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Show LAND DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 110823-1906. OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, WASHINGTON. January 5, 1907. The United States Indian/Agent, Uintah and Ouray Agency, YAiiterookn, Utah. Sir: / In answer to your letter of December 13, 1906, I find on further examination that there is a special act of congress authorizing tho Secretary of the Interior to grant rights of way over the Uintah Reservation for irrigation ditches. Therefore, the instructions given in Office letter of Deoember 4, 1906, as to how the Dry Gulch Irrigation company should proceed, may be disregarded, for the speoial aot provides a more simple and better method for accomplishing the same end. The Act of March 1, 1899, (30 Stat.L.,940), reads as follows: "That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to grant rights of way for the construction and maintenance of darns, ditches, and onnals, on or through the Uintah Indian Reservation in Utah, for the purpose of diverting and appropriating the waters of the streams in said reservation for useful purposes: Provided, That all such grants shall be subject at all times to the paramount rights of the Indians on Bald reservation to GO mien of said waters as may have been appropriated, or may hereafter be appropriated or needed by them for agricultural and domestio purposes; and it shall be the duty of tho Secretary of the Interior to prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to secure to the Indians the quantity of water needed for their present and prospective wants, and to otherwise protect the rights and interests of the Indians and the Indian service." |