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OFFICE OF DAVENPORT WATER POWER COMPANY, Davenport, Iowa, December 14, 1906. DEAR SIR: You favor of the 11th instant, also copy of bill proposing extension of our franchise, came duly to hand. Pursuant to your request, I have prepared a statement showing causes of delay. You will please note that to-day we are still trying to satisfy the Engineering Department and can not look for a decision before March 1 of next year, which practically leaves us in the same shape as we were at the time the franchise was granted.

Our company is composed of public-spirited, wealthy citizens (excepting a few who have undertaken a preliminary investigation), who intend and expect to be able to construct this water power out of their own means. There is no intention of bonding or selling unless it is coupled with the agreement to construct, and that as soon as possible. We are incorporated for $10,000, of which 60 per cent have paid. The balance is available whenever needed. As soon as we are permitted to build steps will be taken to construct the work. Should you desire any further information, or in case it should be necessary for me to come to Washington, I will be ready at any time you so wish. Respectfully, DAVENPORT WATER COMPANY, E. HUGO SCHMIDT,

Hon. A. F. DAWSON, M. C.,

Washington, D. C.

Secretary Pro Tem.

STATEMENT OF DAVENPORT WATER POWER COMPANY.

Organized July 8, 1903. Capital stock, $10,000. Directors and stockholders constituting the company: F. H. Griggs, George Mengel, August E. Steffen, P. T. Walsh, W. H. Kimball, Charles Francis, J. P. Donahue, E. H. Ryan, W. P. Bettendorf, and E. Hugo Schmidt.

Bill authorizing construction of the water power approved April 5, 1904, and signed by Secretary of State Hay April 12, 1904.

Consulted Major Lusk April 18, 1904, and prepared plans.

Map and plans forwarded to Secretary of War May 22, 1904. Were returned to engineer's office at Rock Island June 15, 1904.

Major Lusk could not take up matters for several weeks thereafter, owing to press of business.

July 8, 1904, Major Lusk reported very ill, and nothing done until January 31, 1905.

January 31, 1905, Major Lusk informally stated that no contraction of channel would be permitted at section 45, and company asked for further time to investigate this demand.

Major Richey's report to the War Department November 3, 1905.
Report from War Department November 17, 1905.

January 30, 1906, request made by company to appoint board of engineers to investigate the proposition.

March 10, 1906, said board was appointed.

The first meeting of the board was held March 28, 1906; the second meeting, June 12, 1906.

Board forwarded their report to War Department July 9, 1906, leaving the entire matter in the charge of the Rock Island engineer's office.

August 17, 1906, company was allowed access to papers in engineer's office. December 11, 1906, company delivered new plans to the engineer's office in Rock Island. Under the act the franchise would expire January 5, 1907.

59TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ( 2d Session.

BRIDGE ACROSS ASHLEY RIVER, SOUTH CAROLINA.

JANUARY 14, 1907.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. RYAN, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 22135.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 22135) authorizing the construction of a bridge across the Ashley River, in the counties of Charleston and Colleton, S. C., having considered the same, report thereon with amendment, and as so amended recommend that it pass.

The bill as amended has the approval of the War Department, as will appear by the indorsements attached and which are made a part of this report.

Amend the bill as follows:

On page 1, line 9, after the word "aforesaid," strike out all of the balance of said line and strike out lines 10 and 11 on the same page, and after the word "aforesaid," in line 9, page 1, add the following: "at a point suitable to navigation interests, in accordance with the provisions of an act of Congress entitled 'An act to regulate the construction of bridges over navigable waters' approved March twentythird, nineteen hundred and six.

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Strike out all of sections 2, 3, 4, and 5, and change section 6 to section 2.

[Second indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS,
Washington, December 17, 1906.

Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War with recommendation that the accompanying bill (H. R. 22135, 59th Cong., 2d sess.), to authorize the construction of a bridge across Ashley River, South Carolina, be amended as indicated in red thereon.

As thus amended, I know of no objection to the favorable consideration of the bill by Congress so far as the interests of navigation are concerned.

A. MACKENZIE,

Brig. Gen., Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army.

[Third indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT,
December 17, 1906.

Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives, inviting attention to the foregoing report of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, and to the accompanying copy of amended bill referred to.

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59TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 2d Session.

JICARILLA RESERVATION.

JANUARY 14, 1907.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. HOGG, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 23650.]

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 23650) to quiet title to lands on Jicarilla Reservation, and to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to cause allotments to be made, and to dispose of merchantable timber, and for other purposes, submit the following report:

Your committee have given this bill careful attention and have heard Mr. Johnson, the superintendent of the agency, upon it. He states that the Department, himself, and the Indians interested favor it.

The bill has for its purpose the betterment of the Jicarilla Apache Indians in northern New Mexico. Under the act of 1887 certain allotments were made to these Indians in 1896, and patents were also issued for a number of the Indians. Since then it has been impossible to determine, except in a very few cases, the identity of the allottees.

There is a very considerable amount of timber growing upon the reservation, amounting, roughly, to something over 100,000,000 feet. It is the purpose of the Government to dispose of the merchantable timber for the sole benefit of the entire tribe, the proceeds to be used for the construction of irrigation systems on the reservation.

All of the Indians have expressed their desire for the passage of this bill and have agreed, so far as the allottees are known, to surrender their allotments and take under the provisions of the bill. Considerable progress has already been made by this tribe, as is shown by the statement of Mr. Johnson, the agent, in the raising of grains and in the maintenance of flocks of sheep and goats. The main object of the bill is to give a small portion of tillable land to each Indian with, say, 640 acres of grazing land, in order that they

may be self-sustaining, the principal purpose being to engage them in grazing pursuits.

The Indians themselves have constructed reservoirs to the value of about $50,000, having done so in lieu of rations, receiving a per diem for their labor. It is the purpose of the Government, and a wise one, to develop the desire among the Indians for individual effort, and it has been found that they make very good hands in the beet fields and on the railroads.

The lands on this reservation are practically valueless without irrigation, and the source of irrigation supply is by impounding flood waters, there being no available living stream upon the reservation. Your committee therefore recommends the passage of the bill with the following amendment:

SEC. 3. That the Commissioner of Indian Affairs is hereby empowered and directed to make relinquishment for any minor, insane, incompetent, or unidentified Indian for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act.

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