sary rights be concluded with the Klamath Falls Company at not to exceed $150,000. (2) That the options now heretofore considered and conditionally approved by the Department be now definitely approved subject to the usual condition of furnishing good title and that this office be authorized to advise the said parties that the rights and property in question will be purchased at the prices stated under the conditions of the options heretofore conditionally approved, upon the showing of good title and compliance with the usual conditions of purchase, namely, the Klamath Falls Irrigation Co., and The Little Klamath Water Ditch Co., furthermore, that an agreement in due form for the purchase from S. L. Akins of the property of the Jesse D. Carr Land and Live Stock Co., as heretofore specified at the price heretofore stated will be approved when presented. Very repectfully, (Signed) C. D. WALCOTT, Director. UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, Washington, May 12, 1905. The Honorable the SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following as additional to my letter of the 10th instant in regard to the Klamath Project, Oregon. The Board of Engineers has reported favorably on the project and I concur in its recommendation. In said letter the suggestion was made that it would be wise to set aside $4,400,000 for the Klamath Project out of the funds which may be available in the future and at the present time to allot $1,000,000 definitely from the funds now in hand. I desire now to make a recommendation to that effect, namely, that $4,400,000 be set aside for the Klamath Project out of the funds which may be available in the future, and at the present time the sum of $1,000,000 be allotted from the funds now in hand, with a view to the purchase of the property which is the subject of options heretofore submitted for your consideration and for taking up and constructing an integral portion of the project which in the terms of Section 4 of the Reclamation act it may be practicable to construct and complete as a part of the whole project, the specific portion of the work to be taken up being left for future report by the Board of Engineers. Very respectfully, (Signed) CHAS. D. WALCOTT. Director. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, The DIRECTOR OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. SIR: In letters of the 10th and 12th instant, to the Department, you presented the matter of the proposed Klamath Project, in southern Oregon and northern California, under the act of June 17, 1902, 32 Stat. 388, reported on to you on the 1st instant by a Board of Engineers of the Reclamation Service. This correspondence includes statements in detail relating to the conditions affecting the project and the action essential on the part of the United States to the ultimate completion of the project if adopted. I learn therefrom that the total irrigable area under this proj-· ect embraces 236,401 acres of which 45 percent, or 106,929 acres, are public lands and 55 percent, or 129,472 acres, are private lands, and that 90,000 acres are in California and the remainder, or 62 percent, are in Oregon. It appears that the estimated cost of the reclamation of the lands is, in round numbers, $4,400,000, or $18.60 per acre, the lands being reported to be of excellent quality and the cost of reclamation being, in your opinion, notably low. You have stated that the Board of Engineers has reported favorably on the project and have advised me that you concur in its recommendation and have further recommended that $4,400,000.00 be set aside for the project from the funds which may be available in the future and that there be now apportioned from the funds in hand the sum of $1,000,000, with a view to the purchase of the property now the subject of options and for entering on and constructing an integral part of the project as authorized by section 4 of the act. You have referred to the conditional approval in Departmental letters to you, on the 28th ultimo, of agreements to purchase certain private rights which it is necessary to acquire, and have asked authority to advise the parties, viz: the Klamath Falls Irrigation Company and the Little Klamath Water Ditch Company that the rights and property in question will be purchased at the prices stated under the conditions of the options heretofore conditionally approved on the showing of good title and compliance with the usual conditions of purchase; also that an agreement in due form for the purchase from S. L. Akins of the property of the Jesse D. Carr Land and Live Stock Company as heretofore specified at the price heretofore stated when presented will be approved. With respect to the property of the Klamath Canal Company you have submitted a copy of a further report of the Board of Engineers, dated the 5th instant, together with a copy of a memorandum of agreement proposed to be entered into with the company for the acquisition by the United States of water rights, canals, rights of way, tunnel route, etc., necessary in carrying out the project, and have recommended that the memorandum be approved. The Board has recommended that an option be agreed to for the purchase of the rights and interests of this company for $150,000. I have considered your several letters and recommendations and in accordance therewith I hereby, on the condition hereafter stated, adopt the Klamath Project and authorize you to cause the construction thereof to be entered on under the act; I also, on the same condition, set aside for the construction of the project from funds that may become available in the future the sum of $4,400,000 and hereby apportion the sum of $1,000,000 as a part of the cost of construction, from the fund provided by the act now in hand; I also, on the same condition, authorize you to advise the Klamath Falls Irrigation Company in accordance with your recommendation, and inform you that an agreement with S. L. Akins will be approved when presented, subject to the conditions covered by your recommendations. The memorandum of the Board covering the rights and property of the Klamath Canal Company is also hereby approved as you have recommended. The condition on which the foregoing Department action hinges is the acquirement by the United States of the rights and property of the Klamath Canal Company, as per memorandum submitted by the Board. Very respectfully, (Signed) E. A. HITCHCOCK, Secretary. LAWTON PROJECT OKLAHOMA Construction of the Lawton project was determined to be practicable and advisable by the Secretary on October 7, 1914, and approved by the President on October 8, 1914, under provisions of the act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388) as modified by section 4 of the act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 836). Subsequently water rights were assigned to the City of Lawton, Okla., to insure a water supply for Fort Sill military post, and consequently the irrigation project was not continued. U. S. RECLAMATION SERVICE, The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. SIR: In accordance with your direction at Tahoe, California, Mr. R. F. Walter, supervising engineer, visited the City of Lawton, Oklahoma, and examined the irrigation project in that vicinity. Mr. Walter has made report upon this project, copy of which is herewith transmitted. There is less than one complete year of measurement of the water supply available for this project, but it happens that the period covered is one of just about normal rainfall and should indicate approximately an average water supply. During the year observed there was just about enough water for the town of Lawton and Fort Sill Indian Reservation, and to compensate for evaporation on the surface of the reservoir, which is necessary to regulate the flow for this use. Unless the year observed is very misleading, there would be practically no water supply for irrigation in any normal year or any year below normal in runoff. Attention is called particularly to paragraph 21 of Mr. Walter's letter, where he mentions two possibilities of failure on this project: 1. That immediately after its construction there should come a series of wet years, and, therefore, the farmers will fail to build a lateral system or to use the water and the project will go into disuse. 2. That immediately after the construction of the project there should come a series of dry years and as the present water supply indicates a shortage of water and not enough flow into Medicine Bluff Creek to supply the city and the irrigation project, and the Reclamation Service would, therefore, be blamed for having taken up the project where there was a shortage of water, besides being unable to collect the money expended. On the basis of the present records, it appears that the water supply available for this project would be practically nil in years when it was needed and in such years as might furnish a surplus water supply that could be used for irrigation, the rainfall would be so heavy that irrigation water would not be needed and would not be used. There is a possibility, however, that the year of record may be very abnormal in the relation of runoff and rainfall. This suggests the only remaining chance of working out a successful project here. If the runoff for the past year is an abnormally small percentage of the rainfall as claimed locally, this fact should be developed by continuing the observations of stream flow for two or three more years, and it seems wise to do this before entirely abandoning the project. RECOMMENDATION It is respectfully recommended that the construction of this project be for the present suspended owing to lack of adequate water supply, and that the observations of runoff be continued for another year, to be used as a basis for reconsidering the whole question at the end of 1914. Respectfully, Recommendation approved. (Signed) A. P. DAVIS, Acting Director. The above letter was returned to the Chief Counsel, Reclamation Service, by the Secretary's Office on December 30, 1913, under the following memorandum: "I return herewith a proposed recommendation to the Secretary dated November 20, from the Reclamation Commission, with regard to the proposed project at Lawton, Oklahoma. I understand that this matter was discussed at the reclamation conference on Saturday, and that the matter is now in the hands of the commission for disposition." Subsequent action and approval is described in the following correspondence. |