RELIEF FOR THE ORLAND PROJECT

553

estimates for any year shall be adjusted by credits upon succeeding years after the amount of the overpayment is ascertained. (49 Stat. 1908)

Sec. 4. [Operation and maintenance of water users executing supplemental contracts to be consolidated with cost of Stony Gorge Reservoir-Water users not executing supplementary contracts not to benefit.] For all water users executing supplementary contracts as permitted herein their proportionate share, as determined by the said Secretary, of the operation and maintenance charges for the first year in which this plan is made effective for the Orland project, by the execution of this agreement by at least 90 per centum of the water users of the project, as conclusively determined by the Secretary, shall be consolidated with the construction cost of the Stony Gorge Reservoir and paid when such construction cost is paid as herein permitted. Water users failing or refusing to execute such supplementary contracts shall not be accorded the benefit of this Act, nor shall they receive the benefit of any moratory construction charge legislation enacted in 1936 or thereafter unless otherwise specifically directed in such moratory legislation. (49 Stat. 1908)

Sec. 5. [$35,000 authorized for classification and construction of canals and other necessary works.]-An appropriation of $35,000 from the reclamation fund for the Orland project is hereby authorized to enable the Secretary to make the land classification provided for in section 2 hereof and to construct canals and other works necessary to conduct to new project lands the water supply to be released hereunder from permanently unproductive lands. The primary construction charge of $55 per acre on such new lands shall be payable in installments as provided in section 2 of the Act of August 13, 1914 (38 Stat. 687). The supplemental construction charges for the new land shall be the same as for the old land, except that each acre of new land shall be required to pay in addition its proportionate part, as determined by the Secretary, of the construction cost of new work as authorized in this section. The supplemental construction charges for the new land shall be payable in installments over a period of thirty-five years, the first of such installments to be due one year after the due date of the last installment of the original construction charge on the new land. The supplemental construction charge installments for the new land shall be graduated in the same manner as for the old land as provided in section 1 hereof. The dates for the payment of the construction charges provided for in section 1 and 5 hereof shall be as fixed by the said Secretary. (49 Stat. 1908)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Reference in the Text. Section 2 of the Act of August 13, 1914, 38 Stat. 687, referred to in the text, establishes a gradu

ated method of paying construction charges. The Act is the Reclamation Extension Act, which appears herein in chronological order.

Sec. 6. [Secretary authorized to modify contract of April 3, 1909, if necessary.]—The said Secretary is also authorized to enter into a contract with the Orland Unit Waters Users' Association, a corporation organized under the laws of California, modifying said corporation's contract of April 3, 1909, with the United States, if and so far as in the opinion of the said Secretary modification of said contract is requisite by reason of the execution of agreements between 267-067-72-vol. I-38

554

RELIEF FOR THE ORLAND PROJECT

the United States and the individual stockholders of said corporation as authorized herein. (49 Stat. 1909)

Sec. 7. [Authority of the Secretary.]-The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to perform any and all acts and to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this Act into full force and effect. (49 Stat. 1909)

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Not Codified. This Act is not codified in the U.S. Code.

Legislative History. H.R. 11538, Public

Law 786 in the 74th Congress. H.R. Rept.
No. 2353. S. Rept. No. 2321.

INVESTIGATION OF CLEAR LAKE WATERSHED, CALIFORNIA

An act to provide for an investigation to determine whether the water rights of the United States have been violated in the Clear Lake Watershed, California, and for other purposes. (Act of June 26, 1936, ch. 841, 49 Stat. 1975)

EXPLANATORY NOTES

556

PREVENTION OF LAND SPECULATION, COLUMBIA BASIN

PROJECT

An act to prevent speculation in lands in the Columbia Basin prospectively irrigable by reason of the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam project and to aid actual settlers in securing such lands at the fair appraised value thereof as arid land, and for other purposes. (Act of May 27, 1937, ch. 269, 50 Stat. 208)

Repealed.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Statute Repealed. The Act of March 10, 1943, 50 Stat. 208, the Columbia Basin Project Act, which appears herein in chronological order, amends the Act of May 27, 1937, in its entirety. The text of the 1937 Act read as follows:

[Sec. 1. Funds appropriated may not be expended for irrigation features of the project until following conditions are complied with.]-No part of the funds heretofore or hereafter appropriated or allotted for the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam project (authorized by section 2 of the Act of August 30, 1935, 49 Stat. 1028, 1039, entitled "An Act authorizing the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors and for other purposes," and by the Act of June 22, 1936, 49 Stat. 1757, 1784, entitled "An Act making appropriations for the Department of the Interior for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1937, and for other purposes") or for the reclamation of land in connection with said project shall be expended in the construction of any irrigation feature of said project, exclusive of Grand Coulee Dam and appurtenant works now under construction, until after the following provisions have been complied with:

(a) [Appraisal of privately-owned lands.]-The privately owned lands proposed to be irrigated under said project (including county lands and such State lands as the State may desire and be able to subscribe for irrigation under said project and to subject to the terms of this Act) shall have been impartially appraised in a manner and to the extent prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior for the determination of their value at the date of appraisal without reference to the proposed construction of the said irrigation works and without increment on account of the prospect of the construction of the said project.

