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Show REPORT OF THE COMM~SSIONER OF INDW AFF~ES. 65 San Ildefonso Pueblo, B. Hex.-February 21, 1901, the Department authorized the expenditure of $7,000 for the construction of a system of irrigation on. this reservation, under the supervision of Superin-tendent John B. Harper. June 17 he reported that the ditch was rapidly nearing completion and would be finished and in operation by June 30. He is now engaged in preparing plans and estimates for a system of irrigation on the Zuni Reservation. Southern Ute Xeservation, Co1o.-With the completion of the San Juan, Piedra, and East Side ditches, there will be five ditches in oper-ation covering allotted lands in the ceded portion of the Southern Ute Reservation, viz: Spring Creek ditch, just east of the agency, length 62 miles; West Side ditch, just west of the agency, 6+ miles; San Juan ditch, on the San Juan River, 5t miles; Piedra ditch, on the Piedra River, 6 miles; and the East Side ditch, on the Los Pinos River. In an opinion filed September 7, 1901, Judge Moses Hallett, of the United States court for the district of Colorado, defined the legal status of irrigation ditches constructed by the Government on the allotted lands of the Southern Ute Indians, and in effect declared that they are not subject to interference by private citizens. An injunction was issued restraining Samuel W. Morrison and the Ignacio Mesa %tch and Reservoir Company from diverting water from the West Side Ditch. The opinion and injunction are printed on page 623. With reference to providing a system of irrigation for the Indians on the diminished reservation, the ofice, on June 27, 1901, reported to the Department a plan submitted by Inspector Graves, May 14, 1901, proposing that the Government enter into a contract with the owners of the Montezuma Valley Canal system to deliver at apoint on the reservation line the quantity of water required at a stated price per second-foot and an additional annual charge for maintenance. The proposition is now before the Department. Navaho Xeservation, Adz. and I?. Mex.-August 2, 1901, this office recommended to the Department that authority be granted to expend $800 in repairing constructed ditches on the Navaho Indian Reserva-tion and $1,500 for digging out, walling up, and protecting certain springs on the reservation, in order to increase the quantity of water for stock and domestic purposes among the Navaho Indians. It is difficult to keep ditches in that section of the country in proper repair, owing to heavy rains and floods, but it is, of course, necessary to keep them in a state of reasonable repair to secure any benefit therefrom. In that portion of the Navaho Reservation bordering on the San Juan I , River it is proposed to survey and stake off lines for three or four small ditches leading from this river, aid to secure an estimte of their probable cost, with the quantity of land which they will cover; also to fie maps of the ditches on behalf of the Indians in the proper office of the Territory of New Mexico, i$ accordance with Ter'ritorial laws. 8593-01-5 |
