Mr. WATHEN. Well, that is land that is not being irrigated. land within the project is selling from $100 to $200 an acre. similar to the Salt River Valley.

The

It is

Mr. O'NEAL. You mean that you are buying it at the absolute minimum price, is that it?

Mr. WATHEN. We are buying it at the minimum price.

SUBJUGATION AND CROPPING OPERATIONS ON PIMA INDIAN LAND

Mr. DODD. Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer an amendment following the item on page 109, to correct a situation which has developed since the budget was submitted.

Mr. JOHNSON. Will you read the amendment?

Mr. DODD. It provides:

For continuing subjugation and for cropping operations on the lands of the Pima Indians in Arizona, there shall be available so much as may be necessary of the revenues derived from these operations and deposited into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of these Indians.

This does not involve an additional charge against the funds of the Federal Treasury. It authorizes the use of funds which are collected from certain operations down there and which are deposited to the credit of the tribe. We have to have congressional authorization to use those funds for this purpose.

Mr. O'NEAL. How were they used before?

Mr. DODD. They have not been used before, because this is a new operation. We have managed to get through this year, but we feel that we must have the proper legislative authority to continue this operation.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. Do you get the approval of the Indians also? Mr. WATHEN. That has been approved by the Indians.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. How much money is involved altogether? Mr. WATHEN. It will be about $40,000 to $45,000 a year. The operation is on a 12,000-acre area of tribal land that has been subjugated through a Public Works appropriation and planted to alfalfa. We want to keep that land in alfalfa for 2 or 3 years anyhow, and pasture it, and cut hay from it, before it is actually assigned to the Indians.

They have authorized that in a resolution and this merely gives the congressional authority to use the lease rentals and they are not really lease rentals.

We pasture cattle on there at an average of $1 a head per month, on this alfalfa land, and also, in some instances, cut and sell hay. Mr. O'NEAL. What has been the practice in the past as to the disposition of such moneys?

Mr. WATHEN. We are just starting.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. What will the tribe get in return for that $40,000 a year?

Mr. WATHEN. The $40,000 a year goes to pay the irrigators, the Indian irrigators. We use Indians entirely to irrigate the land. There will be some additional fencing to be take care of as well as the irrigation.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. I know; but what will they get in return? What will be the benefits derived?

Mr. WATHEN. The net return to the tribe is estimated at about $120,000 a year.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. In what way?

Mr. WATHEN. That will go into the tribal fund.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. I know, but in what way? How will they get that money?

Mr. DODD. From the sale of alfalfa grown on the land and from pasturage of cattle at so much per head on the land.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. That is what I wanted to know.

Mr. DODD. I would like to answer the Congressman's question just a little more specifically with reference to the use of these funds.

Income from tribal lands is deposited in the Treasury to the credit of the Indians. It cannot be used without specific authorization of Congress. It just stays in the Treasury until Congress authorizes the use of it.

Mr. O'NEAL. Is there any authority whereby the Governmeɛt receives any return on this expenditure made in behalf of the Indians? Mr. DODD. The appropriation is reimbursable eventually.

Mr. O'NEAL. What do you mean by that?

Mr. DODD. There is a charge against the land.

Mr. O'NEAL. I mean, is there not something that comes out of that, looking to the future reimbursement of the Government for what they have put into it? If there is such a charge, when will that appear as s receipt in the Treasury?

Mr. WATHEN. The subjugation operations have been assumed to be part of the construction of the project, the same as the construction cost of the canals and under the Leavitt Act of July 1, 1932, repayment to the Government is not to be made so long as the land remains in Indian ownership. They do pay the maintenance and operation costs, however, but not the construction item.

Mr. O'NEAL. In other words, as far as the Government is concerned, the Treasury is concerned, it is a total loss?

Mr. WATHEN. So long as the land remains in Indian ownership. It does remain as a lien against the land in the event that it is ever alienated. Then it must be paid.

Mr. O'NEAL. In other words, if an Indian attempted to sell any of his land, that would be a charge made by the Government; it would be in the nature of a first mortgage, is that it?

Mr. WATHEN. That is right; a first lien.

DEVELOPMENT OF POWER

Mr. JOHNSON. What about the power development there? And what disposition is made of the surplus power?

Mr. WATHEN. The power development at present consists of a hydroelectric unit at the Coolidge Dam, plus a small Diesel unit on the project to provide stand-by power when there is no water being released for irrigation.

We use most of the power for pumping; the gravity water supply for the project being sufficient for only about 80,000 acres. The total project area is 100,000 acres, so it is necessary for us to pump for 20,000 acres. That pumping, in addition to furnishing water for irrigation, also takes care of our drainage problem.

Mr. O'NEAL. I should like to go back to this other matter that we were discussing a moment ago. It is not exactly clear to me. Everything that we are spending here in this item, just goes back into the Indian funds for their benefit; and not only is the Public Works

money lost, as far as any return to the Government is concerned, except after alienation of the property, but the return from the project itself goes back into the Indian funds, for their benefit; is that correct?

Mr. WATHEN. That is correct. It is just the same as if it were privately owned Indian lands. The fact that it is tribal means that it goes into the tribal fund instead of the individual Indian fund.

IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF IRRIGATION SYSTEM, COLORADO RIVER RESERVATION, ARIZ.

Mr. JOHNSON. The next item, on page 121, is for the operation and maintenance of the irrigation system on the Colorado River Reservation in Arizona.

