AZ vs. CA:16 California Exhibits, Vol. XVI; Nos. 2600-2644

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1^0507 organized Territory cf Arizona, and it war, largely due to his efforts that favorable action was taken so eoon after; the recommendation was made by him on September 30, 1864, and Congre6 3 established the reservation on March 3, 186.^, probably setting an all-time record.1 The boundaries were subsequently changed in various ways by Executive Orders of November 22, 1873, November 16, 1874, May 15, 1876 and November 22, 1915. Th* present area of the reservation is approximately 242,711 acres, of v/hich 100,000 acres aT-e irritable nnd the balance mountainous and waste lands. When first discovered tiio Indinn3 along the Colorado Hiver were planting wheat and corn in the moi9t eartli following the receding flood waters (using sticks for tools). This practice was followed until the flood waters were controlled, starting threr? years a^o, with the completion of the Boulder Dam. This primitive agriculture provided the Indians a large part of their living. First Efforts to. Irrirnte The first apnropriation for irrigation on this reservation, which incidentally was the first effort by the Government to irrigate and reclaim arid land, was contained in the Act of March 2, 1867 (14 Stat., 614) ae follows: For expense of collecting and locating the Colorado River Indians in Arizona, on a r^servarion set apart for them by section first, act of March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, including the expense of constructing a canal for irrigating said reservation, fifty thousand dollars. Suppleaenting this legislation were the Acts of July 22, 1868 (15 Stat., 222) and May 29, 1872 (17 Stat., 188) providing $50,000 and $20,000, respectively, for: "completing the construction of irrigating canal on the Colorado River Reservation in Arizona." Work under these acts was begun on December 16, 1867, and water was turned into the canal in July, 1870. Due to the difficulty of maintaining the original canal heading, work on a new heading at a point now known as Head Gate Rock was started In 1872 and water was turned into the new canal on June 23, 1874. This canal was also a failure due to the caving of several tunnels, and in 1876 this first effort at irrigation was abandoned. The cost of this work, subsequently canceled, was $119,984.21, expended principally in the purchase of rations and materials.