Show PETr PETITION rION OF PROTEST uintah basin utah may 30 1922 to the congress of the united states washington D C gentlemen friends fellow citizens we hereby petition your honorable body tor for relief from the oppressive despotism of the indian irrigation project of which we are a vital though unconsidered part we ar are ewhite white settlers buthe of the aln tah basin in utah and water users under the above named project gathered here from all parts of the united states and led here by byl luring which declared this particular location to be a paradise in the malting making it was said to be unrivaled as to climate as to fertility of soil as to abundance of water and we ere told that the irrigation diches cliches were fully completed ready to use and would be operated under such a plan that those who bought indian land would be given an unrivaled water watertight right with no other expenses connected except an annual maintenance cost that would likely ever exceed fifty cents an acre we find since coming here that wo we were deceived this a hard country to prosper in while the climate Is good water Is abundant and the soil Is productive after untiring efforts on the settlers part to make it so the water system Is managed in it such a way that no user has a single solitary word to say about it he Is told to pay up or his gate will be closed and there Is rights end most of his money Is spent by incompetent employees whose knowledge and regard tor for economy and efficiency fici 11 ency are singularly lackl lacking ng during the last five years the maintenance charges have grown by leaps and bounds until conditions have reached such a stage that the settler cannot meet them and he Is compelled to revolt against a state of taxation without representation that Is grinding him to the ground on the first day of may this year notwithstanding the tact fact that the rivers were overflowing the ditches were practically empty because those in charge were afraid that someone who had fiad not been able to pay up would hakea little littie water with which to stait start his crop it if we appeal tor for redress we get none we are told these are our orders from washington arid we must carry cairy them out we ask tor for bread and we get a stone what are we to do Is it not possible for some step to ie be taken whereby we pioneers of this new country coun country iry may hava a voice inthe in the management of our own affairs in other words can congress not do comet something hang that will clear our great republic of fostering within her bosom a and despotism which rivals as as an injustice that against which our fathers fought in the sacred revolutionary war we respectfully recommend that the uintah indian irrigation project as it Is now constituted be abolished and that the property pertaining thereunto including ill all books and records all ditches and later als all buildings all implements vehicles and machinery all water rights and filings and any any other assets together with all liabilities be turned over to the land owners of said project and that said land owners including indians and whites be be permitted to organize a corporation tor for the purpose of administering and carrying on the business of said property and of distributing water to the lands ot of said owners this with ille the strict proviso that each acre of land under the new organization shall represent an equal responsibility with every other oher acre for the liabilities and general expenses of 0 the corporation and that each such acre shall give to lis its owner a voice in the management ot of said corporation also that the stock ot of ahe the corporation shall be e classified that the acreage under each ditch in the system shall lae be responsible tor for the maintenance of such ditch and no others |