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verse conditions during the fiscal year 1930, a profit has been realized by the Menominee mills.

In furtherance of the general plan of forest administration_within the Menominee Reservation, outlined in 1927, a fairly comprehensive study of forest growth on cut-over lands of the reservation was made during the past year. The results of this study were summarized in a report designated as A Preliminary Forest Management Plan for the Menominee Indian Reservation. This report presents in written form the guiding principles upon which logging operations at Neopit have been conducted in recent years and demonstrates clearly the possibilities of forest production which have heretofore been predicted by foresters from a general familiarity with tree growth in the Lake States.

An experimental forest area, consisting of 1,780 acres of logged and burned-over tribal lands, has been established as the Quinaielt Reservation in western Washington. Early in 1929 forestry employees of the Taholah jurisdiction planted 3,500 3-year-old spruce seedlings on a part of this area. Although these trees were of natural growth, pulled within the reservation, a survival of 90 per cent was secured. On Lincoln's Birthday, 1930, members of the Elks lodge of Hoquiam, Wash., assisted the Indian Service rangers and scalers in planting about 20 acres additional. It is hoped that this first demonstration in the Grays Harbor region of the practicability of forest planting for commercial purposes may be of assistance in arousing and maintaining public interest in this subject.

On the Red Lake Reservation, Minn., where forest planting on a small scale was first tried in 1919 with only fair success, about 25,000 Norway and white pine transplants were placed in the field in May, 1930. This planting stock was purchased and donated to the Indian Service by a prominent lumberman, resident in Minneapolis, who had expressed a desire to have a part in an experiment of this character. As members of his family about 30 years ago had manufactured millions of feet of virgin pine taken from the Red Lake Reservation, his interest in the rehabilitation of the pine forests on the Red Lake Reservation affords a striking illustration of the broad view that progressive lumbermen have with regard to reforestation. This gentleman has indicated a desire for further cooperation concerning this worthy project.

The forest planting of 1930 on the Menominee Reservation was made along State Highway No. 47, where the results attained will afford a constant object lesson, not only to the Menominee Indians but also to the hundreds of thousands of tourists passing along the road each season. The site is not a particularly favorable one, being very sandy, but was selected because of its proximity to a main thoroughfare and the probability of protection of the plantation from forest fire.

Mention should be made of a unique forest fire lookout erected within the Quinaielt Indian Reservation, Wash., through the cooperation of the forestry branch and the Hobi Timber Co. who were logging Indian timber. This lookout was constructed by topping a Douglas fir at a height of 174 feet from the ground and then building an observer's house approximately 8 feet square with its floor 170 feet from the ground. From this lookout approximately twothirds of the entire area of the Quinaielt Reservation, an extensive

area within the Olympic National Forest, and many square miles of private forest land, are visible.

For 1929 the total annual appropriations for ordinary care and preservation of timber on Indian reservations, including expenses incidental to the sale of timber, but exclusive of fire suppression charges, was $335,000. This sum was increased for the 1930 fiscal year by $25,000 and for 1931 a further increase of $130,000 has been secured. Deficiency appropriations have been necessary to meet obligations incurred in the suppression of many fires occurring on timbered areas, and a total of $70,000 spread over a 3-year period has been made available from tribal moneys for insect-control work on the Klamath Reservation, Oreg.

IRRIGATION ACTIVITIES

The lands of the several Indian reservations in the western part of the United States are for the most part desert like in character, and their utilization can come about only through irrigation or the artificial application of water to the soil. In a wider sense irrigation is taken to include the whole question of conservation and utilization of water in the development of the arid regions and to embrace a discussion of features of social and political importance arising from the reclamation of the arid lands of these reservations. In the early days the Indians in most instances where cultivation of the soil was carried on for the production of crops would divert in a crude way, by the placing of brush and rock in the stream, small quantities of water into a crudely constructed ditch for such purpose. These methods were uneconomical and resulted only in very limited irrigation. To obviate this condition and provide adequate irrigation facilities an engineering force was first employed in the Indian Service about 1913. The work has been the planning and construction of irrigation works to divert and carry water from rivers and streams for application to the lands. This involves construction of diversion dams, headgates, canals, flumes and pipes, tunnels, and lining of canals in order to facilitate economically the transference of the water from the streams to the land. Many of the streams are seasonal, and after the melting of the snows in the spring the run-off diminishes until the natural flow of the streams is inadequate to take care of the lands of the particular project. This condition has necessitated the construction of various types of dams, such as masonry, concrete, rock-filled, and earthen dams to create reservoirs in which to impound the flood waters of the streams that prior to construction of the reservoirs are to a large extent wasted. This method results in providing an adequate water supply, enables regulation of its distribution, and assures water for crop production throughout the irrigation season.

