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Show Office of Indian Affairs, and (3) a reduction in water user repayment obligation of $382,097 found equitable by a Board of Review, the Salt River Water Users Association contracted to repay $17,482,688 of the $22,607,408 Fed- eral cost for the project. As of December 1, 1949, there had become due and had been paid $10,793,047. The balance, principally payable on the later Bartlett Dam con- tract, will be amortized through annual payment by De- cember 1, 1979. In addition to the vast indirect benefits to the Nation stemming from the development of central Arizona which is attributable to the project, full return of the capital investment to the Treasury thus is in prospect. 18. Belle Fourche project, South Dakota.-Authorized in 1904 and providing delivery of irrigation water as early as 1908, the Belle Fourche project has been the source of many lessons applied profitably in subsequent under- takings. From the standpoint of physical development and repayment of investment, the project has fallen short of original expectations. Initially planned to irrigate about 100,000 acres, the project now serves 55,700 irrigable acres. This results both from inexperience in determining the suitability of soils for irrigation, which led to the inclusion of large blocks of land which today would be excluded, and from failure to realize a depend- able runoff of the volume indicated by the inadequate records available. The total construction cost of $5,315,- 000 was considered reimbursable in full, despite flood control and fish and wildlife benefits which under current procedures would have justified nonreimbursable alloca- tions, the water users were relieved of paying $1,417,000, or about 27 percent. Although, as on other early projects, repayment of the construction obligation was not achieved in the optimistically low 10-year period provided in the original Reclamation Act, the project water users have returned $1,187,000 (through 1948) and will complete payment of the $2,711,000 outstanding obligations under existing contracts. Several factors have contributed to this repayment record. In addition to a smaller paying acreage than anticipated and the time required to evolve the type of farm economy best suited to the area, inexperience and lack of authority with respect to selection of settlers and fo control of land speculation were important in earlier years. Many of those taking up project homesteads were entirely unqualified, and land speculation resulted in farm investments irm excess of productive capacities. Although the Belle Fou_rche Dam and other project works, which are satisfactorily meeting their design purposes, would be designed and constructed somewhat differently in the light of present practices and standards, the application of present standards in all probability would not have re- duced the costs. Despite shortcomings indicated, the project represents a profitable investment in view of the monetary and social benefits achieved. The aggregate value of crops pro- duced on the project in the period 1912-46 was $32 million, more than six times the total Federal cost, and in 1949 the gross crop value was equivalent to nearly half the Federal investment in the project. In the fluctuating economy of the adjoining plains, subject to the vagaries of seasonal precipitation, the irrigated lands of the project constitute an island of stability where farm level of living exceeds the average for the United States and for South Dakota, and where continuing services of kinds and qualities not otherwise available persevere for the benefit of adjoining areas. 19. Yakima project, Washington.-Shortly after pas- sage of the Reclamation Act of 1902, the Reclamation Service (later Bureau of Reclamation) initiated investi- gations of possibilities in the Yakima Valley, where some- what more than 100,000 acres were then under irrigation. Authorized in 1905, development by the Federal Govern- ment was planned and has been carried out on a basin- wide basis from the outset. Initial investigations revealed a total potential of approximately 500,000 acres of ir- rigable land in the basin. This figure is closely ap- proached by the 450,000 acres in the five existing divisions and one authorized division of the project and in other lands served by storage water from the six project reser- voirs, which have an aggregate capacity of 1,063,800 acre- feet. Construction of the Kennewick Division at the lower end of the valley where the water supply, as con- templated in early plans, will consist in large part of return flows from lands irrigated in the basin above, will virtually complete the irrigation development in the valley. Project facilities are adequately serving their designed purposes, although some modifications of original plans were required. Original estimates of water requirements for orchards on the Tieton Division, the first division wholly constructed by the Government, proved to be about 50 percent below actual requirements, necessitating an increase in the capacity of the main canal of the division, and failure of rock in a pressure tunnel under 500 :":;•¦ of head in a siphon on the Kittitas Division necessitated the installation of a steel lining. Drainage problems re- sulted in alkali damage to extensive areas, particularly on the Sunnyside Division, but these have been largely corrected by the installation of drainage facilities. Before canals were screened and dams provided with adequate fishways, damage was done to runs of anadromous fish. The creation by the project of benefits of great magni- tude is evident in the stable and prosperous agricultural community of irrigated farms, cities and towns supporting 200,000 people which largely owes its existence to the de- velopment. Crop returns equivalent to about 45 times the construction costs of the Tieton Division were received during the 37 years the water users were repaying those costs. In addition to completion of full payment for that division, scheduled payments are being continued by the water users of other constructed divisions. Of total project construction costs to date, aggregating $44,286,000, water users have been relieved of payment of $4,000 and have returned a total of $22,309,000, somewhat more than 50 percent of the total. 20. Boise project, Idaho.-The initial work on the Boise project was authorized in 1905 and Boise River water was delivered to some project lands in the following year. Additional storage and distribution facilities added dur- ing the ensuing years have resulted in full economic de- velopment of the Boise River and the importation to the Boise Valley of some water from the adjacent Payette River Basin. These Federal developments, resulting in the irrigation of 220,000 acres of new land, have been ad- ditional to the initial development by local groups of 167,000 acres. Of the latter, 117,000 acres are provided with supplemental water from Boise project storage works. 394 |