not the best site for construction: it may not hold water very well.

Mr. MONDELL. That leaves $152,000. Where did you expect to use that?

IMPROVEMENT OF LAKE TAHOE.

Mr. DAVIS. That is for the improvement of Lake Tahoe for dredging the outlet channel inside of the Lake Tahoe Reservoir and for the construction of a concrete weir at the outlet, as well as the payment of damages around the margin of the lake.

Mr. MONDELL. How much do you expect that the last item, payment of damages, will amount to, and what will be the character of those damages?

Mr. DAVIS. The actual amount of damages, in my opinion, will be very small, almost negligible, but others may not think so; therefore we will have to leave it to arbitration or the courts, and the probabilities are that some awards will be made for damages.

As a matter of fact, we do not expect to raise the lake as high as it has been in a state of nature. Under our plan it would not go as high or go as low as it has in the past, because we can, with our regulating work, prevent the fluctuation of that lake as much as it would be naturally. Mr. MONDELL. Within what points do you expect to maintain the levels of the lake?

Mr. DAVIS. Six feet.

Mr. MONDELL. Six feet between high and low?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the character of the damages claimed, and by whom?

Mr. DAVIS. The flooding of riparian lands, border lands.
The CHAIRMAN. Are there any buildings involved?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes; there are some buildings. There are a good many small residences around the lake. Few buildings, however, will be injured by this work, but there are wharves that might be damaged by having the lake continue for long time as high as we propose to flood it. They would not be awash in calm weather, but the claim is that if a storm should happen to come at high water it would threaten those wharves. But the principal thing is dredging for low water, to allow the steamers to get in to the wharves. That will cost something, and is one of the items covered by this appropriation.

Mr. MONDELL. But even so, you do not intend to reduce the level of the lake to a point below its former extreme low stage?

Mr. DAVIS. No; the lake has fluctuated about 9 feet, whereas we propose a fluctuation within 6 feet. That can be done and we can demonstrate that it can be done, unless there is an abnormal change in climate.

EXTENSIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS.

Mr. MONDELL. Where do you expect to expend $35,000 on the lateral system?

Mr. DAVIS. That is for small extensions and improvements scattered about through the project.

DRAINAGE SYSTEM-CARSON VALLEY.

Mr. MONDELL. You have $237,500 for a drainage system. Where do you expect to expend that money?

Mr. DAVIS. The main portion of this project needs drainage, and we will expend that down in the Carson Valley on lands at present irrigated and open to entry, where drainage is needed, provided they form a district and obligate themselves to pay for it.

Mr. MONDELL. The expenditure of that entire sum will be made. upon such an arrangement?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. MONDELL. Does there seem to be a pretty good prospect for such an arrangement?

Mr. DAVIS. Fair, only. The leading men of the valley are favoring it and I believe it will go through, but we have not any assurance of it as yet.

FARM UNITS.

Mr. MONDELL. You have an item of $80,500 under the title "Farm units." How do you expect to expend that sum?

Mr. DAVIS. That is for the leveling and clearing, mainly, of public land, where we expect to add that to the cost.

Mr. MONDELL. That is, to a very considerable extent, a new class of work under the reclamation projects?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. MONDELL. And is intended in this case, as I understand, to handle some very rough hummocky land?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. MONDELL. With heavy machinery?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. MONDELL. With the idea that the Government can do it at very much lower cost than the settlers?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. MONDELL. Do you feel that under the reclamation law you have full authority for that class of work and is it essential for the settlement of these lands and will the saving be considerable?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir. The legal forces have very carefully considered that, including the Secretary's office, and have so decided, and authorized the work that has been done in the past and ask for this appropriation on that theory. The cost of doing this would be added. in each case to the charges on the farm unit itself, the individual farm where the work is done.

Mr. MONDELL. Will you be able to assess and collect those additional charges beyond question?

Mr. DAVIS. I have not any doubt of it. It is very much to the advantage of the farmer because it does what he would have to do in advance of production, and it speeds up his production.