GRAND VALLEY PROJECT, COLORADO Mr. LEAVY. In Colorado, Mr. Page, you list two incompleted projects there, one of which is the Grand Valley project. Mr. PAGE. Yes. Mr. LEAVY. You ask for nothing at all there. Has that one been finished? Mr. PAGE. That has been finished as far as it seems to be wise to go at the present time. Of course, you realize also that there is a provision which we hope the committee will favor, and that is carrying over the unexpended balances of the 1937 appropriation. Mr. LEAVY. Is the Grand Valley project of recent origin? Mr. PAGE. Oh, no; it is an old project, and this is in the nature of an addition to the old project. The money available there was not spent in 1937. Mr. LEAVY. Perhaps some other members of the committee will want to ask you more in detail about that. I want to move along now with a single idea I had in mind in reference to these. BOISE PROJECT, IDAHO, PAYETTE DIVISION Mr. SCRUGHAM. The next is the Payette division of the Boise project in Idaho, where an appropriation of $1,000,000 is proposed. Mr. PAGE. I submit this justification: APPROPRIATIONS AND ALLOTMENTS Appropriation requested for fiscal year 1938: Reclamation fund____ $1, 000, 000 Fund available: Emergency relief allocation (1935 act). Reclamation fund appropriation, fiscal year 1937. Expenditures prior to 1932. Amount necessary to complete after fiscal year 1938. 700, 000 1, 000, 000 81, 300 3, 897, 000 6, 678, 300 Location. The Boise project is located in Ada, Canyon, Gem, Payette, Elmore, Boise, and Valley Counties, western central Idaho, and a small area in Malheur County, Oreg. The Payette division is in Canyon, Gem, and Payette Counties. Purpose. The purpose of the works now under way is the irrigation of 47,000 acres of land in the Payette division. Description.-Lands of the project are situated near the confluence of the Snake River with the Boise and Payette Rivers, at an elevation from 2,300 to 2,600 feet above sea level. The total irrigable area of the project is about 234,000 acres contained in four divisions as follows: Arrowrock.. Notus.. 166, 363 Pavette 47, 000 14, 000 In addition, 108,932 acres receive a partial water supply from project storage under Warren Act contracts. Arrowrock division lies between the Snake and Boise Rivers. Boise River is the source of its water supply. The Notus division, receiving its water supply from drainage return of the Arrowrock division, is situated to the north of the Boise River. The Arrowrock and Notus divisions are the only ones for which irrigation works have been constructed. Principal towns on the completed portion of the project are Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Meridian, Kuna, and Wilder. The main line of the Oregon Short Line Railroad runs lengthwise of the project, and three branch lines serve outlying points. More than 60 percent of the land is planted to alfalfa, which is used for stock feeding. Other crops include fruits, vegetables, corn, and wheat. Temperatures rarely go above 100° or below zero. The annual precipitation at Boise is 13.6 inches, of which about 70 percent occurs outside the irrigation season. There The Hillcrest division lands lie above the main south side canal of the Arrowrock division and will require pumping in order to place water on the land. are no plans for immediate development of this division. The Payette division lands lie between the Boise and Payette Rivers west of the Snake River, and adjoin the Notus division. Payette River water will be used for irrigating the entire area of 47,000 acres, of which 26,000 acres can be reached with a gravity system and 21,000 acres will require pumping. The main irrigation features constructed to date on the Payette River are Deadwood Dam and Reservoir, the Black Canyon power plant, and Black Canyon diversion dam. Deadwood Reservoir is situated on the Deadwood River, a tributary of the Payette. It has a storage capacity of 164,000 acre-feet. These three features are a part of the works necessary for the irrigation of the Payette division. They were constructed in advance of the other work to provide power for pumping on the Owyhee project and to provide a point of diversion for the Emmett irrigation district. The remaining works necessary for irrigation of the Payette division are a canal and lateral system; pumping plants for the high lands; a system of drains; and supplementary storage. The main canal will have a capacity of 1,090 second-feet. It will start at Black Canyon Dam and run in a westerly direction about 27 miles. From the main canal water will be distributed to the land by means of a pumping plant and a system of laterals. Drains will be constructed as needed after the land has been placed in cultivation. Deadwood Reservoir has sufficient capacity to provide a partial storage supply for irrigation of the new lands. However, as any water used to irrigate the Payette division will not be available for generation of electricity, it will be necessary eventually to provide additional storage for irrigation, to avoid interfering with the generation of power needed for pumping. No definite decision has been reached as to the size or location of a reservoir but no difficulty is anticipated in obtaining the necessary storage capacity by construction of a dam on the Payette River. Estimated cost and funds available. The estimated cost to complete the Pavette division, including $1,500,000 for storage, is $6,597,000. Funds available are an Emergency Relief allocation of $700,000 and a reclamation fund appropriation of $1,000,000. A tabulation containing data of estimated costs, funds available, and funds needed to complete will be found at the end of the statement. Repayment contracts.