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Show . COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 11 of obtaining a water supply, viz: (1) Pumping from wells; (2) con-struction of a large reservoir at the Buttes; (3) construction of Queen Creek Reservoir at an estimated cost of $221,000. The first method he considered impracticable, owing to the prohibitive cost of opera-tion, while the third offered at most a supply of water barely sufficient ' for the minimum demands of the Indian Reservation at that time. Therefole he recommended the adoption of the second method, at an estimated cost of $2,244,000. The Indian appropriation act of July 1, 1898 (30 Stats., 571), con-tained an appropriation of $20,000 for ascertaining the depth of the bed rock at a place on the Gila River known as the Buttes, and the feasihility and total cost of the construction of a dam across the river at that point in order to irrigate the Gila %ver Reservation, and for ascertaining the average daily flow of water in the river at the Buttes, the same to be expended by the Director of the Geological Survey, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, provided ' that nothing therein contained should be construed as in any way com- 1 mitting the United States to the &structiou of said dam. March 10,1899, this office reported to the Department that Iniga-tion Inspector W. H. Graves was unable to suggest any plan of relief for the Pima Indians other tban the construction of the dam above referred to, and suggested that pending the investigation authorized in the act of July 1,1898, no action could be taken by this office or the Department in regard to irrigation on the Gila River Reservation. December 13,1899, Senator Wanen presented to the Senate the "Report of James D. Schuyler, consulting engineer, on the general conditions and cost of water storage for irrigation on the Gila River, Arizona, for the benefit of the Indians occupying the Gila River Res-ervation." (Senate Doc. No. 37,56th Cong., ist sess.) Mr. Schuyler reported that it was not feasible to build a masonry dam at the Buttes on account of the rotten quality of the rock, the great depth to bed rock, and the excessive height of dam required to obtain a storage of 174,000 acre-feet, or about one-hlf the flow of the stream, but that it was feasible to construct a masonry dam at Sau Carlos at a cost of $1,038,926, including damage8 for right of way. He recommended the construction of the latter dam. During the k s t session of the Fifty-%th Congress a bill was intro-duced in the House of Representatives (H. It. 3733) appropriating $1,000,000 for the purpose of sounding for bed rock at the founda-tions of the proposed San Carlos Dam, for preparing detailed plans and estimates, and for beginning the construction of foundations and completion of the dam or dams. April 24, 1900, this office made a favomble report upon the bill, but it was not passed. Instesd, Con-gress appropriated the sum of $30,000 for the temporary support of the Indians of the P i Agency. |