OCR Text |
Show 184 examinations and surveys and to locate and construct irrigation works, and was then to report annually to Congress on enum- erated matters.199 The Act also provides for withdrawal of public lands from entry for construction of irrigation works.200 Entries on lands so withdrawn are limited to a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 160 acres.201 Upon determination that a project was practi- cable, the Secretary could let contracts if funds were available in the Reclamation Fund.202 He must give public notice of lands available for entry, the permissible size of entry fixed in accord- ance with his determination of the acreage "reasonably required for the support of a family," and of the charges per acre to be made upon such entries and upon lands in private owner- ship.203 Charges were to be determined with a view to returning to the Reclamation Fund the estimated cost of construction, and had to be paid in not to exceed 10 annual installments.204 Additional homestead requirements for reclamation entries and patents are also established by the Act.205 Moreover, rights to use of water are limited to 160 acres as to private lands, and the landowner was required to be an of a proposed convention with Mexico, which was afterward signed on May 21, 1906, 34 Stat. 2953, Congress extended the Reclamation Act to the portion of Texas bordering upon the Rio Grande which could be irri- gated from a dam to be constructed near Engle, New Mexico. Act of February 25, 1905, 33 Stat. 814. This is the Elephant Butte Dam. See Sperry v. Elephant Butte Irr. Dist., 33 N. Mex. 482, 270 Pac. 889 (1928). A month after the conclusion of the 1906 convention, the Reclamation Act was extended to the entire State of Texas. Act of June 12, 1906, 34 Stat. 259, see 43 U. S. C. 391. Until this legislation, Texas embraced the only portion of arid land in the United States not within the Act. H. Rep. No. 1790, 59th Cong., 1st sess. (1906). 199 § 2, 32 Stat. 388, as amended, 43 U. S. C. 411. Through the remainder of this chapter, the word "Secretary," standing alone, will refer to the Secretary of the Interior. 200 § 3, 32 Stat. 388, see 43 U. S. C. 416. 201 Id. 202 § 4, 32 Stat. 389, 43 U. S. C. 419. 208 Id. 1204 § 4, 32 Stat. 389, see 43 U. S. C. 419. The Code omits the limit on installments. 205 § 5, 32 Stat. 389, see 43 U. S. O. 439. |