Show bas A io n na iva by J P MAY area generally known as the etah basin is the utah sector of 0 region that is a lit it 45 per cent approximately utah about same saine in colorado id d 10 par dew cent in wyoming the ford d made no arrangements for te lines when this vast nast inter ro was laid down slowly and pon an eroded to the present land pape pa confining ourselves to the itah 11 area and most specifically the land known as the former reservation eser please note tol fol wang ing important data opened bened to settlement in 1905 shley valley was settled in 80 and the federal govern lent ent gave gaie wide publicity to the dening literature scattered idely and several thousand peo a came in a before opening however the dian bureau h had ad set aside tor for lan fa faim faa a lands ot of acres hat t being the iper capita allow ice a per der act of congress of 1904 ich alch opened three reservations ind d grazing land along the loot foot ills 18 of the uintah range about acres was reserved and still so held 00 about 1910 a an n audit was waa made 1 I the indian business a and d a bus taken per er direction or or denand dea a of congress ess and instead ot of the 1984 utes as to congress by the indian bureau in 1904 it was found the number was approximately 1142 thia left a surplus of indian land farm arm land and a lot ot of it was placed on the market I 1 believe the present holdings of 0 indian farm lands will mores acres naturally irrigation was tho first step after filing and tho the first move made by the indian bureau and was spent in the reclamation of 0 the lands tor for the utes white people made i enlargements ot of certain ol of the canals and laterals literals late rals people who tiled filed homestead entries only kind law permitted on former reservation were poor water was taken out near mear the streams it is not unfair to say that 13 1 3 of all lands classed today as farm land is not in reality farm land landa and much of this third la Is not even good pasture yet on this such as aa area west of loka icka church to upalco much of ml aft emmons bench land west of myton to bridge considerable ol of the area around boneta mt aft home 0 me A alzonah altonah Al tonah neola hayden ayden II Whlter ochs ck 9 bench etc to la not continued on page six uintah batin continued from page one i I 1 row now and never will be farm land soil is too thin and grav b because soil on kind under the 1 el I is fot f land vast quantities of water have bave been poured out for thirty stars bears nearly only to add t to the troubles on lower lands jis is solvable able so salts its were taken up by the water and carried for one ten miles an and d then by simple to process of capi capillarity larity all and d evaporation 11 ion the salts 0 or r alkali have beer been there is some left of 01 course good fal farm ill land in these areas but a lot of it is as noted in taming ta fa ming attitude altitude length ol of growing season anil and average temperature pera ture during each season are cry if the very thin so EO lie bo eliminated and fair method 0 da water conservation and use applied two acre feet per iper annum is 1 all the water the goob land will need for all crops except sugar beets and 2 feet Is ii ample for this crop the water supply is approximately as follows duchesne liver and its tribu barles mein average flow per US figures with strawberry resor reser air cut out over ac aee e feet ashley ci clock eek 1500 io T not used for rne mire I 1 than 1000 acres in the flow through 40 miles of fine while sage land in utah yampa the unused potion polion flowing ding to the green total unused water and used acre feet allowing in duchesne and uintah counties tor for loss in evaporation and seepage tor for 50 per cent of this total there is still a arien average dunoff of 1200 acre feet or enough for COO acres but ve me have hare only pires of the really leally rood good land and much of this Is awn green river where cold is greatest the mein or average la is what we wc mul consider in ill temperature tempora tuie in lund in water and in human nature dut but in soil no average avo age will do for tile the daimer lie ile wants to enow 1 now the acres that will produce crops and he will have to cut out the land that will not produce thus far a lot of this uintah basin faini fainting ing has been experimental and under unusual conditions twenty years ago our wealth was measured mostly lu 11 lead head and in tons because livestock was the main business price was our shipping ship pring point and 12 05 per cwt cat was the standard rate to roosevelt indian canyon roid road came later and then ae a e auto and the truck and U S 40 and today the cost from salt lake to roosevelt as an average point Is less than per cwt cat in ciuck load lots in 1919 our first bad dry year came followed by an in extraordinary cold winter and about 55 per cent of all sheep and cattle