- The Black Canyon irrigation district is under contract to repay the construction costs to the United States within 40 years after completion of the work. The costs are limited to $5,500,000 for the distribution and drainage system and $1,500,000 for storage capacity in a reservoir to be constructed. No part of the cost of Deadwood Reservoir nor of Black Canyon Dam and power plant is to be charged against the Payette division. It is expected that the average construction charge will be about $145 per acre. Construction program.—Construction was started on the main canal in March 1936. On December 1, 1936, a total of three contracts had been awarded covering completion of about three miles of canal and construction of all the tunnels. Additional work will be started on the main canal as soon as plans can be prepared. It is proposed to continue work on the main canal and start construction of the lateral system in the fiscal year 1938. Boise project, Payette division, Idaho, Estimated costs, funds available, and estimate for 1938 Mr LEAVY. Now, coming to Idaho, Boise project, Idaho, Payette division, you had an appropriation of $1,000,000 on that project last year, and you are asking for a like sum this year. Will this appropration this year complete the Boise Payette project? Mr. PAGE. No, sir; it will not. It is merely to carry on the work Low in progress, and the situation there is very similar to that on the la project. The more money we get, the faster we can complete it, because it is a canal system and pumping plant which can be constructed at a rate to be governed by the Congress in supplying the Loney which is needed. Mr. LEAVY. Does it involve any hydroelectric development? Mr. PAGE. The hydroelectric development is in connection with the Black Canyon Dam on the Payette River. Mr. LEVY. Is this a project of recent origin? Mr. PAGE. No, the Boise project was started many, many years 220, about 1906, I think, and this is the addition of a new unit which Was started in 1934. This unit, the Payette division, was contemrated from the first. The original request provided for this, but it Was not built at the outset, and no cultivation under this canal system was started. Mr. LEAVY. You say it does not involve the generation of electric Cherry? Mr. PAGE. No, sir. Mr. RICH. For the Payette division in Idaho, to cost ultimately &678,300, you are asking for a million dollars for that project in this , and it will put into cultivation 47,000 acres of new land. Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir. Mr. RICH. And it is to serve a population of 5,000 people. Mr. PAGE. That, again, is similar to Gila, in that the lands which are to be watered are not populated, cannot support a population antil we get the water to them. Mr. RICH. Do you expect to put additional people onto those lands? Mr. PAGE. Yes. Perhaps I should mention this, that on these projects, where irrigation is required, there is no way for a man possay to make a living until he gets water. The rainfall is insufficient to produce any crops whatever until water for irrigation is available. erefore, no one can live on those lands unless irrigated water is ay for application. I have discussed this subject in statements previously introduced in more detail. Mr. Ricн. If I divided that number of 5,000 people into the amount of money it costs, I would find that that ground would cost about $500 per individual. I did not divide it by the number of acres, but it seemed to me that it was a high per-capita assessment. Mr. PAGE. Well, again, I do not believe that figure is applicable. Itrokes into account no estimate of the total number of people which a live on the land when irrigation is begun. They will be many more than 5,000 and they will come from great distances in many tances. We will replace jackrabbits with people on this land. Mr RICH. How many people do you think you are able to put on ar acreage of 47,000? Mr. PAGE. There should be a family on every 48 acres, and we nt the average family as 3%1⁄2 people. Mr. RICH. That would be 1,000 families? Mr. PAGE. Yes, something over 1,000 families on the lands themselves. Taking into account the small towns and communities which spring up in the middle of these irrigated sections this number will be vastly increased. Mr. RICH. I tried to figure out from these various projects as you had them developed yesterday the new lands that would be cultivated under this bill. There are 2,525,524 acres in new projects that you are now developing? Mr. PAGE. I think I guessed at it the other day as 2,000,000 acres. It is about 2,100,000 acres. I submitted the exact figures for the record earlier when this was discussed. Mr. RICH. That was one item that I was trying to get within my own mind, how much new acreage we were trying to develop, and to see what amount of money we are spending, in order to determine whether we should go ahead with a lot of these projects that were not specifically authorized by Congress. Mr. PAGE. Our experience has shown that