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Show 48 which probably would not have been feasible under private financing. Ultimately, however, the program proved to be of only limited value. 21 In an effort to promote water development, the Carey Land Act ( 1894) had provided for funds to be raised for irrigation by offering to make up to 1,000,000 acres of public land available for sale within each participating state. 22 Although the Utah State Land Board was actively involved in assisting private developers of water projects under the Carey Land Act, only one Utah Carey Project carried through to the successful sale of both land and water. This was the Delta Project, which involved nearly 50,000 acres in the years around 1910.23 Very little was accomplished by the State Board of Land Commissioners with regards to irrigation development through direct state- funded projects between 1896 and 1906. Although some money was in the Reservoir Land Grant Fund, its restriction of using funds only on state- owned land limited its utilization, as did previous private development of the more promising sites, hi spite of these obstacles, the Board of Land Commissioners, in its first annual report, called the legislature's attention to the potential of sixteen reservoir sites and recommended that funds for the development of the sites be appropriated. The legislature took no action on these recommendations and the reservoir sites were not mentioned in subsequent reports or actions by the board. It was not until 1907, eleven years after the Hoard's creation, that bids were let to begin the construction of the first irrigation project fundedlby the Board of Land Commissioners. The next year work was initiated on a second project. 24 ( For further detail on these state projects refer to Chapter 6.) Use of the Reservoir Land Grant Fund for the farm loan program and investigations was an effort to apply the federal reclamation provisions tfien in force. As its tide suggests, the board was primarily concerned with land. But in working t ® promote the utilization of land, it was one of the state's primary water management agencies fta* two decades. In carrying out its functions, it was controlled by state water policy and interacted with an even more important agency in the management of water, the Office of the State Engineer. The Office of The State Engineer The State Engineer's Office was created in February 1897. In May of the same year, Willard Young became the first State Engineer, serving until July 1898. Young's successor, R. C. Gemmell, was appointed on August 1,1898. The first official actions of the State Engineer's Office dealt with recording streamflow statistics of the rivers, springs and wells in Utah collected by the United States Geologic Survey. ( The legislature failed to provide funds to enable the new office to make stream measurements itself.) The State Engineer's Office was also responsible for Because the effects of the farm loan program extend to the 1930s this program will be examined in detail in Chapter 7, beginning on p 73. 22The Carey Land Act was an attempt by the United States Congress to fund reclamation efforts without using general government funds. By giving a grant of land to the states the federal government lost only potential not current revenues. See Chapter 4, pp 38- 39 for further details. ^ See p 35 for a summary of the Delta project ^ Reports on the progress and problems which occurred on these two projects can be obtained from both State of Utah, " Annual Report of the Utah State Board of Land Commissioners," Public Documents, and State of Utah, " Biennial Report of the State Engineer to the Governor of the State of Utah," Public Documents, for the years 1906 to 1926. |