There are also constructed ordinary and artesian wells for the tapping of underground waters to provide irrigation where the surface flow is inadequate or entirely absent. Underground wells are also provided for drainage purposes, the water being used to supplement the surface supply. Such operations result in preventing alkali and seeped conditions which are bound to follow after lands have been irrigated for a period of years unless drainage facilities are provided.

The irrigation branch of this service has also carried on the water development by drilling of wells, cleaning of springs, and construction of small reservoirs or charcos to catch the surface runoffs in sections where stock and sheep-raising conditions are successfully practiced, particularly within the Navajo and Hopi Reservations and the pueblos in New Mexico and Arizona.

As a by-product, power plants are installed and operated during the irrigation season of the impounding dams, power being generated from the water passed through the dam for irrigation purposes. In the carrying on of this activity there have been developed, both large and small, 205 irrigation projects at the approximate cost to June 30, 1930, as revised, of $36,964,013 for construction work, and for operation and maintenance, $10,994,576. The construction reimbursements have been approximately $1,418,330 and the reimbursements for operation and maintenance have been $3,776,482. The total area of lands under constructed works in the Indian irrigation service is approximately 775,000 acres, being an increase of about 25,000 acres during the current year; the total area irrigated during 1929 was approximately 361,708 acres. Within the boundaries of the various irrigation projects there is an estimated total of 1,358,761 acres of land susceptible of irrigation, and the estimated cost to complete the projects so as to supply water to this full acreage of irrigable land is $30,000,000.

It is realized that readjustment of the reimbursable indebtedness must be made because instances exist where per acre charges against the land on behalf of irrigation works exceed the present value of the land. The policy is to place these irrigation projects on a sound economic foundation, so that the individual Indians will feel that their land is not encumbered with onerous obligations. At the present time some of the Indians refuse to utilize the irrigation activities afforded them, because they feel that they would be involved in the reimbursable obligation, where, as a matter of fact, under the law their lands are subject to a lien created against the lands to assure repayment of the obligation. Studies will be made for the purpose of thoroughly analyzing the whole situation with a view to securing proper legislation to remedy the conditions. It is believed this will effect greater interest by the Indians in the cultivation of their lands, and that they will be induced to remain thereon. During the current year construction work has been performed at a cost of approximately $1,514,241 and the cost for operation and maintenance during this year has been approximately $740,064. In reimbursement of these expenditures, collections have been made for construction costs amounting to $150,000, and for operation and maintenance expenses, $389,877.

Much interest has centered around the Coolidge Dam and the San Carlos irrigation project in Arizona, the Coolidge Dam having been completed and the impounding of water commenced on November 15, 1928. To the present time only a small portion of the total capacity of the San Carlos Reservoir has been utilized owing to the comparatively light run-off during the time the storage of water has been in progress. The highest stage reached up to the present is approximately 163,300 acre-feet of available water. The total capacity of the reservoir is 1,200,000 acre-feet. Activities have been

in progress in the matter of completing a contract between the Government and the owners of the lands within the irrigation project for reimbursement of the costs. The formulation of a contract governing the generation and disposition of electric power at the Coolidge Dam has also been under consideration, installation of the equipment for generating power having been practically completed during the prior year. The power plant has been in operation since October 9, 1929. Construction of the canal and lateral system has also been receiving attention, and satisfactory progress is being made along that line, with the result that a considerable area both within the Indian reservation and on lands in white ownership is being served with water for irrigation purposes. The total acreage that will be eventually served will be 50,000 acres of lands within the Gila River Indian Reservation and 50,000 acres under white ownership outside the Indian reservation. Attention has also been given to the matter of readjusting the Indian allotments in order that each allottee, as nearly as practicable, may have a tract of land susceptible of irrigation from the San Carlos project.