died this heavy loss and hay going to 40 per ton as spring approached much corn shipped in and heavy drop in livestock values wreck wrecked ei hundreds of men who were well to do six months before bafo e alfalfa and clover seed and a gradually increased dairy production net cash to the daimer and honey along with the lesser or lessened livestock business has kept the area alive the year 1931 was a hard one but 1934 hit harder balder an area that had already had about au all it mild could stand today conditions are serious morale is broken homes ric nio being literally shot to pieces and a rich section of 0 the arid west is going to 11 II one might say i two main subjects intel interest est the investigator viz is there enough water and will the land produce I 1 crops that will pay the last 25 years have witnessed several or a number of ideas and plans acla tive live to irrigation applied until 1920 we had the stead flow system and then we tiled the turn system which is the original ori f utah method and still used AS to the clop production there is ia ample evidence that it will produce good crops of course in this statement reference is made to genuine farm land and with the idea of 0 elimination bruni nation of a lot of marginal land which has been tried but which men able to judge readily know will not oay nay to farm this poor land Is found in an air important acreage of indian farm faim lands as well as along the farm lands which white people have homestead ed the most ot of the bet ter soil having depth and essen bial qualities although short on nitrogen and bacteria is in the area that is from topographic center of the larger area abea in the three tates tales ouray east ind foith to the elevation of about feet this includes the castle peak land south east of myton a fine body of oc good soil at to feet ouray valley and the biggest unplowed area of good land in utah tor for which there is water that Is the dead bench this white sage cimesa east of green river has acres of good land well drained by its tip character of the soil and to rangeley nearly will not go outside the hot browin growing seison and about the mile ovation elevation el there are three big projects be fore us viz first save the homes we have made so tar far as baay be economical second le claim these large tracts of our better lands by diverting the yampa end and the white rivers OWL ami third build the flaming Flan ring go aoge ie dam because it is one of 1113 fisit as the mud catchers which bodiker dam must have hav e to balte it J t last the period coners cong rs see debates on sui sir hect when nilen boulder dam tight fight P po cil ci ard 0 in congress 01 the 1 l ii pr opria on of it ot of course there are many lesser matters the indian ind air department proved up on a lot of latex that does not show very well against the law which makes wat er r not property in tile the usual sense we own it only so long as it Is beneficially used it is USE not ownership that counts the U S reclamation fund was vas created when the public land tates states rave gave federal government the tour four sections in each township t i allocated to the state per the enabling act in ill 1895 andl and somewhat added to by other acts and by accepting less valuable lands not in the forested belt the forest reserve was impossible and not otherwise working share of this is about 1 l and it has never had 25 per er cent of it in use whilo while idaho has pas used about thirty seven million 01 I 1 dollars and wyoming with C casper a project will have twenty civo million used I 1 lot let salt lake take nil ill th the water it cm can get from the uintah basin and the same for denver pueblo and a possible stealing afi or some gome ot of the san juan by or through thi ough new alex mexico A ic 0 to tie the I 1 rio grando grande and still we have the colorado river watershed a desolate region much bad land but bitt some of it good and quite a lot ot of water of which but a traction fraction has yet been put to beneficial use lets give the 1150 utes a square deal no more and no less there are only about indians in the U S aside from mexicans and some same people talk and act as though there were ten times this number the uintah basin has been caught in the boulder dam deal and water diverting shall we kill it in view of the history once 1904 where is there a better arid western if agoni of such magnitude and with a lu ithie so secure at shiprock new mexico a lam dam is being built for the navajos cavajos Nava jos of that arid tract that is to be watered by the san juan the government is testing the sull soil on each 20 or each 40 acres eliminating guess wok the uintah basin needs a lot of guessing eliminated our morale Is broken the deop people I 1 e are ready to quit utah needs the basin utah does docs not crop acres of irrigated land per annum here Is one third of the farm land utah may ever irrigate |