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Show SFIS INVESTMENT INIMFITABIE Delta Project Official Says State Officials x Aided Industry. GOOD PROGRESS MADE Difficulties Encountered and Overcome by New Concern Con-cern in South. Reporting that the Dftlta Land Sc "Water "Wa-ter company has available- $3,000,0)0 worth of taxable property, 6,000 acres C undor patent and 7400 acres more upon I which applications for patent have been I made, W. I. Moody, president of the uneern, has written a letter to the Jetato board of land commissioners. The communication expresses gratitude for assistance in making the big reclamation project successful, and indicates that members of the company find the Utah investment profitable. In part the letter let-ter says: Six yearn ago, in the winter of 1911, we were induced to come to Utah and investigate the old Oasis Land & Irrigation company Carey act project anove referred to, with a view of financing, developing ' and colonizing the same. We found a limited number of Bettlers on the project who were in great distress and doBpair due to the fact that the diversion dam in the Sevier river, constructed by the Oasis Land & Irrigation company to divert the waters from the Sevier river to the Carey act segregation, as well as to the Melville company s land adjoining, adjoin-ing, had been washed out for two successive years by the early flood waters of the river, and the early settlers had suffered a loss of two successive crops. The Oasis Land & Irrigation company was bankrupt; bank-rupt; it owed a large amount of money, evidenced, in part, by a bond issue of several hundred thousand thou-sand dollars: these bonds were held largely by the Melville and Deseret companies; and the Melville company com-pany had suffered a loss, not only m the crops of the two preceding years, hut also through the failure of the Oasis company to lift the bonds held by it. The entire country and people about Delta J presented the appearance of hope-ess hope-ess despair. Difficulties Overcome. Capital to finance this and other projects was not available, due to the fact that practically every eastern east-ern financial institution had placed an embargo on irrigation bonds and other irrigation securities. This was the result of one failure after another an-other in the development and colonization colo-nization of nearly every project, both Carey act and otherwise that had been exploited in the west during dur-ing the several preceding years. Irrigation Ir-rigation bonds to the amount of over forty millions of dollars were in default. Under such conditions it was not difficult to understand why it was next to impossible to interest eastern east-ern capital in western irrigation projects. I was told by the settlers of the Carey act segregation in Millard Mil-lard county, also by the officers of the Deseret and Melville companies, in the most emphatic terms, that capital only was required to reconstruct recon-struct the Carey act irrigation system sys-tem and reservoir and to lift the obligations of the Oasis Land and Irrigation company, which of itself would relieve the Deseret and Melville Mel-ville companies, as well as individuals individ-uals in that part of the country holding obligations of the Oasis company. The directors of these companies promised the writer their hearty support and co-operation in the event of his being able to finance the Carey act project and to clean up the obligations of the Oasis - company, and to co-operate with them in the construction of the joint main canal, the diversion diver-sion dam, the enlargement of the Sevier Bridge dam and the joint "C" canal common to the Melville and Oasis companies. Obligations Lifted. After inspecting the project and obtaining a general understanding of the amount of capital required to lift the obligations fOt the Oasis company and develop the Carey act project and colonize the same, I called upon W. D. Candland, president presi-dent of your board, fully cognizant that a new contract with your board to construct the svstem under the Carey act laws ancf reclaim so large a tract of land would involve a very large investment, moreover, there was an obligation of the Oasis company to the Btato of Utah amounting to $60,000, for which the state had no security, and this must be assumed by my company, provided provid-ed we committed ourselves to this financial undertaking realizing, as I did at that time, that the safety of the investment would to a very large extent depend upon the honest hon-est and intelligent co-operation of your honorable board. I interrogated interro-gated President Candland very closely as to the attitude of the land board toward our company if we should decide to finance the project pro-ject and assume the obligations of the defunct Oasis Land and Irrigation Irriga-tion company. I asked him whether wheth-er or not wo would receive the hon-. est co-operation of the board and fair treatment from them at all times. President Candland, In very emphatic em-phatic terms, assured me that the state needed eastern capital to develop de-velop this and other resources and that he fully realized the situation in Millard county, and especially in that district surrounding the Oasis Carey act project, was in a deplorable deplora-ble condition. He assured me that if we entered into a contract with the state through your honorable board to construct the Millard county Carey-act Carey-act project and invested a sufficient suffi-cient amount of money to lift the obligations of the Oasis Land & Irrigation Ir-rigation company and carry out the contract to a successful termination we would receive square and honest treatment from the board. All Obligations Paid. Largely upon the assurances given giv-en me by President Candland at that time, we decided to invest, and from the moment the contract was executed by the state of Utah through your board with our company com-pany we have paid our obligations in cash promptly and have at no time since we executed the contract asked for credit from anybody. Every Ev-ery dollar that has gone into the project and into the purchase of the assets or rather liabilities of the Oasis company has been supplied by our stockholders. We have developed devel-oped the project, strictly complying in every essential detail with the spirit and terms of the contract. Also, we have gone far beyond the contract with the state. For instance, in-stance, we have provided conveniences con-veniences for the settlers, such as loaning them money with which to buy livestock, grain, hay, lumber and even provisions with which to leed their families. Also, we have caused to be constructed and operated oper-ated on the north tract a railroad some fifteen miles long," toward the cost of which we have contributed many thousands of dollars and much valuable time and effort We have built many miles of graded roads and numerous bridges. We have built telephone lines and .have gone far beyond the contract with the Btate in construction of concrete structures in the canal system, and installed measuring devices, de-vices, etc. Our expenditures in excess ex-cess of the requirements of the state contract aggregate $150,000. This does not include the drainage on the South tract, where we have during the year 1916 reclaimed by a complete system of 100 miles of clay tile some 4500 acres of government . land at a cost of $160,000 land that would have been worthless without this expenditure Since my talk with President Candland m Salt Lake City in the winter of 1911, I and my associates associ-ates have expended more than $2 -500,000 in Millard and Beaver counties, coun-ties, this state. I mako mention of this fact that tho attention of your board mav be directed to this very important undertaking, un-dertaking, that, in mv judgment has been faithfully performed ' |