(b) [Contract with irrigation district for repayment under Reclamation laws-Excess lands Owners of to contract to sell-Size of farm units-Upon sale excess lands United States to be paid proportionate incremented value-Excess provisos not applicable lands now cultivated outside project but desiring additional water.]-A contract or contracts shall have been made with an irrigation or reclamation district or districts organized under State law providing for payment by the district or districts of that part of the cost of construction of the project allocated by the Secretary of the Interior as the part thereof properly chargeable to irrigation, the said cost of construction to be repaid within such term or terms of years as the Secretary shall find to be necessary, not to exceed the maximum term permitted under the Federal reclamation laws, the payments to be made in the manner and subject to the terms and conditions provided in the said reclamation laws and subject to enforcement by all of the means and remedies provided in the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), and Acts supplementary thereto or amendatory thereof: Provided, That every such contract with any district shall further require that all irrigable land held in private ownership by any one owner in excess of forty irrigable acres and all county and State lands which may be subscribed to or irrigated under said project shall be designated as excess land and as such shall not be entitled to receive water from said project. The contract shall provide further that no owner of such excess lands in the said project shall receive water therefrom for any part of the lands owned by him if and so long as he shall refuse to sell any excess lands owned or held by him under terms and conditions satisfactory to the Secretary of the Interior and at prices fixed in the appraisals made and approved as hereinabove provided. The Secretary of the Interior may require each landowner, as a condition precedent to receiving water from the said irrigation works, to execute a valid recordable contract wherein he shall agree to dispose of excess holdings then or thereafter owned by him in the manner provided in this Act and in the contract between his district and the United States, and wherein the said landowner also shall confer upon the Secretary

PREVENT LAND SPECULATION, COLUMBIA BASIN

557

of the Interior an irrevocable power of attorney to make any such sale on his behalf. For the purpose of determining excess lands under the provisions of this Act husband and wife shall be considered separate persons and each may hold not to exceed forty irrigable acres as nonexcess lands or husband and wife together may hold eighty irrigable acres of community property as such nonexcess lands: Provided further, That as to any part of the irrigable lands of the said project for which the Secretary of the Interior shall determine that farm units of less than forty irrigable acres would be sufficient to support a family, he may approve and cause to be filed farm unit plats establishing farm units of less than forty acres but not less than ten acres and in that event all lands held in any one ownership in excess of one farm unit as shown on such plat shall be considered excess lands subject to the provisions of this Act applicable to excess lands: Provided further, That in addition to the foregoing provisions, every such contract with any district shall also provide, with respect to all irrigable lands whether initially excess or nonexcess, that whenever any land is sold at a price in excess of the sum of the appraised value of the arid land, the appraised value of improvements made thereon after the date of the original appraisal, and the amount of irrigation construction costs actually paid for that land, then, before the new owner shall be entitled to receive water from the project, a proportionate part of the said excess or incremented value shall be paid to the United States as follows: If such payment is made to the United States more than fifty months after such sale at an excessive price has been made, then as a prerequisite to the right to receive water all of the incremented value shall be paid to the United States to apply on construction installments to come due on such land in inverse order of their accrual; if payment is made in less than fifty months but more than forty-nine months after the date of such sale, then 99 per centum of such incremented value or excess of sale price shall be thus paid and applied; if payment is made in less than forty-nine but more than forty-eight months after the date of such sale, then 98 per centum of such incremented value or excess of sale price shall be thus paid and applied, and so on for earlier payment allowing an additional reduction of 1 per centum for each month, so that in the event that such payment is made to the United States within one month after the date of such sale, then the percentage of the incremented value required to be paid to the United States for application to construction costs as a prerequisite to the right to receive water shall be 50 per centum thereof: Provided further, That each district contract may include a provision which, subject to authorization and validation thereof by the State of Washington, shall require that all irrigable lands which are allowed by the owners thereof without objection to remain in such district until after the judicial confirmation of the organization of the district and of the regularity and validity of said contract and the proceedings authorizing it shall be considered as automatically subjected to the provisions of the excess land clauses and incremented value clauses hereinbefore provided for, such obligation to be impressed on the title to the land and to be considered equivalent to a covenant running with the land. The said provision, however, shall not apply to any landowner who, prior to the entry of the judicial decree of confirmation, shall file with the district and duly record as an instrument affecting title to his land, a notice of his objection to the said obligation and of his renunciation of the right of the said land to receive water through, from, or by means of any works constructed by the United States in connection with such project: And provided further, That the foregoing four provisos shall not apply to any lands in the State of Washington which have already been developed and are now being cultivated with the aid of water from sources other than the said Grand Coulee project and for which additional water may be desired.

(c) [State of Washington shall ratify provisions.]-The State of Washington by appropriate legislation shall have authorized, adopted, ratified, and consented to all the provisions of this Act insofar as such provisions or any of them, in whole or in part, may come within the scope of State jurisdiction or authority or be applicable to State lands.

Sec. 2. [Appropriation for surveys, investigations, and appraisal of lands and for plans, surveys, and designs of irrigation works.]-The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to use not to exceed $350,000 of the funds hereafter appropriated or alloted for the fiscal year 1938 for the said project for the purpose of the survey, investigation, and appraisal of the irrigable lands of the said project and for surveys, investigations, plans, and designs for the irrigation works therefor.

Sec. 3. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to make such rules and regulations and to include in the contracts hereinbefore provided for such provisions as may be appropriate and useful for the purpose of carrying out the purpose and provisions of this Act. Sec. 4. [Consent of United States to sale of school lands.]-The consent of the United States is hereby given to the sale of school lands and any other public lands of the State