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Show 060 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT ity. At the Minidoka Dam, for example, plans were underway for a generator to produce current to the amount of 7,500 horsepower which would be used to pump water to higher levels for irrigating 52,000 acres for which water could not otherwise be provided. At this early time Newell was aware that some if not most of the projects would be too expensive unless water and electric power were made available for sale to reduce costs.68 Congress was bolder than the Reclamation authorities. In a town site law of April 16, 1906, it had authorized the Secretary of the Interior to lease, for not over 10 years, electric power which it had been necessary to develop for irrigation purposes or where the improvements of the reclamation project afforded an opportunity for the generation of power, giving preference in its choice of leases to municipalities.69 Notwithstanding this fairly clear statement, in 1912 the Director of the Reclamation Service (now a full-fledged bureau in the Department of the Interior) still showed the earlier uncertainty about electric power generated at dam sites or at falls in canals: In the construction of reclamation projects for irrigating arid lands, it sometimes becomes necessary to develop water power as being the cheapest or most available means of operating the building equipment. If the physical and market conditions are such that it is feasible to continue the operation of the power plant after its construction uses are over, the power may, in some cases, be used for pumping water. In a few cases, a small amount has been available for lighting and other purposes in the neighboring towns on the reclamation projects.70 88 Fourth Annual Report, 1905, pp. 351-55; Geological Survey, Twenty-Fifth Annual Report, 1904, p. 325. 69 34 Stat., Part 1, p. 117. 70 The Director listed the different projects at which power was being or could be generated, giving emphasis upon the use of the power for pumping and drainage. Reclamation Service, Eleventh Annual Report, 1912, pp. 18-22. In his report for 1909 Newell said that the surplus of power in the Salt River project after all the use for pumping could be "sold for industrial purposes." Director A. P. Davis, in his annual report for 1915, reiterated that power plants constructed at dams of the Reclamation Service were operated principally for pumping water for irrigation and incidentally for other purposes, the excess power being sold for domestic or industrial uses. He reported that of the 11 hydro-electric generators and one steam-electric generator, having a combined capacity of 27,134 kilowatts, 38 percent of the output was sold and the balance used for pumping, construction, camp lights, drainage, or was lost in transmission. He estimated that at dams and drops in canals a total of 488,782 horsepower was undeveloped. Power was being sold to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the Inspiration Copper Company, and various other industrial companies and to six towns and cities.71 By 1916 the Reclamation Service was saying that considerable income was being received from the sale of power from several of the projects. Two power plants were leased to private companies when the construction work was completed.72 The following year an important step was taken in using power revenues to minimize water costs to settlers. By the plan worked out between the water users and the officials, power revenues from Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River were to be credited to the annual accruals of construction charges. These revenues, it was estimated, would take care of all construction charges for 7 or 8 years and more than half of the balance for the period of payment. The sale of surplus electric power was becoming important as a means of reducing the costs of irrigation.73 71 Reclamation Service, Fourteenth Annual Report. 1915, pp. 28-33. 72 Fifteenth Annual Report, 1916, pp. 22-23. 73 Sixteenth Annual Report, 1917, pp. 8-9. |
