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Show 60 PROBLEMS OF IMPEEIAL VALLEY A2TO VICINITY. pr near Black Foint, Arizona, and Blythe, California." (Public, No-374, H. R. 31859.) The following provisions are made in this aqt: Provided, That the actual construction of said dams shall be begun within two years and completed within five years from the date of the passage of this act. And provided further, That the actual construction of said dams shall not be commenced until the-plans and specifications therefor shall have been presented to and approved by the Secretary of the Interior in addition to the requirements of the act approved June 23, 1910, entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to regulate the construction of dams across navigable waters' approved June 21, 1906," and in approving the-plans and specifications the Secretary of the Interior may impose such conditions as to him shall seem proper for the protection of the public interest* of Indians and the-United States. Ovmership and area.-The status of the project lands as of October^ 1920, as determined from the records of the United States LancJ Office, is as follows: Classification of lands, Palo Verde Mesa and Chucawalla Valley project. Tract. Gross acreage. Public. Entered. Private. State. Total. Revised area. Koebig & Koebig report. Palo Verde Mesa: Low level___.___ Intermediate level High level........ Chucawalla Valley: North side........ South side........ High level........ Total........... 600 1,200 600 13,000 4,000 8,000 12,700 12,100 7,200 28,000 37,000 38,500 5,000 2,000 500 300 500 350 1,400 1,200 700 1,700 2,500 2,150 19,700 16,500 9,000 43,000 44,000 49,000 20,000 16,850 10,500- 43,000' 42,800 45,400 27,400 135,500 8,650 9,650 181,200 177,550- Net irrigable area, assuming 50 per cent waste on account of poor soil (see soil report), also omitting the two high lifts as- advised by Koebig & Koebig in letter of October 27, 1920: Acres. Public................................................................,. 9,500' Entered....................................'..............................45,000 Private.................................................................. 4,000* State...........................................<.......................... 3,500; Totai..........................................,.................,.. 62,000- Present status.-No construction has been undertaken to date ori this project, and no plan has been presented for financing its construction. There are no improvements on the project except a few wells. Most of the land is held under desert entry and is unpatented. The status of these entries is defined in the act of Congress entitled "An act to exempt from cancellation certain desert-land entries in Riverside County, California (Public, No. 49), approved April 11, 1916," which reads in part as follows: That no desert-land entry heretofore made in good faith under the public-land laws for lands, townships * * * in Riverside County, State of California, shall be canceled prior to May 1, 1919, because of failure on the part of the entrymen to make any annual or final proof falling due upon any such entry prior to said date. * * * If the said entrymen are unable to procure water to irrigate the said lands above described through no fault of theirs, * * * the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to grant a further extension for an additional period of not exceeding two. years. |