an irrigation district can pay, depending on its location, from $50 per acre to $175, possibly $200 an acre for water. The location, the climate, the type of soil, and other factors make the difference. All of these projects have been found feasible by that yardstick. The per-acre ability to repay is considered in finding feasibility. For instance, at Grand Coulee the Columbia Basin project, which has most of the new lands-in the estimates set up there, in addition to the repayments from the lands themselves, we anticipate a heavy revenue from the sale of power, and the same thing applies to some of these other projects. It is all carefully calculated. So that if you use only the lands to be irrigated, and divide that into the total expenditure which is proposed, you do not get the right answer in every instance. You must take in the power and other revenues which accrue from the projects themselves to reach a conclusion. Mr. RICH. When you speak of Grand Coulee, you expect to get 1,200,000 acres? Mr. PAGE. Yes; in the next 25 or 30 years or 50 years. Only 150,000 acres will be developed in the first unit. BOISE ARROWROCK PROJECT Mr. LEAVY. On the Boise Arrowrock project you have not asked for anything? Mr. PAGE. That was largely a repair job, for which the present budget is sufficient. Mr. LEAVY. Does that have a hydroelectric system in connection with it? Mr. PAGE. No, sir; not in connection with this work. Mr. LEAVY. Is electric energy developed there at all, whether it becomes a source of revenue or not? Mr. PAGE. There is electric energy produced down there, down stream, which is made possible by the storage of water at the Arrowrock Dam, but it is not in connection with the structure itself. There is a power plant down the river from Arrowrock, which does provide electricity used for pumping, and for interchange of current, a commercial arrangement with the Idaho Power Co. Mr. LEAVY. In this interchange do you sell electric energy to the Idaho Power Co.? Mr. PAGE. So far no money has changed hands. We sell power to them at one place, and take back power at some other place for our own requirements. So far it has just about balanced in the exchange. Mr. LEAVY. You exchange unit for unit? Mr. PAGE. On the basis of kilowatt hours exchanged, we furnish them to their lines, at one point, and take it off at some other point. SUN RIVER PROJECT, MONTANA Mr. SCRUGHAM. The next item is the Sun River project, Montana, for which $300,000 is requested. Mr. PAGE. The justification in support of this item is as follows: SUN RIVER PROJECT, MONTANA GREENFIELDS DIVISION Appropriation requested for fiscal year 1938, reclamation fund.................. Reclamation fund (principally) prior to June 30, 1933- Emergency Relief allocation__. Amount necessary to complete after fiscal year 1938 Estimated cost $300, 000 6, 940, 000 950, 000 215, 000 595, 000 9, 000, 000 Location. The irrigable lands of the Sun River project are located about 28 miles northwest of the city of Great Falls, Mont., in Teton and Cascade Counties, and comprise an area of about 30 miles east and west by about 18 miles north and south. Purpose. As the average rainfall in the region is only about 10 inches per year and occurs mostly in April, May, and June, it is necessary to provide irrigation for the growth of crops. The purpose of the present construction program is to increase the capacity of the Gibson Reservoir by raising the spillway; enlarge the Pishkun Reservoir, Pishkun canal and Sun River Slope canal; complete the lateral systems; and construct a system of drains. Description.-Sun River project consists essentially of the Greenfields and Fort Shaw divisions, containing an irrigable area of approximately 107,000 acres. In the Greenfields division of 93,000 acres are included the major Greenfields unit of about 64,000 acres, the Sun River Slope unit of 18,000 acres, Big Coulee unit of about 3,000 acres, and Mill Coulee unit of 8,000 acres. The Fort Shaw division contains approximately 14,000 acres. The sources of water supply for the project are the Sun River and its tributaries. The irrigation works are of liberal capacity and of good construction, the principal structures being built of concrete. The completion of Gibson Dam in 1929 insures an adequate supply of water for all of the irrigable lands now under construction works on the project, but additional storage is needed for new land being developed. The area under cultivation in 1935 on the 650 farms of the project was over 43,000 acres and the crop value more than three-quarters of a million dollars. Estimated costs and funds available.—An amount of $6,940,000 had been spent on the project prior to June 30, 1933. The additional work to complete the Gibson Dam spillway, enlargement of Pishkun Reservoir, Pishkun Canal and Sun River Slope Canal, construction of the lateral system and drainage system, and the making of farm unit surveys is estimated to cost an additional $2,060,000, or a total ultimate cost of $9,000,000. Work on the project was resumed in 1933 under a Public Works allotment of $950,000. An Emergency Relief allocation of $715,000 was made for continuing the work, of which $500,000 was later withdrawn. A table presenting data for the several features of the project of estimated costs, funds available, and estimate for 1938, will be found at the end of this report. |