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Show 51 amount of the water of the Weber River ran to waste. Of the 1,128,755 acre- feet of annual flow the State Engineer's Office had determined were available, only 366,000 acre- feet were then being used, leaving 762,555 acre- feet running to waste. 31 During the years of 1903 and 1904, the State Engineer's Office approved plans for nine privately financed dams, of which two were additions to existing structures. The office also continued its involvement with the Strawberry project. The Board of Land Commissioners was interested in determining the project's feasibility and had requested the Office of the State Engineer to survey the streams likely to be involved. The State Engineer's Office had considerably higher expenses associated with these increased levels of activity. Some of these increased expenditures were covered by funds from the Experimental Irrigation Contingent Fund. This fund had been established by the legislature in 1903 to pay for the expenses of planning reservoirs and irrigation works throughout the state. 32 Out of this fund, $ 23,910.56 was spent. An additional, $ 2,136.08 was spent on surveys made in cooperation with the Board of Land Commissioners. These costs were mainly incurred by the Strawberry project, but also included some expenditures for a project on central Utah's Buckhorn Flat. The office collected $ 1,242.62 in contingent fees and $ 1,638.50 in fees for dam approval and services rendered. In 1905 Caleb Tanner assumed the duties of State Engineer. During the three years between the passage of Utah's water law defining the role of the State Engineer in recording and granting water rights ( 1903) and Caleb Tanner's first biennial report ( 1906), the office received 1,154 applications for new water rights. Included were applications for irrigation, stock watering, power, municipal, and mining purposes. Of these applications, 286 were approved, 335 lapsed due to time restrictions, 47 were withdrawn, and 54 were rejected. 33 The office continued to work on the Weber River in an attempt to clarify, record, and measure the water rights on the river. Caleb Tanner submitted to the district court the work performed by the office along with recommendations concerning the awarding of water rights, which the court would use in issuing its decree. The State Engineer's Office continued to promote efficiency in water use throughout the state. Among the new methods suggested by Caleb Tanner in the 1905- 1906 biennial report were recommendations that existing water- user groups consolidate into larger and more efficient units and that the water delivery systems themselves be improved by lining and redesigning canals and laterals. The Arid Land Reclamation Fund Commission In 1902 Congress passed the National Reclamation Act which provided funding for water resource reclamation work in the 17 western states. In 1903, Utah's legislators decided to participate in the development of the reclamation projects. At that time, the Utah legislature The Weber River study was the State Engineer's first attempt at determining water rights. The information collected was recorded in State of Utah, " Fourth Biennial Report of the State Engineer to the Governor of the State of Utah for the Years 1903 and 1904," Public Documents, pp 6- 53. 32State of Utah, Laws of the State of Utah ( 1903), Section 73. The experimental Irrigation Contingent Fund established with $ 25,000 for the 1903- 1904 biennium. 33State of Utah, " Fifth Biennial Report of the State Engineer to the Governor of die State of Utah for the Years 1905 and 1906," Public Documents, p 5. |