Under the industrial branch of the service some 40,000 acres of the Pima Indian lands, not heretofore cleared and cultivated by the Indians, are being subjugated and necessary distributing systems constructed. This is being done with reimbursable funds appropriated by Congress to be repaid by the allottees over a long term of years. This procedure has been found necessary because of the fact that the Indians themselves are not able, situated as they now are, to finance the special machinery and organization necessary for the economical prosecution of the work if the land is to be placed under cultivation within a reasonable time after the water is available.

Within the Salt River Indian Reservation in Arizona further consideration has been given the matter of entering into an agreement between the United States and the Verde River irrigation and power district, and an agreement covering that matter was executed as of date June 30, 1930, thereby resulting in an adjustment of the Verde River situation, which has been under negotiation for a number of years.

Within the Yakima Reservation in Washington the various units have been in successful operation, including the Wapato Pumping Unit No. 1 recently completed. With a view to obtaining data for more efficient operation of this project, a soil survey under the direction of an expert from the Department of Agriculture has been in progress during the present year and will probably be completed within a few weeks. There has also been an investigation and report made by engineers of the irrigation service pertaining to the water supply of the Klickitat River and its tributaries with a view to diverting ultimately a portion of the water from that system to the Ahtanum and Toppenish-Simco irrigation units.

Within the Lummi Indian Reservation, under the Tulalip Agency, in the State of Washington, benefits are being derived by Indian lands and lands in white ownership included under the Lummi diking project, completed during the year 1929 at a cost of approximately $67,700 and reclaiming 4,418 acres of excellent land. Åttention is now being given to adjustment of the reimbursement of the

cost, which is to be apportioned on a per-acre basis to the lands benefited in proportion to the amount of benefit actually received.

During the year there has been brought to final conclusion the leasing of the Flathead Indian Power site No. 1 in Montana, one of the largest hydroelectric power sites in the country. License was granted by the Federal Power Commission to the Rocky Mountain Power Co. for the development of power site No. 1 within the Flathead Reservation and work has already been commenced on construction of a transmission line from Thompson Falls and of the first unit, which when completed will have an installation of 150,000 horsepower. The eventual complete development of the five sites will produce more than 200,000 horsepower. No license has yet been awarded for sites 2, 3, 4, and 5. The present development will be of importance in connection with the Flathead Indian irrigation project. The several units of the Flathead project have been in successful operation and the Flathead irrigation district has recently executed a contract, thereby acquiring the status of an independent irrigation district. Construction of the irrigation system on the Flathead project was carried on extensively, including the building of the Kickinghorse Reservoir and the raising of the Tabor Dam and canal construction. There have also been pending a number of suits, involving water rights on lands belonging to numerous individuals within the Flathead irrigation project, which matter has been receiving the attention of the supervising engineer and the irrigation district attorney, in cooperation with the United States district attorney, in support of the claims of the Government.

Irrigation operations of the Blackfeet and Fort Peck Indian irrigation projects, Montana, have been satisfactorily conducted, it having been definitely determined to continue the Little Porcupine and Big Porcupine divisions and not to exceed 4,000 acres under the west side canal of the Poplar River division of the Fort Peck project. As to the Blackfeet project, the supervising engineer reports encouraging indications of reviving interest on the part of the land owners in the use of the irrigation system and it is anticipated that an increased crop acreage will be irrigated under that project during the present season. The Fort Hall irrigation project in Idaho has been successfully operated, and legislation is now pending in Congress with a view to further development of the Michaud unit, involving about 30,000 acres of lands susceptible of irrigation. On the Pine River irrigation project, within the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in Colorado, suit is still pending for the purpose of adjudicating the waters of the Pine River and its tributaries. While this suit has been standing for a number of years, encouraging reports have been received from the field officials indicating that a final settlement may be expected within the near future. The irrigation project has been in operation with satisfactory results and progress has continued in adjustment of local controversies by the execution of agreements with certain water users and ditch companies involved in the project. Pursuant to the provisions of the contract entered into between the Government and the Middle Rio Grande conservancy district, a political subdivision of the State of New Mexico, an engineer of the Indian irrigation service has been detailed to have supervision over the affairs of that undertaking in which the numerous Indian pueblos are involved. Progress is being made in the matter of obtaining the

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