Mr. DODD. I offer the following justification:

Regular appropriation, 1937 act...

Base for 1938___

Increases requested for 1938..

Total estimate, 1938_.

$34, 000

34, 000

3, 000

37, 000

The irrigation project on the Colorado River Indian Reservation consists of 1 main Diesel-engine operated pumping plant, with a capacity of approximately 140 second-feet, pumping water direct from the Colorado River; 4 deep wells, equipped with Diesel engines and turbine pumps, with a pumping capacity of about 24 second-feet, auxiliary machinery to supply electrical energy and domestic water to the Indian agency, and an irrigation distribution system for 6,000 acres of Indian-owned land.

There were approximately 100 Indian farmers cultivating about 3,500 acres, and 20 white lessees cultivating 1,800 acres at the end of the fiscal year 1936. The actual operation and maintenance costs on this project have for a number of years averaged $6.50 per acre. All lessees pay the estimated water delivery costs in advance of the irrigation season and pay for excess water costs at the end of the season. Such Indian farmers as are able to do so, pay actual operation and maintenance costs, either in advance or at the end of the season, according to their ability to pay. For 1938, it is estimated lessees will pay $12,000, Indian farmers $5,000, and the agency, for domestic utilities, $6,000, making a total of $23,000.

The following is a general classification of the 1938 estimate:

Costs for 1938 will be increased by the operation of drainage wells and canals, new installation completed within the last 2 years.

Mr. JOHNSON. The estimate for 1938 is $37,000 against a current appropriation of $34,000.

Mr. DODD. There is an increase of $3,000 in that item from the collection side of the appropriation. There is no increase in the amount of the Treasury appropriation. We expect to have a larger income through collections from water users.

OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF PUMPING PLANTS, SAN CARLOS RESERVATION, ARIZ.

Mr. JOHNSON. The next item is for operating some pumping plants on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. This appears to be chargeable to tribal funds.

Mr. DODD. Irrigation systems have been provided on the San Carlos Reservation for several small tracts used mostly for garden purposes. The source of water is wells and pumping plants, nine of which have been installed, one at McMillan. Wash, about 4 miles north of the agency, two on Gilson Wash just south of the agency, and three in the Peridot area on the San Carlos River, about 2 miles south of the agency, all of which are equipped with turbine pumps and electrically operated with power from Coolidge Dam, when available. Otherwise power is purchased from the San Carlos project at cost to that project of standby generation or purchased from outside sources. There are two pumping plants in the Bylas area installed about 1917, and one near Calva. These are located on the Gila River, a short distance above the flow line of the San Carlos Reservoir and are operated by gasoline engines.

The wells in the Peridot area, one on Gilson Wash, and one at Calva, with their pumping plants, were installed through an allotment from the public-works appropriation. Renewing Bylas plants nos. 1 and 2 and revamping lateral systems was made possible through an allotment of $25,000 from the same fund.

The total water development is about 20 second-feet. The plants and distribution systems are under the care of an experienced pump operator, who devotes about half of his time to irrigation works and the other half to agency farmer activities. Additional labor is em ployed on the irrigation system when necessary to assist in making repairs to the pumping plants and to clean the canals.

There are about 750 acres of irrigable land which can be served and during the past calendar year about 550 acres were irrigated. These little garden tracts are the only irrigable areas on the reservation and are parceled out in small lots to Indians for subsistence gardens. The Indians here are entirely dependent for their living upon cattle raising and subsistence gardening.

Electric power is secured for the upper plants at a cost of 2 mills for such Coolidge Dam power as may be available, and it is necessary to pay 1.6 mills for additional power purchased.

RECLAMATION AND MAINTENANCE CHARGES, YUMA PROJECT, ARIZONA AND CALIFORNIA

Mr. JOHNSON. The next item, on page 124, is for reclamation and maintenance charges on lands within the Yuma reclamation project. Mr. DODD. I offer the following justification in support of that item: The Yuma Indian Irrigation Project contains 7,853.38 acres of irrigable land under canals constructed by the Reclamation Service. One hundred and ten acres of the project are in Arizona and consist of homestead allotments; 7,743.38 acres in California are operated and maintained by the Indian Service. Construction charges on all of the California lands have been paid to the Reclamation Service in full. Construction charges on the 110 acres in Arizona have not been fully paid, the annual assessments being $602.59, including the year 1936 and $422.59 for the year 1937.

Under a contract dated February 5, 1931, between the Reclamation Service and the Yuma County Water Users Association, the latter association now operates and maintans the irrigation system for these 110-acre tracts. Construction charges are paid to the Reclamation Service and operation and maintenance charges to the Yuma County Water Users Association on all of the Arizona allotments, and operation and maintenance charges are paid to the Reclamation Service on the reservation lands in California, in accordance with the annual rates fixed by the Secretary of the Interior for the Yuma irrigation project, which have been reduced to $2.15 per acre for the year 1937.

During the 1935 calendar year the acreage in cultivation amounted to about 4,500 acres, of which 3,096 acres were leased. All water rentals from leases are applied to the payment of operation and maintenance charges. Collections amount to about $5,000 per year.

Fixed obligations during the year 1937 to be covered by appropriation for the fiscal year 1938 are:

Estimated collections of $2,000 will be made during the spring of 1937 from lessees and from such Indian farmers as are able to pay water charges.